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Boiled Rice

A simple boiled rice prepared by washing, rinsing, and cooking in salted water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Boiled Rice

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rice

  1. Wash the rice in two or three waters.

  2. Remove any yellow grains and black pieces.

  3. Drain the water and rub the rice with your hands.

  4. Just before boiling, pour fresh cold water over the rice.

  5. Drain in a colander.

Boil

  1. Add the rice to plenty of boiling water with ¼ teaspoon of salt.

  2. Stir once or twice with a wooden spoon.

  3. Skim occasionally.

  4. Boil briskly for about 17 minutes with the lid partly off.

  5. Test a grain; if tender, drain in a colander and rinse briefly under cold water.

Dry and serve

  1. Dry the rice before the fire or return it to a warm, dry saucepan for a few minutes.

  2. Stir or shake occasionally to prevent sticking.

  3. Once dry, carefully transfer the rice to a serving dish.

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
Forms the body of the dish; its starch sets the texture as it cooks in boiling water.

The step that matters

Boil briskly with plenty of water. Rice needs a large volume of rapidly boiling water so the grains cook evenly and stay separate. Stirring helps prevent grains from sticking to each other and to the pan. Testing a grain for tenderness shows when cooking is complete, so the rice is not overcooked or left firm in the centre.

“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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