Why can't I cook rice?

I know my way around a kitchen pretty well, but fail consistantly at making simple white rice. I even bought a cheap rice cooker and I still cringe in shame at the results.

I believe I've heard Sara Moulton make the same admission, so perhaps its something genetic -- an inherent predisposition to rice failure.

Or perhaps, I do not have enough respect for the subject matter.

-Ramon

I made lots of crappy rice before bying a good rice cooker.
I've never had problems with my Zojirushi Fuzzy Logic model, nor has anyone else I know who uses one. They can be had for under $60, and are close to foolproof, although their quality is typically better with Japanese short-grained rice than western long-grain (which tends to dry out a bit no matter how much extra water I use).

Prior to that, I had reasonable results using the microwave -- it's not any faster, but it has a regulated temperature and keeps one less thing on the stovetop when I'm wokking.

In a class or ceramic caserole dish with a lid, put in your rice and water as per the package directions. Heat on high for 5 minutes, and medium for 15. Remove caserole carefully (it's hot) and fluff.

A tall caserole is good here or boil-over will end up all over the insides of your microwave.

What happens to your rice when you cook it on the stove? Do you always get a similar result? Is it hard? too sticky? just plain mush? There are different solutions to every problem. If you have a different retsult every time, then maybe you've been cursed by the gods of rice.

My favorite rice-cooker is my hard anodized aluminum saucepan. I cook mostly white or basmati rice (brown occassionally).

I use a 1.5:1 water-to-rice ratio (most white rice boxes recommend 2:1), but I think the rice tastes better with a little less water. It still comes out perfectly cooked.

When I first started cooking rice at home many years ago, I screwed up a few batches, but I got to know my pots and the proper amount of heat that I need to apply.

eatchicago wrote:
I use a 1.5:1 water-to-rice ratio (most white rice boxes recommend 2:1), but I think the rice tastes better with a little less water. It still comes out perfectly cooked.

yeah, most boxes recommend 2:1, but they're doing that assuming you're cooking only 1 cup of rice.. in which case it's generally accurate.

as the amount of rice you're cooking increases, the ratio decreases.. so for a cup and a half you want more like 2.5 cups of water, and for 2 cups of rice you'll want just 3 to 3.5 cups of liquid.

of course, some recipes call for boiling the hell out of the rice, which requires significantly more water than normal. Some food book I was reading a while back talked about the author's difficulty in cooking perfect rice. I can't remember, though, who it was. It may have been steingarten in one of his collections of vogue articles.

-ed

Ramon wrote:I know my way around a kitchen pretty well, but fail consistantly at making simple white rice. I even bought a cheap rice cooker and I still cringe in shame at the results.

I believe I've heard Sara Moulton make the same admission, so perhaps its something genetic -- an inherent predisposition to rice failure.

Or perhaps, I do not have enough respect for the subject matter.

-Ramon

The only trick I know is to absolutely do not take off the lid. Preferably 5 minutes after the box says to.

Ramon, if you don't mind a little fat with your rice, the Cuban/Carribean style I grew up with works pretty well. Go ahead and experiment, it's rice for God's sake.

First, the pot. You'll want one with a bottom that is very even in conducting heat. Not too deep. Braising pots are good, as are the cheap rice pots one finds in Indan groceries. Aluminum works well in terms of the conductivity.

Next the fat, don't be shy, use enough to just cover the bottom with a film of lard, olive oil, whatever.

The rice. The longer grain the better for fluffy, seperate rice using this technique. Is basmati the fluffiest you've ever had? It's the "longest." I love short-grained rice, Italian, Spanish, Korean, but this sisn't what you want here.

Toast the rice. At a decent heat (high-medium) stir the rice in the fat until it begins to smell "nutty" and a few grains begin to turn a light golden color. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon. Don't scorch.

Add the liquid. My in-laws only make rice in large batches, and swear by 1:1 as the ratio. As suggested above, ratios vary. My rule of thumb is to add liquid (us. water) until it just covers the rice. No need to measure.

Boil hard for a few seconds, maybe 20, stirring.

Turn down to a low simmer, and cover as tightly as you can. Some use foil under the lid, others a damp cloth. Some pots have a heavy enough lid.

Don't look. If you are vigilant, and listen closely, the rice will tell you when it's done. You'll smell the toastiness of the "raspa" (the thin layer of crunchy rice) and hear a little "bubble and squeak," to borrow a term of art. About 15-20 min, depending.

