Perfectly Manly Rice

For years, I prepared rice the way my mom – and almost everyone else in the world – prepared it. Measure out rice and water, then bring it to a boil, lower the heat and simmer until it was done. The problem here is that it was very difficult to get it right. Either it would scorch or it would come out mushy and starchy. Even in a rice cooker, the bottom would burn. Then one day, it all changed.

Enter my good friend, Christopher Charles George – a great guitarist and a phenomenal chef! Christopher, a former professional chef and restaurateur, has been kind enough to show me some pretty cool tricks int he kitchen. This is one of them.

Not only is this preparation easier to deal with, it comes out perfectly. Every. Time. If you simply follow the directions – especially about timing – you will never go wrong. You might burn the roast to death; you might turn the veggies into tasteless mush. But you’re rice is going to be the envy of every cook you know.

Watch on You Tube

Ingredients:

Rice
One cap-full white vinegar
Salt (to taste)
Water – lots of water

Instructions:

Fill a large pot of water. Add salt and vinegar. Cover and heat over highest heat until boiling. By large, I mean LARGE. Even for just a cup of rice, and especially for larger quantities. In the video, I used 4 cups of rice, and my large pot was barely large enough. Next time I do that much, I’m going to use my stock pot, which is about twice as large. For two cups, my large pot works very well.

Remove cover from pot. Add rice. Stir to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

When the water starts to boil again, turn the heat down to medium to medium-high – enough to keep it boiling, but no higher. Set timer for 12 minutes. No more, no less.

Walk away from pot and let it boil. Just make sure it doesn’t boil over. Yes, you can stir it every so often if you must, but you don’t need to. Just let the water work and let the rice get happy.

When the timer goes off, remove pot from heat – and turn the heat and the timer off. Add just a little cold water from the tap to stop the cooking process.

Strain the rice, then return to the pot.

Stir through rice with a fork to fluff rice. Make sure you get to the bottom of the pot all the way around. Cover pot and let rice rest and absorb the last bit of water.

As you continue to prepare the rest of your meal, fluff rice every five to ten minutes and re-cover.

When the rest of your meal is ready, your rice will be, too.

Notes:

One of the great things about this method is that there is no rinsing required before cooking the rice. Boiling the rice in a large amount of water does the rinsing for you.

Another great thing about this one is that you can finish the rice as much as 30-45 minutes before serving and the rice will still be hot and ready when you are. The first thing I do when rice will be part of the meal is to start heating my water. Then I’ll start my other preparations. Most of the time, I won’t even start cooking the entree until the rice is done. This means I’ve got one less thing to pay attention to when I want to focus on the entree.

I always make more than I need for a single meal. The leftovers go in a container to cool, then into the fridge. Just heat leftovers in the microwave and fluff through them with a fork. Perfect rice again.

The next time you want to serve rice, try this method out. I’m sure you’ll be very pleased with the results. And don’t forget:

Play with your food!

Lane

Try my other Rice recipes.

Did you like this recipe? What recipes would you like to learn? Leave me a comment and tell me your thoughts! (And don’t forget to LIKE this post!) Share it using the tiles below.

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