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How to Boil Rice

A method for cooking rice in water with salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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How to Boil Rice

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the rice thoroughly in two changes of water.

  2. Slowly add the rice to 2 quarts of water and 1 tablespoon of salt.

  3. Cover tightly and cook rapidly for about 20 minutes without stirring.

Drain and dry

  1. Pour the rice into a colander and drain.

  2. Rinse the rice with 1 quart of cold water and drain again.

  3. Set the rice in the oven until dry.

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 swells and softens as it absorbs water, forming the body of the dish.
Water
Cooking liquid that hydrates the grains so they soften through boiling.

The step that matters

Cover tightly and cook rapidly without stirring. Rapid boiling under a tight lid keeps the water agitated and the steam trapped, so grains cook evenly. Stirring breaks grains and releases starch, making the rice gummy.

“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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