Don't look yet. I always give it another 5-6 minutes to rest.

Now look. Fluff with a fork, no spoons. If it is still uncooked, you might add some water, repalce the lid ASAP, turn up the heat for a few seconds, then off, and give it another five min.

Mainly, you just need to figure out what works between your pot, your rice and your stovetop. Again, it's rice, so it's not a big cash committment.

Good tips, Jeff.

One other thing I forgot. If your rice is too gummy, you might want to consider rinsing it first. I give basmati rice a good long rinse and soak until the water runs clean. This results in nice, clean grains and no stickiness.

Best,
EC

I use Thai fragrant rice for Chinese style (and if I want to make fried rice the next day) or Japanese short grain rice for stick to the tummy goodness.

The way my mom taught me is that the water level should reach up to the first crease on your index finger. Rest you index finger on the top of the rice and the water level should touch that crease. Sounds unscientific, but it has never failed... =)

For stove top cooking, in the days when I was too poor to buy a nice rice cooker), cook the rice in a covered saucepan over medium heat. When it starts bubbling over, reduce the heat to low, until you see little holes on the surface. Turn off the heat, and wait 10-15 minutes.

Perfect rice... =)

Hi,

There was a running joke in my family about how I had these high end cooking skills, yet I did not know how to make coffee, dissect a chicken or make rice. When I needed these services, my Mother would chip in.

When the only rice in our household was either long grain or short grain, then it was put into a pot with a 2 cups water to 1 cup rice and 1 teaspoon of salt. Bring the rice to a boil, then either turn it off or bring it down to simmer. 10-15 minutes later the rice is finished.

I now have a rice cooker because I can start the rice and go back to work. I will pop up again to pull together lunch because usually the rice is the time consuming factor. My rice cooker was lent to me by a friend, who said I could have it if I like it. If I am in the kitchen when the rice is cooking, then I just as likely choose the stove top method.

I will buy "new" Jasmine rice in Chinatown. 'New' refers to rice which has been harvested recently, which has a higher moisture content than older rice. It usually takes me 1-2 batches of 'new' rice to adjust the amount of water, it is usually 1.5:1 (or slightly less water). The first time I purchased new rice I bought the same harvest as my friend. We each went home and cooked it with our usual 2:1, which caused our rice to be mushy like congee. It was during our morning walks we both complained simultaneously about this rice.

As the rice ages, it drys further, then you have to gradually add more water.

A few years ago, I was at the county fair where I played a nutrition game. I spun the wheel, which pointed to a question: name 3 kinds of rice. Ok, I am up for the challenge: Arborio, Jasmine, Basmati and Wild Rice (I know, it is not a rice exactly). I got the open mouthed deer-in-the-headlights look, the correct answer: reconstituted, white and brown rice. They said I got an A+++!

Oh, I now know how to cut up a chicken but coffee alludes me because I have no interest. I don't like coffee too much.

I'm not a huge fan of John Thorne, but I like reading him when he's not being too precious and odten manage to learn something from him.

In this case, for rice making, he said to pick a pot you're comfortable with that will give you a margin of error (in particular, thick enough to maintain your desired heat level) and manage the variables from there. Too wet when you're done? Too dry? Burnt at the bottom? All have obvious solutions.

My choice is Calphalon's 9" nonstick chef's pan; I don't always make great rice, but I do make good rice, and can immediately tell what I did wrong if it happens. (I often put in about a teaspoon too much of water.)

The first way I learned to make rice was to bake it; this is flawless (at least in my experience) but far more time-consuming. Heat your oven to 350F; put 2 cups of boiling water, 2 tablespoons of oil or butter, and 1 cup of long-graun rice into a 2-quart casserole, cover, and bake for 45 minutes.

The most obvious thing that's come up so far in this thread is that there is no "way" to cook rice - there are many different successful ways. These depend on the rice, the cuisine, the culture and preferences of the consumer (usually bundled up with the cuisine), and so on.

Other points.

RINSING
Rinsing can be important. It's easy to find out if you really need to rinse your rice. Put some in a bowl and run water over it. If the water gets cloudy, the rice needs rinsed. If it's clear, don't bother in the future.

