SC - Cooking rice for many

[david friedman]

Anahita writes

>It sounds like a situation in which you can't do much, just go with 
>the flow. Let me say that cooking rice for 200 is not an easy task 
>and takes a long time. Anyone know how long does it take for all 
>those gallons and gallons of water to boil?

I have a system for cooking large quantities of rice that I am 
reasonably happy with.

Take a very large pot (say 6 gallons or more). Put in the right 
amount of water. Bring it to a boil. Add the rice. Bring it back to a 
boil, stirring occasionally.  Cover, remove from heat, and let stand.

This works with large quantities because they stay hot for a long 
time. Its big advantage is that at the point where you are heating 
the pot with the rice in it the rice hasn't been cooking very long, 
so isn't yet sticking together as a mass, so you can still stir it 
and don't have much of a problem of scorching. Then you take it off 
the heat, which also frees up a burner.

If you figure on 1/2 cup cooked rice per person (the actual amount 
obviously depends on the menu), a six gallon pot will provide for 
almost 200 people.
- -- 
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/