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To Boil Rice

A simple boiled rice prepared by simmering washed rice in salted water until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Boil Rice

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Bring 1 quart of clear water to a boil.

  2. Add 2 tablespoons of well-washed rice and 1 teaspoon of salt.

  3. Remove any scum that rises.

  4. After 20 minutes, check if the rice is soft by pressing some grains between your fingers.

  5. Once cooked, pour the rice into a sieve to drain the water.

  6. Return the rice to the dry saucepan, cover it partly, and let it steam and dry at the side of the fire.

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
Provides the starch that softens during boiling and becomes the body of the dish.
Clear water
Cooks the rice by heat transfer and hydrates the grains as they swell.

The step that matters

Checking doneness after 20 minutes. Rice grains keep absorbing water and softening as they cook, so testing by pressing grains between the fingers shows whether they are tender before draining. Draining too early leaves grains firm, while waiting too long can make them mushy.

“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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