I was raised
in the Mississippi Delta. The earth was
too rich and damp to grow potatoes. My
grandmother’s choice for starch in our diet was rice. Rice and gravy, rice with butter, fried rice. Rice
was a staple in our diet. Fried chicken
with milk gravy on rice…
I am married
to a New England girl and we live in Maine, so potatoes form the bulk of the starch
in our diet. But we do have rice.
I have never
been able to cook rice properly. Directions
say: Bring to a boil, cover, simmer for 15 minutes. There is the rub. I have never had a stove with a burner that
would simmer – it always boils even on the lowest setting – often boiling
over. I end up placing the pan
partially on the burner, checking it often, adding hot water if it cooks too
early; and end up with goopy rice.
Finally, I have
relented to technology. I recently purchased
an Aroma Rice Cooker. The Aroma was the
rice cooker of choice on America’s Test Kitchen.
The Aroma only
cost $29.00 and you get what you pay for.
It is rather flimsy but the rice comes out perfect. The instructions are no brainer. You fill the water to the line in the pot and
add the corresponding amount of rice with the measuring cup enclosed, close the
cover, select the rice and press cook. The
rice takes fifteen minutes to cook and the pot switches to ‘keep warm’ when
done. The clean-up is easy.
The rice has
come out perfect every time. Ok,
nothing to do with cosmology, but we will eat more rice as the universe
continues to expand.
the
Ol’Buzzard
Hey, I watch "America's Test Kitchen" too! I make my rice in a steamer and it works fine. Boiling/simmering rice in a pot on the stove never results in good rice, you're right.
ReplyDeleteI have an old rice cooker that is quite simple. No electronic silliness. It's just the aluminum pot that looks like an upside down bowler hat. Nothing fancy. The center beneath the cooker pot has a hot disc that is operated by gravity. You should wash your rice first to keep it from gooping. I use the aluminum pot that is part of my rice cooker. I pour the amount of rice I want (eyeballing it) and add a little water then I stir the rice water mixture with my fingers until the water turns milky white. I add more water and keep running my fingers through the rice water emptying the milky water and adding more water and swishing my fingers through the water until the water is nearly clear. Then I add water to the cleaned rice until the water level on top of the cleaned rice comes to the first knuckle above the nail of your pointer finger when you stick your finger into the water and touch the rice. The amount of water above the rice will be perfect amount no matter what. My grandmother taught me this trick. I put the pot of rice into my rice cooker sprinkle a bit of salt, put the lid on it and push down the lever that starts the rice cooker. When the rice is done it's completely cooked and fluffy not gummy. The trick is the rinsing of the rice to get rid of the starch and debris. The measurement of the water to the first knuckle from the tip of your finger is the second trick. If you make rice in a pot on the stove it's the same way, but you turn the fire high until the rice boils then put the lid on the pot and lower the fire to the lowest it can go. Watch the boiling to be sure it doesn't boil over. When it's just barely simmering just leave it for 20 to 30 minutes. Take the lid off and check to see if the water is bubbling through the rice. If it isn't the rice will be done soon. If it's bubbling then put the lid on and leave it for another 10 minutes and check on it . Put the lid on the pot and turn the fire to high for one minute to build up the steam then turn it off. Leave the rice to finish cooking on it's own steam. Then check after 30 minutes with a fork to see if the rice is cooked. It should be done, no goopy mess.
ReplyDeleteTanya likes short grain rice goopy. I like long grain rice not goopy. Guess what we eat?
ReplyDeleteAppreciate this "online infomercial" disguised as a blog post.
ReplyDeleteAre you being financially compensated for being a "volunteer spokesperson" for their product?
I bought one for Barbara for her birthday about 2 years ago and she still uses it and loves it. I have about a 50-50 chance of my rice coming out good on stove top.ha
ReplyDeleteThere is a thing called a heat diffuser that sits under the pot to diffuse excess heat from the burner. Sometimes find them at garage sales. If we ever have garage sales again.
ReplyDeleteAs an old single geezer who doesn't like to take a long time to cook things and loves rice, I have a simple solution. Buy "Boil in a bag" simple - put the bag in boiling water for 11 minutes and presto - I have rice and without having to clean up too much.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in northeastern South Carolina and we ate rice ALL THE TIME. Potatoes were only an occasional part of a meal. There's a saying around here: What do South Carolinians have in common with the Chinese? Ancestor worship and rice eating!
ReplyDelete