Miscellaneous Category

This has crunchy, amber-colored eggs and makes a colorful garnish. They're often flavored with various seasonings before they're sold.

Greeks stuff these with ground lamb and rice to make dolmades, but they're used elsewhere to make pickles and beds for food. They're hard to find fresh in markets, but you can often find them in cans or jars. Trim the stems and rinse off the brine before using. To make your own: Plunge grape leaves (that haven't been sprayed with harmful chemicals) for one minute in boiling, salted water (2 teaspoons pickling salt per quart), then drain.

This thickener is very popular among people with gluten allergies. Look for it in health food stores.

The Japanese use these round wrappers to make pork-stuffed dumplings similar to Chinese potstickers. Western cooks sometimes use them to make ravioli.

Recipes for ale and mead often call for this.

This American caviar comes from farm-raised hacklebacks.

The Japanese traditionally serve this on New Year's Day. It has an interesting texture, but it's not very flavorful.

These don't have much flavor.

In recent years, over-fishing in the Caspian Sea has greatly depleted sturgeon populations.Please consider using caviar and roe from more abundant species until the Caspian Sea sturgeon populations can recover. For substitutions for caviar in general, click here.

This is a modified cornstarch that professional bakers sometimes use to thicken pie fillings. It has several advantages over ordinary cornstarch. Instant ClearJel® thickens without cooking, works well with acidic ingredients, tolerates high temperatures, is freezer-stable, and doesn't cause pie fillings to weep" during storage. Don't use Instant ClearJel® for canning--it tends to break down.

You can mix this granular all-purpose flour into liquids without getting many lumps, so it's perfect for making gravies and batters. It's also good for breading fish. Wondra flour and Shake & Blend are popular brands.

These small, starchy granules are used to make tapioca pudding and to thicken pie fillings. The grains don't dissolve completely when cooked, so puddings and pies thickened with them end up studded with tiny gelatinous balls. If you don't mind the balls, you can also use instant tapioca to thicken soups, gravies, and stews. If the balls are a problem, just pulverize the instant tapioca in a coffee grinder or blender, or buy tapioca starch, which is already finely ground. Instant tapioca tolerates prolonged cooking and freezing, and gives the fillings an attractive glossy sheen. To use it in a pie filling, mix it with the other ingredients, then let it sit for at least five minutes so that the tapioca can absorb some of the liquid. Don't confuse instant tapioca with regular tapioca, which has larger beads, or with the even larger tapioca pearls sold in Asian markets. Minute® tapioca is a well-known brand.

Jamaica is another name for the hibiscus flower. Tea made from Jamaica flowers is red, tart and is high in vitamin C. Substitutes: Red Zinger tea

Japanese cooks soak these gourd strips in water, then use them to tie sushi or other food packets. They're also sometimes cooked and used as an ingredient in sushi. Look for them in Japanese markets.

Jewish cooks use these to make kreplach, a kind of Jewish ravioli.

This thickener is made from the tuber of the kudzu, the obnoxious vine that was imported from Japan a number of years ago and is now growing out of control all over the South. It's very expensive, and the main reason to buy it is for its reputed medicinal benefits. It comes in small chunks. To thicken a liquid, crush the chunks into a powder, mix them with an equal amount of cold water, then stir the mixture into the hot liquid and simmer for a few minutes until the sauce is thickened. Look for kudzu in health food stores.

Cooks use this fragrant flower to flavor jellies, baked goods and grilled meat.

Derived from soy beans or egg yolks, nutrient-rich lecithin is a wonder ingredient. It's used in cooking as an emulsifier, preservative, lubricant, and moisturizer. It's a healthful substitute for fat in baked goods, adding moisture and improving texture. Bakers use it as a dough enhancer because it helps give yeast breads more of a rise. It comes either granulated or as a liquid.

This is an Italian yeast with a delicate vanilla flavor. Look for this in Italian markets.

This roe turns a lovely coral color when cooked.

These leaves open up like butterfly wings, each about two feet high. They're often wrapped around rice and other fillings, to which they impart an earthy aroma when the bundles are steamed. The leaves are available either fresh or, more commonly, dried in Asian markets. Soak them for at least an hour in warm water before using, and keep fresh leaves in a cool, dry place or else freeze them.

Slices of the lotus root have a beautiful pattern. The fresh version is available sporadically; if not, the canned version is almost as good. Rinse and drain before using. Look for it in Asian markets.

Lumpfish roe is relatively cheap; the eggs come in red or black.

These thin wrappers are used to make lumpias, a Filipino type of egg roll.

These leaves have been used to wrap meat for flavor and to tenderize while cooking.

You can make malt powder by allowing whole grains to sprout briefly, drying them, and then grinding them into a powder. Commercial malt powders are usually made with barley, and they're used extensively by commercial bakers. There are two main types of malt powder: diastatic and non-diastatic. Diastatic malt contains active enzymes which help break starch down into sugar. The extra sugar feeds the yeast in the dough, helping the bread to rise, and also gives the bread a browner crust. It's often used to make crusty breads. Non-diastatic malt doesn't have active enzymes, but it gives baked goods better flavor and a shinier, browner crust. It's used in everything from bagels to croissants to breakfast cereals. Don't confuse malt powder with malted milk powder, which also contains powdered milk and wheat flour and is used to make beverages. Look for malt powder in health food stores or baking supply stores.

petals only.

It's usually sold in the form of small crystals, which you'll need to grind into a powder. Look for it in Middle Eastern markets.

Various ingredients can be used to tenderize meat. These include vinegar, baking soda, beer or commercial products. Meat can also be tenderized using a mallet.