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P

• Packed - pressed or mashed together tightly, filling the measuring utensil with as much of the ingredient as possible.
• Pad Thai - A dish from Thailand that is made with rice noodles, tofu, eggs, chiles, garlic, bean sprouts, fish sauce, and peanuts.
• Paella - A classic dish combining rice and a variety of both meat and seafood.
• Paella - A dish from Spain that is made with rice, saffron, vegetables, meats, and seafood.
• Paella - a traditional Spanish one-pot dish of saffron-flavored rice combined with a variety of meats and shellfish
• Pakora - a small, deep-fried snacks of India with chick-pea flour as an ingredient in the mixture.
• Palm Hearts - Hearts of young palm trees.
• Palm Sugar - Known as gula jawa (Indonesian), gula Malacca (Malaysian), nahm tahn beep (Thai). Similar to brown sugar. Its flavor is extracted from coconut flower or palm.
• Palmier - a delicious flat flaky palm-shaped pastries made by layering puff pastry with sugar, rolling it, then slicing it thin and baking.
• Pan Broiling - To cook in an uncovered skillet where the fat is poured off during cooking.
• Pan-broil - to cook over direct heat in an uncovered skillet containing little or no shortening.
• Pancakes - Thin, flat batter cakes made by shallow fried on both sides.
• Pancetta - An Italian cured meat made from the belly (pancia) of the big (the same cut used for bacon). It is salted but lightly spiced, but not smoked.
• Pan-fry - to cook in an uncovered skillet in small amount of shortening.
• Panocha - Indian pudding made with panocha flour, brown sugar, and seasonings such as cinnamon and cloves.
• Papas - Potatoes
• Papaya - A sweet tropical fruit. The juice of this fruit yields an enzyme that is used as a meat tenderizer.
• Papaya - A fruit with green skin, with an aromatic, orange flesh.
• Paper Cookery - en papillote is the French term for this process of cooking food in a container made from heavy paper.
• Papillote - (French) Cooked in foil or parchment paper to seal in flavor, then served and cut open at table.
• Papillote - French term for fancy paper shapes and ruffles used to hide the ends of chop bones.
• Pappadums - Crisp Indian wafers made of legume flour or both rice and legume flours.
• Paprika - a blend of dried red-skinned chiles; the flavor can range from slightly sweet and mild to pungent and moderately hot and the color can range from bright red-orange to deep blood red;
• Parboil - to partially cook a food briefly in boiling water before storing or finishing it by another method.
• Parboiling - To cook partially by boiling for a short period of time.
• Parchment Paper - A silicon based paper that can withstand high heat. Good with sugar and chocolate because they won't stick.
• Pare - to cut off the outside covering. Applied to potatoes, apples, etc.
• Parfait - a French dessert of frozen pudding, either ice cream or mousse layered with fruits or syrups and whipped cream.
• Parmesan - Hard, cow's-milk Italian cheese.
• Parmesan Cheese - A cow's milk cheese whose taste ranges from sweet to sharp.
• Parsley - an herb (Petroselium crispum) with long, slender stalks, small, curly dark green leaves and a slightly peppery, tangy fresh flavor (the flavor is stronger in the stalks, which are used in a bouquet garni);
• Pashka - a traditional Russian Easter cheesecake with nuts and candied fruit made in the form of a pyramid.
• Passata - A smooth tomato sauce.
• Passover Bread - see matzo.
• Pasta - A dough made from durum-wheat semolina, water and sometimes eggs.
• Pastelitos - Dried-fruit filled pies -- usually apricot or prune or both.
• Pastrami - spicy smoked beef eaten hot or cold. Italian variation of corned beef.
• Pâté - A paste or spread made from meat or fish, can be of various textures from smooth to coarse.
• Pâté (French for paste) - a paste made of finely ground liver or meat blended together with herbs and spices and baked.
• Patty Pan - A small, circular, courgette with fluted edges.
