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From: robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison)
Newsgroups: net.cooks
Subject: Re: Wanted recipie for rice in the chinese style
Message-ID: <1232@eosp1.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 5-Nov-84 17:52:34 EST
Article-I.D.: eosp1.1232
Posted: Mon Nov  5 17:52:34 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 6-Nov-84 05:18:55 EST
References: <122@cadvax> <1762@sun.uucp>
Reply-To: robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison)
Organization: Exxon Office Systems, Princeton
Lines: 48
Summary: 

This note is not exactly an answer to the question about preparing
rice; it discusses how to cook ordinary long grain California rice
(e.g., Uncle Ben's).  This is a moderately fanatic approach to
consistent, good rice.

(1) If you are cooking rice in an UNFAMILIAR situation, such as
an unknown stove, unknown brands, a strange pot, an unusual amount,
the following traditional Chinese recipe is a great way to minimize
your risks:

	Place the measured amount of rice, and double that amount
	of water, in the pot.  Bring to a boil and stir slightly
	with a fork or chopstick.  Reduce heat to MEDIUM (the precise
	setting is not critical), and cook until the grains start to
	peep out above the water level.

	Reduce heat to LOW (but not miniscule), cover the pot tightly,
	and cook for 10 minutes.  During this 10 minutes, it is
	possible that the rice will dry out.  LISTEN to the pot from
	time to time, and turn the heat off if you hear a quiet
	crackling sound.

	Leave the pot without heat, but closed, for another 10 minutes,
	then it is ready to serve.  You have a high probability of
	getting cooked rice that is neither burned nor wet, in which
	the grains separate easily.

(2) For your routine rice cooking, always make the same amount in the
same pot in the same place.  You can thus get consistent results with
an even higher probability.  When using my own consistent setup, I
prefer to cook as follows:

	Use the same proportions of rice and water as in (1), and
	bring to a boil and stir as above.  Then reduce heat to LOW,
	cover pot, and cook for 25 minutes.  Let sit for 10 minutes,
	then open pot and serve.

	Adjust recipe slightly over time to get your ideal results
	consistently.


NB: Chinese recipes assume the rice is unsalted.  American recipes
assume the rice is salted.

	- Toby Robison (not Robinson!)
	allegra!eosp1!robison
	or: decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison
	or (emergency): princeton!eosp1!robison