STARCHES POTATOES GRAINS LEGUMES BUYING AND STORING POTATOES

STARCHES POTATOES GRAINS LEGUMES

BUYING AND STORING POTATOES… Select potatoes that are firm and relatively smooth. Potatoes that are exposed to light or have been sunburned may develop a greenish color. This means the potato contains SOLANINE (SOLE-ah-neen), a bitter tasting and somewhat toxic substance that can cause intestinal discomfort. Potato sprouts may also contain solanine. Cut away and discard sprouts and any green portions before using the potatoes. Discard potatoes that have been frostbitten. They are watery and have a black ring under the skin when cut in cross sections. Potato varieties differ in starch and moisture content, shape, and skin color. The starch content of any potato increases with age.

COOKING Russet potatoes, also known as POTATOES… Burbank or Idaho potatoes, are white and oval-shaped. Those, as well as sweet potatoes and yams are high in starch and low in moisture. They are best cooked by baking. All baked potatoes are served in their skins. Wrapping potatoes in foil prior to baking keeps the skin soft, but makes the inside less fluffy. (these are actually ‘steamed’ potatoes) Rubbing the potato with fat, such as shortening or oil, keeps the skin soft and adds flavor, while allowing the inside to get soft and fluffy. Baking with no foil or fat leaves the skin crisp. Your choice of toppings: butter, sour cream, cheese, chives, bacon bits No matter how they are baked, potatoes should be scrubbed clean and pierced with a fork before baking. The piercing allows heat and steam to escape and prevents the potato from exploding. Place the potatoes directly on the oven rack or sheet pan. ‘Bump’ baked potatoes on a hard surface before serving to increase mealiness.

COOKING POTATOES… Red or white round potatoes, also called ‘chefs’ or ‘all-purpose’ potatoes, are drier and less starchy… and less expensive. Since the shape is often irregular, preparation methods are mashing, in salads, scalloped or in casseroles, in soups, braised, and sautéed. New potatoes are small, immature red potatoes that are harvested when they are less than 2 inches in diameter. They are high in moisture and sugar, and low in starch.

COOKING POTATOES… There are two categories for cooking potatoes: Single-stage techniques take the potato from a raw state to a finished state with one cooking method. Baked and boiled potatoes are examples. Multiple-stage techniques involve more than one cooking method before they are finished. Potatoes pictured on this slide use multiple-stage techniques. Fried potatoes: Boil potatoes, cool, slice or dice, and fry. . Twice-baked potatoes: Halve and scoop out the flesh of a baked potato, mash and mix with other ingredients, refill the potato shell, top with cheese, and bake again until cheese is melted. Potatoes Lyonnaise: (LEE-on-AZE) means that vegetables are precooked, sliced, then fried with onions.

COOKING POTATOES… Mashed potato patties (leftover mashed potatoes mixed with egg and seasonings and fried) Parmentier: ‘served with potatoes’, such as ‘steak parmentier’ Duchesse potatoes: (duch-es)mashed with eggs and squeezed through a pastry tube Potato croquette Latkes (LAHT-keys): popular in (a little flat cake or American-Jewish cooking, are ball of tasty mixture coated in potato pancakes. They are made from grated potatoes, and egg & breadcrumbs, traditionally served with and fried) applesauce and sour cream.

DEEP-FRYING POTATOES… Potato chips: deep -fried, thin crosswise cuts French fries: deepfried batonnet-cut sticks; known as ‘chips’ in England Shoestring fries: Like French fries, but julienne cut Cottage fries: crosswise cut and fried with or without skins Steak fries: thickly cut fries or wedges, with or without skins Curly fries: French fries cut with a special tool

COOKING POTATOES… En casserole potato dishes combine peeled and sliced raw or cooked potatoes with heavy cream, white sauces, or cheese sauces… and are then baked in a buttered pan. Often the dish is topped with bread Dauphine potatoes: mixed crumbs, butter, or grated cheese for better color. with an unsweetened These potatoes are good for banquets, due to their cream puff paste, squeezed ability to be held for longer periods of time without through a pastry tube, and losing quality. fried Scalloped potatoes: raw or cooked potatoes, sliced and baked in a creamy white sauce. Potatoes O’Brien: sliced or diced, cooked potatoes with cheese or cheese sauce, onions and peppers.

SWEET POTATOES & YAMS… Sweet potatoes have orange colored flesh and are very sweet and high in vitamin A. Yams are similar, but are drier, less-orange (sometimes yellow or nearly white), are less sweet, and have only a trace of vitamin A. Look for potatoes that are small to medium in size, with smooth, unbruised skin. Avoid any with a white stringy "beard, " a sure sign the potato is overmature and probably tough. Do not refrigerate, as that will speed deterioration. Sweet potatoes sprout easily, so have a short shelf life.

