Fun with Farro

[Txacoli]

We have a restaurant buried in the hills in Central California. We have been trying to learn the joys of farro, now that winter is here and the farmer's markets are all about the roots and kale.

We managed to purchase the proper species (triticum dicoccum), but wound up with semi-pearled farro. I assumed this means that the grains are lightly polished....some bran removed.

Research tells us that we are supposed to soak the stuff for eight hours.....then long cooking times with a good soak in the cooking liquid afterwards. This is probably for the original, unpolished version.

We are looking for a nice, al dente finish.....but hopefully fully digestible! Any help, tips, experience? Source for unpolished farro?

Thanks in advance.....

Txacoli and crew

[Gifted Gourmet]

We are looking for a nice, al dente finish.....but hopefully fully digestible!  Any help, tips, experience?  Source for unpolished farro?

←

one source to purchase

some interesting recipes and variations ...

[Pontormo]

First, welcome to eGullet, Txacoli. Good to see your first post.

Since you're new, here's a direct link to a thread (or discussion) in the Italian forum that should be of interest to you. The topic is the regional cooking of Umbria, but farro is addressed quite a bit.

What you received is optimal. You shouldn't need to soak it even if the package tells you to. If it is semi-pearled or hulled, it ought to cook rather quickly. At least, mine brought back from the supermarket in Italy cooked in a little over 20 minutes, tops.

Al Dente is not desirable. It should be somewhat chewy, but soft. Not at all chalky. Effortless and comforting, like barley.

There are lots of excellent things to do with farro at this time of year, you're right. I'd explore the cuisines of Umbria and Tuscany, especially, looking for inspiration for hearty soups. Farro is also cooked like risotto and in the summer, made into cooling drinks and refreshing salads. It's even baked into desserts. Online sources offer much. However, look through the threads in the Italian forum, including the internet links for recipes, too. Also see recommendations for cookbooks there. You might wish to post further questions or comments in the Italian cooking thread I linked here.

[MagFoodGuy]

Thanks for the thread. My grocery store had some farro, and I felt obligated to buy some. Hopefully, this will inspire me to finally sook something with it.

[mrbigjas]

here's another thread i started a little over a year ago, when i first started cooking farro.

[dividend]

Joyce Goldstein's book Solo Supppers has some interesting recipes in it for farro.

[hathor]

Just curious, how did you make out with the farro? Make sure you introduce the farro to some porcini.

[Chef Rich G]

Farro makes great risotto. Babbo in NYC makes a side dish called farroto. It's made just like the risotto version with Arborio except the farro is saoked for 2 hours prior to the soffrito stage. Farro's strong husk and endosperm have to be seared and cracked to allow for the wine and broth to permeate it's shell. Do you need the technique? I'll post our restaurants version as well as the version Babbo does if you'd like. We just don't use any butter in ours. I have pics of our finished versions also.

[hathor]

I'd be happy if you posted the recipes and photos. thanks!