right, and are described in detail in the next
chapter.
Seeds Concentrate Cooking Liquids Because
grains and beans are dry and soak up water,
they remove water from the liquid they’re
cooked in, and therefore effectively
concentrate other materials in the liquid. In
this way they create a sauce for themselves.
When rice or polenta is cooked in milk, for
example, the liquid between the grains
becomes richer in both milk proteins and fat
globules, and so more like cream. When
grains are cooked in a meat stock, the stock
become more concentrated in gelatin, and so
comes to resemble a reduced stock or
demiglace.
The Grains, or Cereals
Of the approximately 8,000 species in the
grass family, only a handful play a significant