pasta, noodles, and dumplings 571

edges may get too dark while the centers itself to industrial manufacturing, and that
finish cooking, a problem that can be min- can be formed into hundreds of fanciful
imized by lowering the oven temperature shapes. The Italians also refined the art of
and using light baking sheets that reflect making fresh pastas from soft wheat flours,
radiant heat, rather than dark ones that and evolved an entire branch of cooking
absorb it. Slight underbaking helps pro- based on pasta as the principal ingredient,
duce a moister, chewier texture. Immedi- its combination of substance and tenderness
ately after baking, many cookies are soft providing the foundation for flavorful
and malleable, a fact that allows the cook sauces—usually just enough to coat the
to shape thin wafer cookies into flower- surfaces—and fillings. In China, which had
like cups, rolled cylinders, and arched tiles soft, low-gluten wheats, cooks concentrated
that then stiffen as they cool. on simple long noodles and thin wrappers,
With their low water content, cookies prepared them fresh and by hand, some-
are especially prone to losing their texture times with great panache and just moments
during storage. Crisp, dry cookies absorb before cooking, and served the soft, slippery
moisture from the air and get soft; moist, results almost exclusively in large amounts
chewy cookies lose moisture and become of thin broth. More remarkably, Chinese
dry. Cookies are therefore best stored in an cooks found ways to make noodles from
airtight container. With their low moisture many different materials, including other
and high sugar levels, they are not very grains and even pure, protein-free starch
hospitable to microbes, and keep well. from beans and root vegetables.

THE HISTORY OF PASTA

PASTA, NOODLES, AND NOODLES
AND DUMPLINGS
It’s a story often told, and often refuted,
One of the simplest preparations of cereal that the medieval traveler Marco Polo
flour gave us one of the most popular foods found noodles in China and introduced
in the world: pasta. The word is Italian for them to Italy. A recent book by Silvano
“paste” or “dough,”and pasta is nothing Serventi and Françoise Sabban has set the
more than wheat flour and water combined record straight in authoritative and fasci-
to make a clay-like mass, formed into small nating detail. China was indeed the first
pieces, and boiled in water until cooked country to develop the art of noodle mak-
through—not baked, as are nearly all other ing, but there were pastas in the Mediter-
doughs. Noodle comes from the German ranean world long before Marco Polo.
word for the same preparation, and gener-
ally refers to pasta-like preparations made Noodles in China Despite the fact that
outside the Italian tradition. The keys to wheat was grown in the Mediterranean
pasta’s appeal are its moist, fine, satisfyingly region long before it arrived in China, the
substantial texture and its neutral flavor, northern Chinese appear to have been the
which makes it a good partner for a broad first to develop the art of noodle making,
range of other ingredients. sometime before 200 BCE. Around 300 CE,
Two cultures in the world have thor- Shu Xi wrote an ode to wheat products
oughly explored the possibilities of boiled (bing) that names several kinds of noodles
grain paste: Italy and China. Their discov- and dumplings, describes how they’re made,
eries were different, and complementary. In and suggests their luxurious qualities: poets
Italy, the availability of high-gluten durum frequently likened their appearance and tex-
wheat led to the development of a sturdy, ture to the qualities of silk (see box, p. 572).
protein-rich pasta, one that can be dried In 544, an agricultural treatise called Impor-
and stored indefinitely, one that readily lent tant Arts for the People’s Welfare devoted
572 cereal doughs and batters