MEASURING
Ratios take tweaking. However, one of the simplest methods I've come across is in the "rice" section of Claudia Roden's New Book of Middle Eastern Cooking. She basically does away with measuring. For basmatti or other long grain white rices, she brings a large pot of water to a boil, dumps in the rice and cooks it for 10 - 12 minutes allowing it to "drink" as much of the water as it wants. Take out a kernel and bit it. Does it still have a little bit of "bite" to it, slightly harder than you want it? If so, perfect. Drain it, melt butter (or place oil) in the pan, quickly return the rice, stirring it with the fat and adding more if necessary. Cover and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes or so. Beautifully intuitive. She recommends several slightly more complicated variants using towels under the lid to absorb moisture, toasted the rice in fat first, etc. All produce slightly different results. I highly recommend reading the 2 - 4 pages that introduce her rice chapter and experimenting with the methods. The not measuring thing was an "ah hah" moment for me. Can't recall if she recommends salting the water or salting when fat is added. I'm not sure it makes a difference.

CRUST?
This book mentions the crust - "tah dig" I believe it's called in Iran. It's interesting to me that some cultures love this and consider it a delicacy (Korean, most middle eastern countries, Spain, latin american countries) and others consider it a flaw (I believe Italy, Japan, and China would fall in here). Rice cookers that you find at middle eastern markets are actually designed to produce this crust. Check out the rice cookers at Pars Grocery on Clark Street. They have these faded pictures of rice cookers with steaming golden crusted rice turned out upside down, molded to the shape of the rice cooker. I wonder how they operate differently from Japanese rice cookers to achieve their effect.

Of course, risotto and paella are a whole different topic. Wild rices (not really rice anyway) and brown rices obey very different rules as well. I find them much easier to deal with ... more rugged and forgiving.

rien

CrazyC wrote:I use Thai fragrant rice for Chinese style (and if I want to make fried rice the next day) or Japanese short grain rice for stick to the tummy goodness.

The way my mom taught me is that the water level should reach up to the first crease on your index finger. Rest you index finger on the top of the rice and the water level should touch that crease. Sounds unscientific, but it has never failed... =)

For stove top cooking, in the days when I was too poor to buy a nice rice cooker), cook the rice in a covered saucepan over medium heat. When it starts bubbling over, reduce the heat to low, until you see little holes on the surface. Turn off the heat, and wait 10-15 minutes.

Perfect rice... =)

I was also taught the first crease method, and I it's what I use (Actually slightly below, my grandma's hands were a lot smaller than mine) but different rice takes slightly different water amounts, even among strains (different brands of basmati absorb differently) and you kinda have to adjust to fit the brand based on results.

other than the water amount, indian methods are fairly similar to JeffB's, though subbing ghee for lard. sometimes I'll also throw in a bay leaf or two, always a little salt, maybe a green cardamon towards the end when most of the water is absorbed, sometimes a little black cumin too.

First, buy a good quality rice. i.e. Kokua Rose short grain, or ANY of Lundberg's Rice types from CA. And there are certainly others. (There is one exception: If you are making arroz con pollo in any of its western hemisphere hispanic, caribbean or creole annato enriched avatars, buy a really cheap rice such as Mahatma. The better quality rices will never give you the texture you seek for this type of baked rice dish.)

Lundberg's has many advantages (in no particular order): many organic varieties both hull on and hull off, they develop seed for and raise ALL of their rice, its PC--a family owned company--important in this age of trying to support sustainable agriculture, most important--on the back of each resealable bag are directions and water/rice ratio's.

A high level R&D fellow at Uncle Ben's headquarters in Houston once shook his head admiringly and said to me 'Lundberg's. They're the best. There's no one in the industry like them'.

From reading Lundberg's packages, its clear that for each type of rice, water/rice ratio's differ!

Please re-read previous line.

One more time: the water rice ratio's are different for each type of rice.

No draining and rinsing. When you are finished cooking rice, that's it. Just serve it.

Use a pot with a tight fitting cover. Heavy is nice, but this paraphanalia BS is shtick.

Bring the lightly salted (1/4 tsp per 1 cup of water) water to a rolling boil. A like amount of butter or oil never hurt, its a matter of taste, although the oil can help the final fluffing.

Add the rice, cover. After a minute or so--when the pot returns to a boil, quickly lower heat to simmer level and stir briefly but thoroughly to separate grains.

Re-cover and cook until all water is absorbed--again, different time for each type of rice (hull on takes a longer time, short grain white is quick, jasmine is middling).

