Grain Products Category

This is a type of Italian pasta shaped like a short, slender corkscrew.

Cavatelli has two meanings. It usually refers to small pasta shells that resemble tiny hot dog buns and are often served with thick, chunky sauces or in pasta salads. The name is less commonly used for a type of dumpling made with ricotta cheese.

This is a blend of wheat and malted barley flours used to make chapatis. Look for it in Indian markets.

Italian use chestnut flour to make rich desserts, and sometimes breads and pasta. It also makes terrific pancakes. Don't confuse it with water chestnut flour, which is used in Asian cuisine.

Look for this in Indian markets or health food stores.

These wheat noodles are made with eggs, which adds flavor, color, and body. They're often used to make chow mein (in which the cooked noodles are formed into a pancake and fried on both sides) and lo mein (in which the noodles are stir-fried along with the other ingredients). Chow mein noodles are usually cut a bit thinner than lo mein noodles, but the two can be used interchangeably. Chinese egg noodles are available both fresh and dried; and some are flavored with shrimp. Cook fresh noodles in boiling water for about 3 minutes, dried for about 5 minutes. Don't confuse these with fried chow mein noodles, which are used in Americanized Chinese dishes, particularly Chinese chicken salad. Some brands are labeled "imitation noodles"; these aren't made with eggs, but have yellow food coloring added.

The Chinese like their noodles long and slippery, the better to slurp down noisily. They're especially fond of wheat noodles, which they use in soups, and wheat and egg noodles, which they use in stir-fries and chow mein, their famous fried noodle dish. Rice noodles and bean threads are also popular.

These delicate noodles are mostly used in soups. They're available fresh, dried, or frozen, and they come in various sizes, some as thin as vermicelli, others as thick and wide as fettuccine. Before using, the Chinese boil the noodles (about 3-4 minutes for fresh, 5-10 for dried) and then rinse them in cold water.

These pasta rods resemble spaghetti, only their cross-sections are square instead of round. They're named after the guitar strings that were traditionally used to cut the pasta.

These egg and wheat flour noodles are used to make chow mein, in which the cooked noodles are formed into a pancake and fried on both sides.

These are Japanese ramen noodles that are dyed yellow and usually lower in fat.

A specialty of the Umbrian region of Italy, this is a ribbon of pasta that's been twisted and stretched until it's a long, thin rod, roughly twice the diameter of spaghetti.

This modified cornstarch is the secret ingredient that many commercial bakers use in their fruit pie fillings. Unlike ordinary cornstarch, ClearJel® works well with acidic ingredients, tolerates high temperatures, and doesn't cause pie fillings to weep" during storage. ClearJel® is an especially good choice if you're canning homemade pie fillings, since it doesn't begin thickening until the liquid begins to cool. This allows the heat the be more evenly distributed within the jar during processing. This is such an important safety advantage that ClearJel® is the only thickener the USDA recommends for home canning. You can also use ClearJel® to thicken sauces, stews, and the like, though it's a rather expensive all-purpose thickener. One downside is that products thickened with ClearJel® tend to break down if they're frozen and thawed. If you plan to freeze what you're making, use Instant ClearJel®, arrowroot, or tapioca starch. ClearJel® is available either as pearls or powder from mail-order suppliers, but it's not yet available in grocery stores.

This Italian pasta resembles conch shells. It's often served with tomato or meat sauces, or in pasta salads. A smaller version for soups is called conchigliette, while larger, stuffable shells are called conchiglioni.

This is a tiny version of a classic Italian pasta shape: the conchiglie or conch shell. Conchigliette is most often used as a soup pasta.

Pasta shaped like conch shells come in various sizes; this is the largest. It's often stuffed and baked.

These tiny tubes of pasta are normally used in soups.

To see how to substitute other flours for wheat flours when making yeast breads, see the listing under all-purpose flour.

Hispanic cooks use these, both fresh and dried, to wrap tamales before steaming them. Before using, soak the husks in hot water for about 30 minutes to make them more pliable.

This is made with corn flour instead of the traditional durum wheat. It's popular among people with wheat allergies, but it tends to get mushy.

One tablespoon (1/4 ounce) thickens one cup of liquid. Notes: This silky powder is used to thicken sauces, gravies, and puddings. Like other starch thickeners, cornstarch should be mixed into a slurry with an equal amount of cold water before it's added to the hot liquid you're trying to thicken. You then need to simmer the liquid, stirring constantly, for a minute or so until it thickens. Cornstarch doesn't stand up to freezing or prolonged cooking, and it doesn't thicken well when mixed with acidic liquids. Cornstarch is called cornflour or maize cornflour in Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. Don't confuse cornstarch with the finely ground cornmeal that Americans call corn flour

These thin round wraps are widely used in southern Mexico, and they're the preferred tortilla for making tacos and enchiladas. They should be served hot. If you're watching calories, do this by cooking them on a hot, dry frying pan or by wrapping them in moist paper towels and briefly heating them in a microwave oven. If calories aren't an issue, fry them in oil. You can make corn tortillas at home if you have a tortilla press. Just mix masa harina with enough water to make a bread-like dough, press the dough until it's very thin, and then cook the tortilla in a hot, dry frying pan. Readymade corn tortillas are available in most supermarkets.