an entire chapter to dough products. These and leaf juices, vegetable purees, juice
included not only several different shapes of pressed from raw shrimp (which makes the
wheat noodle, most made by mixing flour noodles pink), and sheep’s blood.
with meat broth and one made with egg, Noodles—mian or mein—and filled
but also noodles made from rice flour and dumplings began in the north as luxury
even from pure starch (p. 579). foods for the ruling class. They gradually
China also invented filled pasta, the orig- became staples of the working class, with
inal ravioli, in which the dough surrounds dumplings retaining the suggestion of pros-
and encloses a mass of other ingredients. perity, and spread to the south around the
Both small, thin-skinned, delicate hundun 12th century. Noodles made their way to
or wontons, now usually served in southern Japan by the 7th or 8th century, where sev-
soups, and the thicker chiao-tzu or pot eral kinds of men evolved (p. 578).
sticker, often steamed and fried in the
north, are mentioned in written records Pasta in the Middle East and Mediter-
before 700 CE, and archaeologists have ranean Far to the west of China, in the
found well-preserved specimens that date to homeland of wheat, the earliest indications
the 9th century. Over the next few hun- of pasta-like preparations come in the 6th
dred years, recipes describe making thin century. A 9th century Syrian text gives
noodles by slicing a rolled dough sheet and the Arabic name itriya to a preparation of
by repeatedly pulling and folding a dough semolina dough shaped into strings and
rope; and the doughs themselves are made dried. In 11th-century Paris, mention is
with a variety of liquids, including radish made of vermicelli, or “little worms.” In

Dumplings and Noodles in Early China

Flour sifted twice,

Flying snow of white powder,
In a stretchy, sticky dough
Kneaded with water or broth, it becomes shiny.
...
Then water is set to boil over the fire,
Waiting for the steam to rise,
We hitch up our clothes, we roll up our sleeves,
And we knead, and we shape, and we smooth, and we stretch.
Finally the dough detaches from our fingers,
Under the palm it is perfectly rolled out in all directions
And without a break in the haste and hurry
The stars separate and the hailstones fall.
In the basket, no spattered stuffing.
On the bing not a trace of extra dough.
Perfectly lined up, of great beauty,
Without breaking, the dough is fine and thin.
It swells so that one can guess at the stuffing below,
Soft as silk floss in the springtime,
White as autumn silk, cooked just in time.
—Shu Xi, “Ode to Bing,” ca. 300,
transl. Antony Shugaar
 pasta, noodles, and dumplings 573

the 12th century—around 200 years before Naples that people began to prefer pasta
Marco Polo’s travels—the Arab geogra- cooked for minutes rather than hours, so
pher Idrisi reported that the Sicilians made that it retains some firmness. This practice
thread-like itriya and exported them. The spread to the rest of the country in the late
Italian term macaroni first appeared in the 19th century, and the term al dente, or
13th century and was applied to various cooked “to the tooth,” appeared after
shapes, from flat to lumpy. Medieval cooks World War I. Subsequent decades brought
made some pastas from fermented doughs; effective artificial drying and the machinery
they cooked pasta for an hour or more and understanding necessary to turn pasta
until it was very moist and soft; they fre- making from a batch-by-batch process to a
quently paired it with cheese, and used it to continuous one. Dried durum pasta is now
wrap around fillings. made on an industrial scale in many coun-
The postmedieval evolution of pasta tries. In addition, modern heat treatments
took place largely in Italy. Pasta makers and vacuum-packing have also made it pos-
formed guilds and made fresh types from sible to keep fresh pasta for several weeks in
soft wheat flour throughout Italy, dried the refrigerator.
types from durum semolina in the south Recent decades have brought a revival
and in Sicily. Italian cooks developed the in Italy of small-scale manufacturing using
distinctive preparation style called pastas- selected wheat varieties, old-fashioned
ciutta or “dry pasta,” pasta served as the extrusion dies that produce a rough, sauce-
main component of the dish, moistened holding surface, and longer-time, low-tem-
with sauce but not drowning in it or dis- perature drying that is said to produce a
persed in a soup or stew. With its ideal cli- finer flavor.
mate for drying raw noodles, a tricky
process that took one to four weeks, Naples
MAKING PASTA
became the center of durum pasta manu-
AND NOODLE DOUGHS
facturing.
Thanks to the mechanization of dough Basic Ingredients and Methods The aim
kneading and extrusion, by the 18th cen- in making pasta and noodle dough is to
tury durum pasta had become street food in transform dry flour particles into a cohesive
Naples, and common in much of Italy. Per- mass that is malleable enough to be shaped
haps because street vendors minimized into thin strips, but strong enough to stay
cooking and open-air consumers enjoyed intact when boiled. With wheat flours, the
chewing on something substantial, it was in cohesiveness is provided by the gluten pro-

