Culinary Terms I

#Indienne : A dish served in the Indian manner.
Infusion : The liquid extraction derived from steeping a substance such as coffee. tea.herbs etc..in boiling water.

#Ice-Cream – A frozen dessert made of sweetened cream or rich milk, sometimes thickened with egg or gelatin, variously flavoured and churned while partially frozen until of a smooth consistency. Ice-cream is available commercially in many forms and flavours (include low-fat versions) or it can be made at home. It can be flavoured with vanilla, chocolate, caramel, honey, coffee, spirits, or liqueurs; chopped nuts, pieces of honeycomb or pureed fruit can be stirred through.

A home made ice-cream will freeze harder than commercial one; if too hard, move it from the freezer to the refrigerator half an hour before serving; home made ice-cream is best eaten within 48 hours of being made.

#Ice-cream is descended from the flavoured ices eaten in China some 3000 years ago, the semi-solid iced fruit drinks of ancient Persia (the word ‘sherbet’ comes from sharbia, the Arab word for ‘drink’) and the ice sorbets of the Moghul emperors of the sixteenth century India. Thirteenth-century Venetian traveler Marco Polo returned from China with tales of frozen sweet cream dish; kulfi is an ancient Indian dish made with milk boiled until thick and then frozen. In sixteenth century the Florentine cooks of Catherine de’ Medici, bride of France’s Henri II, introduced the French to the frozen cream confection gelati; it was quickly taken up by fashionable Parisian cafés who served it in small silver bowls. The ice-cream churn invented by American Nancy Johnson in 1846 enabled good quality ice-cream to be made at home; it also made it possible to mass produce ice-cream and sell it commercially. The best ice-cream churns are electric or hand operated with salt and ice placed around the outside of the bucket containing the ice-cream. When the paddle stop, the ice-cream is ready.

#Icing – A sweet coating usually made with icing (confectioners’) sugar and butter, used to decorate cakes and biscuits (cookies).

#IcingSugar (Confectioners’ Sugar) – finely powdered granulated sugar use to make icings and frostings and in confectionery. Icing sugar mixture has a small amount of cornflour added to prevent it from drying out and turning lumpy during storage.

Île Flottante (Floating Island) – A dessert consisting of rich custard topped with an island of baked meringue coated in toffee or caramel. It is some times decorated with crushed praline (a confection of nuts and caramelized sugar) or toasted slivered almonds.

#IrishSodaBread – Bread made with buttermilk or sour milk and leavened with bicarbonate of soda (baking soda). Currants, raisins, and caraway seed are often added. Soda bread is a specialty of Ireland and is baked in homes and bakeries throughout the country.