cookcabulary - food words starting with p

Love eating Chinese so you can order the #4? You’re not alone. All of us have “food moments” when we’re stumped as to how to pronounce something, be it wine, an ethnic dish, or an exotic ingredient or food. Cookcabulary includes definitions of food terms, ingredients and dishes so you can become a smarter, savvier eater and impress all your friends. We even have pronunciation guides for those particularly strange words.

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Paprika

Paprika (pa-PREE-kuh)
A brightly colored spice, paprika is the powder made from grinding sweet red pepper pods and is used for everything from barbeque rubs to deviled eggs. After Christopher Columbus brought peppers from the New World to Europe, the wealthy residents of Spain used the plants decoratively in their gardens. Cooks soon discovered culinary uses for the pods, and eventually, peppers were ground into the fine powder we now know as paprika.

Native Americans used a paprika-like substance for seasoning and healing, but the mild pepper used in paprika was cultivated in Europe. Hungary was ground zero, and Hungarian cuisine demonstrates paprika's power to influence a dish: think Goulash or Chicken Paprikash. Many consider Hungarian paprika to be the ultimate. Hungary's well-earned pride in its product is illustrated by the names for various grades: Nobel Sweet, Exquisite Delicate and Pungent Exquisite Delicate, to name a few.

But Hungary has some pretty stiff competition. Recently, pimentón, a Spanish paprika made by smoking peppers over oak fires, has set the food world ablaze. Its distinctive smoky taste makes it a great choice for grilled meats, seafood and sauces.

Most paprika is mild, but hotter varieties are available. If you can, buy it in tins rather than bottles; it's pretty delicate stuff, and light diminishes flavor. Oh, and a tidbit for the trivia-obsessed: In the early 1930s, a Hungarian scientist used paprika as the source for vitamin C in his research. In 1937, he took home the Nobel Price for Medicine.