Pasta, Cheese, and Wine Without End

By the time of the great storyteller Giovanni Boccaccio, who died in 1375, pasta was
familiar enough in Italy to be part of a glutton’s paradise:

in a country called Bengodi . . . there was a mountain made entirely of grated

Parmesan cheese, on which lived people who did nothing but make macaroni
and ravioli and cook them in capon broth. And then they threw them down, and
the more of them you took, the more you had. And nearby ran a rivulet of white
wine whose better was never drunk, and without a drop of water in it.
—Decameron, Day 8, Tale 3
574 cereal doughs and batters

teins. Durum wheats have the advantage of To make egg pasta, the ingredients are
a high gluten content, and a gluten that is mixed in proportions that give a stiff
less elastic than bread-wheat gluten and so dough; the dough is kneaded until smooth,
easier to roll out. Water normally makes up allowed to rest and relax, rolled out, and
around 30% of the dough weight, com- then cut into the desired shapes. The fresh
pared to 40% or more for bread doughs. pasta is perishable, and if made with eggs
After the ingredients are mixed and carries a slight possibility of salmonella
briefly kneaded into a homogenous but stiff contamination; it should be cooked imme-
mass, pasta dough is rested to allow the diately or wrapped and refrigerated. Pro-
flour particles to absorb the water and the longed drying at kitchen temperature may
gluten network to develop. With time the allow microbes to multiply to hazardous
dough becomes noticeably easier to work, levels. Fresh pasta cooks quickly, in a few
and the finished noodles end up with a seconds or minutes depending on thickness.
cohesive consistency rather than a crumbly
one. The dough is then rolled gently and Dried Durum Pasta The standard Italian
repeatedly to form an ever thinner sheet. pastas, and Italian-style pastas from around
This gradual sheeting presses out air bub- the world, are made from durum wheat,
bles that weaken the dough structure, and with its distinctive flavor, attractive yellow
organizes the gluten network, compress- color, and abundant gluten proteins.
ing and aligning the protein fibers, but also Durum pastas are seldom made with eggs.
spreading them out so that the dough Their gluten proteins give the dried noodles
becomes more easily stretched without a hard, glassy interior; during cooking they
snapping back. limit the loss of dissolved proteins and
gelated starch, and make a firm noodle.
Egg Pasta and Fresh Pasta Noodles made
from standard bread wheat and eggs are Making Durum Pasta Dough and Shapes
preferred in much of northern Europe, and Durum pasta is made from semolina, which
most fresh pastas sold in the United States is milled durum endosperm with a charac-
are of this type. Eggs perform two functions teristically coarse particle size, 0.15–0.5
in noodles. One is to enhance color and mm across, thanks to the hard nature of
richness. Here the yolk is the primary fac- durum endosperm (finer grinding causes
tor, and yolks alone can be used; their fat excessive damage to starch granules). Flat
content also makes the dough more delicate pasta shapes are punched from out of a
and the noodles tender. The second func- sheet of dough. Long noodles and short
tion is to provide additional protein for thick ones are formed by extruding the
moderate-protein flours used in both home dough through the holes of a die at high
and industrial production. The egg white pressure. The movement, pressure, and heat
proteins make the dough and noodles more of extrusion change the structure of the
cohesive and firm, reduce the gelation and dough by shearing the protein network
leaking of starch granules, and reduce apart, mixing it more intimately with starch
cooking losses. In U.S. commercial noo- granules that have been partly gelated by
dles, dried egg is added at 5–10% of the the heat and pressure, and allowing broken
weight of the flour. In Italy, Alsace, Ger- protein bonds to re-form and stabilize the
many, and in specialty and homemade noo- new network. Noodles extruded through
dles in the United States, fresh eggs are modern low-friction Teflon dies end up
used, and in larger proportions. They may with a glossier, smoother surface, with
be the only source of water in the dough. fewer pores and cracks through which hot
Some pastas from the Piedmont region in water can leak in and dissolved starch can
northwest Italy contain as many as 18 yolks leak out. They generally lose less starch to
per pound of flour/40 yolks per kg. the cooking water, absorb less cooking
 pasta, noodles, and dumplings 575