Cornmeal comes in different colors: white, yellow, and blue. Yellow cornmeal has more beta carotene than the others, while blue cornmeal has more protein and turns baked goods purple. Larger supermarkets also carry stone-ground cornmeal = water-ground cornmeal, which is more tasty and nutritious than regular cornmeal, but doesn't keep as long. See also self-rising cornmeal.

These Filipino noodles are made with cornstarch. Before using, soak them in hot water until they're soft.

Includes pre-cooked couscous = instant couscous, which is the most common form, and traditional couscous, which takes longer to cook. Many cooks think traditional couscous is worth the extra trouble.

This version of Italian pasta is shaped like creste di galli ("cockscomb" in Italian).

These fried noodles add crunch to Chinese chicken salad. They're also used, improbably enough, to make chocolate haystack cookies. Don't confuse this with Chinese wheat noodles, which are also sometimes called chow mein noodles.

These tiny Hungarian egg noodles are shaped like screws.

This is flour ground from Indian legumes. Varieties include besan flour (made from channa dal), urad dal flour, and mung dal flour.

This Indian flour is made from a blend of rice, urad dal, and chickpeas. It's used to make cakes that look like squares of cornbread, which Indians steam and garnish with grated coconut, tamarind sauces, and other seasonings.

These are small tubes of pasta, well suited for vegetable soups. It's also one of the shapes used to make Spaghetti-Os.

This is a small version of ditali, a tubular pasta shape. Tiny ditalini are usually served in a broth or vegetable soup, and is one of the shapes used to make Spaghetti-Os.

These thin round wrappers are used to make the delicate dumplings that are so popular at dim sum restaurants. They're made to be stuffed and steamed, but they're not sturdy enough to be fried. While assembling the dumplings, keep the stack of wrappers moist by covering them with a damp towel. You can seal the dumplings with a "glue" made with cornstarch and water. Look for fresh or frozen wrappers in Asian markets. Store them in the refrigerator or freezer, but let them come to room temperature before using.

Semolina is made from durum wheat.

These are flat Chinese egg noodles that are formed into round 8"-diameter patties, fried and then dried. Before using, cook them in boiling water briefly, then drain. The noodles can then be added to stir-fries, soups, or salads.

These Hungarian dumplings are made of flour, eggs, and water. To prepare them, fry them in butter or lard, then add water to cover. Simmer for about 30 minutes, adding more water if necessary, until the dumplings are soft. Look for packages of them in Hungarian or German markets.

The Chinese use these dough squares to make deep-fried egg rolls. While assembling the egg rolls, keep the stack of wrappers moist by covering them with a damp towel. You can seal the rolls with a "glue" made with cornstarch and water. Look for fresh wrappers in Asian markets and many supermarkets. Store them in the refrigerator or freezer, but let them come to room temperature before using.

Higher in fat, but increasing the egg yolks in a baked good often makes it moister and more flavorful. Egg yolks make wonderful thickeners--imparting both a rich flavor and velvety smooth texture--but they're tricky to use. You can't just whisk them into a simmering sauce--they'd curdle on contact. Instead, you need to "temper" them by adding some of the hot liquid to the egg yolks, whisking the mixture together, and then adding it to the sauce. To prevent the yolks from coagulating, you need to keep the sauce below 190°, although this rule can be broken if the sauce has a lot of flour in it. Finally, never cook sauces with egg yolks in aluminum pans or they'll turn gray.

Einkorn flour is made from an ancient variety of wheat first domesticated in the southern Turkey 10,000 years ago. Einkorn is a hardy wheat species but is low yielding. It has a nutty flavor and results in a chewy bread.

This Italian pasta consists of medium-sized, flat-cut tubes with spiraling ridges on the outside (elicoidali is Italian for "helix").

Hispanic cooks wrap these six-inch diameter rounds of dough around sweet or savory fillings, and then bake or fry them. Look for them among the frozen foods in Hispanic markets.

This Italian stuffed pasta is usually filled with ricotta cheese and various vegetables.

Farfalle is an Italian pasta, often made with eggs, that resembles bowties or butterflies. It's often served with chunky sauces or in pasta salads. A smaller version is called farfallini, while a larger version is called farfallone. Strichetti is farfalle made with an egg dough.

This Italian pasta is a small version of farfalle, or bow-tie pasta. Farfalline is usually served in a broth or very light soup.

Cream of Wheat is a popular brand.