Alternative Grains: Buckwheat
Despite its niche status, this grain alternative's rich history, sustainability, and versatility make it a compelling choice for my culinary adventures.
I’m in a creative cooking slump, and I’m blaming winter for casting long shadows of gloom into my kitchen.
This should be the time of year to harvest creativity, take advantage of my indoor-centric life, and spend time in the kitchen cooking soup, baking bread, or making strudel. Instead, I find myself opening and closing my cupboards and pantry, searching for ideas...and spending too much time waiting for my kitchen muse to arrive.
In the past, I’ve come out of cooking slumps by deliberately taking excessive time to make something (see My 6-Hour Sandwich) or picking up a cookbook from my extensive library and pretending to find inspiration - sometimes it works. This time, I found a way out of my slump from an unexpected source, Steven Pressfield’s daily writing guide called The Daily Pressfield. On Day 61, he writes, “Writers do not write to express themselves. They write to discover themselves.” Those twelve words slapped me on the side of my face. I think my muse has arrived.
I replaced writers with cooks in that sentence and came up with something slightly different, “Cooks do not cook to express themselves. They cook to discover themselves.” This reworked concept resonated with me, and I asked myself, “What could I cook to discover something new...something interesting to explore?
My choice to pursue alternative grains felt right when I opened my pantry and saw how much flour, rice, and polenta I had on hand. The big three cereal grains - wheat, rice, and corn - represent more than 50% of worldwide carbohydrate intake, and I already knew far too many ways to incorporate these grains into my diet. I wanted something outside of the mainstream to dive into and discover. I craved alternatives...and alternative cereal grains became my vehicle to jump into and ride out of the gloomy darkness that settled into my kitchen.
If you want to join me, I will take you on my journey in the following three articles. I shall explore three alternatives that are nutritious, surprisingly versatile in the kitchen, environmentally friendly, and naturally free of gluten. I’m beginning with an old friend I barely know, buckwheat. From there, I will explore millet - the tiny seed mainly used to feed animals but has tremendous nutritional value for humans. I will close out the series by exploring the queen of tiny - teff, the pseudograin used to make Ethiopian Injera, and other interesting new vegan applications.
Before jumping into this week’s featured alternative grain, buckwheat, let’s take a slight detour and check out the tourist information version of alternative grains.
Alternative Grains
The edible portion of cereal grasses is commonly called the grain or kernel. We are most familiar with wheat, rye, oats, barley, rice, and corn - the grains that dominate worldwide. Apart from a brief period of venturing into the unconventional grain world to throw a quick hug around quinoa, most other alternative grains remain exotic. Raise your hand and go to the head of the class if you know what to do with teff.
Buckwheat
America’s breakfast and brunch culture is more widespread than I usually encounter in Europe. I don’t miss that part of my American past, but I occasionally crave a stack of thick buckwheat pancakes with a light drizzle of grade-A maple syrup. The rustic look and slightly nutty taste of buckwheat pancakes create an impression I’m camping alongside a wild river framed by cedar trees. It feels wild and authentically American.
Buckwheat, of course, is not American at all...or especially popular in America. It’s most often encountered in pancakes, which explains why Americans might be familiar with it.
Buckwheat is a native of central Asia and was introduced in Europe during the Middle Ages. It remains a staple food in many parts of China and Nepal. In Japan, buckwheat is used to make soba noodles. In northern Italy and southern Switzerland, buckwheat is also made into noodles called pizzoccheri - a delicious alpine dish. It is also mixed with cornmeal to form an unusual and tasty type of polenta. In Russia and throughout Eastern Europe, buckwheat is used to make blinis - a small pancake...or whole groats are toasted to make a nutty porridge called kasha. In Brittany, buckwheat flour - perhaps the finest in the world - is used to produce galettes - a distinctive type of crêpe.
This is a significant list of culturally popular foods that use buckwheat, yet to many, buckwheat remains an exotic ingredient.
Buckwheat kernels are small and triangular-shaped. They are sold uncooked (light green-yellow color) or roasted (darker colored). When cooked, whole buckwheat has a distinctive nutty aroma that is slightly bitter. It is easy to digest and pairs well with various vegetables and mushrooms. It’s also simple to cook, inexpensive, and transitions well into a ‘meaty’ vibe when umami touches are applied.
