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Lactic Acid - a colorless liquid produced as milk sugar ferments and milk sours. It is used to curdle milk in cheese making.

Ladle - to move portions of a food using a ladle. A utensil with a cup-like bowl and a long hooked or pierced handle and available in various sizes; used to pour sauces and liquids (ex. soups) and to push sauces and other foods through a sieve.

Ladyfingers - a small finger-shaped sponge cake, like a cookie.

Lager - any light beer.

Lamb - the meat of a sheep slaughtered when less than 1 year old; generally tender with a mild flavor; also known as a yearling.

Lamb’s Fry - the heart, liver, sweetbread and inside fat of the lamb.

Lamb’s Lettuce - a handy annual plant also known as corn salad. A salad green.

Lamb’s Wool - a fancy hot alcoholic drink made of hot sweetened ale, roasted apples, and nutmeg or ginger.

Langouste - crustacean lacking claws, but otherwise are like a large American lobster.

Lard - tenderized hog fat used in pie crusts and for deep-frying. Also, to insert strips of fat into meat to keep it moist and add flavor.

Larding needle - a long needle with a large eye, used to insert strips of fat into lean meats.

Lasagne - 1. Wide, flat Italian pasta sheets with ruffled or smooth edges. 2. An Italian dish made with boiled lasagna layered with cheese (usually ricotta and mozzarella) and meats and/or vegetables and topped with a tomato, meat and/or béchamel sauce and baked.

Layer Cake - two, three or more layers of cake with a filling between.

Lazy Susan - a revolving tray that sits in the middle of a dining table. Usually round.

Laurel - bay leaf.

Lean - the FDA-approved food-labeling term used to describe meat, poultry, game, fish or shellfish that contains less than 10 grams of fat, less than 4 grams of saturated fat and less than 95 mg of cholesterol per serving or per 100 grams.

Leaven - to lighten and increase the volume of bakery products. Leavening agents are yeast, baking powder, baking soda and eggs.

Leavening agent; Leavener - 1. A substance used to leaven a dough or batter; may be natural (ex. air or steam), chemical (ex. baking powder or baking soda) or biological (ex. yeast). 2. A type of food additive used to produce or stimulate production of carbon dioxide in baked goods to impart a light texture.

Leek - a member of the lily family (Allium porrum); has a thick, cylindrical white stalk with a slightly bulbous root end and many flat, dull dark green leaves; the tender white stalk has a flavor that is sweeter and stronger than a scallion but milder than an onion and is used in salads and as a flavoring.

Lees - the sediment of dregs left as wine or liquors ferments. Also, the settling of a liquid.

Legumes - a large group of plants that have double-seamed pods, containing a single row of seeds; depending on the variety, the seeds, pod and seeds together, or the dried seeds, are eaten.

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