Chapter 19Chapter 19
Legumes, Grains, Pasta, and Other Starches
Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Dried Legumes
Legume is a plant that bears seed pods that split along two opposite sides when ripe.
• In culinary usage, legumes refer to the seeds from these seed pods, especially when they are mature and dried.
• Legumes are high in protein and, thus, are important in vegetarian diets.
• They are rich in B vitamins and minerals.
• Some legumes, like the soybean, are also rich in fat.
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Dried Legumes
Kidney Beans• A subgroup of this family is sometimes called haricot
beans (haricot is the French word for “bean”).
Peas• Dried green and yellow peas are the same peas we eat
as a fresh vegetable, but they are left on the vine until mature and dry.
• They are usually split, with the hull removed.• Split peas cook quickly without preliminary soaking.
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Types and Varieties
Dried Legumes
Lentils• Lentils are small, lens-shaped legumes.• They have a shorter cooking time than kidney beans, even when
whole, and do not need soaking.
Other Legumes• Lima Beans• Chick peas• Mung Beans• Fava Beans• Adzuki• Soybeans• Dal
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Types and Varieties
Dried Legumes
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Types and Varieties
Top row: navy beans, garbanzo beans or chickpeas, Great Northern beans.
Bottom row: baby lima beans, cannellini beans or white kidney beans, rice beans.
Dried Legumes
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Types and Varieties
Top row: black turtle beans, dried fava beans.
Bottom row: Swedish brown beans, calypso beans, flageolet beans.
Dried Legumes
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Types and Varieties
Top row: red kidney beans, pink beans, appaloosa beans.
Bottom row: cranberry beans or borlotti, Christmas lima beans, pinto beans.
Dried Legumes
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Types and Varieties
Top row: yellow split peas, green lentils, green split peas.
Bottom row: brown lentils, red lentils, black-eyed peas.
Dried Legumes
The primary cooking method used to prepare dried legumes is simmering.
• Dried beans, peas, and lentils are dry and hard, and they must be rehydrated.
• They must absorb water in order to be made edible.
• Once the beans are cooked and tender, they can be finished in a variety of ways.
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Cooking Legumes
Grains
Grains are the edible seeds of various members of the grass family.
• Each seed consists of four parts:
• The husk: an inedible fibrous outer layer that is removed during processing
• The endosperm: the starchy mass that forms most of the kernel
• The bran: a tough but edible layer covering the endosperm
• The germ: the tiny embryo that forms the new plant when the seed sprouts
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Types of Grains
Grains
A product labeled whole grain consists of the:• Endosperm
• Bran
• Germ
• The grain may be polished or milled to remove the bran and germ.
• White rice and other polished grains are only the endosperm.
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Types of Grains
Grains
Rice• Regular milled white rice
has been milled to remove the outer bran coating.
• This process removes some vitamins and minerals
• It produces a white, lighter-textured product most people prefer.
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Types of Grains
Grains
Enriched rice • Has received a coating of vitamins to compensate for
some of the nutrients lost in milling.
Short-grain and medium-grain rice • Have small, round kernels that become sticky when
cooked.
Long-grain rice • Has long, slender grains.
• Stays separate and fluffy when properly cooked.
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Types of Grains
Grains
Parboiled or Converted rice
• Has been partially cooked under steam pressure, re-dried, and then milled or polished.
• This process results in a higher vitamin and mineral content, compared with regular milled white rice.
• Parboiled rice is the most widely used in food service.
• The grains stay firm, separate, and light, and the product holds well in the steam table without becoming mushy or sticky.
• The flavor and texture are not like those of regular long-grain rice.
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Types of Grains
Grains
Instant rice
• Has been precooked and dried.
• It can be prepared quickly. It does not hold well after cooking, and the grains quickly lose their shape and become mushy.
Brown rice
• Has the bran layer left on.
• Available as short, medium, or long grain.
• Brown rice takes about twice as long to cook as white rice.
