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