All Ingredients

Liquor refers to distilled alcoholic beverages like whiskey, gin, rum, vodka, tequila, and brandy. These are almost always more potent than fermented alcoholic beverages like beer and wine. It's best to store liquor in a cool, dark place, and to drink it within a year after opening the bottle. Unlike wine, liquor stops aging once it's bottled. Don't confuse liquors with liqueurs, which are made with liquor but sweetened and flavored with herbs, fruit, spices, flowers, nuts, or roots.

his popular Chinese fruit is about the size of a walnut, with a bumpy red shell encasing white translucent pulp that's similar in texture to a grape. The flavor is sweet, exotic, and very juicy. Don't eat the shell or the seed. Fresh litchis are available from May to July. If you can't find them, canned litchis are a good substitute. Don't confuse fresh litchis with litchi nuts, which are sun-dried litchis that have a much different texture.

These are sun-dried litchis. The outer shells are brown and the meat inside looks like a large raisin. Look for them in Asian markets.

This excellent French cow's milk cheese is in the washed-rind or "stinky" family. Though pungent, it's not as overpowering as Limburger. The rind is edible, but it's not for faint-hearted.

Liver is rich in iron and Vitamin A and has an unabashed flavor that nicely complements that of its usual companion, onion. Calf's liver is considered to be the best, but lamb liver and beef liver are almost as good and much less expensive. Liver can be cooked with dry heat, say by grilling or sautéing it, but it becomes very tough if it's cooked beyond medium rare. Since liver has very little fat, you might want to baste it or lard it.

This is a family of pork liver sausages that are creamy enough to spread. One variety is braunschweiger, which is smoked liverwurst.

These popular Chinese egg noodles are often used to make lo mein, in which the noodles are stir-fried along with the other ingredients. They come in various sizes; use the flat ones for stir-fries and the round ones for soups. They're available fresh, dried, and frozen in Asian markets.

This roe turns a lovely coral color when cooked.

These are actually white mushrooms that have been coated by a red fungus.

This liqueur is made with Scotch and flavored with honey and herbs.

These are like blackberries, only they're dark red when ripe and more acidic. They're especially good in pies and preserves.

This mild, tender lettuce has ruffled red edges.

Look for this in Indian or Southeast Asian markets. The seeds come in clumps that look like tiny pine cones.

These oblong potatoes have a medium starch content, and are valued for their versatility. They're good to keep in the pantry as an all-purpose potato.

Long-grain rice has slender grains that stay separate and fluffy after cooking, so this is the best choice if you want to serve rice as a side dish, or as a bed for sauces. American long-grain rice (which includes Carolina rice) has a somewhat bland flavor, and is what cookbooks usually have in mind when they call for long-grain rice. Patna rice is a mild rice grown in India. Basmati rice, another Indian import, has a nutty taste and goes well with many Indian and Middle Eastern dishes. Jasmine rice is also aromatic, and usually less expensive than Basmati. It often accompanies Thai and Vietnamese dishes. Americans have crossed Basmati with American long-grain rice to get popcorn rice, which is milder and less expensive than basmati. Another hybrid is wild pecan rice, which retain most of the bran for a nutty, chewy flavor.

Longans are very similar to lychees and rambutans. You can buy them fresh (in the summer), dried or canned.

Longanisa is a Filipino sausage that resembles a chorizo. It's often served for breakfast in the Philippines.

These are popular in Asia, where they're eaten raw and cooked into sauces that accompany meat. They bruise very easily, which may explain their rarity in American markets

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.

Look for fresh and dried lotus seeds in Asian markets.

This spicy Greek sausage is made with lamb, pork, and orange rind. Cook it before serving

Lovage tastes like celery, but it's even more pungent and flavorful. The only drawback but it can't withstand long cooking like celery can. Use it in any recipe that calls for celery, but use less and add it to cooked dishes at the last minute.

Look for this in the deli section of your grocery stores.

These green olives are brine-cured.

These are salty Italian/Swiss brownish-black olives.

Lumache (Italian for "snails") are shells that are often served with chunky sauces. A larger shell, called lumaconi, is usually stuffed and baked.

This is an outsized version of the Italian pasta shape called lumache, which resembles a snail shells. Lumaconi are usually stuffed and baked.

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 large Italian beans resemble fava beans, only they're slightly bitter. They're often marinated and served in salads.

These look like rust-colored fuzzy apples.

These rich and creamy nuts hail from Hawaii and Australia, where they're eaten as snacks, or incorporated into cookies or other desserts. They're hard to crack open and tricky to roast, so they're almost always sold shelled and roasted in vacuum-pack containers. After you open these containers, you should store any uneaten nuts in the freezer or refrigerator, since they're high in fat and therefore prone to rancidity. If you want to roast your own macadamia nuts, put them in 275° oven for about 15 minutes.

This tubular Italian pasta used to be made by wrapping pasta dough around knitting needles. The term now refers to any small tubular pasta, all of which go well with chunky sauces or in pasta salads. Elbow macaroni is curved, and is traditionally used to make macaroni and cheese.