Pulses, Pasta and Rice

When we cook meat or fish, or indeed any moist or fatty ingredient, we usually add pepper and salt at the start of cooking. The juices or fat that flow from the food help to disperse the seasoning throughout the dish. However, this isn’t the case with dry or dense foods such as pasta, pulses and grains such as rice; they need to soften and absorb moisture before they can take other flavours on board. So there is little point in adding pepper early on, although salt is added to cooking water for rice and pasta.