1,165 articles
Muhallebi
Muhallebi (mahalabia, malabi, mahalabiyeh) is a Middle Eastern and Turkish chilled milk pudding of milk, sugar, and rice or corn starch, documented since a 10th-century Baghdadi cookbook, with variants like tavuk göğsü and kazandibi.
Mulligatawny
Mulligatawny (milagu tannir, "pepper water") is an Anglo-Indian curry soup adapted by British cooks in colonial India from the thin South Indian Tamil broth rasam, later a staple of British cookbooks and Indian restaurants.
Mulukhiyah
Mulukhiyah (ملوخية), also molokhia or mloukhieh, is a viscous green soup of jute mallow (Corchorus olitorius) leaves in meat broth, finished with garlic-coriander taffeya in ghee; Egypt's national dish with distinct Levantine, Tunisian, Sudanese, and West African variants.
Mumbo sauce
Mumbo sauce, also spelled mambo sauce, is a sweet, tangy, mildly spicy red condiment of Washington, D.C. Chinese carryouts and Chicago barbecue joints; Chicago's Argia B. Collins created it circa 1950 and Select Brands holds the trademark.
Murtabak (مطبق)
Murtabak (مطبق, muṭabbaq, "folded") is a stuffed pan-fried flatbread with spiced minced meat, egg, and onion, from Arabia and Yemen, spread via Indian Ocean trade; called martabak in Indonesia, where martabak manis is a separate sweet pancake.
Mustard (condiment)
Mustard (condiment): paste or powder from crushed mustard seeds (Sinapis alba, Brassica juncea, B. nigra) mixed with liquid; myrosinase releases pungent isothiocyanates. Distinct from mustard the plant and mustard oil; includes Dijon, yellow, English, whole grain styles.
Mustard seed
Mustard seed: small seeds of Brassica nigra, B. juncea, and Sinapis alba used as spice, condiment, and oilseed. Pungency arises when myrosinase converts glucosinolates to isothiocyanates; heat, allergy, and erucic acid limits shape its use.
Naan (نان)
Naan (نان, nān) is the Persian word for bread and Iran's staple flat breads: taftoon, lavash, sangak, and barbari, baked in tanur ovens, supplying about 70% of daily calories.
Nabemono
Nabemono (鍋物, nabe) is Japanese hot pot: dishes cooked and eaten from a pot at the table, including sukiyaki, shabu-shabu, yosenabe, yudofu, and sumo's chanko nabe; a communal winter dish whose modern meat-based forms date to the Meiji era.
Nachos
Nachos: tortilla chips with melted cheese and jalapeños, invented in 1943 by Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya at the Victory Club in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, for US military wives; a defining Tex-Mex dish.
Naengmyeon (냉면)
Naengmyeon (냉면, 冷麵), Korean cold noodles in chilled broth or spicy bibim dressing; a northern winter dish from Pyongyang and Hamheung that spread south after the Korean War, with mul and bibim styles, regional variants, and rising Seoul prices.
Nanaimo bar
Nanaimo bar: Canadian no-bake three-layer dessert bar (crumb base, custard buttercream, chocolate top) named after Nanaimo, BC; first printed 1952 as "chocolate square", official recipe by Joyce Hardcastle since 1986.
Nasi campur
Nasi campur ("mixed rice"), also called nasi rames or sega campur, is an Indonesian and Malay rice dish of steamed rice with small portions of varied side dishes; the Balinese version, Nasi Bali, features grilled tuna, lawar, and satay lilit, often in banana leaf.
National dish
National dish: a country's most representative or iconic food, usually unofficial. Also called iconic national foods. Status arises by collective recognition, not law; examples include currywurst, chicken tikka masala, and rendang, while Mexico, China, India, and the US have none.
Nattō (納豆)
Nattō (納豆) is a Japanese food of steamed soybeans fermented by Bacillus subtilis (natto bacteria), forming sticky strings; salt-free, rich in vitamin K2 and nattokinase, distinct from salted temple natto.
