Special Rules for Cooking Rice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the rice through at least six waters until clear. Drain thoroughly.
Cook
Bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Add salt and lard if using.
Gradually add the rice to the boiling water without stirring.
Cook for 15 minutes with the cover slightly ajar to allow steam to escape.
Dry out
After 15 minutes, remove the cover and let the rice dry out for 5 minutes.
If using a gas stove, lower the heat and let the rice dry for an additional 20-30 minutes.
If using a wood or coke stove, place the rice on the back of the stove or in the oven to dry out.
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 swells and sets into the grains as it cooks in water.
- Lard
- Adds fat, which gives the cooked grains a slightly richer, more separate texture.
The step that matters
Drying the rice after cooking. Letting the cooked rice dry with the cover off lets surface steam and moisture escape, so the grains stay separate instead of turning soft 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.
More rice recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.