<p>Several weeks ago, D and I watch Alton Brown (Good Eats) demonstrate methodically and exhaustively how to cook brown rice to tender and tasty perfection. Wish I’d taken notes, because now I can’t remember a word he said, and the instructions don’t seem to be available on his website. </p>
<p>I googled, “How to Cook Brown Rice”, and came away with a virtual headache. There seem to be about as many ways to cook it was there are people to eat it. But none of them seem to approximate my somewhat fuzzy recollection of Alton’s method. </p>
<p>I’m doing my darnest to totally change my eating lifestyle (without going vegetarian). I’ve had brown rice before and do enjoy the taste. But I understand that there is some finese involved in making it turn out tender and fluffy. So once again, I appeal to the wisdom of those here on the CC Parents’ Cafe Forum who are already well along the path to a healthy food lifestyle. How do you cook your brown rice? </p>
<p>Set before me is a 32 oz. bag of Basmati brown rice from Trader Joes. The instructions on the bag sound deceptively simple: Rinse well. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add 1 cup of rice. Return to boil, then lower heat and cover. Simmer for 40 minutes or until all water has been absorbed. Stir to fluff. Remove from heat and allow to stand 5 minutes… Does this sound like the path to tender, fluffy, flavorful brown rice, or will I end up with a tough, sticky mess?</p>
<p>Here’s how I cook it:
Put the number of servings of brown rice you desire in a saucepan. cover with H2O so that when the tip of your thumb touches the top of the rice the water comes up to your first knuckle (i.e., its about 1" deep. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to med. When the H2O is almost gone, stir (so rice doesnt stick) cover and remove from heat. All water should be absorbed in about 5 min.
I like my rice a little crunchy (al dente) so you may add a little more water to taste. Also a little butter is optional along with the water at the beginning.</p>
<p>The real difference for Brown rice is it takes about twice as long to cook than white. Also a little more liquid. </p>
<p>Are you using a rice cooker or just a pot? After washing and rinsing add to rice cooker, add water or chicken stock (beef or veggie as well) to the proper amount about 2 to 1, season ( salt, garlic?). Finish with a drop of oil. Cook for roughly 40 minutes, checking occasionally. Towards the end, either stir of fluff rice.</p>
<p>I love trader joe’s. They offer alot of different foods at a very reasonable price so you can try something exotic without paying way to much.
Next time try some of their mixed rice combinations… very good.</p>
<p>Yes, that recipe seems about right. There are really only a few variables in cooking any kind of rice: how much liquid gets absorbed over how long a period, whether or not you rinse the rice before cooking, whether you use oil or butter, whether the rice is long- or short- grain.</p>
<p>For “fluffy” rice: </p>
<p>Rinse the rice thoroughly before you cook it. Rice usually has a starch coating that if not rinsed off will become sticky and glutinous during cooking.</p>
<p>Use slightly less liquid, and don’t overcook. Rinsing will add some liquid anyway, so instead of 2:1, use 1.8:1. Make certain to use very low heat once the liquid gets hot, and turn the heat off altogether for the last 20% of the cooking time. Brown rice takes longer to cook than white rice, but I would turn off the heat around 30 minutes and let it stand for 10 minutes.</p>
<p>Use long-grain rice. Short-grain rice is bred to be glutinous, long-grain the opposite.</p>
<p>As soon as it’s finished cooking (test – I don’t like “al dente” rice), fluff it with a fork and let the steam escape. Serve immediately – rice won’t stay “fluffy” long, it will either become dry or lumpy.</p>
<p>Some people like to saute the rice for a minute in oil or butter to coat it before cooking. That produces very Separate rice, but not, to my senses, Fluffy rice – fat is sort of anti-fluff.</p>
<p>Here’s how I cook brown rice – in the oven. Easy and foolproof. Not mushy, not crunchy. Fluffy!</p>
<p>1 1/2 c. brown rice
2 1/3 c. water
2 t. unsalted butter or veg. oil
1/2 t. salt.</p>
<p>Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread rice in an 8-in square glass baking dish.
Bring water and fat to boil, covered, in a medium saucepan. Once the water boils, stir in salt and pour water over rice. Cover baking dish tightly with a double layer of foil. Bake 1 hour.
