American Food Terms

Here are a few terms about food used by some people in America
with which some folks in other countries may not be familiar.

American Fries. These are thick slices of peeled potatoes fried crispy-brown with finely chopped onions.

Biscuit. This is what we call a type of American scone that is soft like cake and buttery. We eat them with breakfast (split in half, with honey, jelly or jam), lunch or supper (with butter or margarine), or as a snack. A "cookie" is what we call what most of the rest of the English-speaking world calls biscuits.

Black-Eyed Peas. The black-eyed pea, also known as the cow pea, is thought to have originated in North Africa, where it has been eaten for centuries. The peas were probably introduced to the New World by Spanish explorers and African slaves, and have become a common food in the southern United States, where they are available dried, fresh, canned, and frozen.
They are eaten on New Year's day for good luck (see "Hoppin' John," below).

Brats. This is short for "bratwurst," a favorite sausage eaten in Wisconsin, Illinois and other parts of the upper Midwest, usually in a bun-roll with mustard or other condiments at "Tail-Gate" parties (informal barbecue parties that usually proceed a major sports event where the food is cooked and served out of the back of pickup trucks or on small barbecue grills set up on the pavement of the sports arena's parking lot).

Chicken-Fried Steak. Also known as "Country-Fried Steak," this is a food preparation associated with soul food and Southern U.S. cuisine, particularly Texas. It is a piece of beef steak, coated and fried as if it were a piece of fried chicken. Country fried steak is prepared by taking a thin cut of beef steak and tenderizing it by pounding. It is then either immersed in batter or dredged in flour to which salt, pepper, and often other seasonings, have been added. After this, the steak is fried in a skillet or, less commonly, deep-fried. The frying medium has traditionally been butter, lard, or other shortening, but in recent years health concerns have led most cooks to substitute vegetable oil. The cuts of steak used for country fried steak are usually the less expensive, less desirable ones, such as chuck steak, round steak, and occasionally flank steak. The method is seldom used for higher-quality cuts such as rib-eye or sirloin, since the results are little better than those achieved with lesser cuts, at greater expense. The method is also sometimes used for chopped, ground, or especially cube steak. It is traditionally served for lunch or dinner with cream gravy, mashed potatoes and vegetables, or at breakfast with eggs, fried potatoes, and biscuits.

Chips. "Potato chips" is what we Americans refer to what the rest of the English-speaking world usually refers to as potato crisps.

Coffee & Chicory. Chicory is the ground root of the Belgian endive. It is ground and brewed with coffee to give it a smooth, rich note. Many consider it to be a Louisiana/Gulf-South tradition (my favorite commercial brand, Café du Mond, comes in bright yellow cans), but I remember that my grandpa from Nebraska (who was actually my mom's step-dad) would brew a pot of it from time to time, when we came to visit for holidays, on a little, black, pot-belly, wood-burning stove he had in his basement!

Cookie. See "Biscuit," above.

Corn. Our word for maize.

Corned Beef = salt beef.

Crab Boil. Whole crabs, vegetables (like corn on the cob and potatoes) and other seafood are boiled in a large pot of spicy, seasoned water and served spread out all over newspapers on a picnic table for guests of the meal to pick through and enjoy. I think this is mostly a Southern thing, but see "fish boil" below.

Cracker. This is what we refer to unsweetened biscuits as (the things one crumbles into soup or tops with savory components to serve as finger-food at parties). Most are usually salted ("Saltines" are flat, square and pale, like small squares of Matzo). Soda crackers are cream crackers.

Cruller. This word has at least a couple of different meanings with which I'm familiar. Down south, it means a heavy, cast-iron frying pan/skillet. Elsewhere, it means a small cake or ring doughnut. Isn't that just crazy!?

Deep Dish Pizza. This nutritional nightmare was invented in Chicago in 1943 to compete with the best pizza in the world, the New York slice. It's a deep pizza crust filled and baked with layer upon layer of mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce and regular pizza toppings, like pepperoni sausage slices. A lot of people in Chicago seem to have inferiority complexes when it comes to New York City, and this feeble attempt to out-do New York's fabulously tasty variety of pizza completely fails, in my opinion! It's disgusting and hard to eat.

Eggnog. This is called "egg flip" in other parts of the English-speaking world.