• Patty Tin - Baking tin with 6, 9 or 12 shallow round compartments used for making individual pies and tarts.
• Paupiettes - thin slices of meat or fish, stuffed, then rolled and cooked.
• Pawpaws - the largest edible fruit that is native to the United States.
• Peach - a medium-sized stone fruit (Prunus persica) native to China; has a fuzzy, yellow-red skin, pale orange, yellow or white juicy flesh surrounding a hard stone and a sweet flavor;
• Peach Melba - A peachy dessert created in the late 1800s by the famous French chef Escoffier for Dame Nellie Melba, a popular Australian opera singer.
• Peanut - a legume and not a nut (Arachis hypogea), it is the plant's nut-like seed that grows underground;
• Pear - a spherical to bell-shaped pome fruit (Pyrus communis), generally with a juicy, tender, crisp off-white flesh, moderately thin skin that can range in color from celadon green to golden yellow to tawny red and a flavor that can be sweet to spicy;
• Peas - the edible seeds contained within the pods of various vines;
• Pecan - A nut related to the walnut.
• Pecan - the nut of a tree of the hickory family (Carya oliviformis), native to North America; has a smooth, thin, hard, tan shell enclosing a bilobed, golden brown kernel with beige flesh and a high fat content.
• Peche - (French) Peach.
• Pecorino Romano - The Pecorino cheeses are made from sheep's milk in Italy.
• Pectin - substance that occurs in fruits or vegetables that acts as jelling agent in jams and other preserves.
• Peel - to remove the outside covering, such as the rind or skin, of a fruit or vegetable with a knife or vegetable peeler.
• Penne - Literally means "Quills". This tubular pasta goes well with sauce, used in salads, baked in casseroles, or made into stir fry dishes.
• Penne - Italian for pen or quill and used to describe short to medium-length straight tubes (ridged or smooth) of pasta with diagonally cut ends.
• Pepitas - roasted pumpkin seeds.
• Pepper - the fruit of various members of the Capsicum genus; a pepper has a hollow body with placental ribs (internal white veins) to which tiny seeds are attached
• Pepper Steak - a beefsteak dipped in crushed pepper and sautéed in butter, then flamed with brandy.
• Peppermint - an herb and member of the mint family (Mentha piperita); has thin stiff, pointed bright green, purple-tinged leaves and a pungent, menthol flavor; used as a flavoring and garnish.
• Pepperoncini - [pep-per-awn-CHEE-nee] Are chilies that have a slightly sweet flavor that can range from medium to medium-hot.
• Pepperpot - a spicy stew without much sauce.
• Périgeux - A demi-glace sauce made with finely diced or chopped truffles.
• Periwinkle - a small sea snail served roasted, poached, or raw, with wine sauce.
• Perry - An alcoholic drink, similar to cider, made from pears.
• Persimmon - small acidulous plum-like tool used to crush or pound food in a bowl with rough interior surface - the mortar.
• Pestle and Mortar - Pestle a club shaped implement. Mortar a sturdy mixing bowl.
• Pesto - Pesto is an Italian basil sauce. Many variations of this sauce exist.
• Petit - (French) Small.
• Petit Four - a small cake, usually bite-sized, which has been frosted and decorated.
• Petit Suisse - an unsalted, very rich cream cheese rolled in paper in a cylindrical shape.
• Philadelphia Ice Cream - Also called uncooked ice cream. An ice cream made without eggs, using various combinations of milk, cream, sugar, and flavorings like fruit.
• Phyllo - From the Greek word for "leaf." Phyllo is a paper-thin pastry dough used in Greek and Middle Eastern sweet and savory dishes.
• Pickapeppa Sauce - A sweet and sour, mild hot pepper sauce from Jamaica.
• Pickle - to preserve in seasoned and/or flavored vinegar, brine or oil. This is common for vegetables, especially cucumbers, fruits and meats.