To check if rice is done, take a teaspoon spoon handle, carefully lower it to the bottom and peek. You should see the very scantest amount of moisture. Don't worry, this legacy moisture gets absorbed in the final cooking phase.

Remove covered pot from heat and allow to rest EXACTLY ten minutes. This allows the grains to separate and is the final cooking phase. (The principle of resting off the heat is the crucial key to success with any grain of grass based origin--rice, kasha, rolled oats and so forth and so on.)

Fluff thoroughly with a fork and turn out into a serving bowl.

Simple as boiling water--my foot.

Steve Drucker wrote:First, buy a good quality rice. Lundberg's has many advantages (in no particular order): many organic varieties both hull on and hull off, they develop seed for and raise ALL of their rice, its PC--a family owned company--important in this age of trying to support sustainable agriculture, most important--on the back of each resealable bag are directions and water/rice ratio's.

A high level R&D fellow at Uncle Ben's headquarters in Houston once shook his head admiringly and said to me 'Lundberg's. They're the best. There's no one in the industry like them'.

Interesting. I bought a Lundberg pilaf mix at the Home Economist having never heard of the company. I went on-line http://www.lundberg.com/index.html

to get the cooking directions, which worked perfectly. It was very good and the price very reasonable. Makes me wonder if some of their other rice blends are Lundberg as well.

Looking for a little help please. So, I have this fabulous Fagor Electric Pressure cooker/rice cooker that I got about a month ago. Hub saw Jacques Pepin using a Cuisinart one a while back making chili in like 30 minutes & was hooked.
Everything we've made in it is cooked perfectly & amazingly fast. Except one. I like Vigo brand rice(flavor-wise). Every time I make it on the stove-with a tight fitting pan lid, it never cooks. There's never enough water. I have to add more & then it turns into a goopy mess. I have tried diff. pans, diff. amts of H2o-I can't get it right. I thought, well, I'll try it in the Fagor. Wrong.
Loads of water still in bottom when done. When I tried to cook it longer, I burned it. Any hints on how to specifically cook Vigo brand rice in a rice cooker? Ya think maybe it's just lousy old rice that I keep getting at Tony's, or is it me? Any other rice we've used is perfect.
ps I love this Fagor thing, it was a steal at $100 at Abe's of Maine(I had a coupon) & it is very similar to the $150 Cuisinart. Also every other kind of rice I have used cooks perfectly.

Try another brand? Vigo sells Jasmine and Basmati (and Arborio, but you're not making risotto). Try someone else's Jasmine or Basmati. All of their other products are not just rice, but rice plus seasonings, etc. and may not cook in the same way.

I've never had luck with the Vigo rices...I find that the seasonings are odd, and it rarely cooks up the way I'd want it to. Most of them mimic rice recipes that are pretty easy to do yourself and will come out better - for instance, you could make a better pantry-facimile of cuban black beans and rice by seasoning chicken stock with cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, curry powder, and bay leaves and then use that to cook your rice- and at the last minute, adding drained canned black beans and some rinsed chopped pimientos. It won't be the same as cooking the beans all day, but you'll be better off than their version. The yellow rice would be even easier; use a combination of chicken stock and wine, add saffron and onion powder.

I'll second the microwave as a reliable rice-cooker; I've had a lot of luck with it. I generally use 1.5 to 1 as my ratio, but I usually make more than a cup at a time. Again, it's all about having a reliable low heat source - a good pot with a tight lid will probably work just as well.

For sushi rice, I've been using this recipe in Epicurious with a lot of success.

Here is how I cook rice and it always turns out perfect.
I use popcorn rice or thai jasmine.

In a normal standard pot,
I heat 3 cups of water with about 1 tbsp of butter and a pinch of salt to a rolling boil.
Sometimes I toss in a few spices, but usually I keep it simple for the picky eater in the crew.

add 1 1/2 cups rice and stir once or twice.
cover with a tight fitting lid, and turn the heat down to a very low simmer.
set a timer for 15 minutes and do not remove the lid no matter what.

When the timer goes off turn off the heat and set the timer for at least 5 more minutes,
althought it usually sits for closer to 10 minutes until everything is on the table.
Fluff with a fork, perfect rice!

Works for me, I've thought about rice cookers, but it seems like one more counter-hog for something I've already got taken care of...