[Sca-cooks] Cooking Rice

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Also sprach Gorgeous Muiredach:
>Depending on the rice, the proportion rice/water will vary, but usualy 1.5
>to 2 water for 1 rice is about right.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover,
>let simmer until all water is evaporated.  Do not stir while it cooks.  use
>a fork to move the rice around and "fluff" it, put cover back on, let it
>sit for 5-10 minutes, so the steam keeps on cooking it.

As Muiredach and others have stated, it depends on what kind of rice
you're using, but he's describing a pretty basic European/American
-type steamed rice. There are other, generally Asian methods, that
also work, some of which involve using a steamer and which are often
kind of a pain in the tuckus, and others that involve adding washed
rice to water, bringing it all to a hard boil until all the moisture
is gone, then letting it finish cooking in its own residual steam
over very low heat (this gives you a rice crust on the bottom of the
pot that can be very useful for some dishes). Obviously it matters
how much water you use for how much rice, but the proportions depend
on the size of your pot. In general you want to cover the rice with
water to a certain depth, generally about 1/2 inch.

Then you have your Creole rice, which is boiled hard, like pasta, for
ten minutes, drained (as for pasta, a lot of water is involved), and
placed back in the pot (covered) or a covered casserole, and either
returned to a very low heat on the stove top, or placed in the oven
on low heat, to finish cooking, again, in its own steam, for 20 -30
minutes. This method is probably the most absolutely foolproof for
home use, unless you have a rice cooker (which I wouldn't use,
myself, but YMMV).

Then there's a pilaf, which generally involves two pots, one for
sauteeing (very briefly) the measured, raw rice in some kind of fat
(just enough to coat and for just long enough to coat and to puff up
the grains just a bit), and the other for twice as much liquid
(stock, water, etc.) as rice to be brought to a  boil, then added to
the rice, brought to a boil, and then simmered for around 20 minutes.

It might help to know what kind of rice you're using, and what kind
of recipe you had in mind...

Adamantius