Ancient Grains for Modern Meals - Maria Speck [11]
WHEN YOU SHOP Polenta, grits, and cornmeal cause a lot of confusion. First, on a light note, when a recipe in this book calls for polenta, don’t go out and buy the plastic-wrapped tubes filled with a firm yellow mush. This is a ready-made product for last-minute preparations. Once you have tried real polenta, you will leave these tubes on the supermarket shelf. Italian polenta, now a trendy food, is essentially coarsely ground cornmeal, each little granule about the size of couscous. For the recipes in this book, look for packages labeled “polenta” or “corn grits” (but not the instant or quick-cooking kind). They will provide you with a pleasant introduction to the grain and will deliver consistent results. However, polenta and grits sold in the United States are often refined, which makes them not a whole grain. As a nutritious alternative, my recipes also give instructions for coarse stone-ground whole grain cornmeal from widely available Bob’s Red Mill. This and other brands of more perishable whole grain cornmeal (with varying cooking times) are worth seeking out for their rich natural sweetness and toothsome texture (for sources).
In the recipe testing for this book, we have also successfully used medium-coarse stone-ground cornmeal (see also “cornmeal” above), which will give you a softer, less textured mush, but will still be delicious.
COUSCOUS
A thirteenth-century cookery book contains one of the first written references to the tiny flour pellets called couscous. At the time, the anonymous author described it as “known all over the world,” according to Mediterranean food expert Clifford A. Wright. Today, couscous remains a staple across North Africa. It is neither a grain nor a pasta, but it is included here as it is commonly eaten like a grain and served in countless preparations—for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Traditionally couscous is made in a labor-intensive process from coarsely ground durum wheat. Women sprinkle salted water onto a bowl of flour while at the same time raking through it, causing tiny pellets of dough to form. Arab cookery expert Charles Perry notes that couscous has customarily been made from freshly ground whole grain. He describes the minuscule granules as “in effect a grain turned inside out” because the perishable bran and germ particles are coated with an envelope of starch, thus protecting them from the air, which allows couscous to last for months or years. Couscous is often steamed at least twice to achieve its characteristic ethereal fluffiness. The cookware used for steaming resembles a double boiler and is known by its French name, couscoussière.
Couscous is both simple and elegant. Infinitely adaptable to the flavors and sauces that infuse it, it is a most versatile side dish. Whole wheat couscous is more nutritious and richer in fiber than refined couscous. It is made from whole wheat durum flour and is precooked, like any modern-day factory-produced couscous, which makes for a fast everyday staple. In West Africa, couscous is also made from millet, and in parts of Morocco and Algeria aromatic barley couscous is common.
MILLET
Recent research has identified millet as among the oldest staples of mankind, tracing its cultivation in East Asia back ten thousand years. Part of a larger family of grasses, this small-seeded cereal spread across the globe because it grows well in drought-prone areas. To this day, millet is a staple in Africa, India, and northern China (see also “Millet: Sweet, and Waiting to Be Served”).
In 2005, archaeologists discovered the world’s most ancient noodles in China. They were made from millet and were four thousand years old. The pasta was found in twenty-inch-long strings and was surprisingly well preserved. This spectacular find may finally settle the debate on who first invented pasta: the Chinese, the Italians, or the Arabs.
From antiquity through the Middle Ages, millet was an important staple in central Europe before it was replaced by potatoes and corn