Anchovies are tiny, silvery fish that come from the Mediterranean and southern European coasts. They're sold salt-cured, usually oil-packed, and filleted. Commonly they come either flat or rolled in cans or jars, or ground and mixed with oil or butter to make a paste that is sold in tubes. On their own, anchovies are very salty but mixed into sauces, dressings, or pastas they add a wonderful depth of flavor.

Pork is the culinary name for the flesh of a domestic pig (Sus scrofa domesticus). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide,[1] with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved. Curing extends the shelf life of the pork products. Ham, smoked pork, gammon, bacon and sausage are examples of preserved pork. Charcuterie is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products, many from pork. Pig is the most popular meat in the Eastern and non-Muslim parts of Southeastern Asia (Indochina, Philippines, Singapore, East Timor) and is also very common in the Western world, especially in Central Europe. It is highly prized in Asian cuisines for its fat content and pleasant texture. Consumption of pork is forbidden by Jewish, Muslim and Rastafarian dietary law, for religious reasons, with several suggested possible causes.

Eggplant (Solanum melongena) or aubergine is a species of nightshade grown for its edible fruit. Eggplant is the common name in North America, Australia and New Zealand; in British English, it is aubergine, and in South Asia and South Africa, brinjal. The fruit is widely used in cooking. As a member of the genus Solanum, it is related to the tomato and the potato. It was originally domesticated from the wild nightshade species, the thorn or bitter apple, S. incanum, probably with two independent domestications, one in South Asia and one in East Asia.

Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants as energy storage. It is the most common carbohydrate in human diets and is contained in large amounts in staple foods like potatoes, wheat, maize (corn), rice, and cassava. Pure starch is a white, tasteless and odorless powder that is insoluble in cold water or alcohol. It consists of two types of molecules: the linear and helical amylose and the branched amylopectin. Depending on the plant, starch generally contains 20 to 25% amylose and 75 to 80% amylopectin by weight.[4] Glycogen, the glucose store of animals, is a more highly branched version of amylopectin. In industry, starch is converted into sugars, for example by malting, and fermented to produce ethanol in the manufacture of beer, whisky and biofuel. It is processed to produce many of the sugars used in processed foods. Mixing most starches in warm water produces a paste, such as wheatpaste, which can be used as a thickening, stiffening or gluing agent. The biggest industrial non-food use of starch is as an adhesive in the papermaking process. Starch can be applied to parts of some garments before ironing, to stiffen them.

Doubanjiang (IPA: [tôupântɕjâŋ]), or simply Douban, or Toban-djan, Chili bean sauce, is a spicy, salty paste made from fermented broad beans, soybeans, salt, rice, and various spices. Doubanjiang exists in plain and spicy versions, with the latter containing red chili peppers and called la doubanjiang (辣豆瓣酱; pinyin: là dòubànjiàng; là meaning "hot" or "spicy"). It is used particularly in Sichuan cuisine, and in fact, the people of the province commonly refer to it as "the soul of Sichuan cuisine". A particularly well-known variety is called Pixian Douban (simplified Chinese: 郫县豆瓣; traditional Chinese: 郫縣豆瓣; pinyin: Píxiàn dòubàn), named after the district of Pixian, Sichuan.[1] This sauce is sometimes stir-fried with oil and eaten with rice or noodles as a quick meal, and is also commonly used as a primary flavoring for fried tofu dishes and cold tofu salads. It is also frequently mixed with instant noodles. In many Chinese communities and food factories, doubanjiang is produced with only soybeans and salt, and does not contain the broad beans or chili peppers typical of Sichuan-style doubanjiang. In Korean cuisine, a similar form of bean paste is called doenjang.

Biryani, also known as biriyani, biriani, birani or briyani, is a mixed rice dish with its origins among the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent. It can be compared to mixing a curry, later combining it with semi-cooked rice separately. This dish is especially popular throughout the Indian subcontinent, as well as among the diaspora from the region. It is also prepared in other regions such as Iraqi Kurdistan. It is made with Indian spices, rice, meat (chicken, goat, beef, lamb, prawn, or fish), vegetables or eggs.

Balsamic vinegar (Italian: aceto balsamico), occasionally shortened to balsamic, is a very dark, concentrated, and intensely flavoured vinegar originating in Italy, made wholly or partially from grape must. Grape must is freshly crushed grape juice with all the skins, seeds and stems.