Eggplant = aubergine.

Fatback. Fatback is the layer of fat along the back of a pig, used as a cut of meat. It is often used to make lard. Fatback is a traditional part of southern U.S. cuisine and soul food, where it is used for cracklings and to flavor stewed vegetables such as greens and black-eyed peas.

Fish Boil. A fish boil is a Great-Lakes culinary tradition in areas of the beautiful State of Wisconsin where large Scandinavian populations have taken root, particularly in beautiful Door County which occupies most of the eastern peninsula of Wisconsin that protrudes into the northern reaches of the fresh-water, inland sea known as Lake Michigan. The meal consists of Lake-Michigan or Lake-Superior whitefish (though lake trout can be used), with other ingredients. The fish is typically caught by local fishermen, cut into small chunks and cooked in boiling water with red potatoes. Some boilers add onions as well. Salt is the only seasoning used, and used only to raise the specific gravity of the water. Weird, huh?

Fish Sticks = fish fingers.

Flapjack. This is a soft, thick pancake normally eaten for breakfast with maple syrup and butter.

Fried Bologna Sandwich. Thick slices of bologna are cut off and fried in a skillet until browned on both sides. It is then eaten between two slices of white bread, sometimes with a little butter or mayonnaise and a slice of cheese. My dad used to make these a lot (and my mother complained about it)! This is definitely a Southern/country thing.

Fried Pickles. These are thick slices of dill pickle battered and deep-fried. Though I think these are a Southern thing, I have ran into them at state fairs up north. They're pretty good!

Fries. Or "French fries," this is what we refer to what the rest of the English-speaking world calls chips.

Fritters. Small cakes made with a primary ingredient, mixed with batter and fried, are found in many American cuisines. "Corn fritters" and "apple fritters" are well known. Fritters may use regular flour, cornmeal, or a mix. New England clam cakes, Maryland crab cakes, and Philadelphia scrapple are essentially varieties of fritter. A fritter is also a variety of holeless doughnut, with apple flavored ones being the most popular. A variation of a fritter is the funnelcake (see below).

An apple fritter

Fry-Bread. This is bread dough fried in hot oil. It's Native American (and delicious).

Funnel Cake. Funnel cake or "funnelcake" is a regional specialty food originally associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch region of the United States. Funnel cakes are popular around the United States at ballparks, fairs and festivals. They are called "funnel cakes" because they are made by pouring batter through a funnel into hot oil in a circular pattern and deep frying it until golden-brown. They are often served with powdered sugar, jam, or other toppings.

A typical funnel cake.

Granola = muesli.

Greens. Collard greens are a staple of Southern U.S. cuisine and soul food. They are often prepared with other similar green-leaf vegetables, such as kale, turnip greens, spinach, and mustard leaves in "mixed greens". They are generally eaten year-round in the South. Traditionally, collards are eaten on New Year's Day (along with black-eyed peas or field peas and corn bread -see notes above) to ensure wealth in the coming year, as the leaves resemble folding money. Cornbread is a common accompaniment to collards and is used to soak up the collard broth, or "potlikker," which is rich in nutrients.

Grits. This is ground, yellow corn (maize) meal served in porridge-form, usually for breakfast. It is most popular in the South. "Hominy grits" is another term for grits, but explicitly refers to grits made from nixtamalized corn, or hominy (see "hominy" notes below). Grits very much resembles a popular, farina breakfast porridge in the United States (the most famous commercial brand is called "Malt-O-Meal") which is widely enjoyed with milk and sugar in it. For this reason, one always sees northerners putting sugar in their grits. But would you sprinkle sugar on your corn on the cob? Heck no! You put butter, salt and pepper in your grits! Sheesh!

Ground meat = minced meat.

Ham Hocks. Ham hocks are essential ingredients in soul food and other forms of Southern country cooking. A ham "hock" is the end of a smoked ham where the foot was attached to the hog's leg. It is the portion of the leg that is neither part of the ham proper nor the foot or ankle, but rather the extreme shank end of the leg bone and the associated skin, fat, tendons, and muscle. This piece is generally comprised of too much skin and gristle to be palatable on its own, so it is largely used to be cooked with greens and other vegetables in order to give them additional flavor (generally that of pork fat and smoke), although the meat from particularly meaty hocks may be removed and served. Ham hocks, or hog jowls (pig cheeks), added to various dishes greatly increase the flavor. This is particularly true for cabbage, green beans and navy beans.

