Grain Products Category

Grain Products
Includes flour, noodles, and dough.
pasta al ceppo
pasta al ceppo
This means "pasta on a stick" in Italian, and this tubular pasta was originally made by wrapping dough around knitting needles.
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pasta ascuitta
This term refers to dried pasta that's too big to be used in soups.
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Pasta Ribbons, flat pasta, ribbon pasta
Pasta Ribbons
Ribbons of pasta are usually available either fresh or dried. Use fresh ribbon pasta for light, delicate sauces and dried for the rich, heavier ones.
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Pasta Rods, pasta sticks, pasta strands
Pasta Rods
Long strands of pasta are challenging to eat, and that's part of their charm. Medium-sized rods like spaghetti are normally served with light tomato-based sauces. Thin rods like angel hair pasta and vermicelli work best in broths or with thin sauces, while thicker rods like perciatelli go well with heavier, chunkier sauces. Rods are best if they're served immediately after being cooked. If you're planning to serve a lot of people, consider using small pasta tubes or shapes.
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pasta sheet
pasta sheet
Use this sheet of fresh pasta in place of lasagna, or to make your own stuffed pasta. You can sometimes buy it where fresh pasta is made in-house.
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Pasta Tubes, tube-shaped pasta, tubular-shaped pasta
Pasta Tubes
With their thick walls, tubular pasta like penne and macaroni are ideal for pasta salads, thick sauces, and casseroles. Long tubes like perciatelli are often served with sauces, or they're broken up and used in soups. Large, wide tubes like cannelloni and manicotti are stuffed and baked. Tubes with grooves on the exterior, denoted by the Italian adjective "rigati" or "rigate" after the pasta's name, do a better job of holding sauces. Smooth-walled pasta is called "lisci" or "lisce."
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pastry flour
pastry flour
Look for this in health food stores and specialty shops.
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patty shell, pastry shell
patty shell
These are small cups made of puff pastry that are meant to hold individual portions of savory fillings. Look for them in bakeries or among the frozen foods in supermarkets.
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peanut powder
peanut powder
Indian cooks use this to thicken their curries.
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pectin
pectin
In order to make preserves like jams and jellies, you normally cook together fruit, acid, sugar, and pectin, a substance found in certain fruits that gels when heated. Some fruits -- like quinces, gooseberries, tart apples, and sour plums -- contain enough natural pectin that they'll thicken all by themselves into preserves. Others, like cherries and some berries, need an extra boost to firm up. Jam recipes for pectin-deficient fruit normally call for liquid or powdered pectin, which you can find among the baking supplies in most supermarkets. The recipes usually specify what brand of pectin to use, and it's not a good idea to substitute one brand for another, since they have different formulas. Some brands (like Sure Jell and Certo) need acid and sugar to set, some (like Sure Jell for Low Sugar Recipes) need acid and just a little sugar to set, some (like Pomona's Universal Pectin® or Mrs. Wages Lite Home Jell Fruit Pectin®) don't need any sugar to set. Liquid pectin contains sulfite, which can cause an allergic reaction in people with sulfite sensitivites, but powdered pectin does not.
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penne, Penne lisce, Penne rigate
penne
This Italian pasta consists of short tubes cut on the diagonal, the better to scoop sauces inside. It's very versatile, and works well mixed with a sauce, or in a casserole, soup, or pasta salad. Penne rigate has ridges, the better to hold sauces. Penne lisce has smooth walls.
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pennette
pennette
This is a smaller version of penne, a popular Italian pasta shape.
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perciatelli
perciatelli
These are hollow pasta rods that are thicker than spaghetti. They're usually served in casseroles or with hearty meat sauces, or they're broken up and served in minestrone soup.
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phyllo, fillo, fillo dough, fillo pastry leaves, filo, filo dough
phyllo
These are fragile, paper-thin sheets of dough that are usually basted with melted butter and then stacked until they're many layers thick. When baked, the combined layers make a rich, flaky, and crumbly crust. Greeks use phyllo dough to make baklava and spanakopita, while phyllophiles elsewhere use it to make pie crusts, strudels, Beef Wellington, egg rolls, and countless other concoctions. Some cooks use cooking spray instead of butter between the layers to trim fat and calories. The dough dries out quickly, so work fast once you've opened the package, and cover any unused dough with plastic wrap topped with a damp towel. Use fresh dough if you can find it; it doesn't tear as easily as the frozen kind. The frozen version is often wedged near the pie shells in the supermarket's frozen food case; let it defrost in the refrigerator for 24 hours before using it. Try Greek or Middle Eastern markets for fresh.
