Mastering Rice

The art and science of cooking perfect rice

I love rice!

It is in many of my favorite cuisines and when made right, it brings a wonderful texture and flavor to so many amazing dishes. But, for many years I was afraid of rice. I always seemed to have difficulty with the finished texture; the rice would come out crunchy or mushy. It was quite embarrassing to be a professional chef and not be comfortable with such a wide-spread ingredient. I often stuck to instant or converted (parboiled) rice because it was easier to cook, but I carried a secret, shameful fear of this simple ingredient. Over time with a lot of practice (and failure), I started getting better. I spent a lot of time reading and learning about rice so that I could eventually conquer this starchy foe.

I thought today I would share some of the things that have helped me understand and learn how to cook it intuitively with great results.

Starch – Amylose and Amylopectin

Understanding the starch content of a rice has been very helpful for me in learning to cook it properly.

Grains have a high starch content which plays a significant role in how they cook. Starch is made of chains of sugar molecules called glucose which is a long term-food source for the plant. There are two types of starches: Amylose and Amylopectin.

Amylose is a relatively straight and small molecule compared to amylopectin, which is larger and has hundreds of branches making it more of a bushy shape. Amylose is more easily compacted in the grain, so rice with a higher amylose content, like long grain rices, will take more water and longer to cook. It will also separate more as it cools. Rice with a higher amylopectin and lower amylose content cooks faster with less water but tends to stick together more as it cools. These are rices used in sushi and Japanese cooking that are often eaten with chopsticks.

Types of Rice

There are more than 100,000 varieties of rice but they generally fall into one of two categories.

Indica Rice is grown in the tropics and produces a long and firm grain. These rices have high amylose starch content and take longer to cook.

Japonica rice grow in both the tropics and more temperate climates. They have lower amylose content and produce a shorter, stickier rice.

So a good guideline for cooking rice is thinking about the shape of the grain and how that relates to the amylose starch content. Generally short grain rice will be lower in amylose and take less water to cook, around 1–1.2 cups water per cup of rice. It will also produce a stickier rice. A long grain rice will have higher amylose starch content and require more water to cook (1.4–2 cups water per cup of rice). The finished rice will be fluffy with separated grains.

Rinse the Rice

I generally always rinse my rice. Place the rice in a bowl and run cold water until it is covered. Use your hand to agitate the rice and you will see the water start to become cloudy. This is starch on the outside of the grain. Pour out the water and repeat this process until the water is clear after agitating the rice. It usually takes 2–3 times.

Cover Tightly and Cook on Low

Once you bring your rice and liquid to a boil, cover with a tight-fitting lid. If your lid isn’t tight, cover the pan with aluminum foil or a kitchen towel before placing the lid on. Reduce heat to a low simmer. If the heat is too high, the water will evaporate before the rice is finished. I use the lowest heat on my stove. Its better to use a lower heat and let the rice take a bit longer than to undercook it.

Keep Covered and Let Rest

A general rule for rice is it takes about 17–18 minutes (on a stove top). However I would recommend learning how to tell when the rice is done by the sound. When it’s cooking, you can hear a low bubbling sound from the water simmering. When you can no longer hear that sound, its an indication that the water has all absorbed and the rice is finished. A glass lid is also helpful. When you no longer see water around the edges or bubbling at the surface and there are small holes in the rice where steam was escaping, the rice is finished. At this point its very tempting to remove the lid but it is a better practice to keep covered off the heat for another 10–15 minutes. This will allow the rice to continue cooking and cool slightly which is an important part of the cooking process. I know it takes some time and practice to get comfortable doing this, so you may feel like you need to check the rice. In this case, remove the lid and pull a few grains out with a fork. Re-cover quickly to minimize the amount of heat you lose.

I hope this is helpful. If you’d like to learn more about the different types of rice please click here.

If you’d like to practice here is a simple but delicious rice pilaf recipe with a video to help walk you through it.