Boiled Rice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place the rice in a strainer and rinse it under cold water until the water runs clear.
Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil.
Cook
Gradually add the rice and salt to the boiling water without stopping the boil.
Boil for 20 minutes or until soft; do not stir.
Drain and steam
Drain the rice in a colander.
Place the colander over boiling water for 10 minutes to steam.
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 granules absorb water and swell as they cook, giving the grains a soft, tender texture.
- Water
- Cooking medium that hydrates the grains and carries heat evenly so they cook through.
The step that matters
Do not stir during the boil. Stirring rubs loose surface starch off the grains, which thickens the cooking water and makes the rice sticky and gummy instead of separate and fluffy.
“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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