• Pico de Gallo - Literally rooster's beak, a coarse uncooked tomato salsa
• Pierogi - Polish dumplings filled with meats, potatoes, and spices.
• Pignoli - pine nuts.
• Pilaf / Pilaff / Pilau - a rice dish in which the raw rice is first simmered in a shortening or butter, then cooked with water or broth, and sometimes meat, poultry, fish or shellfish.
• Pilchard - An oily sea fish
• Piloncillo - Brown, unrefined cane sugar found in cone-shaped pieces used to sweeten coffee and desserts.
• Pimiento - a large, heart-shaped pepper with red skin and a sweet flavor; used in paprika and to stuff olives.
• Pinch - the amount of a dry ingredient that can be held between the thumb and forefinger (sometimes referred to as a dash). The equivalent measurement is approximately 1/16 of a teaspoon.
• Pine Nut - The small edible seed of the stone pine, used as a flavouring.
• Pineapple - a tropical fruit (Ananas comosus) with a spiny, diamond-patterned, greenish-brown skin and swordlike leaves; the juicy yellow flesh surrounds a hard core and has a sweet-tart flavor.
• Pink Fir Apple - A pink-beige, knobbly skinned, waxy potato.
• Pinon - Pine nuts, seeds of large pine cones.
• Pint - a unit of volume measurement equal to 16 fl. oz. in the U.S. system.
• Pinto Bean - a medium-sized pale pink bean with reddish-brown streaks; available dried; also known as a crabeye bean and a red Mexican bean.
• Pipe - to squeeze a smooth, shapeable mixture through a decorating bag to make decorative shapes; to apply with a pastry tube.
• Pirogi - Russian pastries that filled with meats and potatoes. They can either be baked or fried.
• Pissaladière - French. a tart, or pizza-type dish, made of baked dough with onions, tomatoes, garlic, anchovies, black olives and / or other garnishes.
• Pistachio - a flavorful nut used for snacking when roasted, and for flavoring sweets and ice cream.
• Pita - envelope of unleavened bread used for making sandwiches. Arab.
• Pizza - a yeast dough, sometimes thick, sometimes thin, baked with such toppings as pureed tomatoes, shredded mozzarella cheese, sausages, olives, anchovies, etc.
• Pizzelles - Thin decoratively patterned Italian wafer cookies that are made in an iron similar to a waffle iron.
• Plaice - A flat sea fish with orange-spot.
• Planking - a style of baking or broiling meat or fish on a piece of hard wood.
• Plantains - Also known as machos. The plantain is a green skinned, pink fleshed banana which is usually flatter and longer than a regular banana.
• Plastic Wrap - a thin sheet of clear polymers such as polyvinyl chloride; clings to surfaces and is used to wrap foods for storage.
• Plum - a small to medium-sized ovoid or spherical stone fruit (Prunus domestica) that grows in clusters;
• Plum Pudding - British holiday pudding made mostly of dried fruit, rarely with plums
• Plum sauce - Also known as duck sauce, plum sauce is a Chinese condiment made from plums, apricots, vinegar and sugar.
• Pluot - [PLU-ought]. A new fruit grown near Fresno in California's San Joaquin Valley.
• Poach - to cook in liquid held below the boiling point.
• Poi - Hawaiian dish of cooked and pounded taro root.
• Polenta - Italian cornmeal pudding or mush, eaten hot or cold, usually with sauce and / or meats.
• Pomegranate Molasses - Also called pomegranate syrup, A Middle Eastern bottled condiment made from yellow sour pomegranates cooked with sugar, which gives a fruity tangy flavor to savory dishes.
• Popover - a batter muffin that is puffy and almost hollow, it has risen so high.
• Porcini Mushrooms - Dried Cepes mushrooms found in most Italian markets.
• Pork - the flesh of hogs, usually slaughtered under the age of 1 year.
• Porringer - a child’s dish used for porridge.
• Port - a grape wine fortified with brandy, which often is used to flavor casseroles and desserts.
