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Cook whole grains like popcorn (2018)

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Re: Cook whole grains like popcorn (2018)

#71

Post by valarauko »

Spivak wrote: post #5
schwartzworld wrote: post #2

This is, as the kids say, cap. Popcorn works because the outer hull is strong enough to hold together until a critical mass of pressure builds inside to rupture it. At that point the starches, which have liquefied under pressure, explode and unliquify rather suddenly. White rice and pearled barley have their hulls removed. You can see in the picture that the barley has split, but not popped, and the rice just looks a…

> Puffed rice and wheat are done in machines that lower the air pressure to create the same conditions as popcorn Maybe for commercial production but it isn’t necessary in general. I make puffed rice all the time with hot salt in a skillet. It’s a lazy way to use leftover rice since you need to cook it first anyway.

Leftover rice? I'd assumed this process required whole grain, or does it work with regular white rice?

Re: Cook whole grains like popcorn (2018)

#72

Post by Stratoscope »

almog wrote: post #61
Stratoscope wrote: post #38

Time to share my recipe for dry roasted pressure cooked brown rice. I make this using a stainless steel stovetop pressure cooker. I do not recommend aluminum. The ingredients are two cups brown rice (long or short grain as you wish), two cups of water or a little less (yes, the rice:water ratio is just 1:1), and half a teaspoon of salt or less. You can scale this up or down easily. Put the rice in the pressure cooker…

Would aluminum not work as well because it conducts heat better than steel so it might burn the rice? Asking because I have an aluminum pressure cooker and I'd like to try it still.

Give it a whirl! I was only recommending against aluminum because I use a steel spatula to scrape the bottom of the pan after cooking, and I would worry that the steel would scratch up the softer aluminum. But you could use a sturdy plastic spatula instead, should work fine.

Re: Cook whole grains like popcorn (2018)

#74

Post by PebblesRox »

jihadjihad wrote: post #20

Slightly OT, but one lesson I learned a while ago is that whole grains lend themselves well to similar cooking techniques. For example, I had first learned that farro tastes best if you toast it in the pan before adding water/stock--similar to couscous or quinoa. What I didn't notice until later on is that you can do the same with oats! I now toast steel-cut oats in butter and then cook them like usual. Had never mad…

Yes! My favorite oatmeal recipe [0] works by toasting the oats and then steaming them. It's a great texture.

[0] https://www.thefauxmartha.com/the-very-very-best-oatmeal/

Re: Cook whole grains like popcorn (2018)

#75

Post by peatmoss »

dragonwriter wrote: post #52
moffkalast wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, a pressure cooker would do?

Home pressure cookers tend to be safeguarded against instant release. Some models of the Instant Pot of an optional accelerated quick release using an ice pack, but its still much more gradual that what seems to be used for this purpose.

You can run cold water over the lid of a pressure cooker, and it will release abruptly. Most modern cookers include this in the instructions. Old cookers may not be safe to do this, if they don’t have a geometry that directs a sudden blast of steam downward.

Re: Cook whole grains like popcorn (2018)

#76

Post by sowbug »

Anyone know what happened to the snack called Half Pops? They were popcorn that the manufacturer had coaxed into all popping like the few at the bottom of a regular bowl of popcorn. They completely vanished around pandemic times, and now it's hard to find evidence the company even existed.

I found a recipe and tried making them, but the error rate was so high and the risk of tooth damage so severe that I gave up.

Re: Cook whole grains like popcorn (2018)

#77

Post by gnufied »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #64
gnufied wrote: post #59

This reminds me of my childhood in India where my grandma and mom will "fry" everything whole and it used to be delicious. Little but chopped onion, cilantro and lemon makes it even yummier. I said fried for lack of better word but the way it gets done is - just stir and toss them with hot sand in a wide mouth clay pot. When it is done, just use a sieve to separate sand and the grain. It is pretty wholesome snack. Co…

I read where that is the world's oldest cooking technique!

Yeah I think sand is used to control the heat distribution, which is hard to do when you are cooking over fire from wood or something similar.

Re: Cook whole grains like popcorn (2018)

#78

Post by foobarian »

engr wrote: post #12
pontifier wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen this device in videos before, I wonder why I never see them at like Farmers markets here in the US. They'd probably make a killing.

I think safety may have something to do with it, it's pretty much a bomb

I've been contemplating using a pipe-bomb shaped vessel to cook things in super-heated water, which would require very high pressures. Imagine getting water to 400F and how golden brown and moist things would be that cook that way! It would be like deep frying food in water.

Re: Cook whole grains like popcorn (2018)

#79

Post by schwartzworld »

imajoredinecon wrote: post #18
schwartzworld wrote: post #2

This is, as the kids say, cap. Popcorn works because the outer hull is strong enough to hold together until a critical mass of pressure builds inside to rupture it. At that point the starches, which have liquefied under pressure, explode and unliquify rather suddenly. White rice and pearled barley have their hulls removed. You can see in the picture that the barley has split, but not popped, and the rice just looks a…

> It is possible to pop some other grains like popcorn, but none of the ones listed here, at least not using the methodology described. I didn't read the article as asserting that any of the grains popped like popcorn? There's a picture that makes this quite clear.

It's literally in the title.

Re: Cook whole grains like popcorn (2018)

#80

Post by schwartzworld »

ars wrote: post #15
schwartzworld wrote: post #2

This is, as the kids say, cap. Popcorn works because the outer hull is strong enough to hold together until a critical mass of pressure builds inside to rupture it. At that point the starches, which have liquefied under pressure, explode and unliquify rather suddenly. White rice and pearled barley have their hulls removed. You can see in the picture that the barley has split, but not popped, and the rice just looks a…

> Puffed rice and wheat are done in machines that lower the air pressure to create the same conditions as popcorn. You mean raise the air pressure. They cook them at very high pressure, and then suddenly release the pressure and they all explode. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffed_grain

Yes, you're right.
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