Icing for a cake. It is crusty on the outside, but should not be hard throughout. It is made by mixing icing sugar and water boiled with a little cream of tartare, slightly cooled and then whisked into stiffly beaten egg white. Exactly the same process is used to make Italian meringue.
The boiled potato is an underestimated vegetable. My mother-in-law is not a great cook. She will forgive me for saying this. But she excels at the boiled potato. She selects floury Rush Queens. She is Irish and lives in Rush. She stands over the pot watching the potatoes. Each individual is fished out of the water as the flouriness just becomes visible on the margins and it is perfectly cooked. Each one is brought independently to the table and plonked onto your plate, alongside the ham or the fish. A little butter and salt are applied. Perfection.
Boiled rice is usually white rice boiled in water, with no additives or flavourings. In India, the terms for boiled rice are likely to indicate leftover rice which is then soaked and lightly fermented and generally served with salt, onion and chilli, perhaps enlivened with a squirt of lemon.
Hard, clear, sometimes coloured sweets made by boiling sugar, glucose and fruit or flavourings with an acid.
A cheese made from whey which has been slowly cooked to impart a caramel-like flavour.
A large, older chicken, more than 18 months old. They are too tough for roasting and are most often used for making good tasty stocks.
Mongolian hotpot. A large pot of simmering stock is placed in the centre of the table. Diners place items of food (raw meats, vegetables) into the pot, cook it as much or as little as they like, rather like a fondue. The food can then be eaten as it is or accompanied by any of a number of condiments. The broth which is the end result is rich and complex and is consumed by the diners.