Head Cheese. This is really gross! Head cheese (called "brawn" in other parts of the English-speaking world) is not cheese, but rather a terrine of meat from the head of a calf or pig (sometimes a sheep or cow) that would not otherwise be considered appealing. It may also include meat from the feet and heart. It is usually eaten cold or at room temperature as a luncheon meat. It is sometimes also known as "souse," particularly if pickled with vinegar. Historically the cleaned (all organs removed) head was simmered to produce a gelatin (which would form from the bone marrow) containing any incidental meat which came off the head. The more modern method involves adding gelatin to meat, which is then cooked in a mold.

Hoecakes. These have a sad history behind them. A hoecake is a type of cornbread made of cornmeal, salt and water, which is very thin in texture, and is fried in cooking oil in a skillet. It became known as the "hoecake" because slaves in the Old South would have to cook them on the only available cooking utensil they would have at their disposal - a shovel or hoe - held to an open flame in their little slave quarters late at night after they came back to the cabins exhausted from a long day of forced servitude. But see "Johnny Cakes" (below).

Hominy. Hominy or nixtamal is dried corn/maize kernels which have been treated with an alkali of some kind. The traditional U.S. version involves soaking dried corn in lye-water (sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide solution), traditionally derived from wood ash, until the hulls are removed. Mexican recipes describe a preparation process consisting primarily of cooking in lime-water (calcium hydroxide). In either case, the process is called nixtamalization, and removes the germ and the hard outer hull from the kernels, making them more palatable, easier to digest, and easier to process. It also alters the flavor in a way that many consider to be an improvement. Commercially available canned hominy often has a strong and unique odor. They look like big, white corn kernels.

Hoppin' John. This is black-eyed peas served on New Year's Day for good luck. There are almost as many theories as to how Hoppin' John got its name as there are ways to cook the dish. One story attributes the name to the custom of inviting guests to eat with, "Hop in, John." Another suggestion is that it is derived from an old ritual on New Year's Day in which the children of the house hopped once around the table before eating the dish. Whatever its origin, it was definitely a staple for many in the early South, and remains an important dish today.

Jelly Roll. These are referred to as Swiss rolls by other English speakers. "Jelly" = jam.

Johnny Cakes. Jonnycake (also spelled "johnnycake" and "journey cake") is an unleavened cornmeal pancake popular in regional American cuisine and strongly identified with Rhode Island foods. Jonnycakes are often served with maple syrup or other sweet toppings.

Lima Bean = broad bean.

Liverwurst. What we call liver sausage.

Lox. This is smoked salmon, of Jewish origin.

Malted Milk or Malt. This is is a sweet milk drink containing ice cream and "malt" (a powdered product made from malted barley, wheat flour and evaporated, whole milk).

Molasses. This is our black treacle.

Oleo. This is a very old word meaning "margarine." You just don't hear it used anymore, but you may occasionally run into it in old recipes, books and literature.

Oysters Rockefeller. Oysters Rockefeller is a dish of oysters and lots of green parsley created at the famous, New Orleans French-Quarter restaurant, Antoine's. Antoine´s was founded in 1840 by Antoine Alciatore, who moved to New Orleans, after two frustrating years in New York, to open a restaurant of his own. The dish was named "Oysters Rockefeller" after John D. Rockefeller, the richest American at the time - the green parsley is supposed to be reminiscent of the U.S. dollar "green back." Jules Alciatore, Antoine´s son, developed Oysters Rockefeller based on another of his recipes in the face of a shortage of French snails and diners' declining taste for them, substituting oysters for snails. Though many New Orleans restaurants serve dishes purporting to be Oysters Rockefeller, Antoine's claims that no other restaurant has been able to successfully duplicate the recipe.

