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Help me cook rice
AresProphet
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Every time I try to cook rice (boring old long grain white rice) it comes out gummy or soupy. I suspect the problem is I'm cooking at high altitude (5200 feet). I've tried adding more water, tried lower or higher heat, tried tried cooking it longer, nothing works. Anyone have any recommendations for trying to get rice to cook up nice and fluffy?
AresProphet on
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Also, you can wash the rice first if you want it to look nice, especially if it's coming out on the gluey side of gummy. It depends on the brand. American-made white rice tends not to have all the starch and powder and stuff, and usually doesn't need washing.
When its done if you find some water still in the bottom cook it for a few more minutes. If when its done your rice is still too al dente throw in another couple tablespoons of water and cook for a few more minutes.
Shogun Streams Vidya
I tend to start with a smaller amount of water and add more if it boils away and isn't finished cooking yet.
It's hella easy to add water rather than take it out.
measures are 2 of water to every rice (so cups mugs whatever)
heat a little bit of oil in a sauce pan.
add the rice and stir to get it all coated (this helps it not stick together.)
add boiling water to the measurements above. (along with salt if you prefer)
Stir.
Add lid(don't take the lid off until the time is up.)
Turn the heat low.
Cook for 20 minutes (30 if brown rice.)
Enjoy perfect rice. (May need to be slightly drained if brown rice)
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Here's a long winded semi-technical explanation as to why -
Since the boiling point of water is lower, you probably aren't getting the kind of temperature you need to cook rice. Most rice cookers are automatic - they go from "cook" to "warm" when the temperature inside the compartment reaches 212 degrees- This doesn't happen until all the water has vaporized. This is going to stop the soupiness, and also make sure the rice is done.
-Current W.I.P.
If you want to season during cooking, then add salt AFTER it's been brought to boil.
My wife and I after college picked up a cheapo Black and Decker rice cooker that we put up with up until her wedding shower. At the shower, she was given a Zojirushi rice maker. I have never had rice as good as what that rice maker can produce outside of a couple of local area restaurants. Not a single grain is under/overcooked, and none of it sticks to the inner pan. Look into one. If you enjoy a good bowl of rice, you won't regret it.
Also, a lot of rice cookers have secondary functions like steaming vegetables and stuff, it's worth it. Plus it doesn't require you to check the stove while cooking, just turn it on and come back when it's done.
Edit: re the come back when it's done comment.
You can do the same in a pan
I appreciate that some people find them easier but it's just a question of measurements.
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http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-brown-rice-recipe/index.html
I gotta second this. They may seem a little pricey but they are just great. Great rice with complete lack of hassle. Rice cooked perfectly with basically zero clean up.
Thirding this. Got a Zojirushi for my fiancee based on recommendations from this forum and don't regret it one bit. But yeah, this is only a viable alternative if you can afford it because that brand is expensive.
My Backloggery
I just got my Zojirushi today! I can never, ever get my rice right in a pot and the two rice cookers I've had before tend to stop being so... good, after a while. I decided to shell out the extra money for the Zojirushi after lots of research and playing with my friends- it does pretty much every type of rice imaginable and it comes out perfectly. It's also super easy to clean and seems like the rice cooker that will last us for... a very, very, very long time.
Now, I usually just follow Adda's method. Minus the oil. And I do 1 1/2 cups water to 1 cup rice. I just heat the water with some butter and salt, add the rice when it's boiling and cover for 20 minutes.
As said, they're not cheap ($163 for mine back then), but it's been worth every penny in terms of not ruining the rice and having better quality - I never liked brown rice until I made it using the cooker.
High altitude cooking just sucks.
Take a look at the specific model of rice cooker before you buy it if you're concerned, but it shouldn't be a problem. We use chicken stock / wine / coconut milk / etc. in our rice cooker all the time with no problems. Basically to clean the thing you remove the bowl, wash it, and then wipe the underside of the cooker lid (where the steam hits while it's cooking) - this is the same routine whether you're using flavoured stock or not.
*With the exception of also adding just about anything you want like butter or olive oil, pepper, or diced vegetables.
Yeah that is my only reservation with rice cookers. You can get a standardized and reliable pot of rice but you have less control over what you can do with it. Personally I suggest getting really good at classic rice cooking if you really like rice because a lot of things (any rice dishes you cook in one big pot like jambalaya) can't be made with a rice cooker.
Well my jambalaya is more a bastard gumbo/jambalaya hybrid, I cook the rice separately. Mostly because the only all-in-one rice dish I've had any success with is risotto (which just takes more stock and more time at altitude). I've cooked dozens if not more than a hundred pots of rice over the years and the best I come up with is "less sticky" but it's still far from perfect.
UPDATE:
I found my physic book, the actual reason food does not cook well at high altitude is called "ideal gas laws" A Frenchman had solved this problem by inventing the early pressure cooker known as the "steam digester" in the 17th century. So go buy a pressure cooker if your cooking at high alt!
Physics books can't really teach you how to cook.
People can spend as much as they want on rice cookers but I bought the cheapest one I could find and it works a damn treat.
The only thing you need to remember is when you clean it you need to let it soak in water for a while, so you finish cooking, fluff the rice or whatever and then empty it eventually and fill it up with water and let it sit.
Otherwise you tend to tear up the enamel on the bottom of the pot.
Satans..... hints.....
The point? The man would not cook rice. He said it was too hard, when he was learning how to cook his boss had yelled at him until he cried about what an idiot he was for not knowing how to cook massive amounts of rice, etc. So I had to cook all the rice, and yeah, it was pretty easy to mess up.
You get a dinky little measuring cup with it, I threw that out.
1.5 cups rice (I love jasmine rice), 3 cups water, press the button and when it beeps, perfect rice.
The bowl's teflon coated, so I just swish some water in it and wipe it dry.