All Ingredients

Pinot Grigio, Pinot gris
Pinot Grigio
This is a dry white wine that goes especially well with seafood. Pinot Grigio is the Italian name, Pinot Gris the French.
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Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir
This earthy red varietal wine goes best with beef, ham, poultry, salmon, or tuna. Unfortunately, making it is tricky business, so the quality varies tremendously. A good one will be expensive and sublime.
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pinto bean
pinto bean
The dried beans are beige with brown streaks, but they turn a uniform pinkish-brown when cooked. They're often used to make refried beans and chili.
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pipián, green pumpkin seed sauce, pipian, pipian paste, pipián paste
pipián
This Hispanic paste is made from ground pumpkin seeds mixed with oil, chiles, sesame seeds, and other ingredients. It's used to make rich, creamy sauces.
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pipicha, chepiche, pepicha
pipicha
This Mexican herb tastes a bit like cilantro and mint.
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Pippin apple, Newtown Pippin apple
Pippin apple
This is a firm, tart apple that's great for pies, baking, and applesauce.
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pirarucu
pirarucu
Pirarucu are large (7 feet) fish native to the Amazon basin. Pirarucu meat is mild flavored and firm textured. Overfishing has reduced their numbers. It is unusual in that in needs to breath air.
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piri piri pepper dried, bird's-eye chili, pili pili, peri peri pepper
piri piri pepper dried
These are insanely hot tiny peppers.
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piri piri sauce, piri-piri sauce
piri piri sauce
This is a fiery Portuguese sauce. To make your own: See the Piri Piri Sauce recipe posted on RecipeSource.com.
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pisco, pisco brandy
pisco
This Peruvian brandy is based on Muscat wine.
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pismo clam, Venus clam
pismo clam
pismos are highly regarded.
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pistachio nut
pistachio nut
These green Middle Eastern nuts are encased in tan shells, which are sometimes dyed red. They're crunchy and delicately sweet, so they're great in everything from ice cream to pilafs. When the nuts are mature enough to eat, the shells split open enough that they can be pulled off easily with your fingers. Unopened shells contain immature kernels and should be discarded. Pistachios are available shelled or unshelled, salted or unsalted, roasted or raw. To roast, put shelled pistachios on a baking pan and in bake them in a 325° oven, stirring occasionally, until they're slightly golden, about ten minutes.
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pita bread, baladi, khubz, pide bread, pocket bread
pita bread
This puffy Middle Eastern flatbread is often cut in half, pulled open to form a pocket, and then filled with hot savory ingredients. It's also served like bread at meals, or cut into wedges, toasted, and served with dips. Look for pita bread among the baked goods in supermarkets.
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pizza stone
pizza stone
This is a ceramic slab that you preheat in the oven. A pizza baked on one will cook more evenly and develop a crisper crust.
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pizzoccheri
pizzoccheri
These long buckwheat noodles are popular in northern Italy.
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plantain, Adam's fig, cooking banana, macho banana, platano, platano macho
plantain
These look just like large green bananas, and they're usually cooked before eating. Hispanic and Caribbean use them like potatoes, either frying them or boiling them in stews. Different recipes may call for plantains in varying stages of ripeness, with their skins either green, yellow, or black. A green plantain will first turn yellow and then black if allowed to ripen at room temperature. As it ripens, the pulp becomes sweeter and less starchy.
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plantain flour, fufu flour
plantain flour
Nigerians make fufu out of this.
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plastic wrap
plastic wrap
Plastic wrap is terrific for covering foods to be stored in the refrigerator or cooked in the microwave. It clings especially well to glass, ceramic, and china dishes. You can also use it to wrap foods for short-term freezer storage, though you should use aluminum foil if you're storing something in the freezer for a long time since foil is better at preventing moisture loss.
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plum
plum
Plums are juicier than other stone fruits, and have a longer growing season. There are many varieties, some sweet, some acidic, and some best suited for drying into prunes. They're often eaten out of hand, but they also work well in cobblers, compotes, and tarts.
