what detriments if you DONT wash rice grains before cooking?

[HumbleHomeCook]

Once I discovered this method, I never looked back!

 

[MowgFace]

Once I discovered this method, I never looked back!

That method even works in a rice cooker! Its how my parents taught me how to measure and how i cooked rice for many Years.

That being said. We are KKF! That method is the Victorinox of rice cooking. Works for everyone who occasionally eats rice, but might not be enough for those who have rice in their veins. I'm definitely not looking to find my Unicorn (spend 3 years learning to cook rice like at Sukiyabashi Jiro) but if i can find the Gengetsu of rice cooking methods, ill be made in the shade.

 

[Bodine]

I rinse mine once, quickly with water, pour the water off, then stir the dry rice against itself for 30 seconds, then add water again and pour it off, repeat 5 times.
Then let sit in clean water for 30 min or so, then cook on stove top.
I dont think the methodology is as important ,as the peace stirring rice brings to the soul. Kind of like making a roux

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

That method even works in a rice cooker! Its how my parents taught me how to measure and how i cooked rice for many Years.

That being said. We are KKF! That method is the Victorinox of rice cooking. Works for everyone who occasionally eats rice, but might not be enough for those who have rice in their veins. I'm definitely not looking to find my Unicorn (spend 3 years learning to cook rice like at Sukiyabashi Jiro) but if i can find the Gengetsu of rice cooking methods, ill be made in the shade.

Agreed. If I was eating rice 3+ times a week, I'd get a rice cooker.

 

[blokey]

Wash your rice or your crotch would explode, at least that's what I was taught.

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

Wash your rice or your crotch would explode, at least that's what I was taught.

Now that's a family who takes their rice seriously!

 

[rmrf]

Hot take. All y'all saying you wash till the liquid runs clear are liars! You rinse like 4-5 times max, not the 10-20 times or whatever you'd have to do to get crystal clear water.

I’ll typically wash 3–4 times to get the water clear enough, any more than that is a terrible waste of water.

I rinse until pouring more water in, swirling the bowl, and pouring the water out leads to clear water. That's between 6-12 rinses. If you want to wash it until it is clear after you swirl it with your hands, thats like more than 20 for me... takes forever and I haven't noticed a taste difference. Number of water changes also varies greatly with type of rice. White rice is the starchiest for me. If you're worried about wasting water, you can pour it into a bucket to save for your plants. Probably not houseplants, but outdoor plants should be fine with a little starch...? You can also use smaller amounts of water for the initial rinses. I also find maximizing the number of rinses / minute is better than trying to get all the dirty water out of the rice. Draining water is the most time consuming step.

For cooking, my trick is less water. My rice cooker has little measurements on the side and I use the measurements for 1 less cup of rice (5 cups -> use the 4 cup measurements). I soak for 20min-1hr depending on motivation.

 

[ian]

I'll take a look for the thread later, but i thought the ice was something about the longer the water takes to come up to temp, the fluffier the rice turns out?

Ya, that was the reason. It just seemed to me that all that does is result in a longer soak, so why not just have an actual longer soak. (I don’t see a point in extending it over an hour, tho.)

 

[M1k3]

Just rinse until the water no longer looks like horchata.

 

[NotAddictedYet]

damn here I am cooking rice like the unwashed...I hand rinse my rice only once before cooking.

 

[Legion74]

My ex's family own Chinese restaurant, and her parents were chefs. I was told by them you must always rinse the rice three times. No more, no less. I never got a clear explanation why, but that's what I always do.

 

[Luftmensch]

what happens if you forgo washing alltogether? gummy rice? arsenic death ?

Instant heat death of the universe??

No.... the only real difference I notice, is fluffier rice (less clumping). Apart from minimising the excess starch, I do appreciate that it 'washes' the rice... but the various rice brands we have tried are all pretty clean. I also wonder if washing rice can do much to reduce contaminants? Sure... washing is good... but presumably these contaminants are pretty well absorbed into the grain - you can't just rinse them off the surface. Instead, look at where the rice was grown and make a judgement...

