1,165 articles
Blini
Blini are thin pancakes of Russian and eastern European cuisine, traditionally made from buckwheat flour. They can be yeast-fermented, resulting in a sour, porous texture.
Blood as food
Blood as food: the culinary use of animal blood in dishes like black pudding, boudin noir, morcilla, blood tofu, and dinuguan; ancient, rich in iron and protein, but religiously prohibited in Islam and Judaism and absent from American food.
Blood sausage
Blood sausage, also called black pudding (boudin noir, morcilla, Blutwurst), is a cooked sausage of animal blood, fat, and grain or onion fillers, documented since Homer's Odyssey and eaten worldwide.
Blooming onion
Blooming onion: a whole onion cut into flower-like petals, battered, and deep-fried, trademarked by Outback Steakhouse as the Bloomin' Onion in 1988; created by co-founder Tim Gannon, with earlier versions credited to chef Jeff Glowski in New Orleans.
BLT
BLT (bacon, lettuce, and tomato): an American sandwich of crisp bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise on toasted bread, named in 1940s diners, distinct from the triple-decker club sandwich that adds turkey and a third slice of bread.
Boerewors
Boerewors (farmer's sausage, wors, boerie) is a traditional South African fresh sausage of coarsely ground beef and pork with coriander, legally required to contain at least 90% meat, grilled at braais and on Heritage Day.
Boiled egg
Boiled egg: an egg cooked in its shell in hot water, soft-boiled (runny yolk) or hard-boiled (solid yolk). Best simmered at 80–85°C rather than boiled; peeling depends on egg age and pH.
Bologna sausage
Bologna sausage (also baloney; Hungarian párizsi) is a cooked, emulsion-type sausage in large casings, descended from mortadella of Bologna, Italy; US-regulated like frankfurters, made of beef, pork, or poultry.
Bolognese sauce
Bolognese sauce, or ragù alla bolognese, is Bologna's slow-simmered meat sauce: minced beef and pancetta with soffritto, a little tomato, wine, and milk. Official Accademia recipes date to 1982 and 2023; served with tagliatelle, not spaghetti.
Börek
Börek (burek, byrek) is a family of filled yufka or phyllo pastries from the Ottoman culinary sphere, with cheese, meat, or spinach fillings; regional names and shapes differ across Turkey, the Balkans, and beyond.
Borscht (Борщ)
Borscht (борщ) is a family of Eastern European sour soups built on beetroot, with hot red, green, cold, and white variants across Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, and Russia; UNESCO inscribed Ukrainian borscht cooking for urgent safeguarding in 2022.
Boston cream pie
Boston cream pie is a sponge cake, not a pie: two cake layers with pastry cream and chocolate glaze, created at Boston's Omni Parker House around 1856-1865 and Massachusetts' official state dessert since 1996.
Bottarga
Bottarga (avgotaracho, karasumi, batarekh) is salted, pressed, air-dried fish roe, usually grey mullet or tuna, used grated as a Mediterranean seasoning; Sardinia leads production, with Greek PDO avgotaracho and Japanese karasumi as equivalents.
Boudin
Boudin is a type of sausage with two distinct uses. In France, it is a cooked charcuterie preparation, while in Louisiana, it is a seasoned link of pork and rice.
Bouillabaisse
Bouillabaisse: Marseille's Provençal rock-fish stew, from Provençal boui-abaisso ("when it boils, lower the heat"), served as saffron broth with rouille and croutons, then fish cut at table; governed since 1980 by a 17-signatory charter requiring at least 4 fish species.
Bouillon cube
Bouillon cube, also stock or broth cube, dehydrated broth in about 4 g cubes; invented by Julius Maggi in 1908 using hydrolyzed vegetable protein; followed by OXO and Knorr; high in salt, used worldwide.
Boursin cheese
Boursin cheese, a French fresh cow's milk spread also called Gournay cheese, created by François Boursin in Normandy; Garlic & Fine Herbs launched 1963, famous for "Du pain, du vin, du Boursin," now owned by Bel Group.
Bovril
Bovril, the British beef and yeast extract paste created by John Lawson Johnston as Johnston's Fluid Beef around the 1870s French army beef contract, renamed in 1886; made as a hot drink, spread, and stock, briefly vegetarian 2004-2006, now a Unilever brand made in Burton on Trent.
Bratwurst
Bratwurst (German: Bratwurst) is a fresh German sausage of ground pork and veal with marjoram, grilled or fried. Nearly 50 regional varieties; earliest German record 1404 in Arnstadt; Nürnberger type is EU-protected.
Braunschweiger (sausage)
Braunschweiger: a German-origin sausage named for Braunschweig. In Germany a spreadable smoked Mettwurst, in Austria a Brühwurst called Dürre, and in the US a cooked smoked liver sausage with at least 30 percent liver.
Bread pudding
Bread pudding: a baked dish of bread soaked in egg, milk, and sugar custard, dating to 11th-century England as 'poor man's pudding'. Also called bread and butter pudding in Britain, with regional forms like capirotada, Wet Nelly, and pudín de pan.
Bread roll
Bread roll: small round or oblong yeast-dough bread, also called bun, bap, cob, barm, or teacake in Britain. Needs strong flour and careful shaping; faster to prove and bake than a loaf.
Breadfruit flour
Breadfruit flour, milled from dried Artocarpus altilis fruit flesh, is a gluten-free wheat flour substitute; FDA issued a no-questions GRAS letter (GRN 596) in February 2016.
Breakfast
Breakfast, the first meal of the day breaking the overnight fast, also called morning meal; defined as within 2-3 h of waking. Historically a laborer's meal, now studied for nutrient intake, energy balance, and school programs.
Bresaola
Bresaola, or Bresaola della Valtellina IGP, is salt-cured, air-dried lean beef from Valtellina, Lombardy, protected since 1996, made only in Sondrio province, very high protein, low fat, high sodium, eaten raw in thin slices.
Brie
Brie: French soft cow's-milk cheese with a bloomy white rind from the Brie region near Paris; Brie de Meaux and Brie de Melun hold AOC (1980) and PDO protection, made from raw milk with at least 45% fat in dry matter.
Brier Hill–style pizza
Brier Hill–style pizza, also called Brier Hill pizza, is a Youngstown, Ohio regional pizza with thick breadlike crust, thick tomato sauce, bell peppers, and Romano instead of mozzarella, created by Basilicata immigrants and named via St. Anthony parish fundraisers.
Brioche
Brioche: French viennoiserie, a yeast-leavened enriched bread with high butter and egg content, soft stringy crumb. Word attested 15th century (1404); Cotgrave 1611; earliest recipe 1742; includes Brioche vendéenne PGI.
Brisket
Brisket is the beef cut from the breast or lower chest, two pectoral muscles (flat and point) per animal. Cooked low and slow for Texas barbecue, braised for Jewish holidays, or cured as corned beef; collagen converts to gelatin at 185-195°F.
Brown bread
Brown bread: bread darker than white bread, made with whole wheat or rye flour, or sometimes just colored. Covers definitions, Boston and Irish brown bread, history, and nutrition versus white bread.