SWEET POTATOES… Yams can be cooked in nearly any preparation that you would use for russet or chef’s potatoes. Sweet potatoes can be baked, mashed, candied, or made into fries and chips. Candied sweet potatoes are a Thanksgiving favorite.

GRAINS & LEGUMES… Grains and legumes must be cooked before eating: 1. To change their texture so they can be digested easily 2. To develop their flavor 3. To remove dirt, dust, and other natural substances that may be harmful to humans Dried legumes include adzuki beans, black-eyed peas, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), fava beans, Great Northern Beans, kidney beans, lentils, lima beans, mung beans, split peas, whole dried peas, pink peas, pinto beans, and soybeans. (such as the toxic substances in fava and lima beans if eaten raw) Whole grains include barley, buckwheat, rice, and cornmeal (ground field corn).

GRAINS & LEGUMES… Most legumes and some whole grains such as barley need to be soaked in cold water or a flavorful liquid for 4 hours or overnight before cooking. This is done to soften the tough seed coatings and shorten the cooking time. Rinse them carefully before soaking, and discard any that float to the surface of the soaking liquids.

GRAINS & LEGUMES… There are 3 methods for cooking grains: A. steaming B. pilaf (PEEL-ahf) C. risotto (ree-ZO-toe) Grains can be cooked in a steamer over boiling liquid, leaving them tender and flavorful. In a pilaf, the grain is sautéed briefly in fat, then simmered in a seasoned stock. Grains will be tender, but remain separated. Risotto is a dish of, short-grained rice, and other ingredients cooked in stock. Starch is released, giving it a creamy texture.

RICE… The seeds of the rice plant are first milled using a rice huller to remove the chaff (the outer hull or husks of the grain). At this point in the process, the product is called brown rice. The milling may be continued, removing the ‘bran’ (i. e. the 1 st layer under the hull) and the ‘germ’, thereby creating white rice or polished rice. Sometimes rice is cooked first, before milling and while the hull is still intact. The nutrients from the hull penetrate the rice kernel, and cause it to be a yellow color. The hull and bran are then removed, and the result is called converted rice. Glutinous rice or sticky rice is a type of shortgrained Asian rice that is especially sticky when cooked, so it can be eaten with chopsticks. Wild rice is not a true rice, but the seed of a plant native to North America.

RICE… Rice is a very versatile grain. It is served in appetizers, soups, salads, entrées, and desserts. A rule of thumb when cooking rice, is that rice quadruples in size. Therefore, the ratio of liquid to rice is 4: 1. If you’re cooking 1 cup ‘raw’ rice, you would use 4 cups of liquid. Long-grain rice has a more slender, longer kernel. It is best used in soups, salads, and main dishes where the kernels need to stay separated. Short and mediumgrain rice cook up more moist and are used in sauces, rings, and puddings. Rice is sometimes browned dry or in oil before cooking. This helps keep kernels separated. Arborio (ahr-BORE-ee-oh) is a short-grain rice used in risotto.

PASTA… The rule of thumb for pasta is that it ‘doubles in size’ as it cooks, and to use ‘ 1 gallon of liquid to cook 1# of pasta’. Cook pasta ‘al dente’ (ahl-DAN-tay)… firm to the bite. (far-FALL-lay) FETTUCCINI: like linguine, only wider CAPELLETTI: a small version of tortellini ANGEL HAIR PASTA: very thin spaghetti PENNE: like rigatoni, but with slanted ends NOODLE: any flat, narrow pasta made with eggs To test the doneness of a pasta, chew it between your back molars. It should be firm, but not stick in your teeth. Orzo

PASTA… Homemade pasta takes just 4 ingredients: eggs, salt, oil, and flour. Sometimes herbs, spices, and vegetables (spinach and squash are popular) are added for flavor and color. After mixing the dough, it must be allowed to ‘rest’, so it will not be so difficult to roll out into thin sheets. Fresh pasta can be refrigerated, or dried, or frozen. a la Provencale (prov-on-sal): means ‘with garlic and oil’… a simple pasta sauce sometimes combined with tomatoes and olives Any sauce served with pasta should complement it. Long, flat pastas are best suited to light cream sauces. Tube and twisted pastas are paired with heavy tomato and meat sauces.

DUMPLINGS… Dumplings can be made from doughs or batters, and may have bread or potatoes as a main ingredient. Test the doneness of dumplings by cutting into one; they should never Matzo Balls: have a doughy, uncooked Jewish dumplings center. Spaetzle (SHPÉTS-el): small German dumplings made by forcing soft dough through a sieve Gnocchi (nee-YO-key): small Italian potato dumplings A bread dumpling is steamed on top of a stew (chicken & dumplings) or poached in a flavorful broth. Potstickers: a Chinese dumpling filled with vegetables or meat

STARCHES THE END POTATOES GRAINS LEGUMES