FOOD & DRINK FLASH IN THE PAN
What to Know
ABOUT YOUR RICE BY ARI LEVAUX
Image by mescioglu/Getty Images.
I
have nothing but tough love for those who claim they can’t cook a pot of rice. Quit acting so helpless. Cook the rice. If you screw it up, consider what went wrong and adjust. Like you do when making a sandwich. Which is much easier to screw up than a pot of rice.
Not mushy, sticky or starchy, neither crunchy nor burnt, my rice is perfect. Sure, once in a while you face-plant. Heck, I can screw up a box of macaroni and cheese. But it’s easier than baking bread, or making your own noodles from scratch. The variables in rice-making are manageable: heat, time and moisture. To these laws of the physical universe, the rice abides.
Take note of what you did each time and make adjustments. You’ll quickly run out of variables to tweak, and learn what not to do, like stir the rice, which would be like stirring a cake while it’s baking. It would kill the living, breathing structural integrity of a pot of rice. As you understand the finite universe of factors and tricks, your confidence will rise.
Nobody wants too many learning experiences along the way, but rice is a journey, not a single meal commitment. It’s about learning where you want to go with your rice and figuring out how to get there. Do you like it al dente? A little soggy?
Too many cooks have never felt confidence in their rice. So they buy rice cookers, even though they only make rice once every six months, which is part of the problem. If you cook it every day, sure, buy a rice cooker. It will make perfect
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rice every time. But if you know your rice, you don’t need to measure, or watch the clock. Just watch the rice, preferably in a heavy-bottomed pot. Eventually, your observations will become understanding. I prefer white rice, which is often starchy, like jasmine or sushi rice. If it makes the water milky I’ll rinse it several times, dumping and replacing the cloudy water and stirring in between loads, and sometimes letting it soak for a minute, which reduces the cooking time, not that I keep track. I learned about rinsing, among other things, in sushi class, 35 years ago, and still do it.
