Cooking Dictionary Results

P

Packed - pressed or mashed together tightly, filling the measuring utensil with as much of the ingredient as possible.

Paella - a traditional Spanish one-pot dish of saffron-flavored rice combined with a variety of meats and shellfish (such as shrimp, lobster, clams, chicken, pork, ham and chorizo), garlic, onions, peas, artichoke hearts and tomatoes. It's named after the special two-handled pan — also called paella — in which it's prepared and served. The pan is wide, shallow and 13 to 14 inches in diameter.

Pakora - a small, deep-fried snacks of India with chick-pea flour as an ingredient in the mixture. Vegetables, fish, or chicken are spiced with ginger, cumin, chopped onion, and garlic, blended with the flour, shaped into small patties, and deep fried. An American version makes appetizers by dipping chunks of raw vegetables into a fritter batter, and deep frying.

Palmier - a delicious flat flaky palm-shaped pastries made by layering puff pastry with sugar, rolling it, then slicing it thin and baking.

Pan-broil - to cook over direct heat in an uncovered skillet containing little or no shortening.

Pan-fry - to cook in an uncovered skillet in small amount of shortening.

Pancakes - A round, pan-fried flat bread made from batter, the versatile pancake has hundreds of variations and is served for breakfast, lunch and dinner and also as appetizers, entrées and desserts. The cakes can vary in thickness from wafer-thin crepes to the much thicker breakfast pancakes (also called hotcakes, griddlecakes and flapjacks).

Paper Cookery - en papillote is the French term for this process of cooking food in a container made from heavy paper.

Papillote - French term for fancy paper shapes and ruffles used to hide the ends of chop bones.