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Types of Grains
Grains
Arborio
• Arborio rice is one of several Italian varieties of a type of short-grain rice essential for making the highest-quality risotto.
Basmati rice
• Extra-long-grain rice widely used in India and surrounding countries.
Jasmine rice
• Long-grain white rice from Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia.
• A little like basmati rice but more delicate or floral.16
Types of Grains
Grains
Wehani Rice
• Aromatic rice, red in color, with a rich, earthy flavor.
Wild Pecan Rice
• Wild pecan rice is a cultivated, not wild, long-grain rice from Louisiana.
Glutinous rice
• Also called sticky rice and sweet rice.
• Sweet-tasting short-grain rice.
• Becomes quite sticky and chewy when cooked.
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Types of Grains
Grains
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Types of Grains
Top row: basmati rice, glutinous rice, plain long-grain rice.
Bottom row: Japanese short-grain rice, jasmine rice, Arborio rice.
Grains
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Types of Grains
Top row: true wild rice, Wehani rice, cultivated wild rice.
Bottom row: parboiled or converted rice, brown long-grain rice.
Grains
Corn• Corn, as a grain, is not often cooked whole.
• It is ground into cornmeal.
• Meal can be defined as a coarsely ground grain, as distinguished from flour, which is finely ground grain.• Polenta
• Hominy
• Grits
• Pozole
• Blue Corn20
Types of Grains
Grains
Wheat• Wheat Germ and Wheat Bran
• Usually used as additions to baked goods and some other dishes to enrich their nutritional content and to add flavor and interest.
• Cracked Wheat
• Whole wheat grains that have been cut into smaller pieces.
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Types of Grains
Grains
Wheat• Wheatberries
• Wheatberries are the whole grain minus the hulls.
• Bulgur • Type of cracked wheat that has been partially cooked or
parched.
• It is usually available in coarse, medium, and fine granulations.
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Types of Grains
Grains
Wheat• Green Wheat
• Wheat that is harvested while immature and then dried.
• Couscous
• Is not actually a grain.
• It is made from semolina wheat and is sort of a granular pasta.
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Types of Grains
Grains
Other Grains• Wild Rice
• Not actually rice but rather the seed of an unrelated grass native to the northern United States and Canada.
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Types of Grains
• Barley• Triticale• Oats• Amaranth• Millet
• Farro• Spelt• Kamut• Flaxseed• Buckwheat• Quinoa
Grains
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Types of Grains
Top row: Egyptian green wheat, hulled wheatberries
Bottom row: couscous, kasha, farro
Grains
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Types of Grains
Top row: quinoa, triticale, pearl barley.
Bottom row: blue cornmeal, pozole, bulgur wheat.
Grains
• Store raw grains at room temperature in a dark, dry place and in a tightly sealed container to keep out moisture and insects.
• Whole grains are more perishable because the fat content of the germ can become rancid.
• Whole grains may need to be picked over like dried beans to remove foreign matter such as tiny stones or bits of soil.
• Rice, our most commonly cooked grain, should be rinsed in cold water before boiling or steaming to remove excess starch.
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Storing and Handling Grains
Grains
Simmering Methods
• The exact amount of liquid needed varies considerably, depending on these factors:
1. The type of grain, its age, and its moisture content.
2. Tightness or looseness of the cover (degree of moisture loss during cooking).
3. Desired moistness of the finished product.
• It is better to add too much liquid than too little.
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Cooking Grains
Grains
Simmering Methods• Pasta Method
• It is so called because, like pasta, the item is cooked in a large quantity of water and drained.
• The Pilaf Method
• The pilaf method is equivalent to braising.
• The grain is first sautéed in fat and then cooked in liquid.
• The fat helps keep the grains separate and adds flavor.
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Cooking Grains
Grains
Simmering Methods• Risotto method
• The word risotto comes from the Italian word riso, meaning “rice.”
• After sautéing the rice, add a small amount of hot stock or other liquid and stir until the liquid is absorbed.
• Repeat this procedure until the rice is cooked but still firm.
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Cooking Grains