All Ingredients

This assertive vinegar is a staple in French households. It's used in vinaigrettes and for making marinades, stews, and sauces. It's a good choice if you're trying to balance strong flavors in a hearty dish.

These waxy potatoes hold their shape after they're cooked, so they're great for making potato salads and scalloped potatoes. Don't mash them--you'll end up with a sticky, gooey mess.

These can be gummy and insipid, and they usually have a shorter shelf life than their fattier counterparts. Reduced-fat cheeses become rubbery if they're allowed to dry out during cooking, so keep the cheese moist by adding extra liquid or by sealing in the dish's moisture with a pot lid or aluminum foil.

This large, roundish avocado slips easily from the peel, and has excellent flavor and texture. It will stay firm even when ripe, so it's not a good choice if you're making guacamole.

These are beans that are cooked, mashed, and then fried, usually in lard or bacon drippings.

These come with or without a coating of sesame seeds.

These pasta tubes are similar to penne, though a bit longer and thinner. The name reginelle is also sometimes used for reginette pasta, which are wide ribbons with ruffled edges.

These wide ribbons of Italian pasta have ruffled edges.

This is halfway between the custard-like consistency of silken tofu and the denser texture of firm tofu. It's a good choice if you want to scramble it like eggs, or use it in place of ricotta cheese in a casserole. Store tofu in the refrigerator, changing the water daily, and use it within a week. Freezing firm tofu will make it chewier and give it a meatier texture. Look for cakes of it in plastic tubs in the refrigerated sections of supermarkets and health food stores.

This fresh Hispanic cow's milk cheese resembles ricotta cheese, and is used to make dips and desserts.

This is a white Greek wine that's flavored with pine resin. It's popular with Greeks, but hasn't caught on elsewhere. It should be served at room temperature.

Rheas are the South American version of ostriches. Rhea meat resembles ostrich meat, but it's even leaner.

Riesling grapes are used to make white Rhine wine.

These are especially good for baking.

Vineyards along the Rhône River in Southeastern France produce red, white, and blush wines, but they're best known for their excellent red wines. Châteauneuf-du-Pape is the region's most famous appellation, while Côtes-du-Rhône is the catch-all name given to lesser Rhône wines.

Though a vegetable, rhubarb is treated more like a fruit, and it's typically made into such things as pies, tarts, preserves, and wine. It's very tart, and at its best when combined with berries. Varieties includes cherry rhubarb and the more delicate strawberry rhubarb. Fresh rhubarb shows up in markets in the spring. If you can't find it fresh, frozen rhubarb is a fine substitute. Don't eat rhubarb leaves; they contain high levels of oxalic acid, a toxin.

This is a popular brand of pastis, or licorice-flavored liqueur.

Rice is the most important food crop in Asia. It can be cooked whole and served with stir-fries, sauces, and curries, or made into flour, wine, cakes, vinegar, milk, flakes, noodles, paper, and tea. Rice is classified mostly by the size of the grain. Long-grain rice is long and slender. The grains 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. Medium-grain rice is shorter and plumper, and works well in paella and risotto. Short-grain rice is almost round, with moist grains that stick together when cooked. It's the best choice for rice pudding and molded salads. Other specialty varieties include Spanish rice for paella, glutinous rice for sushi and rice balls, and risotto rice for risotto. Most varieties are sold as either brown or white rice, depending upon how they are milled. Brown rice retains the bran that surrounds the kernel, making it chewier, nuttier, and richer in nutrients. White rice lacks the bran and germ, but is more tender and delicate. It's less nutritious than brown rice, but you can partially compensate for that by getting enriched white rice. Brown rice takes about twice as long to cook as white rice. Converted rice is beige. It tastes a lot like white rice, but it has more nutrients. Instant rice is white rice that's been precooked and dehydrated. It's convenient, but expensive and bland.

These tiny beans don't require soaking and cook in just 15 minutes. Some cooks use them instead of rice to make risotto.

