1,165 articles
Cheddar cheese
Cheddar cheese: hard cow's-milk cheese from Cheddar, Somerset, made by cheddaring (stacking and turning curd); ripened via glycolysis, lipolysis, proteolysis; West Country Farmhouse Cheddar holds a PDO.
Cheese
Cheese, or natural cheese, is coagulated milk curd drained of whey and often ripened. Covers acid vs rennet coagulation, ripening microbiology (Swiss eyes, Camembert), classification, nutrition, and legal naming standards.
Cheese curd
Cheese curd, also called squeaky cheese, is fresh unpressed cheddar taken from the vat before aging; its casein-calcium protein mesh squeaks against teeth, a freshness marker fading within 24-72 hours.
Cheese fries
Cheese fries, also called cheesy chips in the UK, are French fries topped with melted American or cheddar cheese or cheese sauce. Linked to 1950s US snack bars; distinct from poutine's curds and gravy.
Cheese sandwich
Cheese sandwich: cheese between slices of bread, also called cheese toastie or, when heated, grilled cheese. Made with semi-hard cheeses like Cheddar; a Dutch daily staple and British lunchtime standard.
Cheeseburger
Cheeseburger: a hamburger topped with melted cheese, word attested 1938. Origin contested: Lionel Sternberger, Pasadena Rite Spot, 1924, versus Kaelin's Louisville 1934 and a 1935 Denver trademark; American and cheddar are the standard cheeses.
Cheesecake
Cheesecake, also sernik (Polish), Käsekuchen, a tart-like dessert of sweetened curd or cream cheese on a pastry or crumb base; recipes run from Cato's Rome and the 14th-century Forme of Cury to New York, Basque, Japanese, and Polish styles.
Cheesesteak
Cheesesteak (Philly cheesesteak): Philadelphia's signature hot sandwich of thinly sliced griddled ribeye, melted cheese (Cheez Whiz, American, or provolone), and fried onions on a long roll, invented in 1930 by Pat Olivieri and famous for the Pat's vs. Geno's rivalry.
Chess pie
Chess pie, also known as Jefferson Davis pie, is a very sweet Southern American dessert pie with a dense custard filling of eggs, butter, and sugar.
Chewing gum
Chewing gum, a chewable confection of insoluble gum base with sweeteners and flavors; ancient birch-bark tar and chicle origins, Thomas Adams and Wrigley industry, sugar-free dental benefits, synthetic polymer base.
Chicago-style hot dog
Chicago-style hot dog: an all-beef frankfurter on a steamed poppy seed bun with yellow mustard, neon relish, onion, tomato, pickle spear, sport peppers, and celery salt, never ketchup; traced to Vienna Beef at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and fixed as a style between 1920 and 1950.
Chicharrón
Chicharrón: fried pork skin or pork fried in its own fat, a staple across Spain, Latin America, and the Philippines; distinct from US pork rinds, with regional forms like torrezno de Soria, llardons, and Mexican chicharrón prensado.
Chicken à la King
Chicken à la King is an American dish of diced chicken in cream sauce with mushrooms, pimientos, and peppers, served on toast or pastry. Its origin is contested: Brighton Beach Hotel's chef George Greenwald, the Keene family, and cook William King are all credited.
Chicken as food
Chicken as food: meat of the domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus), the world's most consumed poultry. Over 33 billion birds (2020), 30% of global meat consumption, 165 °F safe cooking temperature, cheapest livestock meat.
Chicken curry
Chicken curry: chicken simmered in a spiced sauce; term coined by East India Company men for saucy Indian dishes; reached Japan via the Royal Navy in the 1870s; USDA 260 kcal per cup.
Chicken feet
Chicken feet (凤爪, fengzhao; phoenix claws) are poultry feet eaten for their gelatinous collagen texture, central to Cantonese dim sum, Korean dakbal, and South African walkie talkies, and a major chicken-paw export trade to China.
Chicken Kiev (Котлета по-киевски)
Chicken Kiev (котлета по-київськи, kotleta po-kyivsky) is a breaded chicken cutlet stuffed with herb butter, claimed by Ukrainian and Russian cuisine with disputed French, St Petersburg, and Kyiv origins; first printed 1913-1914, revived by Intourist in 1947, a Marks & Spencer ready meal from 1979.
Chicken McNuggets
Chicken McNuggets are McDonald's battered, twice-fried white-meat chicken pieces, developed by chef René Arend from Robert C. Baker's Cornell work and launched nationwide in 1983; US versions use no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.
Chicken nugget
Chicken nugget: a small breaded, fried or baked piece of chicken, also called a nuggie. Invented by Robert C. Baker at Cornell in 1963; McDonald's McNugget debuted nationwide in 1983; fat 10.9-22.7 g/100 g.
Chicken paprikash
Chicken paprikash (paprikás csirke) is a Hungarian chicken stew in an onion-paprika sauce finished with sour cream, served with nokedli dumplings; distinct from goulash, which never contains sour cream.
Chicken soup
Chicken soup (鸡汤) is a broth-based soup of simmered chicken, known as "Jewish penicillin" and a global cold remedy; endorsed by Avicenna and Maimonides, it relieves cold symptoms briefly but does not cure illness.
Chickpea protein
Chickpea protein, from Cicer arietinum seeds (18-29% protein), is prepared as flour, concentrates, and isolates by dry or wet extraction. Tate & Lyle's chickpea protein concentrate received an FDA no-questions GRAS letter (GRN 1098, August 2023) for use levels up to 90% in specified foods.
Chiffon cake
Chiffon cake, an American oil-based foam cake invented by Harry Baker in the 1920s and released by General Mills in 1948 as "the first new cake in 100 years," combines whipped egg whites, baking powder, oil, and egg yolks for a tall, moist crumb.
Chilaquiles
Chilaquiles: Mexican dish of fried corn tortilla pieces cooked in red or green chile salsa, garnished with onion, cheese, and cream; Nahuatl name, 1831 and 1845 printed recipes, hangover-food reputation.
Chili dog
Chili dog: an American hot dog in a bun topped with chili con carne; term dates to 1970–75. Best-known variant is the Greek-Macedonian Coney dog of Detroit, Cincinnati, and Michigan.
Chili powder
Chili powder is an American spice blend of ground dried chilies with cumin, garlic, oregano, and often paprika, onion powder, and salt, developed for Tex-Mex dishes like chili con carne. First commercialized by William Gebhardt in San Antonio in 1896; mild (500–1,000 SHU) versus pure cayenne (30,000–50,000 SHU).
Chimichurri
Chimichurri: uncooked herb sauce of parsley, dried oregano, garlic, red wine vinegar, oil, and ají molido from Argentina and Uruguay (Río de la Plata), served with asado; also the Mexican cilantro-lime and Brazilian dry variants.
Chinese noodles
Chinese noodles (面条): strand staple foods of Chinese cuisine made from wheat, rice, or starches. Wheat north, rice south along the Qinling-Huai line; 4,000-year-old Lajia millet noodles; 43.8 billion instant noodle servings in 2024.
Chinese sausage
Chinese sausage (香肠, xiāngcháng; lap cheong, 腊肠/臘腸, làcháng) is a raw dried cured sausage of pork with salt, sugar, wine, dried in casings; Cantonese sweet and Sichuan spicy styles, governed by GB/T 23493-2022.
Chipotle
Chipotle (Nahuatl chilpōctli): a smoke-dried ripe jalapeño pepper used in Mexican cooking, sold as morita or meco, in powder, or canned in adobo; also the name of Chipotle Mexican Grill, the American restaurant chain founded in Denver in 1993.