All Ingredients

Unopened canned tuna can be stored for up to a year in a dry, cool place. Once opened, it will keep for up to two days if you wrap it well and refrigerate it. Varieties include albacore, bluefin, blackfin, bonito, skipjack = aku, kawakawa, and the leaner yellowfin = bigeye = ahi.

This is a salty bean paste used in Vietnamese cuisine.

This squash has a gorgeous rind, but ho-hum flavor. It makes a good centerpiece, or you can hollow it out and use it as a spectacular soup tureen.

Turbot is an outstanding fish, but somewhat expensive.

Markets often sell whole turkeys at bargain prices during the holidays, using them as loss leaders. It's a good idea to stock up on them then, since you can keep them in the freezer for up to a year and serve your family this cheap, lean meat year-round. If you're planning to roast a whole turkey, choose a young turkey. Older birds (including yearlings) aren't as tender and are best cooked in a stew or soup. When selecting your turkey, make sure that the plastic wrapping isn't torn. There's no big difference between males (toms) and females (hens). Experienced cooks like fresh birds (since they're moister) that are between ten and twelve pounds. Bigger ones are tricky to cook without drying them out. Frozen turkeys should be thawed in the refrigerator, allowing one day of thawing per five pounds of bird. If you're short of time, you can thaw a turkey by leaving it in its original plastic wrapper and covering it completely with cold water, changing the water every 30 minutes. Allow 30 minutes of thawing time per pound of bird if you use this method. Fresh turkeys should be used within two days of purchase. Cut-up turkeys are also available. The major cuts are the turkey breast, tenderloin, cutlet, drumstick, and thigh.

Different brands of turkey bacon have wildly different amounts of fat, but most have much less fat than ordinary bacon. The flavor suffers a bit, though.

This has less fat and sodium than beef jerky.

These are long, green, and hot chili peppers. Turks like to grill them and serve them with meat. Don't confuse this fresh pepper with the spice called Turkish pepper.

Turmeric has a pungent flavor, but it's more widely known for it's brilliant yellow color. You can find fresh roots in Southeast Asian and Indian markets, but dried ground turmeric is far more commonly used. Be careful when handling fresh turmeric--it can stain your hands and clothes.

These are used in Indian and Southeast Asian dishes. There are no acceptable substitutes, just omit this from the recipe

Turmeric has a pleasant enough flavor, but it's prized more for the brilliant yellow color it imparts to whatever it's cooked with. It's a standard ingredient in curry powders, pickles, and prepared mustards. Be careful--turmeric can stain your clothes.

Turnips can be roasted, boiled, steamed, or stir-fried. Select small turnips that feel heavy for their size.

A staple of Southern cuisine, turnips greens are traditionally served with salt pork or ham hocks. The leaves are pungent and slightly bitter, especially older ones, but they become milder when cooked. Don't prepare them with aluminum cookware, as it will affect their flavor and appearance.

Turtle meat is very flavorful though it's somewhat chewy. It often goes into soups.

Tvorog is a Russian version of cottage cheese. It is a cow's milk curd product.

This mild Danish cow's milk cheese is great on sandwiches.

This milk Israeli cheese was produced originally from sheep's milk. But now may also be made from cow's milk, goat's milk or water buffalo milk.

Look for these in African markets.

These slippery Japanese wheat noodles are popular in southern Japan, where they're often served in soups or stews. They're roughly as thick as spaghetti, but they come in different widths. Dried udon noodles are available in Asian markets and health food stores. Cook them for about 11 minutes. Fresh udon noodles are called nama udon, and should be cooked for about 2 to 3 minutes.

This grapefruit-mandarin cross looks like a grapefruit in an ill-fitting suit. It's sweet and juicy, though, and simple to eat since the peel comes off easily and the fruit pulls apart into tidy segments that are virtually seedless. Americans pronounce the name "ugly," but in Jamaica, where it's grown, it's pronounced "HOO-glee." Some marketers have tried calling it "Uniq fruit®," but the name hasn't caught on much. Ugli fruit are available from December through April. Most specimens are much uglier than the one pictured here, but don't let that deter you. Select fruits that are heavy for their size, and that give a little when you press them.

This Japanese vinegar is quite salty, and it has a distinctive, slightly fruity flavor. It's typically used in dips and salad dressings.

These are used for making sprouts.

What kid hasn't sneaked a bar of this out of the kitchen, only to discover that unadulterated chocolate is bitter and unpalatable. Some cooks prefer to use it over sweetened chocolate because it gives them better control of the sweetness and flavor of the product.

A seitan-based turkey.

These lentil-like beans have black skins covering creamy white interiors. Whole urad dal derive their strong, earthy flavor from the black skins and are often used in curries. Split urad dal retain the skins and also have a strong flavor. Skinned and split urad dal are creamy white and somewhat bland.

This is made from urad dal, a type of Indian lentil. The flour is used to make pappadums and breads.

These are black lentils (or urad dal) that have been split and skinned. They're much milder than unskinned.

These are black lentils (or urad dal) that have been split but not skinned. They're not as mild as white lentils, which have been split and skinned.

This is a dried ground chili pepper used in Turkey on meat dishes. It is medium spicy and has a smoky flavor.

This creamy Spanish cheese is a member of the washed rind (a.k.a. stinky) cheese family, but it's mild and subtle.

For many recipes using less of an ingredient, like sugar, is a good option.

To make your own: See the Mitch's V-6 Vegetable Juice Cocktail Recipe posted on Fabulousfoods.com.