This is very rich in fiber.

These crunchy snacks are relatively low in fat--and flavor. They come in different flavors, like caramel, cheese, ranch, and apple cinnamon. Don't confuse this with mochi, which is also sometimes called rice cake.

These addictive Japanese snacks are available in many large supermarkets.

These big, flat rice noodles look like tortilla chips. They're used in soups and stir-fries. Before using them, soften them in hot water, then boil or stir-fry them briefly, usually not more than a minute.

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

Look for this in aseptic containers. Some varieties are gluten-free; others are not. A common brand is Rice Dream. Shake well before using!

Rice noodles are made with rice flour, and are especially popular in Southeast Asia. It's easy to find dried rice noodles in large supermarkets, but you'll probably have to visit an Asian market to find them fresh. Rice noodles should be soaked in hot water before using. When they're soft and transparent, drain them.

Vietnamese and Thai cooks use this herb in soups and curry dishes.

These thin, fragile sheets are used to make spring rolls, but they also make good all-purpose wrappers, baking pan liners, and even lasagne noodles. The sheets are brittle, so you need to moisten them with water before wrapping foods in them. Keep them moist while you work with them by covering the stack with a damp towel. Rice paper doesn't need to be cooked, but it's sturdy enough to be steamed or deep-fried. Look for it in Asian markets. It can be stored in a cool, dark place for many months.

This is a good pasta alternative for people with wheat allergies. It's also available as brown rice pasta.

They come in many shapes and sizes, but they can be roughly classified as thin, medium, and wide. Thin rice noodles are used in soups, salads, and spring rolls. Medium noodles are the most versatile, and can be used in soups, stir-fries, salads, or as a bed for meat or fish. Wide noodles are best used in soups, stir-fries, and braised dishes. Before using rice noodles, soften them in hot water. This will take anywhere from a few minutes to a half hour, depending upon the thickness of the noodles. After they've softened, boil or stir-fry them briefly, usually not more than a minute. It's easier to stir-fry noodles if you break them into shorter lengths.

These are used throughout Asian in soups, spring rolls, cold salads, and stir-fries. They're similar to bean threads, only they're longer and made with rice flour instead of mung bean starch. Before using, soak the dried noodles in hot water until they're soft (about 15 minutes), then boil them briefly (from 1 to 3 minutes) and rinse with hot water. You can also deep-fry the dried noodles until they're crunchy and then use them in Chinese chicken salad, or as a garnish or bed for sauces.

Rice vinegars are popular in Asian and they're sweeter, milder, and less acidic than Western vinegars. They're sometimes called rice wine vinegars, but they're made from rice, not rice wine. Most recipes that call for rice vinegar intend for you to use white rice vinegar, which is used in both China and Japan. The Chinese also use red rice vinegar with seafood or in sweet and sour dishes, and black rice vinegar in stir-fries and dipping sauces.

Technically, this should be called "rice beer," since it's fermented from a grain rather than a fruit. The Japanese produce two kinds of rice wines: sake, a dry wine that is used for drinking and cooking, and mirin, a sweet wine which is used just for cooking. Chinese cooks use a product similar to sake, called Shaoxing wine.

This Italian fresh cheese is made from the watery whey that's drained off in the production of mozzarella, provolone, and other cheeses. It's similar to cottage cheese, though it's smoother, less salty, and richer in calcium. Don't confuse ricotta cheese with ricotta salata, which is a drier, firmer cheese used in salads and pasta dishes. You can eat fresh ricotta straight from the tub with fresh fruit, but it's more commonly used as an ingredient in pasta dishes and desserts. Italian ricotta cheeses are made exclusively with whey, while American versions add milk as a stretcher. Low-fat versions are available, and they work quite well in cheesecakes. Use the cheese within a few days after purchasing, and throw it out if mold appears or if it tastes too acidic. It can be made from cow, sheep or goat milk.