On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1091

delicate texture Couscous works best with thin sauces that spread easily over the large surface area of the small granules “Israeli” or “large” couscous is actually an extruded pasta invented in Israel in the 1950s It’s made from a dough of hard wheat flour formed into balls a few millimeters in diameter and lightly toasted in an oven to add depth to the flavor It’s cooked and served in the same ways as pasta and rice Dumplings and Spätzle Western dumplings and Spätzle (a word in a Bavarian dialect meaning “clod, clump,” not “sparrow” as is often said) are essentially coarse, informal portions of dough or batter that are dropped into a pot of boiling water and cooked through, and served as is in a stew or braise or sautéed to accompany a meat dish Unlike pasta doughs, dumpling doughs are minimally kneaded to maximize tenderness, and benefit from the inclusion of tiny air pockets, which provide lightness The progress of cooking is judged by the position of the dumpling in the pot; when it rises to the top, it’s considered almost done, given another minute or so, and then scooped out This tendency to rise with cooking is due to the expansion of the dough’s air pockets, which fill with vaporized water as the dumpling interior approaches the boiling point and make the dough less dense than the surrounding water Gnocchi Gnocchi — the word is Italian and means “lumps” — got their start in the 1300s as ordinary dumplings made from bread crumbs or flour (Roman gnocchi are still made by baking squares of a cooked dough of milk and semolina) But with the arrival of the New World’s potato, Italian cooks transformed gnocchi into a form of dumpling with an unusually light texture The starchy potato flesh became the main, tender ingredient, with just enough flour added to ...provide lightness The progress of cooking is judged by the position of the dumpling in the pot; when it rises to the top, it’s considered almost done, given another minute or so, and then scooped... cooking is due to the expansion of the dough’s air pockets, which fill with vaporized water as the dumpling interior approaches the boiling point and make the dough less dense than the surrounding water... — the word is Italian and means “lumps” — got their start in the 1300s as ordinary dumplings made from bread crumbs or flour (Roman gnocchi are still made by baking squares of a cooked dough of