6d ago

American recipes are annoying

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I get the rocket and coriander ones, also the units of measurement but what do you call a bell pepper? (Also how do you differentiate dried cilantro seed powder from the fresh herb? I like to know if I should be using a spice or the fresh plant)
- what do you call a bell pepper
  Paprika.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_pepper#Nomenclature
  It's very well documented.
- In the uk we call a bell pepper a pepper. Red/green/orange/yellow prefixed as required.
- what do you call a bell pepper
  Capsicum. Or red/green/yellow pepper.
  
  Red/yellow/green pepper is generally valid anywhere bell pepper is. But bell lets you choose your favorite!
- Rocket????
  
  Arugula is known as Rocket in most of the rest of the world.
  
  Because the word "rocket" doesn't mean the same or even exists in all languages, obviously. How are you this dumb?
- Cilantro is the herb, coriander (seed) is the spice/dried powder. Often you can tell by what you are making and how it's being used/added, but typically they are differentiated as above in American recipes.
  Genuinely confused as well about the pepper, a bell pepper is a pretty universal name for it as far as I knew. Folks also refer to them as green/yellow/red peppers here, or sweet peppers occasionally (usually when used in Italian food), but bell pepper is the generic name.
  
  Cilantro is the herb, coriander (seed) is the spice/dried powder.
  That's very much an NA thing. US mostly, but also sometimes in Canada. Coriander is name of the plant.
  
  Indeed. I know "Coriander seeds" and "Coriander green" (Or "leaves"). Chilantro is maybe an American word for some reason?
  
  Cilantro is a Spanish word and Mexican dishes are probably where most Americans are exposed to the food.
  
  Ah, it is a Spanish word. TIL.
  
  In a whole load of languages, you call bell pepper paprika. If you just say "pepper" to me, that's usually black pepper in particular. If you say chilli pepper, that means a spicy variant of the capsicum genus. A non-spicy capsicum genus member? That's a paprika.
  There's no name to put in front of "pepper" in my language that would make it refer to paprika.
  That said, in English, it's apparently almost always something something pepper. Or capsicum. Or apparently according to Wikipedia, in the American mid-west, mango???????
  
  In English, paprika usually refers to a spice made from peppers. I don't know the history of it, but I assume it's a translation issue that led to the two words referring to essentially the same thing.
  
  The whole calling it peppers part is the mistake here: Some varieties of capsicum are spicy, like pepper is, so capsicum also got the name pepper.
  OG pepper is black pepper, aka peppercorn. That had the name way before bell pepper did, which is why in other languages, bell peppers aren't generally called pepper.
  
  Capsicum is also the family of the plant, so it makes sense to call it that.
  It could also be that the name was taken from the French (or other language maybe) "poivron" which is pretty close to "poivre," which is the word for pepper/peppercorn.
  
  Can confirm; I heard at least one person in central Ohio call bell peppers "mangos" when I was growing up. I have no idea where they got that from.
  
  a bell pepper is a pretty universal name for it as far as I knew
  I thought every language just called it paprika. TIL English doesn't
  
  In spanish they’re called pimentón or pimiento dulce. The powder is called páprika though.
- In Bluey they call them capsicums. Which is a fun word to say, we do that now.
- I call it a bell pepper. Paprika is a spice.
  UK and Ireland paprika is pointless and flavourless.
- Just call it a pepper, like "red pepper" or "black pepper" for the seasoning.
  
  There are other kinds of peppers that are those colors, that's why we use "bell pepper" to refer to the ones that look like bells
  If you went to my garden and used my red peppers (serrano) as a replacement for red bell pepper then you're going to end up with a much spicier dish
  
  I mean, context is also used, a teaspoon of red pepper is likely referring to the seasoning.

146 comments