A type of milk cap mushroom which is not edible.
Asian basil. Asian basil is slightly coarser than the sweet basil of Europe, and with a more robust aroma. It survives cooking in stews, adding a fresh menthol, camphor end of the spectrum.
Velvet bolete. An edible mushroom, smooth and dark yellow, found in late summer.
Meat cut. Fillet. A small, boneless cut, the fillet is just over 1 kg (2 lb), the ‘eye’ taken from within the rib bone or sirloin. Very lean and tender and can be lightly marbled. Although expensive, there is no waste. A whole joint can be roasted in 20 minutes. It is also sliced to make steaks, fillet steak, filet mignon and Chateaubriand.
Beef tartar. This is made from very finely chopped raw fillet of beef mixed with onion, gherkins (US: dill pickles) and capers and formed into the shape of a steak. A depression is made in the top into which a raw egg is broken. It is eaten raw. The meat really should not be minced (US: ground). It is thought to have originated with the fierce Tartars of the Baltic region of Russia who shredded the meat with a knife and ate it raw.
Twaite shad or gizzard shad from a family of white, migratory fish. The shad is a bony, tasty, oily fish similar to herring, which travels up rivers in spring and is found in deep lakes. In France it is found in the Gironde where it is often grilled over vine shoots or stuffed with sorrel, and in the Loire, where it may be stuffed with beurre blanc. The roe is a great delicacy and shad is also used raw in sushi. Members of the family include Allis shad (Alosa alosa) and the smaller twaite shad or gizzard shad (Alosa fallax).