What’s a groat? Buckwheat groats are whole kernels with the hull removed.
Cooking whole buckwheat is straightforward. If you can boil water, you can prepare buckwheat. To enhance the flavor and add a bit of nuttiness and roasted notes, I begin by toasting the whole buckwheat in the oven for about 15 minutes. I stick with a 2:1 ratio of water to buckwheat and bring the water to a boil in a medium-sized pot. I salt the water and add the toasted buckwheat, then reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook the buckwheat in the covered pot for 15-17 minutes. Like rice, I allow the buckwheat to gently settle in the covered pot for 10 minutes off the heat. It’s now ideally suited to combine with almost anything to create a meaty filling, quick salad, or tasty and nutritious ‘bowl.’
Once prepared, buckwheat pilaf can be stored in the refrigerator in a covered container for 3-5 days, which is ample reason for me to prepare a large batch and use it to explore several alternatives or to make a quick pilaf salad, such as the one pictured below that combines blackened beetroot (see Wil Reidie’s recipe), wilted cabbage tops, toasted walnuts, and soy sour cream with dill oil - an exquisite salad!
The Flour Alternative
Developing gluten is important in making things out of flour that stretches or rises. Think of it as a critical element allowing baked goods to rise - it’s not essential, but it is the ubiquitous choice in creating structure.
Go Deeper: This article from the Modernist Cuisine is highly detailed on how gluten works.
Buckwheat flour is interesting to work with. Despite the obvious ‘wheat’ in its name, buckwheat is gluten-free, which means it will work differently than traditional wheat flour in baking. The flavor is also pronounced - something that may take a bit of getting used to. And because of its high levels of mucilage, baked goods can turn out gummy.
My memories of buckwheat pancakes led me to experiment with flour in sweet and savory preparations. I found the complex flavors (earthy, savory, and grassy) delightful in my galettes that I used as an external wrap in savory bites and equally appealing in sweet preparations like my Strawberry-Olive Oil Hazelnut Cake or my Vegan Fudge Brownies. But a word of caution - buckwheat’s assertive flavors might be overwhelming if used excessively, which is why this flour is commonly combined with another, mild-tasting flour.
Apart from the galette recipe mentioned previously, I usually combine buckwheat flour with other flour to create a texture and flavor I am satisfied with. I add up to 25% of buckwheat flour in non-yeasted recipes and 15-20% in yeasted recipes. Another favorite of mine is to add 10-15% buckwheat flour to pasta dough, which I intend to use for mushroom-filled pasta (ravioli or tortellini).
Buckwheat has made its mark in my kitchen. I incorporate whole groats and flour into many dishes to showcase buckwheat’s unique flavors and textures. I embrace it as a sophisticated and versatile ingredient with a rich history I can use in developing modern interpretations of recipes.
This Week’s Recipes…
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Buckwheat and Mushroom Stuffed Cabbage with Caramelized Onion Béchamel
This dish is based on the popular Polish dish called Gołąbki z Kaszą Gryczaną i z Grzybami, which is far more difficult to pronounce by non-Polish speakers than it is to make. Many cabbage roll recipes in Poland use a combination of meat and cheese, but the buckwheat-mushroom combination is well-known... Get the recipe
Buckwheat Pilaf Salad with Tofu Sour Cream and Dill Oil
I like to use this idea when making a pilaf from whole buckwheat groats. The variations are endless, so feel free to experiment with different ingredients. Mushrooms, any cabbage, roasted pumpkin wedges, or sweet potatoes are interesting ingredient options... Get the recipe
Buckwheat Galettes
Crêpes are essentially a pancake made by cooking a thin layer of batter in a non-stick or special crêpe pan. When the batter is made with buckwheat flour, it is often called galettes – a famous offering in the French region of Brittany.... Get the recipe
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Gosh, this is so weird. I'm making my lunch. I have a home-made stock in the pan with shredded leeks and curly kale, and I've just added a small handful of buckwheat with some spices and chopped sweet chestnuts, and while that's cooking I open Substack to find you talking about buckwheat! It's one of my favourite grains. So easy. I hope your muse stays with you during this cold winter months, Jack.
Excellent!