Chapter 9: Potatoes and other starches

What is potatoes?
- most popular foods
- staple food
- second consideration after the protein

UNDERSTANDING POTATOES

•Waxy or New Potatoes : high moisture,high sugar,low starch content,holds shape when 

cooked

•Mature or Starchy Potatoes, Russet or Idaho and All-Purpose Potato : high starch 

content,low sugar and moisture,light,dry and mealy when cooked

TYPES OF POTATOES

~Red-skinned 

~Yellow fleshed 

~Blue-skinned 

~Fingerling 

~All-purpose potatoes

QUALITY THAT MUST HAVE IN A POTATOES
- Firm and smooth
- Dry skin
- Shallow eyes
- No sprouts
- No green color
- Absence of cracks, blemishes, and rotten spots

STORING
- Keep in a cool, dry place, ideally at 12 degree - 16 degree Celsius.
- Do not refrigerate below 7 degree Celsius because the starch will convert to sugar.
- new potatoes do not keep well.

MARKET FORMS

How do we cook potatoes?
- range of recipes is from simple to complex, boiling and steaming
-potatoes are never cooled in a cold water, because its make them soggy

POTATOES PUREE
- an important product in the commercial kitchen and popular preparation (mashed 
potatoes)

BAKING POTATOES
- simple process and the end become light,white,fluffy
- baked in pan or casserole, with or without liquid

SAUTEING AND PAN FRYING
-variations in sauteing and pan frying potatoes. Some use raw potatoes, and some use
precooked and blanched potatoes.

DEEP FRYING
- can be fried raw
- deep-fried potatoes can be prepared cooked,pureed potatoes
- best potatoes to use is russet and idaho

TYPES AND VARIETIES OF DRIED LEGUMES
- kidney beans
- peas
- lentils
Other legumes : lima beans,fava beans,soy beans,chickpeas(garbanzo)

       









Cooking legumes : primary cooking method is simmering

GRAINS
-Wheat and rice (most important grains)
-Wheat usually ground into flour for the bakeshop

Types of grains
-edible seeds of various members of the grass family
-each seed has four part: husk,endosperm,bran,germ
-whole grain is the endosperm,bran,germ
-may be polished or milled to remove the bran&germ,leaving the endosperm,as with white
rice

VARIETY OF RICE
-Parboiled/converted 
-Instant 
-Brown 
-Arborio 
-Basmati
-Jasmine 

Corn :  has the entire set of husks covering the entire seed head,some eaten as a vegetable,often(polenta,hominy,blue corn)

Wheat : turn into flour,milling process separates the bran and germ

Types of wheat products : cracked wheat,whole wheat-berries,bulgur,green wheat,couscous

STORING AND HANDLING GRAINS
-store in tightly sealed container
-dark,dry place

PASTA,NOODLES AND DUMPLINGS
-macaroni products or pastas
-pasta is Italian for paste because it is a mixture of wheat flour and water

Commercial dried pasta : best pasta made from semolina,should be yellow not gray and 
hard,brittle,and springy

Specialty pastas
- whole wheat pasta
- can be coloured using vegetable purees & other ingredients (spinach,red pepper,seaweed)
- egg pasta

Noodles made of wheat : chinese noodles,cantonese noodle,udori
Noodles made of other starches : rice vermicelli,bean thread or cellophane noodles

 udon noodles

Dumplings
-made from soft dough or batters and cooked by simmering or steaming
-served as side dishes and in stews & soup