Marlene Parrish - What Einstein Told His Cook 2

Dietary fiber is indeed completely or almost completely indigestible. In fact, as you point out, that’s how it is defined: those parts of our foods that provide us with no vitamins, minerals, or even calories.

Chemically, the fiber compounds in plants are complex carbohydrates. They are therefore included in the total amounts of carbohydrates listed on the labels. Sometimes the chart will break the dietary fiber down into soluble and insoluble fiber, but they’re both noncaloric anyway. The “other carbohydrates” listed are sugars, sugar alcohols (see chapter 6), and—well, other carbohydrates, mostly starches. All the numbers should add up to the number of grams of “Total Carbohydrates.”

The number of carbohydrate calories , however, comes only from the digestible carbohydrates: from the starches and sugars that you would expect. If you subtract the number of grams of fiber from the number of grams of total carbohydrates, you’ll have the approximate number of grams of nutritional carbohydrates, which, at 4 calories per gram, should equal the number of carbohydrate calories in the chart.

I said “approximate” because there may be other carbohydrates hiding somewhere off the Nutrition Facts charts of many foods—the sugar alcohols, for example, which include glycerol, mannitol, sorbitol, inositol, and xylitol (in fact, anything in the ingredient list ending in - ol ). They are present in relatively small amounts as sweeteners, but they are metabolized less completely than sugars and therefore contribute fewer calories.

THE GRITTY DETAILS

Can you straighten out for me all the corn products on the shelves of my supermarket? There are cornmeals labeled yellow or white, coarse or fine, and stone-ground or steel-cut, not to mention cornstarch or the hominy and grits that they like in the South. Which ones do I use for cornbread, for muffins, or for polenta—or does it matter?

Yes, it matters, but mostly in terms of texture, not substance.

They’re all made from that incredibly versatile and internationally esteemed New World grain called corn in the United States and maize—from the Caribbean Taíno Indian word mahiz —almost everywhere else.

A kernel of corn is a seed with essentially three parts. The tough, outer hull (the pericarp ) is made mostly of indigestible cellulose. A body of starchy material (the endosperm ) nourishes the seed when it sprouts ( germinates ). The life-transmitting embryo (the germ ) in the middle of the seed is the part that will grow into a new plant when conditions are right for germination. It contains the seed’s main energy supply in the form of oil.

Corn kernels can be processed in dozens of ways to produce an astounding variety of products. One main distinction hinges upon which parts of the kernels are retained. The starchy endosperm is always used, but the outer hull and/or the germ may or may not be removed. What is called cornstarch in the United States and corn flour in the United Kingdom is the dried and finely powdered endosperm alone.

Another main distinction among cornmeal products is the texture, that is, how coarsely or finely the dried kernels have been ground. But the names can be perplexing:

Flour , of course, is fine, not coarse,

While meal is much more coarse, of course.

The meal called “Medium,” of course,

Is coarse, but not as coarse as “Coarse.”

But if the label calls it “Fine,”

It’s flour , not meal , I would opine.

Historically, of course ( Editor to author : NOW CUT THAT OUT!), dried corn kernels were pulverized between millstones in a waterwheel-powered mill down by the old mill stream. Stone-ground cornmeal, sometimes nostalgically but nonsensically called water-ground cornmeal, is available in many “health-food” stores. It is slightly more nutritious and flavorful than other cornmeals because it retains some of the hull or bran and some of the oil-containing germ. But because of the oil, it is perishable and cannot be stored at room temperature for very long without turning rancid. Refrigerated, it will keep for a couple of months.

Most modern cornmeal is produced by crushing the dried kernels between huge steel rollers, making grains that are more sharply shaped than in the stone-ground meals. The rolled product, referred to as steel-cut, contains only the starchy endosperm with very little hull or germ, and it therefore has a very long shelf life when kept in a cool, sealed container. If your supermarket’s cornmeal isn’t labeled stone-ground or water-ground, it’s steel-cut. (To split a hair, steel-cut cornmeal isn’t cut; it’s steel-crushed.)

After the kernels’ hulls and germs are removed either mechanically or chemically with lime or lye, the endosperm can be washed and dried, at which time it is known as hominy. Then it may be ground or crushed into rather coarse particles to form hominy grits. After their water is restored by boiling, hominy grits can be found on virtually every breakfast plate below the Mason-Dixon Line.

Which product to use for what? Southerners insist that their traditional cornbread be made from stone-ground white cornmeal, either coarse or medium depending on individual preference. Yankees aren’t so fussy, and even go so far as to combine the cornmeal with wheat flour and sugar to make a more breadlike bread, because cornmeal doesn’t contain the gluten that gives bread its elastic texture.

Polenta is generally made with yellow cornmeal of either coarse or fine grind, because the boiled cornmeal softens into a homogeneous mass anyway. And need I point out that yellow cornmeal is made from yellow corn and white cornmeal is made from white corn? (Apologies.)

THE FOODIE’S FICTIONARY:Hominy—an unknown number, as in “Hominy cooks does it take to spoil the broth?”

Polenta Two Ways

Some home cooks shy away from making polenta because the traditional Italian method (adding cornmeal to boiling water over direct heat with continual stirring) takes too much of the cook’s attention. Your Italian grandmother may be shocked, but there are other ways to make polenta that are easier on the cook. You can make it in a double boiler or in the oven. When the polenta is ready, it will be thick and smooth, with no sign of grittiness.

DOUBLE-BOILER POLENTA:

4 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup yellow cornmeal, coarse or fine

Butter to taste

1.Bring 2 ½ cups of the water to a boil in the top part of a double boiler over direct heat. Add the salt.

2.In a medium bowl, mix the cornmeal with the remaining 1 ½ cups water. Add the mixture to the boiling water and stir well. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils.

3.Place the cornmeal mixture over boiling water in the bottom part of the double boiler. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes, or until smooth and thick. Stir in butter to taste.

MAKES ABOUT 4 CUPS, OR 4 SERVINGS

BAKED POLENTA:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups yellow cornmeal

6½ cups water

1½ teaspoons salt

1.Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.

2.In a large bowl, mix together the olive oil, cornmeal, water, and salt.