water, and therefore have a firmer texture

COOKING PASTA AND NOODLES
than the same noodle extruded through a
traditional bronze die. Proponents of tra- When pasta is cooked in water, the protein
ditional dies prefer the rougher surface, network and starch granules absorb water
which they say better retains the sauce in and expand, the outer protein layer is rup-
the finished dish. tured, and the dissolving starch escapes
into the cooking water. Deeper within the
Drying Durum Pasta Before the invention noodle there’s less water available, so the
of mechanical driers, manufacturers held starch granules aren’t completely disrupted:
the new pasta at ambient temperatures and the center of the noodle therefore stays
humidities for days or weeks. Early indus- more intact than the surface. Cooking pasta
trial driers operated at 100–140ºF/ al dente means stopping the cooking when
40–60ºC and took about a day. Modern the center of the noodle still remains slightly
drying takes only two to five hours and underdone and offers some resistance to
involves rapid predrying at or above chewing; at this point, the noodle surface is
185ºF/84ºC, and then a more extended 80–90% water, the center 40–60% (some-
phase of drying and resting periods. The what moister than freshly baked bread).
modern high-temperature method rapidly Pasta is sometimes cooked just short of this
inactivates enzymes that can destroy the point and then finished in the sauce that
yellow xanthophyll pigments and cause will dress it.
brown discoloration, and it cross-links
some of the gluten protein and produces a Cooking Water It’s generally recom-
firmer, less sticky cooked noodle. However, mended that pasta be cooked in 10 or more
proponents of slow drying say that high times its weight of vigorously boiling water
heat also damages flavor. (around 5 quarts or liters water per

starch granules dissolved starch

Cooking pasta. Left: Uncooked pasta dough consists of raw starch granules embedded in a
matrix of gluten protein. Right: When pasta is cooked in water, starch granules at and near
the noodle surface absorb water, swell, soften, and release some dissolved starch into the
cooking water. In pasta done al dente, hot water has penetrated to the center of the noodle,
but the starch granules there have absorbed relatively little, and the starch-gluten matrix
remains firm.
576 cereal doughs and batters

