All Ingredients

These large pasta tubes are about an inch in diameter. They collapse after they're cooked, trapping sauces within.

Paddlefish swim in Southern rivers and they're relatives of sturgeons--the fish that produce the world's most expensive and exquisite caviars. Paddlefish roe is very similar to sevruga caviar, only it's cheaper. Since Caspian Sea sturgeon are rapidly becoming depleted from over-fishing, many people are turning to paddlefish roe as a substitute for caviar.

This soft Italian cow's milk cheese resembles Brie and Camembert. Use it within a few days after purchasing. For best flavor, serve at room temperature.

These golden brown ales are somewhat bitter and fruity.

This is ground turmeric.

These crunchy cookies are made with puff pastry and sugar.

This bright orange palm oil is a staple in Brazilian cuisine, but very high in saturated fat

Look for this is Indian or Asian markets. It should crumble when you squeeze it.

To make your own: melt palm sugar, then strain.

This cloudy white vinegar is popular in the Philippines. It's milder than wine or cider vinegars.

This is the inexpensive version of maple syrup that Americans love to pour on pancakes and waffles. It's usually based on corn syrup, and flavored either with artificial flavoring or real maple syrup. To make your own: See the recipe for Mock Maple Syrup on RecipeSource.

Pancetta is the Italian counterpart to our bacon. It's cured, but not smoked, and it's often used to give a subtle salty flavor to pasta sauces. Deli counters often carry cylinders of it, and slice it to order.

This is a Bengali spice mix that combines aniseed, cumin, fenugreek, mustard and nigella. Don't confuse it with Chinese five spice powder, which is completely different.

These dried yellow Filipino noodles are used to make a dish called pancit. They're made with wheat flour, coconut oil, and yellow food coloring.

Indians like to serve this bland fresh cow or buffalo milk cheese with spinach or peas. Use within a few days.

This large, dome-shaped Italian coffee cake is traditionally offered as a gift during the Christmas season. The cake is slightly sweet, and contains raisins, nuts, and candied fruits. Many Italian markets carry them year round, often packed in pretty boxes.

Panko breadcrumbs have a coarser texture than ordinary breadcrumbs, and they make for a much lighter and crunchier casserole topping and coating for deep-fried foods. They're especially good for breading seafood. Tan-colored panko is made from the whole loaf, white panko from bread with the crusts cut off. Look for both kinds in the Asian foods section of larger supermarkets.

This is a type of Italian pasta that consists of 2-inch squares of pasta that are stuffed and folded into a triangular shape. The edges are either straight or ruffled.

This Mexican herb is similar to cilantro. It's often added raw to tacos, sandwiches, salads, and guacamole. It doesn't handle heat well, so add it to cooked dishes at the last minute.

With their subtle tropical flavor, papayas are wonderful in fruit salads, puréed fruit drinks, or even shish kabobs. They're also good for you and easy to peel and seed. Papayas from Hawaii are more common and more flavorful than those from Mexico. Yellow ones that yield to gentle pressure are ready to eat, and should be refrigerated. Green ones will ripen at room temperature in just a few days.

Wrapping meats in these leaves helps tenderize them.

These tortilla-shaped Indian crackers are made with chickpea or lentil flour. Before you serve them, you need to fry them in very hot oil or heat them in a microwave oven until they puff up and become crisp. You can then break them up and serve them with curried dishes, or use them like tortilla chips. They're sold in Indian markets.

Pappardelle noodles are flat ribbons of Italian pasta, sold either dried or fresh. They're normally served with hearty sauces. These are often made with eggs, and so might not work in a vegan diet.

Paprika is made from special kinds of sweet red peppers, which are dried and ground. Varieties include the highly regarded and sweet Hungarian paprika = rose paprika = sweet paprika = Hungarian pepper and the cheaper and more pungent Spanish paprika = Spanish pepper = pimentón = pimenton. Cookbooks that call for paprika are usually referring to Hungarian paprika.

Paradise nuts are in a large (10") capped pot-like fruit contains nutritious nuts.

Canners sometimes use this wax to seal jars, but it's hard to get a tight seal. It's safer and easier to use two-piece canning lids. Many grocers apply wax to fruits and vegetables to hold in moisture and make them shiny. Candy-makers sometimes use wax in their chocolates so that they hold up better in warm weather.

This flaky Indian flatbread is made like puff pastry, in that the dough is repeatedly rolled flat, brushed with clarified butter, folded, and then rolled again. When fried, the bread becomes light and flaky. It's served with kebabs and stews, or stuffed with various fillings.

This is a heavy, silicone-coated paper that's used to line pans so that candies and baked goods won't stick. It's an expensive alternative to waxed paper, but it's less sticky, so it's a good choice if you're making gooey items. Parchment paper is also wrapped around foods to be cooked en papillote, or formed into cones for cake decorating. Specialty cooking stores and larger supermarkets often carry rolls or sheets of it. Paper grocery bags are sometimes recommended as a substitute for parchment paper, but it's not advisable to use them. Grocery bags will ignite at 450 degrees, and that they may have been treated with unsafe chemicals.

Cake decorators use these along with decorating tips to make decorating bags.

The name means "perfect love" in French, and this sweet purple liqueur is flavored with citrus and spices.

This firm cow's milk cheese is pungent, nutty, and salty, and it's terrific grated on salads, pasta, or pizzas, or served simply with figs, pears, or crusty bread. The best parmesan is the Northern Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano, but less pricy domestic parmesans are also well regarded. Aging increases the price and flavor.

This tropical fish is delicious, but environmentalists worry that overfishing will harm coral reefs, since parrotfish clean them of algae. In addition, parrotfish also convert dead coral into white sand (up to 220 pounds of sand per fish per year) that we all love to walk and play volleyball on. As with all reef fish, parrotfish also contain a toxin called ciguatera, which can cause food poisoning. You can reduce the risk by not eating the fish's head or organs.

Parsley is prized both for its looks and for its fresh, grassy flavor. There are two common varieties: the mild curly parsley and the more flavorful Italian parsley. Use curly parsley if you want looks and Italian parsley if you want flavor. Parsley doesn't hold up well to cooking, so add it to cooked dishes at the very last minute. Frozen parsley is a good substitute for fresh, but dried parsley adds only color.

This is hard to find in the United States, but it's a popular root vegetable in Central Europe. For more information, see the Wegman's Food Market's page on Parsley Root.

These are like carrots, except that they're cream-colored and never served raw. Northern Europeans like to add them to stews, but they can also be puréed or served as a side dish. Choose small, crisp ones.

These small, plump birds are related to pheasants, and very tasty. Varieties include the chukar, red-legged partridge = French partridge, and grey partridge = English partridge.