Good that you put the rinsing water to good use on your plants! I’ve never used a sieve to wash rice—finding it more effective to cover rice with water, vigorously swishing around with my hand, drain and repeat until water runs clear.

I rinse until pouring more water in, swirling the bowl, and pouring the water out leads to clear water. That's between 6-12 rinses. If you want to wash it until it is clear after you swirl it with your hands, thats like more than 20 for me... takes forever and I haven't noticed a taste difference

I am in this camp (3-4)

But mostly because of this

I dont think the methodology is as important ,as the peace stirring rice brings to the soul.

 

[Luftmensch]

Once I discovered this method, I never looked back!

Adam Liaw is great. I feel so validated. We use a very similar method:

• 1 rice : 1.5 water (by volume)
• bring water to boil with the lid off.
• Once the water is boiling reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and put the lid on.
  • I listen for little bubbles and bloops from the rice. You want to reduce this so the ploops and plops happen slowly.
• After 10 minutes turn the heat off (or when bubbles stop - the water has boiled off). DONT REMOVE THE LID.
• Leave another 10 minutes.
• Open and fluff the rice

 

[Michi]

Ever since I bought a rice cooker, I just wash the rice (5-7 times), toss it in, fill with (filtered) water to the recommended level, and press the button. Perfect rice. Every time. No brains required.

 

[mengwong]

Did you know? Some countries fight malnutrition by adding micronutrients to rice. Problem is, if the micronutrients were dusted on to the surface of the grains, normal washing would remove them. You can try to tell people not to wash their rice – because vermin is far less of a problem nowadays than it was in the past – but as this thread shows, when it comes to washing rice, we do as our grandparents say, not our governments.

Therefore: in Costa Rica, the Philippines, and other countries practising rice fortification, rice is first reduced to flour, fortified, and then extruded back to the traditional shape. Perhaps one in a hundred kernels will be thus enhanced and mixed in to the regular supply.

https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...810475170/rice-fortification-toolkit-2015.pdf
https://sightandlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/SAL_WFP_Suppl.pdf

 

[Luftmensch]

Ever since I bought a rice cooker

We're on the fence about getting one!




"No space for this single purpose appliance"....

Spoiler: punch line

but then I go to their house and I see toaster!

So true!

...

 

[Ochazuke]

I'll add that different varietals of rice have very different cooking properties (even within Japanese short grain rice). Most Japanese short grain white rice is mostly composed of starch, fat, and protein and different varietals have those in different proportions.

Milling rates also have a huge effect on how much you should or shouldn't soak rice. Japanese short grain brown rice need a fairly long soak, haiga mai less so (but still needs a decent amount of time). Most Japanese short grain table rice like kagayaki, hitomebore, yumepirika, koshihikari, and others are milled to around 90% - give or take a fairly substantial margin of 10% either way. Even a quick 15-20 minute soak can have a nice impact on those.

--

But if we're talking about ways to make the best rice here's what I think makes a bigger difference than how many times you wash or how long you soak:
- buy freshly milled rice instead of the stale, dried out stuff you get at most supermarkets.
- learn to use a donabe well (if possible, kamado donabe).

Just these two things will transform your rice world. I always thought donabe cooked rice has overhyped and overblown until the first time I ate rice from somebody who actually knew how to cook it using donabe. Legit game changer. I bought one of my own, spent a week burning rice, got that hang of it, and never looked back.

 

[WPerry]

We're on the fence about getting one!




"No space for this single purpose appliance"....

Spoiler: punch line

but then I go to their house and I see toaster!

So true!

...

I recently bought a Zojirushi and love it... surprisingly, I've been using it for steel cut oats more than for rice.

 

[DitmasPork]

My ex's family own Chinese restaurant, and her parents were chefs. I was told by them you must always rinse the rice three times. No more, no less. I never got a clear explanation why, but that's what I always do.

Wonder if it's because in Chinese culture 3 is considered a lucky number, whereas 4 is an unlucky number? We're a very superstitious lot. Personally I (Chinese-American) typically rinse rice 3–4 times, been doing it that way for half a century, ain't gonna change.

