All Ingredients

This is a sweetened blend of sparkling wines. It's cheap and tastes like it.

This is a soft spreadable mix of cheeses used for snacking.

This is a favorite of Southern cooks, who often cook them with salt pork or smoked ham hocks. Frozen collards are an acceptable substitute for fresh.

Comb honey is honey that's sold in the (edible) wax comb just as the bees left it. It contains chunks of honeycomb.

These juicy pears are considered to be the best for eating out of hand, but they're very expensive.

This is an inexpensive chocolate that's melted and used for dipping and molding. Since it's made with vegetable oils instead of cocoa butter, it's much easier to work with than ordinary chocolate. It also melts at a higher temperature, so it doesn't get all over your hands when you eat it. The downside is that it doesn't have the rich taste and texture of regular chocolate. Though it's considered to be a beginner's chocolate, it's still a bit fussy. It can scorch if you cook it at too high a temperature, or seize if you add even a drop of cold liquid to it after it's melted.

This excellent French cow's milk cheese dates from the time of Charlemagne. It has a mildly sweet, nutty flavor, much like Gruyère. It's a very good melting cheese.

This is popular in Florida and the Caribbean. In other regions, your best bet is to look in Asian or Italian markets.

This Italian pasta resembles conch shells. It's often served with tomato or meat sauces, or in pasta salads. A smaller version for soups is called conchigliette, while larger, stuffable shells are called conchiglioni.

This is a tiny version of a classic Italian pasta shape: the conchiglie or conch shell. Conchigliette is most often used as a soup pasta.

Pasta shaped like conch shells come in various sizes; this is the largest. It's often stuffed and baked.

These dark purple grapes have large seeds. They are tangy and sweet. It is often used to make grape jelly.

This is a good compromise between nutritious brown rice and tender, fast-cooking white rice. Converted rice is steamed before it's husked, a process that causes the grains to absorb many of the nutrients from the husk. When cooked, the grains are more nutritious, firmer, and less clingy than white rice grains. Uncle Ben's is a well-known brand.

includes vegetable oil spray, olive oil spray, and butter-flavored spray.

You should never cook with a wine you wouldn't drink, but some "cooking wines" sold at stores violate this maxim. Avoid them and instead cook with inexpensive, but drinkable, table wines. Avoid putting wine in aluminum or iron pans for prolonged periods.

This is a shortening based on coconut oil that's commonly used in Australia. It's very hard to find in the U.S.

This has bits of ham in it.

eggs beaten in aluminum bowls can turn gray.

These tiny tubes of pasta are normally used in soups.

Thai recipes sometimes call for these roots, but they're hard to find in markets. The best source is to pull out a cilantro plant in your garden, or you can use cilantro stems instead.

Coriander seeds are a common ingredient in the cuisines of India, the Middle East, Latin America, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. The popular herb cilantro comes from the same plant, but it's not a good substitute for the seeds. You can buy the seeds already ground, but for better flavor and shelf life, buy coriander seeds and grind them yourself. To enhance the flavor, toast the seeds in a pan for a few minutes first.

These lightly sweetened cookies are made with cornmeal. Look for them in Hispanic markets.

This is the only grain that's commonly eaten as a fresh vegetable. Native to the Americas, corn is a great source of vitamin A, fiber, and other nutrients. When corn comes into season during the summer, it's common to see people in supermarkets peeling back husks in search of ears with perfect rows of kernels. Don't do that yourself. Crooked rows taste just as good as straight, and keeping the husk on helps the corn stay sweet. Freshness is a better criterion, since the sugars in corn begin converting into starch the moment it's picked. The best test is to sample some kernels. Frozen corn kernels are a good substitute when fresh corn is out of season, but canned corn is only a fair substitute.

These are made with cornmeal, and taste especially good with chili.

To see how to substitute other flours for wheat flours when making yeast breads, see the listing under all-purpose flour.

Hispanic cooks use these, both fresh and dried, to wrap tamales before steaming them. Before using, soak the husks in hot water for about 30 minutes to make them more pliable.

This is made with corn flour instead of the traditional durum wheat. It's popular among people with wheat allergies, but it tends to get mushy.

A staple of Jewish delicatessens, this rye bread is coated with cornmeal. It's often paired with corned beef.

Corn salad has tender leaves and a very mild flavor.

One tablespoon (1/4 ounce) thickens one cup of liquid. Notes: This silky powder is used to thicken sauces, gravies, and puddings. Like other starch thickeners, cornstarch should be mixed into a slurry with an equal amount of cold water before it's added to the hot liquid you're trying to thicken. You then need to simmer the liquid, stirring constantly, for a minute or so until it thickens. Cornstarch doesn't stand up to freezing or prolonged cooking, and it doesn't thicken well when mixed with acidic liquids. Cornstarch is called cornflour or maize cornflour in Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. Don't confuse cornstarch with the finely ground cornmeal that Americans call corn flour

This is a thick, sweet syrup that's popular in America, but hard to find in other countries. Unlike other sweeteners, corn syrup doesn't crystallize and turn grainy when it's cold, so it's a good choice for frostings, fudge sauces, and candies. Baked goods made with corn syrup are moister and stay fresher longer than those made with sugar. There are two types: dark corn syrup is dark brown and has a slight molasses flavor, while light corn syrup is almost clear and has a more delicate flavor. The two can be used interchangeably in many recipes. Karo is a well-known brand. Store corn syrup at room temperature.

These thin round wraps are widely used in southern Mexico, and they're the preferred tortilla for making tacos and enchiladas. They should be served hot. If you're watching calories, do this by cooking them on a hot, dry frying pan or by wrapping them in moist paper towels and briefly heating them in a microwave oven. If calories aren't an issue, fry them in oil. You can make corn tortillas at home if you have a tortilla press. Just mix masa harina with enough water to make a bread-like dough, press the dough until it's very thin, and then cook the tortilla in a hot, dry frying pan. Readymade corn tortillas are available in most supermarkets.

Like Bourbon, corn whiskey is made from corn, but it's not nearly as elegant and smooth as its pricier relative. It's a bit hard to find, but some brands--like Platte Valley, Virginia Lightning and Turkey Mountain--are still being produced. Whiskey should be served at room temperature.