Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, including the Baltic Sea, as well as off the west coast of South America.

Rum is a distilled alcoholic drink made from sugarcane byproducts, such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels. The majority of the world's rum production occurs in the Caribbean and Latin America. Rum is also produced in Australia, Portugal, Austria, Canada, Fiji, India, Japan, Mauritius, Nepal, New Zealand, the Philippines, Reunion Island, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Rums are produced in various grades. Light rums are commonly used in cocktails, whereas "golden" and "dark" rums were typically consumed straight or neat, on the rocks, or used for cooking, but are now commonly consumed with mixers. Premium rums are also available, made to be consumed either straight or iced. Rum plays a part in the culture of most islands of the West Indies as well as in The Maritimes and Newfoundland. This drink has famous associations with the Royal Navy (where it was mixed with water or beer to make grog) and piracy (where it was consumed as bumbo). Rum has also served as a popular medium of economic exchange, used to help fund enterprises such as slavery (see Triangular trade), organized crime, and military insurgencies (e.g., the American Revolution and Australia's Rum Rebellion).

Ground meat, called mince or minced meat outside of North America (i.e. in U.K. and Commonwealth countries), and keema or qeema (Hindustani: क़ीमा (Devanagari), قیمہ (Nastaleeq), (pronounced [ˈqiːmaː])) in the Indian subcontinent, is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder or a chopping knife. A common type of ground meat is ground beef, but many other types of meats are prepared in a similar fashion, including pork, lamb, and poultry. In the Indian subcontinent, both mutton and goat meat are also minced to produce keema.

Vinegar is a liquid consisting of about 5–20% acetic acid (CH3COOH), water, and other trace chemicals, which may include flavorings. The acetic acid is produced by the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Vinegar is now mainly used as a cooking ingredient, or in pickling. As the most easily manufactured mild acid, it has historically had a great variety of industrial, medical, and domestic uses, some of which (such as its use as a general household cleaner) are still commonly practiced today. Commercial vinegar is produced either by a fast or a slow fermentation process. In general, slow methods are used in traditional vinegars where fermentation proceeds slowly over the course of a few months or up to a year. The longer fermentation period allows for the accumulation of a non-toxic slime composed of acetic acid bacteria. Fast methods add mother of vinegar (bacterial culture) to the source liquid before adding air to oxygenate and promote the fastest fermentation. In fast production processes, vinegar may be produced between 20 hours to three days.

Vicia faba, also known as the broad bean, fava bean, faba bean, field bean, bell bean, or tic bean, is a species of flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae. It is native to North Africa[dubious – discuss] southwest and south Asia, and extensively cultivated elsewhere.[citation needed] A variety Vicia faba var. equina Pers. – horse bean has been previously recognized.

Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle, particularly skeletal muscle. Humans have been eating beef since prehistoric times. Beef is a source of high-quality protein and nutrients. Most beef skeletal muscle meat can be used as is by merely cutting into certain parts, such as roasts, short ribs or steak (filet mignon, sirloin steak, rump steak, rib steak, rib eye steak, hanger steak, etc.), while other cuts are processed (corned beef or beef jerky). Trimmings, on the other hand, are usually mixed with meat from older, leaner (therefore tougher) cattle, are ground, minced or used in sausages. The blood is used in some varieties called blood sausage. Other parts that are eaten include other muscles and offal, such as the oxtail, liver, tongue, tripe from the reticulum or rumen, glands (particularly the pancreas and thymus, referred to as sweetbread), the heart, the brain (although forbidden where there is a danger of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE, commonly referred to as mad cow disease), the kidneys, and the tender testicles of the bull (known in the United States as calf fries, prairie oysters, or Rocky Mountain oysters). Some intestines are cooked and eaten as is, but are more often cleaned and used as natural sausage casings. The bones are used for making beef stock.

Scotch bonnet, also known as bonney peppers, or Caribbean red peppers, is a variety of chili pepper named for its resemblance to a tam o' shanter hat. Also called ata rodo by Yoruba speakers of Nigeria, it is found mainly in the Caribbean islands; it is also found in Guyana (where it is called the ball-of-fire pepper), the Maldives Islands (where it is called githeyo mirus), Panama (where it is called aji chombo) and West Africa. Most Scotch bonnets have a heat rating of 100,000–350,000 Scoville units. For comparison, most jalapeño peppers have a heat rating of 2,500 to 8,000 on the Scoville scale. However, completely sweet varieties of Scotch bonnet are grown on some of the Caribbean islands, called cachucha peppers. These peppers are used to flavour many different dishes and cuisines worldwide and are often used in hot sauces and condiments. The Scotch bonnet has a sweeter flavour and stouter shape, distinct from its habanero relative with which it is often confused, and gives jerk dishes (pork/chicken) and other Caribbean dishes their unique flavour. Scotch bonnets are mostly used in West African, Antiguan, Kittitian/Nevisian, Anguilan, Dominican, St. Lucian, St Vincentian, Grenadian, Trinidadian, Jamaican, Barbadian, Guyanese, Surinamese, Haitian and Cayman cuisines and pepper sauces, though they often show up in other Caribbean recipes. It is also used in Costa Rica and Panama for Caribbean-styled recipes such as rice and beans, Rondón, saus, beef patties, and Ceviche. Fresh, ripe Scotch bonnets can change from green to yellow to scarlet red, however many other breeds of this pepper can ripen to orange, yellow, peach, or even a chocolate brown.

The bay leaf is an aromatic leaf commonly used in cooking. It can be used whole, or as dried and ground.