Remove baking dish from oven,uncover, and fluff rice with dinner fork. Then cover dish a a clean kitchen towel and let rice stand 5 minutes. Uncover the rice and let it stand 5 minutes more. Serve.</p>
<p>Works for brown or white. Saw it on the Galloping Gourmet a million years ago. Everyone who comes to my house is shocked and awed at how easy, foolproof and perfect it is.</p>
<p>Basically, you cook it exactly as you would cook pasta.</p>
<p>Bring a large quantity of water to a full boil in a large pot. Add 1 or 2 cups of rice (brown or white).</p>
<p>For white rice: boil for 12 minutes. Drain into a colander.<br>
For brown rice: boil for about 25 minutes. Drain into a colander.</p>
<p>Bonus: You can cook the rice ahead of time and it keeps beautifully if you: Set colander over the pot, with a little water - about an inch - in bottom of pot. Set pot on a low flame. Cover the colander and steam for as long as you want, such as til all the other dishes are ready.</p>
<p>No stirring! No sticking! No worries about measuring the right amount of water. If you forget and boil it a little too long, it’s no problem.</p>
<p>Wow Jmmom, that’s incredible! Do you rinse the rice prior to cooking at all?
How would you describe the consistency of the finished product? Wouldn’t it be rather water-logged from all the water being used? </p>
<p>I am amazed at all the purported ways there are of cooking brown rice to “perfection”. Hard to believe they all work:rolleyes:. Guess I’ll just have to try them all and see what works.</p>
<p>This summer my sis cooked it the above way in boiling water. I was amazed. I have always cooked it as white but with more water, lid, 40 minutes and it has never failed me. </p>
<p>2 1/2 cups water
1 cup rice</p>
<p>Put both into pot, bring to a boil with lid, turn down fire to barely on, keep lid on, cook for around 40 minutes until liquid gone. Take off fire, keep lid on until you serve.</p>
<p>Then there is always the alternative of Trader Joe’s frozen brown rice packages that you heat 3 minutes in the microwave :D. (also you can get white rice). It’s not that bad, for a busy midweek dinner!</p>
<p>But you see, I’m wary of what they do to the rice to make it so quick and easy. Brown rice is inherently slow to cook. What kind of chemical mojo do they add to make it ready to eat after only 3 mins. in the microwave? :eek:</p>
<p>oh sorry–it is already cooked. You are just defrosting and heating the cooked rice. Just good when you get home from work 5 minutes before the kids are going to be STARVING.</p>
<p>I make a German tomato soup that requires white rice. I usually toss in a handful or a little more. When the rice is done I serve the soup. Here’s the problem, the rice breaks up into little bits and I can not figure out why. How do you keep rice whole when it is added to something like soup that will sit for a while or even become a left over? I am tempted to visit our local Chinese restaurant and get an order of white rice and dump it in the soup. Their rice seems to hold it’s shape. What am I doing wrong?</p>
<p>jmmom–I didn’t know you could do that with rice! I, too, will have to try that. Usually I just boil one cup rice and two cups water, then turn it down and simmer for 30 min. It seems fine to me that way, though, I guess it isn’t what I would call “fluffy.”</p>
<p>I bought a Zojirushi rice cooker/steamer/warmer from Amazon last week. It’s worth every penny. Cooks delicious rice, and keeps it warm for hours. I experimented the other day, added some spices and threw some veggies into the steamer section while the rice was finishing. When it was done, I tossed in a can of beans and ended up with a tasty dinner with virtually no attention or cleanup. (This would probably be a good present for a college student.)</p>
<p>poetsheart - No, it’s not waterlogged. It’s fluffy. “All that water” mostly stays in the pot and then goes down the drain when you drain the rice in the colander, just like when you boil pasta or potatoes.</p>
<p>It might be a little fluffier and better if you do the second step I mentioned (of steaming) for at least 5 minutes after draining. But I’ve done it many times without the steaming and it is always successful.</p>
<p>I saute the uncooked rice in a little olive oil. When the rice is golden, I add the water and boil. It comes out perfect everytime. I usually get a gloopy mess if I don’t brown it first.</p>
<p>Oops. In case anyone is trying jmmom’s foolproof alternative method (post #8), I mis-typed the time for brown rice. Boil for 35 minutes (not 25 minutes). Test taste a grain or two and boil up to 10 more minutes as needed.</p>
<p>The times for white rice are correct as above.
<em>guess what we’re cooking for dinner tonight ;)</em></p>