A Cook's Guide to Grains by Jenni Muir

It is a brave publisher who produces a book solely dedicated to the humble grain. Conran Octopus saw fit to do so and with Jenni Muir as its author and Jason Lowe on photography, the odds are on their side. A Cook's Guide to Grains is not exclusive though and the obligatory wearing of a kaftan and sandals is not a prerequisite. The aim of this book is to impart confidence to the cook to use a variety of grains in everyday cooking.

Jenni Muir has travelled the world to learn about each continent's indigenous grains and sought out their best recipes. These natural foods are extraordinarily nutritious as well as being inexpensive and ecologically sound.

We should all have at least six servings of grain a day and this will provide you with nutrients such as complex carbohydrates, protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals and phytoestrogens. It begs you to ask why we should need to eat anything else and with A Cook's Guide to Grains you will soon realise that there is a whole world of grains out there. Jenni Muir puts you through the paces of traditional corn, wheat, oats and barley, freekeh, rye, quinoa and amaranth.

Grains are upwardly mobile. More recently they have been associated with a puritanical style of eating and before that they were considered peasant fare. Jenni Muir believes that they are the next big thing. Charlie Trotter has embraced them and grains appear in many of his ready to go dishes on sale at his traiteur in downtown Chicago.

Just because grains are now the it ingredient, their nutritional values should not be overlooked. They can protect against some forms of cancer, heart disease and also help to relieve menopausal symptoms. By introducing a greater variety of foods into our diet, we can also minimize the likelihood of developing food intolerances. So rather than having a strongly biased wheat diet of a wheat breakfast cereal, followed by a wheat bread sandwich at lunch and rounded off with spaghetti in the evening, why not ring the changes? Instead have an oat based breakfast cereal, a wheat bread sandwich at lunch and then rice or rice noodles at supper. Take a moment to run through your diet of the last few days and you may find that you rely on wheat too heavily.

The first section of A Cook's Guide to Grains gives you a whistle stop tour of the world's grains, discussing their history and provenance. Jenni also looks at the culinary and nutritional qualities and to what use they can be employed in cooking. The second section features over 100 recipes taking you from breakfast to bed.

Quinoa, although being heralded as a foodstuff that will save our planet, has been around for thousands of years. It remained widely unknown as the Spanish Conquistadors, on arrival in Peru, did their best to phase it out in favour of growing maize, barley and potatoes. As quinoa is higher in protein content than any other grain, its value in our diet is great. It also picks up the flavours of the other ingredients that it is cooked with, making it truly versatile.

Jenni believes that Lyn Hall has devised one of the best modern uses of quinoa in her Quinoa, cashew and grape salad. She uses raspberry or apple cider vinegar with mirrin as a sweet foil to the natural bitterness of the grain. Jenni prefers to substitute this with basil, coriander and lime juice. Along with some finely sliced celery and a handful of herbs, such as rocket, mint, marjoram or dill, this salad is very useful when entertaining crowds. It can stand for several hours without deteriorating.

Pumpkin and sage pudding relies on a dry bit of pumpkin. Butternut squash doesn't have enough flavour and is too wet. Made with rolled oats and wheat flour, this would be the perfect accompaniment to a piece of game or roast chicken. Her Old fashioned muffins are ‘what American muffins used to be before they became overblown fairy cakes.' It is a quick bread that can be rustled up at breakfast before getting down to some heavy duty lumber jacking.

Grains is a difficult subject to put across imaginatively. Jenni Muir has done it with flair. A Cook's Guide to Grains is a formative work: the subject has been thoroughly and expertly researched. Jenni writes amusingly and gives the reader the will to expand their repertory into the grain world. She should receive much acclaim for this.

Publication details
224 pages. Photography by Jason Lowe. £20
Published by Conran Octopus
ISBN 1840910739
2002

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