burning question

Ranch dressing happens to be the number one selling salad dressing in the United States since 1992. But what exactly is this creamy concoction that we seem to love to pour all over salads, pizzas, and wings?

The dressing, which started out as a simple buttermilk-based dressing enjoyed by cowboys, was made popular when Hidden Valley Ranch began serving and selling the dressing in 1952. Ranch is essentially a combination of sour cream, mayonnaise, yogurt, and/or buttermilk (which accounts for its high fat content) mixed with various seasonings, like fresh herbs and garlic powder. With ingredients this simple and straight-forward, ranch dressing can be made at home with the seasonings adjusted to your own taste buds!

How do you feel about ranch dressing? Do you pour it all over everything you eat or shy away from its creamy consistency?

Source: Flickr User whitneyinchicago

Finger foods, starters, appetizers, hors d'oeuvres: call them what you will, but in the days leading up to yet another New Year's Eve celebration, they've been the talk of every media outlet food section. In reading them all and planning my own Saturday festivities, I've come to wonder: is there a difference between appetizers and hors d'oeuvres?

Although both are meant to foster an appetite and they're listed as the same thing in Wikipedia, there is a subtle difference between the two courses. The French term hors d'œuvre (pronounced "or-derves"), which literally means "out of work" but translates to "outside the meal," is a one-bite item that's either stationary or passed and served separate from or prior to a meal.

This means an hors d'oeuvre is typically finger food and might refer to, among other items, canapés, crudités, deviled eggs, and bruschetta. Appetizers, on the other hand, appear as the first courses when seated at the table. They're often slightly larger and composed in a way that complements the entrée and dessert courses to follow. Which do you prefer — or is it all the same to you?

Often times recipes that call for parsley will specify which kind to use, but when they don't, how do you know whether to use flat leaf or curly leaf parsley?

The general consensus among cooks and culinary enthusiasts seems to be that flat leaf (also known as Italian) parsley has more flavor and should be used in recipes that call for parsley. The curly leaf variety is less flavorful and is mostly used as a garnish (or unless the recipe specifically calls for it). In both cases, fresh parsley has a lot more flavor than its dried version and is preferred to use in cooking. When choosing parsley, select bright green, healthy bunches. Rinse your parsley and wrap it in paper towels. Store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

What variety of parsley do you prefer to use?

Peking duck, pekin duck . . . goose! Only one letter separates a "Pekin duck" from a "Peking duck," so the terms are often used interchangeably. But one paltry letter can be a big poultry difference; these words are both descriptors of ducks, but they're definitely not the same!

A Pekin duck is a breed of duck. Also known as a Long Island duck, this domesticated descendant of the Mallard has a yellow bill, white plumage, and orange webs and is the most popular commercial duck breed in America, where they're raised primarily for egg and meat production.

Peking duck is a famous roast duck dish that comes from China. Arguably China's national food, this imperial dish is made by roasting a duck until the skin is deep brown and crisp, then carving the skin to serve alongside steamed pancakes, julienned scallions, and hoisin sauce. The dish hails from Beijing, the country's capital, which was formerly known as Peking.

Peking duck originated in Nanjing, and the first ducks used to prepare the dish were small birds with dark feathers. Incidentally, these days, most Peking ducks are prepared using Pekin duck. How's that for irony?

Source: Thinkstock and Flickr User FotoosVanRobin

Regardless of how you spell it, whiskey and whisky are essentially the same spirit, created from a mash of fermented grains. On an initial glance, the difference between the two words just looks like an personal preference, or at worst a harmless spelling mistake. But the debate surrounding the one-letter difference between whiskey and whisky has a tendency to make die-hard bourbon connoisseurs' blood boil. Keep reading to learn the difference between whiskey and whisky.

I recently heard a chef call sweetbreads overrated, and I couldn't agree more. While I'm not opposed to eating offal, I simply don't love this bovine bit in particular. Yet I've always wondered one thing about the ingredient in particular: How did it get its name?

Although the answer isn't definite, the book FYI: Does Size Matter? 15 Questions We Aren't Afraid to Answer lends an important clue. In 1578, the word appeared in the book The historie of man. It read: "A certaine Glandulous part, called Thimus, which in Calues...is most pleasaunt to be eaten. I suppose we call it the sweete bread."

That explains why, the first time I witnessed the word sweetbreads being used, I mistakenly thought they were dessert or breakfast breads. Did you ever fall into the same trap?

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Source: Flickr User jasonlam

Both bruschetta and crostini are Italian terms that relate to crispy bread. But what's the difference between the two of them?

Crostini translates to "little toasts" and generally refers to small pieces of bread that are baked. These toasts are then topped with a variety of ingredients like cheese, vegetables, meat, or seafood.

Bruschetta, on the other hand, is a larger piece of bread that is cooked over coals or a grill. Bruschetta can be rubbed with garlic and is traditionally served freshly charred. Like crostini, bruschetta can be topped with a wide range of items. What do you like to top yours with?

Photo by flickr user Jeffrey Beall

I love pound cake, and ever since I've been old enough to eat it, I've wondered: where did it get that name?

In my childhood I speculated if it weighed a pound, or whether it would cause me to put on a pound or two. But that's actually not where the name comes from. Pound cake, which originated in Europe in the first half of the 18th century, initially weighed four pounds. That's because it called for a pound of each of four ingredients — flour, butter, eggs, and sugar — hence the name.

The recipe produced something far larger than what a modern-day family would consume — an amount over twice the volume of most loaf pans. Traditional recipes, therefore, preserve the simple ratio, but serve a much smaller quantity than the original recipe; in contemporary times, most have modified the recipe for a lighter, richer dessert with a prominent butter flavor. In France, where some argue the pound cake originated, the name of the original cake has stuck as well. There, it's called quatre-quarts, or "four quarts," a quart referring to a pound.

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Source: Flickr User asha susan

Not too long ago, I enjoyed my favorite steakhouse side, creamed spinach, with a reliable hunk of aged meat at the House of Prime Rib. I hadn't had the dish in a while, and when I took my first bite I instantly remembered what it felt like to have "spinach teeth" — a gritty, uncomfortable sensation that one experiences after eating spinach. Why, I wondered, does spinach leave your teeth feeling rough?For starters, spinach grows best in sandy soil, so the grittiness may very well come from actual sand if it's not been thoroughly washed. But on top of this, the plant's leaves contain a high amount of oxalic acid crystals, which spread onto the teeth during the chewing process, resulting in a chalky sensation in the mouth. Spinach teeth may be enhanced when the vegetable is eaten with iron-rich substances like milk, which explains why the phenomenon is so detectable with creamed spinach.

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Neapolitan ice cream is known for its side-by-side layers of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream. But what does a tri-flavored ice cream have to do with the province of Naples? The origins date back to the late 1800s, when Neapolitan immigrants arrived in America with a vast knowledge of desserts. One of the sweets they introduced to America was spumoni, an Italian ice cream that was typically molded and contained three flavors of ice cream, such as chocolate and pistachio, each with a layer of fruit and nuts in between them. This "Neapolitan-style ice cream" caught on in the United States, taking on the most popular flavors in America — vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry — a legacy that's still popular today.

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Source: Flickr User Debs (ò‿ó)♪