Necco Wafers
Necco Wafers are an American candy of small pressed-sugar disks in eight flavors, first made in 1847 by Oliver Chase and now produced by Spangler Candy.
Nihari (نہاری)
Nihari (نہاری), a slow-cooked stew of beef or lamb shank and bone marrow from late-18th-century Old Delhi's Mughal kitchens, is now a signature breakfast dish of Pakistan and northern India, thickened with wheat flour and garnished with ginger, chilies and lime.
Nissin Foods
Nissin Foods (日清食品グループ), Japanese instant noodle maker founded by Momofuku Ando; invented Chicken Ramen (1958) and Cup Noodles (1971); Nissin Foods Holdings, Tokyo 2897, distinct from Monde Nissin.
Nonpareils
Nonpareils, also called hundreds and thousands in the UK, are tiny round sugar-and-starch sprinkles about 1 mm across, distinct from jimmies, pearls, and dragees, and also name a chocolate-disc candy.
Noodle
Noodle (麵條, menrui): unleavened dough or starch strips cooked in boiling liquid, spanning Chinese mian, Japanese udon and soba, rice vermicelli, and glass noodles; distinguished from pasta by form and raw material, with 4,000-year-old millet noodles found at Lajia, China.
Nougat
Nougat, also torrone, turrón, gaz: a Mediterranean confection of boiled sugar or honey syrup whipped with egg white and mixed with nuts; Montélimar nougat became an EU PGI in 2024.
Novvot
Novvot (navat, nabat, Persian nabāt) is Central Asian and Iranian rock candy: large sucrose crystals (99.75% sucrose, under 1% humidity) grown over three days on threads from boiled sugar syrup, typically served with tea.
Oaxaca cheese
Oaxaca cheese, or quesillo, is a Mexican pasta filata (stretched-curd) cow's-milk cheese from Reyes Etla, Oaxaca, with fibrous string texture, mild acid flavor, and excellent melting; protected as Quesillo de Reyes Etla since 2025.
Oden (おでん)
Oden (おでん) is a Japanese winter simmered dish of tane such as daikon, konnyaku, chikuwabu, and fish cakes in katsuobushi-kombu dashi with soy sauce, descended from miso dengaku, sold per piece at konbini and oden-ya stalls.
Offal
Offal, also called variety meats or organ meats, is the edible non-skeletal-muscle parts of a slaughtered animal: liver, kidneys, heart, tripe, blood, and more, valued for nutrient density and central to many world cuisines.
Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き)
Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) is a Japanese savory griddle pancake of flour batter and cabbage, made mixed-in-batter in Kansai style and layered with noodles in Hiroshima style, descended from Edo mojiyaki and Taishō issen yōshoku.
Old Bay Seasoning
Old Bay Seasoning is a Baltimore-created Chesapeake Bay spice blend, invented in 1939 by German-Jewish immigrant Gustav Brunn, originally sold as Delicious Brand Shrimp and Crab Seasoning and renamed for the Old Bay Line steamship; McCormick has owned it since 1990.
Old-fashioned doughnut
Old-fashioned doughnut: a chemically leavened cake-style ring doughnut (sour cream or buttermilk batter), fried at lower temperature (365–375°F) for a craggy, crackled crust distinct from yeast doughnuts.
Olivier salad
Olivier salad (салат оливье), or Russian salad abroad, is a mayonnaise-bound salad of diced potatoes, peas, eggs, pickles, and sausage or chicken, a New Year staple in post-Soviet countries, reinvented in the Soviet era from Lucien Olivier's 1860s Moscow Hermitage restaurant luxury dish.
Omelette
Omelette (French omelette; Spanish tortilla de patatas; Japanese tamagoyaki): a dish of beaten eggs cooked in a pan, often folded around fillings; word from Latin lamella, English from the 1610s, earliest recipes in Le Ménagier de Paris.