The name is derived from the fact that these smooth, short, fat sausages were traditionally made with brains (cervelles). However, they are now more frequently pork sausages flavoured with garlic. They are boiled and lightly smoked and usually poached and eaten hot or cold. Occasionally seafood sausages are called cervelas.
There are many herbs of the savory group, Satureja spp, but the most important are winter and summer savory.
Compound butters. Made from softened butter mixed with aromatics or herbs or with a flavour complimentary to the central dish with which they will be served. This might, for example, mean mixing butter with garlic or tarragon, or with an essence derived from crayfish or lobster. Sometimes the butter is heated. Burri is also a creamy cheese.
A sponge biscuit commonly known as ladyfinger, shaped more like a builder's thumb than the fingers of most ladies I know. It is sugared on the outside and baked until it has hardened. About 10 cm (4") long, rounded at each end, they make a good skeleton for soft dishes such as charlotte russe, holding it in a mould.
A Savoy cabbage is a lovely, solidly packed cabbage with solidly crinkly leaves.
Alewife. A migratory fish very similar to the herring, with silvery skin and strong flavour, abundant on the east coast of North America. It has a single spot on each side, behind the operculum and is deeper in the body than a herring. It is available smoked or pickled. The last stop on the Red Line of the Boston 'T' is Alewife, presumably indicating that a lot of these fish used to be landed in Boston.
Long coriander. Stinkweed. A herb widely used in seasoning and marinating in the Caribbean. It is also used extensively in Thailand, India, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia as a culinary herb. This variety of coriander dries well, retaining good color and flavor, making it valuable in the dried herb industry. It is sometimes used as a substitute for cilantro, but it has a much stronger taste.