pound/500 gm). This allows for the pasta’s turies. It remains a staple dish in North
absorption of 1.6–1.8 times its weight, and Africa, the Middle East, and Sicily. In its
leaves plenty to dilute the starch that traditional form, couscous is made by
escapes during cooking, and to separate sprinkling salted water into a bowl con-
the noodles from each other so that they taining whole wheat flour, then stirring
cook evenly and without sticking. Hard with the fingers to form little bits of dough.
water—water that is alkaline and contains The bits are rubbed between the hands and
calcium and magnesium ions—increases sieved to obtain granules of uniform size,
both cooking losses and stickiness in noo- usually 1–3 mm in diameter. There is no
dles (it probably weakens the protein-starch kneading and therefore no gluten develop-
film at the noodle surface, and the ions act ment, so this gentle technique can be and is
as a glue to bond noodle surfaces to each applied to many other grains. Couscous
other). Most city tap water has been made granules are small enough that they can be
alkaline to reduce pipe corrosion, so pasta cooked not in a large excess of water but in
cooking water can often be improved by steam (traditionally over the fragrant stew
adding some form of acid (lemon juice, that it will accompany), which allows them
cream of tartar, citric acid) to adjust the pH to develop a uniquely light, delicate texture.
to a slightly acidic 6. Couscous works best with thin sauces that
spread easily over the large surface area of
Stickiness Noodles stick to each other dur- the small granules.
ing cooking when they’re allowed to rest “Israeli” or “large” couscous is actu-
close to each other just after they’re added ally an extruded pasta invented in Israel in
to the cooking water. Their dry surfaces the 1950s. It’s made from a dough of hard
absorb the small amount of water between wheat flour formed into balls a few mil-
them so there’s none left for lubrication, limeters in diameter and lightly toasted in
and the partly gelated surface starch glues an oven to add depth to the flavor. It’s
the noodles together. Sticking can be mini- cooked and served in the same ways as
mized by constantly stirring the noodles pasta and rice.
for the first few minutes of cooking, or by
adding a spoonful or two of oil to the pot Dumplings and Spätzle Western
and then lifting the noodles through the dumplings and Spätzle (a word in a Bavar-
water surface a few times to lubricate them. ian dialect meaning “clod, clump,” not
Salt in the cooking water not only flavors “sparrow” as is often said) are essentially
the noodles, but limits starch gelation and coarse, informal portions of dough or bat-
so reduces cooking losses and stickiness. ter that are dropped into a pot of boiling
Stickiness after cooking is caused by sur- water and cooked through, and served as is
face starch that dries out and cools down in a stew or braise or sautéed to accom-
after the noodles have been drained, and pany a meat dish. Unlike pasta doughs,
develops a gluey consistency. It can be min- dumpling doughs are minimally kneaded
imized by rinsing the drained noodles, or to maximize tenderness, and benefit from
moistening them with some sauce, cooled the inclusion of tiny air pockets, which
cooking water, oil, or butter. provide lightness. The progress of cook-
ing is judged by the position of the
dumpling in the pot; when it rises to the
COUSCOUS, DUMPLINGS,
top, it’s considered almost done, given
SPÄTZLE, GNOCCHI
another minute or so, and then scooped
Couscous Couscous is an elegantly simple out. This tendency to rise with cooking is
pasta that appears to have been invented by due to the expansion of the dough’s air
the Berber peoples of northern Algeria and pockets, which fill with vaporized water
Morocco between the 11th and 13th cen- as the dumpling interior approaches the
 pasta, noodles, and dumplings 577

boiling point and make the dough less pieces, the pieces shaped, and then boiled
dense than the surrounding water. in water until they rise to the top of the
pot. Gnocchi can also be made by replac-
Gnocchi Gnocchi—the word is Italian and ing the potato with other starchy vegeta-
means “lumps”—got their start in the bles or with ricotta cheese.
1300s as ordinary dumplings made from
bread crumbs or flour (Roman gnocchi are
ASIAN WHEAT NOODLES
still made by baking squares of a cooked
AND DUMPLINGS
dough of milk and semolina). But with the
arrival of the New World’s potato, Italian Two very different families of noodles are
cooks transformed gnocchi into a form of made in Asia. Starch noodles are described
dumpling with an unusually light texture. below. Asian wheat noodles—Chinese
The starchy potato flesh became the main, mian—bear some resemblance to Euro-
tender ingredient, with just enough flour pean pastas made from bread wheat.
added to absorb moisture and provide They’re typically made from low- or mod-
gluten to hold it together into a formable erate-protein flours, and are formed not
dough. Eggs are sometimes added to pro- by extrusion but by sheeting and cutting or
vide additional binding and yolky richness, by stretching. The most spectacular form
though they also add a springy quality. Old of noodle production is that of Shanghai’s
potatoes, and mealy rather than waxy vari- hand-pulled noodles, la mian, for which
eties, are preferred for their lower water the maker starts with a thick rope of
and higher starch contents, which means dough, swings, twists, and stretches it to
that less flour is needed to make the dough, arms’ length, brings the ends together to
so less gluten forms and the dumpling is make the one strand into two—and repeats
more tender. The potatoes are cooked, the stretching and folding as many as
peeled, and riced immediately to allow as eleven times to make up to 4,096 thin noo-
much moisture as possible to evaporate; dles! Asian noodles are both elastic and
then cooled or even chilled, and kneaded soft, their texture created by both their
into a dough with just as much flour as weak gluten and by amylopectin-rich
necessary, usually less than 1 cup/120 gm starch granules. Salt, usually at around 2%
per lb/500 gm potatoes. The dough is of the noodle weight, is an important
formed into a thin rope and cut into small ingredient in Asian noodles. It tightens the

