The Focus

Level: Intermediate

Objective: To troubleshoot how to get consistent results with rice

Reading Time: 10 Minutes

Chapter 1 | The Most Abundant Food on Earth

Cooking rice is sort of like baking a cake. You could use the exact same ingredients, with the exact same measurements, and depending on multiple factors you might get a completely different result. I know.. Pretty sad right? But the truth is, it's not ALL your fault! Cooking rice is a feel -- an instinct if you will. To yield consistent results takes practice, patience, and a keen eye.

For this chapter we will solely focus on long-grain white rice. Sure, brown rice is an excellent source of complex carbohydrates, and jasmine rice sounds good on the menu. But I feel that it is only right to start with the cheapest, most abundant source of rice on the market. Who knows though, we may revisit a different variety in a future semester.

So We all Agree That Cooking Rice is Hard??

No, it isn’t your imagination. Cooking a good pot of rice is not as easy as it seems!

But what is it exactly that people get so wrong about rice? I mean, even the most star studded chefs admit to messing up a pot every now and then. We’ve all experienced rice that is too sticky, overcooked and gummy, undercooked and crunchy, or perfectly cooked -- but with half the batch burnt along the bottom of the pan. In the next chapter we will talk about why each of these issues occur, and how to troubleshoot them. However, before any cooking is done, I want to start by looking at the ingredient in a more general sense.

Today, cooking rice the traditional way is seen as a hassle. The 1:2 ratio is iffy, and even if it works, you’re left with something pretty bland. This is the reason we have products like rice cookers, Ready Rice, or boil-in-bag rice. I sort of understand the notion that rice is a hassle -- but only in the same sense that building your home is a hassle. Sure, there’s some more work on your end, but at the end of the day you get full customization of the blueprint and details of the space; or in the case of rice, you get to fully control the flavors and textures you are going for.

This is less important if you want a basic side for Chinese takeout, but say you want to branch out one day and make something like fried rice! You will have to start with a perfectly cooked batch of white rice, otherwise the dish will be doomed from the start.

The Cultivation and Biology of Rice

Let’s quickly touch on this. Rice is grown very differently than other grains. Rice fields, formally known as checks or rice paddies, go through intentional periods of flooding. This is important to know because not many crops can handle being submerged in water.

“But Dev.. we cook rice submerged in water?” That's right! But soaking rice, and COOKING rice are two different things. Once heat is introduced, rice fundamentally changes -- the high temperature softens the starch, allowing the rice to absorb any liquid or moisture it is submerged in (including steam)! This is why it is important to flavor the cooking liquid for your rice, while also including aromatics like bay leaf, garlic, onion, carrot, or star anise, just to name a few.

Chapter 2 | Troubleshooting Your Rice

Cooking rice is broken down into 5 factors:

1. Cooking Liquid | Whatever you will be cooking your rice in. Water is most common, but you could also try stocks and broths for more flavor

2. Cooking Temperature | The temperature your burner will be at during the boiling period

3. The Boiling Period | The time where your stove is on and the rice is absorbing its cooking liquid

4. The Steaming Period | The time where your stove is off, but the lid is still on

5. The Cooling Period | The time where your stove is off, and the lid is removed, yet the rice has been untouched and unserved

In perfect conditions, rice recipes would work every time, exactly as advertised. But we live in an imperfect world, meaning that things such as burner intensity, pot width, pot depth, air humidity, and even the tightness of your lid, can all F*** UP your rice! It's very frustrating… So here are the most common ways your rice can go haywire, and my methods to fix them:

1. My rice has this weird gummy texture

   Did you add a pinch of salt to your water? If the answer is no, then there’s your probable reason. Adding salt raises the resiliency of the starch molecules, making it to where they don't unravel too fast, causing the rice to absorb too much water.

   But if your answer is yes, it could also mean that you’ve simply overcooked your rice. It’s the equivalent to what would happen if you left your cereal in the milk too long — it gets saturated with moisture and essentially falls apart. If you want those delicate, individual rice granules to stand alone, keep the temperature the same, but scale back on the liquid by a ¼ cup and reduce the boiling time by 2-3 minutes.

2. My rice is always undercooked

   So you open up the lid to your pot and take a gander at the perfect sea of rice. You’ve followed the recipe to the T and now you’re in the home stretch. “Fluff with a fork and serve!” the recipe excitingly says, so you do so; and on the last fluff you notice a bit of rice stuck to your fork. “Perfect for a lil taste,” you say to yourself with a mental smile. You close your eyes, lift the sample to your oral cavity, bite down, and… CRUNCH! Devastation in a pot…

   Fixing this faux pas, is not as simple as adding more water and cooking all over again. The best way to never end up with undercooked rice is to incorporate The Steaming Period. So many people bypass, or simply do not know that keeping the lid on your pot of rice AFTER the water has dissolved is a very important part in the cooking process. Be sure to take your pot off the heat, but don't remove the lid until 5-10 minutes has passed.

3. My rice is fine, but a lot of it is burnt at the bottom :(

   This is usually a simple fix, and it comes down to equipment. Burnt rice at the bottom simply means the direct heat from your stove is evaporating the water from within the rice too quickly, and taking it straight to the temperature where it will stick and char.

   This usually happens with cheap, thin-bottomed pots. Don’t go buy a new pot though -- try this first: My best advice is to lower the cooking temperature, lower the cooking liquid by ¼ cup, increase the boiling time by a minute or 2, increase the steaming time by 5 or 6 minutes, and keep the cooling time standard.

   Overcooked rice means your temperature was right, your timing was simply off. But burnt rice means that there is an imbalance somewhere.

4. My rice is boiling over with foam :(

This issue is common with pasta, but can happen with rice as well. Some brands of rice (in particular, cheap brands) carry a ton of starch, which is what is responsible for the foam.

An easy fix is to toast your rice in oil or butter before boiling to destroy the starch granules without having the rice absorb much liquid. If you don't want the toasted flavor of rice, simply soak your rice for about ten minutes, or place your rice in a strainer and rinse it until the water runs clear.

Check for Understanding

So you see, rice is not as complicated as it portrays itself to be. It’s really all about understanding how delicate of an ingredient it is. Rice requires balance, harmony, and an attention to detail. Master cooking rice, and you can master anything in the culinary world.

Chapter 3 | Recipe of the Week

To practice your new knowledge, try out my recipe for Perfect Rice Pilaf! This is my go-to side dish that you’ll often see on my Instagram Story for a struggle dinner. It’s toasty, buttery, and slightly salty — the perfect base for roasted veggies or your protein of choice. Try it out and let me know what you think!

Citations:

How Rice Is Grown in the United States. (n.d.). Retrieved 2020, from http://www.crosscurrents.hawaii.edu/content.aspx?lang=eng&site=us&theme=work&subtheme=AGRIC&unit=USWORK054