rICE rICE BABY

removing it from boiling H20: a total b****

baby corn deliciousness

If I think back to my childhood, we didn't eat rice often. But, when we did all memories of rice include Success Boil-in-Bag rice top with canned La Choy chicken chow mien.

As I grew up I tried lots of different dishes in Chinese restaurants.

Later, my friends and I ordered a ton of Chinese takeout while in college.

As a result, rice was largely a side dish with Chinese food in my mind.

Or as another amazing side dish when I stole a recipe from a friend for a Parmesan and mushroom risotto.

I did develop a love for rice pudding in college as well. But that just relegated rice to a dessert.

I never realized until this particular class in culinary school that there are as many ways to  eat rice as there are to  eat eggs.

I learned that rice should never be boiled and that there are 5 main ways to cook rice properly.

1. Absorption/Steamed/Simmered

Chef's demo of risotto-bacon lardons, Parm, plum tomatoes, basil, and avocado

2. Oven Method
3. Pasta Method
4. Pilaf Method (my favorite)
5. Risotto Method


For this class we made:

-basic white rice
-fried rice
-dirty rice (trust me-it tasted dirty)
-risotto all Milanese
-rice pudding

mango rice pudding made with coconut milk

-brown rice and broccoli pilaf

*Food Safety Note*

Rice has the potential to make you very, very sick if not cooled and stored properly.

Brown rice should always be stored in the refrigerator.

Rice may contain a bacteria spore that is very hard to kill even with cooking. However, you are unlikely to get sick unless the rice is allowed to sit at room temp or is improperly cooled giving the bacteria time to germinate in to active bacteria.

Therefore, rice should never be left to cool on a counter or reheated more than once.

If not properly reheated, the heat can also activate the bacteria. Scary, right?

And, since you don't know how the rice has been handled I would not bring home rice as leftovers or order fried rice when eating out. After all, all fried rice starts as regularly cook white rice which is then cooled, held, and then recooked.