Soba: Japanese Buckwheat Noodles

Buckwheat noodles were made in northern China in the 14th century, and had become
a popular food in Japan by around 1600. It’s difficult to make noodles exclusively with
buckwheat flour because the buckwheat proteins do not form a cohesive gluten.
Japanese soba noodles may be from 10% to 90% buckwheat, the remainder wheat.
They’re traditionally made from freshly milled flour, which is mixed very quickly with
the water and worked until the water is evenly absorbed and the dough firm and
smooth. Salt is omitted because it interferes with the proteins and mucilage that help
bind the dough (p. 483). The dough is rested, then rolled out to about 3 mm thick and
rested again, then cut into fine noodles. The noodles are cooked fresh, and when done,
are washed and firmed in a container of ice water, drained, and served either in a hot
broth or cold, accompanied by a dipping sauce.
578 cereal doughs and batters

gluten network and stabilizes the starch and absorb more water, and they contribute
granules, keeping them intact even as they a characteristic aroma and taste.
absorb water and swell.
Dumplings The Chinese version of filled
Chinese Wheat Noodles pasta is thin sheets of wheat-flour dough
and Dumplings enclosing seasoned morsels of meat, shell-
fish, or vegetables. Some doughs are simply
White and Yellow Noodles Salted white made from flour and water, but robust pot-
noodles arose in northern China and are sticker dough is made by boiling part of the
now most widely known in their Japanese water before adding the flour, so that some
version, udon (below). Yellow noodles, of the starch is gelated and contributes to
which are made with alkaline salts, appear the dough’s cohesiveness. The formed
to have originated in southeast China some- dumplings may be steamed, boiled, fried, or
time before 1600, and then spread with deep-fried.
Chinese migrants to Indonesia, Malaysia,
and Thailand. The yellowness of the tradi- Japanese Wheat Noodles The standard
tional noodles (modern ones are sometimes thick Japanese noodles (2–4 mm in diame-
colored with egg yolks) is caused by pheno- ter), called udon, are descendents of the
lic compounds in the flour called flavones, Chinese white salted noodle. They’re white
which are normally colorless but become and soft and made from soft wheat flour,
yellow in alkaline conditions. The flavones water, and salt. Ra-men noodles are light
are especially concentrated in the bran and yellow and somewhat stiff, and are made
germ, so less refined flours develop a deeper from hard wheat flour, water, and alkaline
color. Because they’re based on harder salts (kansui). Very thin noodles (around 1
wheats, southern yellow noodles have a mm) are called so-men. Japanese noodles
firmer texture than white salted noodles, are usually cooked in water of pH 5.5–6,
and alkalinity (pH 9–11, the equivalent of which is often adjusted by adding some
old egg whites) increases this firmness. The acid. After cooking, the noodles are drained
alkaline salts (sodium and potassium car- and washed and cooled in running water,
bonates at 0.5–1% of noodle weight) also which causes the surface starch to set into a
cause the noodles to take longer to cook moist, slippery, nonsticky layer.

