Hey! Chef Carey

While cooking supper last night I tried an experiment. While preparing a normal pot of rice (1 cup rice, 2 cups water, pat of butter and a bit of salt) I added 2 teaspoons of your dry rub. Wow! Very tasty! As an afterthought, I may mix in some red beans next time.

While cooking supper last night I tried an experiment. While preparing a normal pot of rice (1 cup rice, 2 cups water, pat of butter and a bit of salt) I added 2 teaspoons of your dry rub. Wow! Very tasty! As an afterthought, I may mix in some red beans next time.

Now, that is interesting. In that I am making arroz con pollo as I type. I use nearly all the same seasonings plus saffron.

[Jenise]

Howie,

Wow, Howie, that's a lot of water. I know that's pretty much the standard recipe we all grew up with, but less water makes a rice where the kernels are more separate and which has more flavor (more water/less flavor). Technique's important too.

Now, how much water I add varies on the variety of rice I'm cooking (I keep four basic white rices on hand at any one time), but the most I'll add (to a Japanese short grain) is 1 1/4 c for one cup rice. I prepare Basmati and Jasmine at 1:1, and all measurements assume the rice is wet from rinsing and carrying a little water into the pot. Technique figures in somewhat too--a tightfitting lid, bring to a rapid boil, reduce to lowest setting for 20 minutes, remove from heat, remove lid, fluff with a fork and allow all steam to escape. Ideally, let the rice both dry and cool completly, then reheat in a microwave. That rice will have the best texture and flavor (even LESS water via evaporation) of all.

Wow, Howie, that's a lot of water.

An old friend's mother, a native of Havana, taught me to cook rice by using the 2:1 water to rice ratio, but when it comes to a boil, lower the heat and cook uncovered until the rice swells to equal the level of the water. Then cover and cook for 15 minutes. I've done it that way since she showed me her technique in the early '70s and have always been satisfied with the results. This is the standard Riceland (or generic store brand) long grain white rice. The only other rice I ever make is brown rice, which, of course is quite a bit different (I like to use brown rice in stuffed peppers).

Now, that is interesting. In that I am making arroz con pollo as I type. I use nearly all the same seasonings plus saffron.

Doesn't your keyboard get all covered with rice and chicken stuff?

[Jenise]

Howie, that's definitely one way to do it. But it's going to make very mushier rice than my method. I prefer firmer rice, so I do it another way.

Howie, that's definitely one way to do it. But it's going to make very mushier rice than my method. I prefer firmer rice, so I do it another way.

You have to realize that traditionally rice was meant to fill the belly. More liquid = more rice.

Now, that is interesting. In that I am making arroz con pollo as I type. I use nearly all the same seasonings plus saffron.

Doesn't your keyboard get all covered with rice and chicken stuff?

Nah, I have a macro.

Wow, Howie, that's a lot of water. I know that's pretty much the standard recipe we all grew up with, but less water makes a rice where the kernels are more separate and which has more flavor (more water/less flavor). Technique's important too.

Hmm. I've always used 2 cups water to 1 cup washed rice (if it's untreated rice such as aged basmati) or 2 1/2 cups water to 1 cup parboiled (e.g., Converted) rice. For raw rice, bring it to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer covered for 15 minutes. For Converted rice, the same procedure, but increase the cooking time to 20-25 minutes.

Jasmine rice needs less water than Basmati, unless you're cooking Thai-style (the Thai like their rice to be sticky).

I don't see how more water means less flavor, unless you drain off the water. Which I never do--it all gets absorbed during the cooking process. Less water would result in a firmer, more separate product, I grant you.

If you don't like the traditional 2:1 ratio, then you'd be horrified at the Indian Rice Pilau recipe I made the other day, which not only called for that ratio of water to rice, but said to soak the rice for 1/2 hour before cooking. Maybe the addition of a lot of spices had something to do with it, but it came out delicious, and with the basmati rice grains nicely separate.

Regards,

-Paul W.

Now, that is interesting. In that I am making arroz con pollo as I type. I use nearly all the same seasonings plus saffron.

Chef,

Sounds yummy. Rice and saffron seem made for each other.

-Paul W.

There are as many ways to cook rice as there are cooks. I use 1.5 cups water/1 cup of rice, which works out to the Chinese method of having water above the rice come up to one's knuckle.

