Cooking Substitutions: Pearled Sorghum

December 31, 2015 12:04 PM

What can I substitute in place of pearled sorghum?

I couldn't find pearled sorghum at the grocery store, after picking up all the other things for this root vegetable hot dish.

I've never cooked with sorghum before. What can I use instead? Couscous? Pearled barley? Something else?

posted by J. Wilson to Food & Drink (7 answers total)

In that recipe I would use barley.
posted by something something at 12:09 PM on December 31, 2015 [2 favorites]

I would use pearled barley too but in a pinch couscous or bulgur would work as well.
posted by bearwife at 12:13 PM on December 31, 2015 [1 favorite]

Kamut?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:17 PM on December 31, 2015 [1 favorite]

Barley or farro would work well. Israeli cous cous would be closest in terms of shape/texture.
posted by mudpuppie at 12:30 PM on December 31, 2015 [4 favorites]

I'd do wild rice. Keep in mind over cooking wild rice is easy so do a little research to figure it out.
posted by littlewater at 12:51 PM on December 31, 2015 [1 favorite]

Israeli cous cous would be closest in terms of shape/texture

Important note if you go this route: Israeli cous cous is NOT actually cous cous; it's a type of pasta-like wheat food formed in to small balls that resemble cous cous but larger. It's sometimes sold under its Hebrew name, ptitim. Don't buy regular cous cous expecting it to work for this, make sure it's labeled as "Israeli cous cous" specifically.
posted by Itaxpica at 1:58 PM on December 31, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I used barley and it turned out pretty well. Thanks for all the ideas!
posted by J. Wilson at 7:37 AM on January 1, 2016 [1 favorite]