Fresh Food Facts / Food Dictionary

Sambal Ulek (Sambal Oelek)
A paste made by crushing red chilis with a little salt. Can be made by crushing chopped deseeded chilis in a mortar with salt, or purchased at some delicatessens or Asian food stores.

Santen/Coconut Milk
Can be bought in cans or in powdered form, or made as follows: To 2.5 cups boiling water add the grated flesh of one coconut (or 4 cups dessicated coconut). Leave to stand 30 minutes, squeeze coconut and strain. Use within 24 hours. Known as narial ka dooth in India, santen in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Sashimi
Sliced raw fish that is usually served with daikon radish, pickled ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce. It's usually the first course in a Japanese meal. Because it's served raw, only the freshest and highest-quality fish should be used for sashimi.

Scallion
Variety of onion with small bulbs, long stiff green leaves. Usually eaten raw. Also called spring onion, green onion.

Scotch Bonnet Pepper
Capsicum tetragonum. Similar to Habanero Pepper.

Scrapple
Scrapple is boiled, ground leftover pieces of pig, together with cornmeal and spices.

Scungilli
A Mollusk Gastropod - "Buccinidae" - found in more temperate waters than conch, with a darker meat and stronger flavor, perhaps less "sweet". This is more properly known as "whelk". These are generally removed from their shell and sold already steamed and ready to eat. The meat is kind of a circular meat, about 1 to 2 inches in diameter, perhaps 10 to 20 of these in a pound.

Seltzer
Plain soda water

Semolina
A grainy, pale yellow flour that is coarsely ground from hard wheats (like durum). It has a very high protein content. Used primarily for pasta dough.

Shallots
Small pointed members of the onion family that grow in clusters something like garlic and have a mild, oniony taste. Not the same as green/spring onion.

Sherry
A fortified wine (brandy is added), originally made in Spain. It ranges from pale gold and dry, to dark brown and very sweet. Dry sherry is great in sauces (expecially mushroom). Sweet sherry is used as a flavoring in desserts.

Single Cream
see Substitions

Sourdough Starter - New
Any starter started from any dry source (commercial or homemade) that has not qualified as "fresh starter" yet. This is not the same as "old" or "dead" starter, because these two conditions do not generally follow the same sequence of "recovery stages".

Sourdough Starter - Fresh
Starter which has been recently demonstrated to be quite active. Starter in this category can raise plain white (french or white bread) dough to a "more than doubled" volume in less than 2 1/2 hours after a single proofing period, i.e. remove the starter from the refrigerator and proof once, then try using it. Starter which has been refrigerated for less than 5 days or so that was "fresh" before refrigerating is also "fresh starter".

Sourdough Starter - Old or Dead
Starter which has been previously demonstrated to be "fresh" but which is no longer fresh since it cannot be demonstrated that it can raise dough after a single proof as described above. Risings which take longer than 2 1/2 hours indicate a starter which is either "new" or "old" depending on the prior life history of the starter. Note that in very nearly ALL cases of "old" or "dead" starters, that they CAN be revived back into "fresh" starters using the techniques described here. I have heard tell of starters which haven't been fed for six months being successfully revived using the given technique.

Sourdough Starter - Non-Standard
Starter which contains ingredients other than white flour and plain water. Some starters do use blends of flours or alternative flours, that's ok. Some starters use other ingredients such as a spoon of sugar...ok, but not suggested. Some starters use alternative liquids such as potatoe water or milk.

Sourdough Starter - Polluted
Starter which contains ingredients added by you or by nature, which are not normal to your starter. Examples include baking powder, salt, oils, eggs, or any other baking ingredients. Also, molds and other dark-colored microorganisms not normal to the natural symbiotic relationship which your starter normally maintains. These other microorganisms usually affect appearance, smell, and especially, flavor. Normal ingredients are flour(s), water, potatoe water or potatoes, and possibly milk or milk products. Ingredients other than plain white flour and plain water change the habitat you are maintaining for your sourdough microorganisms and may or may not be wanted according to the characteristics you want your starter to exhibit.

Spanish Onion
see Bermuda Onion

Springform pan
A round pan with tall, straight sides that "unbuckle" from a removable bottom. Is most often used with tortes and cheesecakes. Allows you to easily unmold a cake and still retain its shape.

Spring Onion
see Scallion

Squash
A family of vegetables. All but two have a thick, hard, usually inedible rind, rich-tasting meat, and lots of seeds. There are also things called summer squashes, which have edible rinds, milder meats, and usually fewer seeds. An example of this type is the Zucchini.

Sushi
A Japanese specialty based on steamed rice flavored with sweetened rice vinegar. There's a wide variety of sushi, but most include slices of raw fish placed on top of this rice. Another type includes vegetables enclosed in a sushi rice, then rolled in seaweed sheets (nori) and sliced. Swede
US rutabaga

Swiss chard
A member of the beet family with crinkly green leaves and celery-like stalks (either red or white colored). Leaves and stalk can be eaten raw, or prepared like spinach.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z