Acornell.2796 net.cooks utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!cornell!gil Thu Apr 22 10:22:48 1982 Re: Cooking rice empirically. My experiences are much the same as John's (although I don't work in metric yet). However, I boil my water first, then add the rice (no salt!), reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. Also, I stir with a fork (NOT a spoon) after adding the rice to distribute evenly.