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To Cook Rice

A simple method for cooking rice in water until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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To Cook Rice

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the rice and remove any specks.

  2. Bring the water to a boil.

Cook

  1. Add the rice to the boiling water and cover.

  2. Boil for 20 minutes until the grains are cooked through.

  3. Drain the rice through a colander.

Serve

  1. Shake the rice into a serving dish and place it in a warming oven, uncovered, until steamed out.

  2. Serve hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Rice
Starch that softens and swells in boiling water to become the tender grains of the dish.
Water
Cooking medium that hydrates the rice and carries heat into each grain as it cooks.

The step that matters

Boil for 20 minutes until the grains are cooked through. Rice absorbs water and gelatinizes as it cooks; stopping too early leaves grains firm at the centre, while overcooking makes them mushy and sticky.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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