A Glossary of the World's Tables

A Glossary of the World's Tables

Mirepoix / soffritto / sofrito — the aromatic vegetable bases of French, Italian, and Spanish cooking. Mezze — the shared small dishes of the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant. Tagine — both the conical Moroccan vessel and the slow-cooked stew made in it. Masala — a blend of spices, freshly composed; tadka (tarka) — spices bloomed in hot fat. Dashi — the Japanese kombu-and-bonito stock (see Vol. I, umami). Wok hei — the "breath of the wok," the seared aroma of food cooked fast over fierce flame. Jang — the fermented soybean pastes and sauces at the heart of Korean cooking. Nixtamalisation — treating maize with alkali (lime) to make masa, freeing its niacin. Milpa — the Mesoamerican intercrop of maize, beans and squash — the "three sisters." Mole — the complex Mexican sauces built from many chillies, spices, seeds, and often chocolate. Cucina povera — the "cooking of the poor," the resourceful peasant tradition beneath much Italian food. Columbian Exchange — the vast post-1492 transfer of crops, animals and disease between the hemispheres. Diaspora — the scattering of a people, and of their foodways; here especially the African diaspora of the Atlantic slave trade.