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pie pastry, pate brisee, pâte brisée, pie crust dough, short pastry
pie pastry
This pie dough is easy enough to make at home, or you can find it ready-made among the frozen foods of most supermarkets.
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pillus
pillus
This Italian pasta consists of very thin ribbons. It's usually served in a broth.
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pizzoccheri
pizzoccheri
These long buckwheat noodles are popular in northern Italy.
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plantain flour, fufu flour
plantain flour
Nigerians make fufu out of this.
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poi
poi
Hawaiians make this out of taro root, which is cooked, pounded into a paste, and then sometimes fermented. It's somewhat bland, and usually served as an accompaniment to other foods, much like mainlanders serve mashed potatoes.
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polenta, mush
polenta
This Italian specialty is made of cornmeal that's been cooked into a thick mush. The mush is either served hot, much as Americans would serve mashed potatoes, or it's cooled, sliced, and then fried, grilled, or baked. It's easy to make at home, or you can get tubes of ready-made polenta in the refrigerated section of many supermarkets.
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potato starch, katakuriko, potato flour, potato starch flour
potato starch
This gluten-free starch is used to thicken soups and gravies. Its main advantage over other starch thickeners is that it's a permitted ingredient for Passover, unlike cornstarch and other grain-based foods. Liquids thickened with potato starch should never be boiled. Supermarkets often stock it among the Kosher products.
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potsticker wrappers, potsticker skins
potsticker wrappers
These small, thick wrappers are stuffed with meat fillings, and then pan-fried and steamed. While assembling the potstickers, keep the stack of wrappers moist by covering them with a damp towel. You can seal the potstickers with a "glue" made with cornstarch and water. Look for stacks of them wrapped in plastic in the refrigerator cases of Asian markets. They freeze well.
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praline powder
This is used to flavor ice cream and pastry fillings. It's made from pralines, a crunchy French candy that resembles peanut brittle, except that it's made with almonds or hazelnuts. You can buy praline powder ready made, but it's easy to make your own by pulverizing praline pieces in a food processor. Be sure to use crunchy pralines, not the soft pecan candies that people in New Orleans call pralines.
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puff pastry dough, feuilletage, feuilletee, mille feuilles, pâté feuilletée
puff pastry dough
This is dough topped with chilled butter that's rolled out and folded again and again until there are hundreds of layers of butter and dough. The dough expands and the layers separate when it's baked, creating a marvelously rich and flaky pastry. Puff pastry is used to make croissants, Napoleons, Beef Wellington, pie crusts, and many other sweet and savory pastries. You can make puff pastry yourself, but it's hard to improve on the ready-made stuff sold in the frozen foods section of many supermarkets. Let frozen puff pastry defrost for about 30 minutes before you roll it out, but don't let it get too warm or it will become sticky.
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pulcini
These tiny pasta shapes are usually served in a broth or very light soup.
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pumpernickel flour, dark rye meal flour
pumpernickel flour
This flour is made from the whole rye grain, including the bran.
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quadrettini, quadrucci
quadrettini
These small, flat pasta rectangles are normally served in broths.
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quinoa pasta
quinoa pasta
This is a high-protein pasta alternative for people with wheat allergies. It may contain corn flour as well.
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radiatori
radiatori
A type of Italian pasta, these resemble small radiators. The "grills" do a good job of scooping up chunky sauces.
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ramen
ramen
A staple of Japanese salarymen and American college students, these Japanese noodles can be used in soups or salads. You can find bricks of instant ramen in many supermarkets, packaged in cellophane along with seasoning packets which you can use or discard. These noodles are usually fried in oil before they're dried, so they tend to be high in fat. They cook in about 2 to 3 minutes. Asian stores also carry fresh or frozen ramen noodles.
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ravioli, ravioletti, raviolo
ravioli
These are small, square pillows of stuffed pasta that are often served with a light sauce. The traditional filling is ricotta cheese mixed with spinach or some other cooking green, but adventurous cooks have used wild mushrooms, sweet potatoes, winter squash, goat cheese, lobster, nuts, and even prunes. Ravioli are usually topped with a tomato or cream sauce, or with grated cheese. Don't overcook them or they'll fall apart. Smaller ravioli are called ravioletti, and a single one is called a raviolo.
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reginelle
reginelle
These pasta tubes are similar to penne, though a bit longer and thinner. The name reginelle is also sometimes used for reginette pasta, which are wide ribbons with ruffled edges.
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reginette, mafaldine, malfalde, reginelle, mafalda
reginette
These wide ribbons of Italian pasta have ruffled edges.
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