Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) lard, hog's fat melted and strained from the tissues, an important byproduct of the meatpacking industry. The highest grade, leaf lard, is from the fat around the kidneys; the next best is from the ba...

(Encyclopedia) liquefied petroleum gas or LPG, mixture of gases, chiefly propane and butane, produced commercially from petroleum and stored under pressure to keep it in a liquid state. The boiling point of liquefie...

(Encyclopedia) pickerelweed, common name for the Pontederiaceae, a family of chiefly tropical perennial aquatic herbs found in freshwater. The pickerelweeds (genus Pontederia) range north into temperate regions, inc...

(Encyclopedia) cowpea, black-eyed pea, or black-eyed bean, annual legume (Vigna sinensis) of the pulse family. Introduced in the early 18th cent. from the Old World to the S United States, it has become a staple of...

(Encyclopedia) safflower, Eurasian thistlelike herb (Carthamus tinctorius) of the family Asteraceae (aster family). Safflower, or false saffron, has long been cultivated in S Asia and Egypt for food and medicine and...

(Encyclopedia) Soyer, Alexis Benoît älĕksēˈ bənwäˈ swäyāˈ [key], 1809–58, French chef and writer on gastronomy and dietary reform. After the Revolution of 1830 he went to London and was notable as chef ...

(Encyclopedia) Escoffier, Georges Auguste zhôrzh ôgüstˈ ĕskôfyāˈ [key], 1846–1935, French authority on cooking. Regarded by some as the greatest chef in history, he went to work at the age of 13 in his unc...

(Encyclopedia) Waters, Alice, 1944–, American chef and author whose advocacy of organically grown, locally produced seasonal food and of sustainable agriculture has influenced America's approach to food, b. Chatha...

(Encyclopedia) Texarkana tĕkˌsärkănˈə [key], city (1990 pop.: in Tex., 31,656; in Ark., 22,631), Bowie co. (Tex.) and seat of Miller co. (Ark.), on the Tex.-Ark. line; inc. 1880. Physically one city, Texarkana...

(Encyclopedia) mercaptan thīˈōl [key], any of a class of organic compounds containing the group –SH bonded to a carbon atom. The volatile low-molecular-weight mercaptans have disagreeable odors. Mercaptans are ...