[Jenise]

Paul, you use even MORE if it's a parbo? Those rices cook faster than conventional rice, no? That was always the case in Holland, where the parbo rices (so named on the package) bragged only 10 minutes cooking time. I would think they'd need less water (and my observation from eating other people's rice made from rice mixes which reccomend a similar rice to water ratio is that indeed it's way too much water--the rice is always mushy).

And yes, it may all get absorbed, but that's still a higher water to rice ratio within each kernel. Mushy, wetter, overcooked rice (which is often the result of having to cook all that water away) always tastes more dilute to me.

Paul, you use even MORE if it's a parbo? Those rices cook faster than conventional rice, no?

For Uncle Ben's Converted (tm) rice, you use 2-1/2 cups water to one cup rice, and you have to cook it for 20-25 minutes. As I understand it, the grains are harder and less porous than raw rice, so you have to cook it longer for it to turn soft. This is what my mom always bought (probably because of the extra B vitamins) and is what I grew up with. I was rather surprised to find out that raw rice requires less water and cooks about 10 minutes faster.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Uncle Bens (which I grew up using too) is definitely a different breed of animal than the Parbo rices in Holland. There, parbo essentially meant 'partially cooked'. Better than Minute Rice but texturally and flavor-wise not as good as real rice, which took longer. I never realized, until you said it, that Uncle Bens was a parbo rice. It's vastly superior to the Dutch stuff.

There are as many ways to cook rice as there are cooks. I use 1.5 cups water/1 cup of rice, which works out to the Chinese method of having water above the rice come up to one's knuckle.

The last batch of basmati rice I made I used 1.5 cups water to 1 cup rice, and it came out better than my previous efforts using more water--firmer and fluffier. I'll keep that in mind in the future. Thanks!

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

VINDICATION!

Glad it worked out.

There are as many ways to cook rice as there are cooks. I use 1.5 cups water/1 cup of rice, which works out to the Chinese method of having water above the rice come up to one's knuckle.

The last batch of basmati rice I made I used 1.5 cups water to 1 cup rice, and it came out better than my previous efforts using more water--firmer and fluffier. I'll keep that in mind in the future. Thanks!

-Paul W.

Aw, shucks.

OK Jenise, that's Japanese short grain, basmati, jasmine... what's the fourth?

[Jenise]

Howard--the fourth basic is a Spanish Bomba rice for paellas and risottos. Someone's going to aim a gun at me for this, but I like the Spanish rice better than any arborio I can find locally. Carnaroli's great, but it's hard to find. Not included in the foursome are the other rices I'll have on hand at any one time, and right now my pantry also holds: red rice, wild rice, black rice, vietnamese broken rice, brown basmati and aged basmati. Enough rice for you?

How 'bout rice flour?

I had my first Spanish rice last year when I made paella (even bought a paella pan) for my daughters Spanish class. What a blast.

I hadn't thought of using it for risotto, which I can't seem to get enought of.

We eat a lot of brown basmati rice in our house.

Hmmm, maybe risotto tonight.

[Jenise]

How 'bout rice flour?

Got it. And toasted rice too.

Howard short-grained spanish rice isn't quite as starchy as the short-grained Italians, but I'd say they're 90% so and it's a degree of difference that I actually prefer, heretic as that is to say. Try it sometime....

There are as many ways to cook rice as there are cooks. I use 1.5 cups water/1 cup of rice, which works out to the Chinese method of having water above the rice come up to one's knuckle.

The last batch of basmati rice I made I used 1.5 cups water to 1 cup rice, and it came out better than my previous efforts using more water--firmer and fluffier. I'll keep that in mind in the future. Thanks!

-Paul W.

Well, last night I made rice for the first time since the above post and tried the 1.5 cup method. It was the best rice I ever made! Just think of all that water I've wasted over the years.
Jenise - thnks for the tip.

[Jenise]

Howie, I'm delighted! It all depends on your cookware and cooking style, of course, but you might now experiment with pulling back even more. As I said at the start of this thread, I never use more than a cup and a quarter, and that presumes the rice is washed and wet.

You might also try, if you're game for playing with this a bit, sauteeing the rice in oil or butter first. Say olive oil, and if you want to add flavor add a few cloves of sliced garlic. (I'd use two for one cup of rice, and salt the water too.) The fat creates an impermeable jacket on each kernel of rice, and the rice cooks up even firmer. The olive oil-and-garlic flavored rice is delicious under braised dishes where garlic would echo a component in the main dish, like spanish pork meatballs with olives just for instance.