Help with rice please!

[martha]

I tried to make rice in the oven for a large group (10 cups of uncooked rice), with a ratio of 1 cup long grain white to 1 3/4 cups boiling broth, covered tightly and baked at 350 for about 40-45 minutes. I was not at all happy with the results -- some parts were uncooked and some were totally mush. What did I do wrong?

 

[dc sunshine]

Hi Martha,
I think you would have needed to remove it from the oven several times and stir. Much better on the stove top I believe, and perhaps a ratio of 1 part rice to 2 parts water/broth. Should take you only 10ish minutes that way, once the liquid is boiling. Need to stir it to wet all the grians for a minute, say, at first. Then a stir every minute or two, drain off in a colander, then rinse off in really hot tap/kettle boiled water. That's the way I'd do it, others here will have other ideas

And welcome to Cheftalk

DC

 

[ed buchanan]

What you are attempting to make here is a take-off on a rice pilaf, here is the way I do it if you want to try it.

In a roasting pan on top of stove Saute 2 cups diced onion in a little butter til transparent add 2 bay leaves and a pinch of thyme. add rice and stir.

now add hot good chicken stock,
cover with a sheet pan and put in oven for about 30 to 40 minutes @375 stir frequently so rice cooks evenly as its a big pan..

Take out and transfer rice to a flat pan as if you leave in this pan it will continue cooking and become overcooked

Some places add a drop of yellow color to the stock to give the rice eye appeal.

The ratio stock to rice at least 2 to 1

 

[boar_d_laze]

Probably too much liquid for that amount of rice. Most long grains are basmati types and they absorb a little more liquid than medium and short grains. Old rice absorbs more than young rice. If you were using aged basmati, 1.75 cups of water would have been about appropriate. For almost all other long grains, like a supermarket basmati, a basmati clone like texmati, an asian long grain like Thai-fragrant or Jasmine, or anything else I can think of off the top of my head, 1-1/2 cups liquid to 1 cup rice.

The rice should be rinsed and presoaked.

Don't check the rice by lifting the lid to look, and especially not to stir during cooking. There aren't many things you can do that will hurt rice more than that.

On the other hand, if you're checking for doneness and the rice is nearly done, no biggie.

After the water is absorbed and the rice tender, you can (and should) toss it, cover it, and let it rest for a few minutes. The rest, off the heat, is an important part of the cooking process.

Once the rice is tender, more water and more cooking are counterproductive. If it tastes done, and is still way to wet -- skip the normal toss and rest, and go directly to the sheet pan toss and rest.

You need to allow appropriate resting time after cooking -- more than 5 minutes, less than 20.

Sometimes soggy rice, and rice that is just cooked but very wet, can be rescued by spreading in a thin layer in a sheet pan, and tossed and rested there. If it gets cold, rice can always be reheated, so leave the oven on.

Good luck,
BDL

 

[martha]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. The problem was that the rice on the surface was still hard and almost uncooked. Maybe I should have just skimmed it off and discarded it, rather than mix it in with the cooked. I'm not sure I'll try again, it's too intimidating -- especially when serving a crowd.:cry:

 

[boar_d_laze]

Well that says it all. You didn't cover your pan well enough. Or you opened it up. In any case you lost a lot of moisture by steam escaping. You certainly had more than enough water to begin with, even for 24 month basmati.

If there's a next time, if the pan is wider than your roll of aluminum, make sure you do a good job of folding two pieces together to make one -- so there's no open seam allowing a vapor exodus. More, do it twice and go double thick.

BDL

 

[martha]

Thanks for the tips -- I may just give it another try!

 

[ed buchanan]

In some cases the surface rice is actually fully cooked but then while it sits on top dehydrates and gets hard. Thats why I say stir rice.