• Portabella - a very large crimini; the mushroom has a dense texture and a rich, meaty flavor.
• Porterhouse Steak - A cut of meat from the rear end of the short loin. It consists of a hefty chunk of tenderloin with an even heftier chunk of sirloin tip.
• Portmanteau - a French steak that has a pocket cut into the side into which oysters are placed. The pocket is sewn shut before the steak is cooked.
• Portobello Mushroom - Also Portobella. A full grown cremini mushroom with an earthy meaty flavor
• Posole - Hominy stew made with dried lime-treated corn and combined with pork and seasonings.
• Pot Pie - a pie of meat or poultry and vegetables in a thick gravy, topped with a short pastry crust.
• Pot Roast - To cook food raised in on a rack within a covered pot over a small amount of - liquid.
• Potato - the starchy tuber of a succulent, nonwoody annual plant (Solanum turberosum) native to the Andes Mountains;
• Potato Flour - a flour made from potatoes. It is used as a thickening agent, like cornstarch.
• Potatoes, Straw - potatoes grated or sliced into tiny sticks and deep fried.
• Pot-Au-Feu - literally, “pot on the fire,” this is one of the oldest ways with food in France - a thick soup, or thin stew.
• Pot-Roasting - a phrase that describes braising, the process of browning meat and then cooking it in very little liquid.
• Pottage - A thick stew cooked in a pot over an open fire.
• Potted Meat - cooked meat preserved in a jar.
• Poultry - any domesticated bird used for food; the USDA recognizes six kinds of poultry: chicken, duck, goose, guinea, pigeon and turkey.
• Pound - a basic measure of weight in the U.S. system; 16 ounces = 1 pound, 1 pound = 453.6 grams or 0.4536 kilogram .
• Pound, to - in cooking, to flatten with a heavy tool.
• Poussin - A small immature chicken, also called a spring chicken.
• Pozole - [poh-SOH-leh] A thick, hearty soup usually consisting of pork (sometimes chicken) meat and broth, hominy, onion, garlic, dried chiles and cilantro.
• Praline - a hard candy made of sugar cooked to 310 degrees on the candy thermometer, to which almonds or pecans are added.
• Prawn - Shellfish with several different varieties.
• Prawns - crustaceans like shrimp. In some areas of the United States, the term is applied to any large shrimp.
• Preheat - to bring the oven or grill to the desired temperature before placing the food in to cook.
• Pressed Beef - the brisket which has been boned, salted and pressed
• Primavera - Primavera literally means "spring style " in Italian. This usually means topping a dish with fresh vegetables (raw or blanched). Pasta Primavera being the most common
• Princess, a la - Any dish (usually poultry, salmon, sweetbreads, or egg) topped with the rich garnish of asparagus tips and slivers of truffle.
• Printanier, à la - to be cooked or garnished with fresh spring vegetables. Printemps is the French word for spring.
• Profiteroles - A miniature Cream Puff filled with either a sweet or savory mixture.
• Proof - to allow a yeast mixture to rise in a warm, dry place.
• Proscuitto - The Italian word for ham, used in the names of raw hams coming from Italy, in particular Proscuitto di Parma and Proscuitto di San Daniele.
• Provencale, a la - a dish including garlic, olive oil, tomatoes and often black olives.
• Prune - a dried red or purple plum.
• Pudding - a general name for many thick, rich dishes, both sweet and savory.
• Puff Pastry - A very light flaky pastry made of many layers which expand when cooked.
• Pulse - Edible seeds, often dried, of leguminous plants such as peas, beans, lentils, and chick peas.
• Pulses - the dried form of peas, beans, soybean, peanuts and other legumes.
• Pumpkin - a spherical winter squash with a flattened top and base, size ranging from small to very large, fluted orange shell
• Puree - to process a food into a smooth paste, usually with a blender or food processor, or by pressing the food through a fine sieve or food mill.
• Puy Lentils - Small grey-blue lentils.

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