Peanut Butter. Nobody is really too sure about the origin of what we call "peanut butter." Some think that it is a carry-over from Africa. Peanut butter is basically a thick paste made of ground peanuts, water and emulsifiers that we eat in all kinds of ways. Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches are a long-standing, American kid's favorite. Fried peanut butter & banana sandwiches, purportedly one of Elvis' favorite things to eat, are sandwiches made of buttered slices (both sides, both slices) of white bread, with peanut butter slathered all over the inside and topped with banana slices, then fried in a skillet on both sides like a grilled-cheese sandwich. I remember giving little German kids the peanut butter packets out of my army rations when I was stationed over in Germany in the 1980s - they absolutely loved it, but it was apparently not readily available on the regular European economy then.

Pop. This is an adorably-cute little word used in the Midwest and in some western areas of the country to mean what some other Americans call "soda" or "soda-pop" - it means the sweet, effervescent beverages sold in cans and/or bottles which are most-commonly referred to by the rest of the English-speaking world as soft drinks. My Midwestern mom calls it "pop." My dad used to call it "soda" (I've come to call it "soda-pop"). But in some parts of the deep south, they just call it a "cold drink." In some parts of Georgia and Alabama, they call every kind of soft drink "Coke" (even if it's a Seven-Up/lemon-lime flavored kind of soda-pop)! Also, see Root Beer, below.

Popsicle. An ice lolly on a stick.

Pork Rinds. See "fatback" notes above - these are also called "cracklings" and "pork skins." They are a crispy snack, and are also included crumbled as an ingredient in some recipes, especially recipes of Latin-American origin.

Powdered Sugar. Also known as "confectioner's sugar," this is what we refer to icing sugar as.

Raisin = sultana.

Raisin Bread. This is current bread.

Red-Eye Gravy. Red-eye gravy is a thin sauce often seen in the cuisine of the Southern United States and associated with the country ham of that region. The gravy is made from the drippings of pan-fried country ham that has been mixed with water or black coffee, sometimes thickened with flour. It is often served over ham, cornbread, grits, biscuits, or chicken fried steak. A common practice is to dip the inner sides of a split biscuit into the gravy in order to add flavor and keep the biscuit from being too dry when a piece of country ham is added between the two halves: the Southern "ham biscuit." Another popular way to serve red-eye gravy, especially in parts of Alabama, is with mustard or ketchup mixed in with the gravy. Biscuits are then "sopped" in the gravy. One folk legend surrounding the origin of the "red eye" name goes as follows. Former United States President and General, Andrew Jackson (the "Hero of New Orleans"), woke one morning and had a conversation with his cook about what Jackson wanted for breakfast. Seeing that the cook's eyes were bloodshot from drinking moonshine whiskey the night before, General Jackson requested ham with gravy as red as his cook's eyes. A more empirical account of the name's origin is that "red eye" describes the oily fat circles that appear in the gravy.

Root Beer. Root beer is a dark beverage that comes in two forms, alcoholic and as a soft drink. The alcoholic version is made from a combination of vanilla, cherry tree bark, licorice root, sarsaparilla root, artificial sassafras root bark flavoring (the pure form is mildly carcinogenic), nutmeg, anise, and molasses among other ingredients. The soft drink version of root beer is non-alcoholic and is generally made using root beer extract or other flavored syrups along with carbonated water. The soft drink version of root beer constitutes about 3% of the American soft drink market.

Saltine. See "Cracker," above.

Sammies. The word sammy is just a "pet name" some Americans have for a common, every-day sandwich (any variety).

Sherbet = ice/sorbet.

Soda. This means "baking soda/powder." Also, see Pop, above.

Souse. See "Head Cheese" notes above (bleck!).

Stuffing. In cooking, stuffing, also known as "dressing," is usually a mixture of diced bread, herbs and other ingredients used to fill a cavity in another food item. The term stuffing also refers to the process of filling a cavity with this mixture. The traditional American Thanksgiving turkey is always served with stuffing in it. Oyster stuffing is popular for Thanksgiving turkey in New Orleans!

Table Cream. This is what we refer to single cream as.

White Lightening. This is a very common term used to refer to the illegal, colorless whiskey distilled by bootleggers out in the country. It started with the Scotch-Irish who wanted to avoid paying tax on their distilling operations back when the nation was still very young. They migrated to western lands not yet part of the United States, such as the areas that later became the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. Their legacy is some of the best American kinds of whiskey, such as "Bourbon."

Whole Wheat = wholemeal.

Za. An abbreviation for "pizza."