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Clafoutis
Clafoutis, a baked French dessert from Limousin made of cherries in a flan-like egg, milk, sugar, and flour batter; also called clafouti in English. Word coined in the 19th century from clafir, 'to fill'; other fruits make a flaugnarde.
Clarified butter
Clarified butter (ghee, Sanskrit ghrita) is butter with water and milk solids removed, leaving nearly pure butterfat; ghee is the further-browned, nutty-tasting version. Covers composition (99.6%+ fat per FAO), smoke point around 250 °C, shelf life, Sanskrit/Vedic origins, regional names like samn and smen, and the measured health evidence.
Clotted cream
Clotted cream (Cornish: dehen molys), also called Devonshire cream, is a thick West Country cream of at least 55% butterfat made by scalding milk; Cornish clotted cream holds PDO status since 1998.
Clove
Clove (Syzygium aromaticum), the dried flower bud of a myrtle-family tree native to five Maluku islands, is a spice and eugenol source used in food, dentistry, and perfumery, once central to the spice trade.
Club sandwich
Club sandwich, also called clubhouse or triple-decker sandwich: an American sandwich of three toast slices with mayo, turkey or chicken, bacon, lettuce, and tomato, first printed in 1894 and tied to Saratoga Springs gentlemen's clubs.
Cobbler (food)
Cobbler is an American deep-dish fruit dessert baked under biscuit, batter, dumpling, or (in the South) sometimes a bottom-and-top pastry crust, first recorded in 1859, distinct from crisps and crumbles.
Cocktail sauce
Cocktail sauce: a cold seafood condiment. American version is ketchup plus prepared horseradish with lemon, Worcestershire, and hot sauce; in Britain and much of Europe the name means creamy mayonnaise-based Marie Rose sauce for prawn cocktail.
Cocoa bean
Cocoa bean, the fermented dried seed of Theobroma cacao, raw material of chocolate. Also cacao. Origin in the Upper Amazon, use over 5,300 years; fermentation, drying, roasting; fine versus bulk trade grades.
Coddled egg
Coddled egg: an egg cooked gently in water just below boiling, either in a lidded porcelain coddler immersed in simmering water or briefly in shell; related to poached and soft-boiled eggs.
Colby cheese
Colby cheese: American semi-firm washed-curd cow's-milk cheese created in 1885 by Joseph Steinwand in Colby, Wisconsin; orange from annatto, under 40% moisture, aged 1–3 months, milder than cheddar, base of Colby-Jack.
Colcannon
Colcannon (cál ceannann, "white-headed cabbage") is the traditional Irish dish of mashed potatoes with kale or cabbage, butter and milk, served at Halloween with hidden ring, coin or thimble tokens for fortune-telling, distinct from scallion-based champ.
Cold beet soup
Cold beet soup, Lithuanian šaltibarščiai, Polish chłodnik litewski, Belarusian chaladnik: a pink chilled soup of beets, kefir or buttermilk, cucumber, dill and egg, served with hot boiled potatoes; documented from mid-19th-century cookbooks and celebrated at Vilnius Pink Soup Fest.
Coleslaw
Coleslaw (koolsla) is a cold salad of shredded raw cabbage with mayonnaise or vinegar dressing, from Dutch koolsla; first recorded 1794 as "cold slaw", served with barbecue, kept 3-5 days refrigerated.
Colin the Caterpillar
Colin the Caterpillar is M&S's chocolate celebration cake, sold since 1990 and made by Park Cakes in Oldham; over 15 million sold, known for the M&S v Aldi Cuthbert trademark dispute, Connie the Caterpillar, and Arctic Colin.
Columbus-style pizza
Columbus-style pizza, also called square, party, or tavern cut, is a Columbus, Ohio tradition: thin yeast-risen deck-oven crust, sweet-leaning sauce, provolone, edge-to-edge pepperoni, cut into small squares.
Comfort food
Comfort food: foods providing emotional consolation and well-being, tied to nostalgia and childhood. Term traced to 1966-1977 US newspapers; US favorites include chips, ice cream; mood benefits debated.
Comté cheese
Comté: French AOP raw cow's milk cooked pressed cheese from the Jura massif, made in 40 kg wheels from Montbéliarde milk in cooperative fruitières, aged at least 120 days, France's largest AOP by tonnage.
Condensed milk
Condensed milk, also called sweetened condensed milk, is cow's milk concentrated by water removal with sugar added as preservative; distinct from unsweetened evaporated milk, which is sterilized. Invented commercially by Gail Borden in 1856.
Condiment
Condiment: a prepared sauce, relish, seasoning, or spice mixture added to food after preparation to enhance flavor; includes ketchup, mustard, soy sauce, chutney; classified under Codex Alimentarius category 12.2, distinct from seasonings added during cooking.
Coney Island hot dog
Coney Island hot dog (coney, coney dog): a Midwest hot dog topped with beanless meat chili or sauce, mustard, and onions, created by Greek and Macedonian immigrants who borrowed the New York resort's name, despite originating nowhere near Coney Island.
Confectionery
Confectionery, also known as sweetmeats or confections, is the class of sweet, sugar-rich foods including candies, sweets, and chocolate, together with the industry and craft that make them.
Confit byaldi
Confit byaldi is a refined baked variation of ratatouille created by Michel Guérard in 1976, named after the Turkish imam bayıldı, and popularized worldwide by Thomas Keller's version in the 2007 Pixar film Ratatouille.
Congee
Congee (粥, jook, zhōu, okayu, cháo) is Asian rice porridge: rice simmered in excess water until grains break down. Etymology from Tamil kanji; documented since Zhou dynasty; eaten at 5:1–14:1 water ratios; IDDSI swallowing-safety relevance.
Consommé
Consommé: a French clarified soup, from consommer, made by simmering stock with egg whites that form a raft trapping impurities; rich, gelatinous, crystal-clear, up to 500 g meat per serving.
Convenience food
Convenience food is food made quicker or easier to prepare through processing or packaging, spanning frozen TV dinners, canned goods, and instant meals; defined by reduced household labor, tied to Birdseye quick-freezing and Swanson's 1954 TV dinner.
Cookie
Cookie (Dutch koekje; UK biscuit): small sweet low-moisture, high-fat, high-sugar baked good; texture set by spread, gluten setting, and Maillard browning; $140bn global market.
Cooking oil
Cooking oil, edible fat of vegetable, animal, or marine origin composed of glycerides of fatty acids; includes virgin, cold pressed, and refined grades. Smoke point depends on free fatty acids; used cooking oil is now a major biofuel feedstock.
Coq au vin
Coq au vin: classic French dish of rooster or chicken braised in red wine with lardons, mushrooms, and pearl onions; Burgundian pinot noir version is the reference, with Alsace riesling, Jura vin jaune, and Champagne variants.
Cordon bleu (dish)
Cordon bleu (cordon-bleu, "blue ribbon") is a breaded cutlet filled with ham and melted cheese, a Swiss classic attributed to Brig, Valais; the name comes from the Order of Saint Esprit and also denotes a skilled cook and the Le Cordon Bleu school.
Cornbread
Cornbread is a quick bread of cornmeal, chemically leavened in the U.S., learned from Native American cooking and named pone; Southern versions are unsweetened skillet breads, Northern ones sweet, and it remains central to Southern and Appalachian foodways.