Tapioca

Tapioca pearls, which are widely used to absorb moisture and flavor, thicken puddings
and pie fillings, and nowadays to provide chewy “bubbles” in teas and other drinks,
are translucent, glossy, and elastic, and based on the same principle as the starch noo-
dle. They are spheres 1–6 mm across made up of tapioca starch granules held together
by a matrix of gelatinized tapioca starch (about 17% amylose). A wet mass of the
starch granules (40–50% water by weight) is broken up into coarse grains, and the
grains then fed into rotating pans, where they roll around and gradually agglomerate
into little balls. They’re then steamed until a little more than half the starch is gelated,
mostly in the outer layer, and then are dried, so that a firm retrograded starch matrix
forms. When cooked in liquid, they soak up water and the rest of their starch gelates
while the retrograded matrix maintains their structure.
 pasta, noodles, and dumplings 579

The Japanese instant version of Chi- are drained and held at the ambient tem-
nese-style noodles, ra-men, was born in perature or chilled for 12–48 hours before
1958. They’re manufactured by making being air-dried. During the holding period,
thin, quickly rehydrated noodles, then the gelated starch molecules fall into a
steaming them, frying them at 280ºF/ more orderly arrangement, or retrograde
140ºC, and air-drying at 180ºF/80ºC. (p. 458). The smaller amylose molecules
cluster together to form junctions in the
network, crystalline regions that resist dis-
ASIAN STARCH
ruption even by boiling temperatures. The
AND RICE NOODLES
dried noodles are thus firm and strong, but
All the pastas we’ve looked at so far are the less orderly parts of the network read-
held together by the gluten proteins of ily absorb hot liquid and swell to become
wheat flour. Starch and rice noodles con- tender without the need for active cooking.
tain no gluten whatsoever. Starch noodles Starch noodles are translucent because
in particular are a remarkable, even star- they’re a uniform mixture of starch and
tling invention: unlike all other noodles, water, with no particles of insoluble protein
they’re translucent. They’re often called or intact starch granules to scatter light rays.
glass or cellophane noodles, and in Japan
are given the lovely name harusame, Rice Noodles and Wrappers Like starch
“spring rain” noodles. noodles, rice noodles are held together by
amylose, not gluten; but because they con-
Starch Noodles Dried noodles made out tain protein and cell-wall particles that scat-
of pure starch—usually from mung beans ter light, they’re opaque rather than
(China), rice (Japan), or sweet potato—are translucent. Rice noodles are made by soak-
prized for several qualities: their clarity ing high-amylose rice in water, grinding it
and glossy brilliance, their slippery, firm into a paste, cooking the paste so that much
texture, and their readiness for eating after but not all of the starch is gelated, kneading
just a few minutes of soaking in hot liquid, the paste into a dough and extruding it to
whether plain hot water or a soup or form noodles, steaming the noodles to fin-
braised dish. ish the gelation process, cooling and hold-
The firmest noodles are made from ing for 12 hours or more, and drying with
starches high in the straight-chain amylose hot air or by frying them in oil. Again, the
form (p. 457). Where ordinary long-grain holding and drying cause starch retrogra-
rice is 21–23% amylose, special noodle dation and the formation of a structure
rices are 30–36%, and mung-bean starch is that stands up to rehydration in hot water.
35–40% amylose. Starch noodles are made Fresh rice noodles, chow fun, need no rehy-
by first cooking a small amount of dry dration before being stir-fried.
starch with water to make a sticky paste Rice papers, banh trang in Vietnamese,
that will bind the rest of the starch into a are thin, parchment-like discs that are used
cohesive dough. The paste is mixed with as wrappers for southeast Asian versions of
the rest of the dry starch and more water to the spring roll. They’re made by soaking
make a dough with 35–45% moisture, and and grinding rice, soaking it again, pound-
the dough is then extruded through small ing it into a paste and spreading it into a
holes in a metal plate to form noodles. The thin layer, steaming it and then drying it.
noodles are immediately boiled to gelate all Rice papers are rehydrated briefly in luke-
the starch and form a continuous network warm water, then used immediately as
of starch molecules throughout, and then wrappers that can be eaten fresh or fried.