Rice

My English friends are always telling me that they cannot cook rice. They can hardly be blamed for their phobia. It starts, I think, with inadequate – inaccurate, in fact – instructions on rice packages that invariably suggest using far more water than rice really requires. The rice ends up being mushy and the people who are cooking it often think that it is their fault. It is not.

There are, actually, many methods of cooking rice well. You will find several in the chapter that follows. Rice can be cooked like pasta, in a lot of boiling water until it is half done. Then it can be drained and ‘dried off’ in a slow oven. Rice can be cooked completely on top of the cooker with just the correct amount of water needed for absorption. Or you can start cooking rice on top of the cooker with just the amount of water needed for absorption and then finish it off in the oven. The method you choose depends upon the recipe and what you want the rice to do.