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plum brandy, mirabelle, pflümli, prunelle, quetsch, slivovic, Slivovitz
plum brandy
Distilled from plums, plum brandy is usually colorless and quite potent. Slivovitz = slivovic = slivowitz ( SHLIV-uh-vits) is made in Serbia and Bosnia from blue plums, and is very highly regarded. Other varieties include mirabelle (made with yellow plums), quetsch (Alsatian plums), pflümli, and light green prunelle.
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plum wine
plum wine
These are wines that are made from plums. Some producers leave the stones in while the plums are fermenting, giving the wine a bit of almond flavoring as well.
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pluot
pluot
This is a plum/apricot cross, with plum dominating.
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poblano pepper , ancho chile, pasilla pepper
poblano pepper
These mild, heart-shaped peppers are large and have very thick walls, which make them great for stuffing. They're best in the summer. When dried, this pepper is called an Ancho chili.
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poi
poi
Hawaiians make this out of taro root, which is cooked, pounded into a paste, and then sometimes fermented. It's somewhat bland, and usually served as an accompaniment to other foods, much like mainlanders serve mashed potatoes.
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polenta, mush
polenta
This Italian specialty is made of cornmeal that's been cooked into a thick mush. The mush is either served hot, much as Americans would serve mashed potatoes, or it's cooled, sliced, and then fried, grilled, or baked. It's easy to make at home, or you can get tubes of ready-made polenta in the refrigerated section of many supermarkets.
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pollock, Pacific Pollock, Alaska pollock, Boston bluefish, walleye pollock
pollock
Pollock is an important north Pacific groundfish.
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pollock roe
pollock roe
Asian markets sell this inexpensive roe in wooden boxes. It's often baked and served on rice.
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pom pom mushroom, monkeys head mushroom, beard mushroom, bear's head
pom pom mushroom
The flavor of this mushroom has been likened to that of lobster and crab.
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pome Fruit, false fruit
pome Fruit
The family of pome fruits include apples, pears, quinces, Asian pears, and loquats.
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pomegranate, Chinese apple
pomegranate
Cut through the pomegranate's leathery skin, and you'll find hundreds of pretty kernels, each with a tiny seed surrounded by ruby red pulp. You can eat the kernels, seeds and all, and they're great as garnishes or sprinkled in salads. You can also press the kernels for juice and strain out the seeds. Wear an apron when working with pomegranates; the juice can stain your clothes. They arrive in markets in the late summer and early fall.
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pomegranate juice
pomegranate juice
Don't confuse this unsweetened juice with grenadine, which is a heavy, sweet syrup. Look for it in health food stores and Middle Eastern markets. Knudsen is a well-regarded brand.
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pomegranate molasses, concentrated pomegranate juice
pomegranate molasses
This tart Middle Eastern syrup became trendy a few years ago when Western cooks discovered that it adds zing to meat glazes, sauces, and soups. It also makes a wonderful topping for ice cream, and it can be mixed with soda water to make a tasty non-alcoholic drink. Look for bottles of it in Middle Eastern markets or gourmet stores. Store it in the refrigerator, where it will keep almost indefinitely. Don't confuse pomegranate molasses with grenadine, which is much sweeter.
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pomegranate seeds, anardana
pomegranate seeds
Bits of pomegranate pulp remain on the seeds as they dry, so they're a bit sticky and serve as a souring agent in Indian cuisine. The seeds also come ground.
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pomelo, Chinese grapefruit, pummelo, shaddock
pomelo
This has a very thick peel, so you have to work to get at the pulp. Many people think it's worth the trouble, for a pomelo is milder and sweeter than its closest substitute, the grapefruit.
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pomfret
pomfret
You can buy frozen pomfret in Asian markets.
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Pommeranzen bitters
This orange-flavored bitters is made in the Netherlands and Germany. It comes in red and green versions.
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