Crayfish. Spiny or rock lobster. Langouste. A salt water crustacean, not to be confused with freshwater crayfish.
A variety of green cooking and eating apple with red flush. This variety was found growing in a garden at Tilgate near Crawley in Sussex, some time around 1870, hence the name. It received the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit in 1912. It is a late-season apple which is harvested from mid-October in South-East England and is at its best from November to February. Cooks to a purée.
freshwater crayfish are crustaceans which resemble small lobsters, with most of the sweet meat in the tail and with red claws almost as large as their bodies. Like lobsters, they are mottled blue-black until they are cooked, when they turn bright red. They breed in autumn (US: fall) and the best are those caught in summer. They seek out unpolluted lakes and streams but are most often farmed in the UK. Many are exported to Spain. Their presence in a dish may be indicated by Nantua as part of the description. They are sometimes erroneously called crawfish.
The crayfish (US: spiny or rock lobster) is a salt water crustacean, not to be confused with freshwater crayfish. It is similar to lobster in size and shape, but without the claws, and has longer, more pronounced antennae. The pure white tail meat has a wonderful, sweet flavour. The shell is pimply and reddish brown to dark blue before it is cooked, becoming scarlet on cooking. The grey-ish, blue/black colour of decapods is produced by a complex of the reddish carotinoid pigment astaxanthin (which colours carrots and other reddish foods) and the blue-green protein a(lpha)-crustacyanin. Astaxanthin is heat-stable while a(lpha)-crustacyanin is not. When the animal is cooked, the crustacyanin is denatured which releases the astaxanthin and results in the bright red colour we see. With many thanks to Lisa Fagg for this information.
Cheese made from a combination of milk and single or double cream (US: heavy cream). It is smooth and spreadable with a rich flavour. The United States Department of Agriculture as containing at least 33% milk fat, but other countries have different standards. Cream cheese is not matured as other soft cheeses are, but it is often used as an ingredient in baking as well as a spread for sweet and savory baked goods such as a bagel.