I grew up making rice in Hawaii—where my family would never rinse rice more than 3–4 times—which would be considered wasteful. People in Hawaii are charged for the amount of water their home uses.

 

[ian]

I'll add that different varietals of rice have very different cooking properties (even within Japanese short grain rice). Most Japanese short grain white rice is mostly composed of starch, fat, and protein and different varietals have those in different proportions.

Milling rates also have a huge effect on how much you should or shouldn't soak rice. Japanese short grain brown rice need a fairly long soak, haiga mai less so (but still needs a decent amount of time). Most Japanese short grain table rice like kagayaki, hitomebore, yumepirika, koshihikari, and others are milled to around 90% - give or take a fairly substantial margin of 10% either way. Even a quick 15-20 minute soak can have a nice impact on those.

--

But if we're talking about ways to make the best rice here's what I think makes a bigger difference than how many times you wash or how long you soak:
- buy freshly milled rice instead of the stale, dried out stuff you get at most supermarkets.
- learn to use a donabe well (if possible, kamado donabe).

Just these two things will transform your rice world. I always thought donabe cooked rice has overhyped and overblown until the first time I ate rice from somebody who actually knew how to cook it using donabe. Legit game changer. I bought one of my own, spent a week burning rice, got that hang of it, and never looked back.

Fahk, yet another kitchen item I now desperately need.

 

[boomchakabowwow]

I save my rice water now and dump it into my outdoor potted plants. I feel like a frugal old person. hahah

 

[Greenbriel]

Once I discovered this method, I never looked back!

I used to do:

Boil 1.5 c water
Add 1c rice and salt
Very low covered simmer 10 mins
Take off heat and let sit for 10 mins
Fluff and serve

Then I discovered this method, which seems counterintuitive because it's less water and more time, but it's 100% spot on every time. Fully separated, perfectly cooked grains. I used to wash but especially with this method I can't tell any difference.

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/the-perfect-pot-of-rice
Add 1c rice and 1.25c cold water and salt
Bring to a boil
Turn down to a very low simmer 18 mins
Take off heat and let sit for 10 mins
Fluff and serve

I'm using a huge bag of jasmine rice.

Try it!

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

I used to do:

Boil 1.5 c water
Add 1c rice and salt
Very low covered simmer 10 mins
Take off heat and let sit for 10 mins
Fluff and serve

Then I discovered this method, which seems counterintuitive because it's less water and more time, but it's 100% spot on every time. Fully separated, perfectly cooked grains. I used to wash but especially with this method I can't tell any difference.

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/the-perfect-pot-of-rice
Add 1c rice and 1.25c cold water and salt
Bring to a boil
Turn down to a very low simmer 18 mins
Take off heat and let sit for 10 mins
Fluff and serve

I'm using a huge bag of jasmine rice.

Try it!

The beauty of the method I mentioned is you don't even measure the water! Well, not really anyway.

 

[Zamboni`]

Depending on where the rice is from, the stuff on the rice may not be starch. I rinse everything once just to remove debris if nothing else, but anything that produces cloudy water gets rinsed until clean. (I always lose track of which of my batches are "safe" so I rinse everything out of habit.)

Talc-treated rice and stomach cancer

 

[Greenbriel]

The beauty of the method I mentioned is you don't even measure the water! Well, not really anyway.

I like the knuckle hack but TBH I don't find measuring water so much of a chore!

Now deveining shrimp on the other hand ...

 

[lane]

I was taught as a kid in China to wash three times for the Father, three times for the Son, three times for the Holy Spirit, and once for the rice. That was for local rice. I've found the quality of rice is more important to quality than the number of washes, and for critical use I buy new-crop high quality rice sealed in nitrogen and it has to look really good coming out of the bag -- that's usually about $23 per 4-pound bag. If you don't have a good Asian market nearby, you may be having to choose between Safeway cheap rice and basic Calrose, or the comparable quality from Costco. I encourage you to get at least one bag of such good rice (Amazon has some varieties, at slightly inflated prices) and use it to do critical testing of cookers, washing, cooking method, and so on. It'll help you understand what really good rice can be like (better than anything you find at your basic Chinese or sushi restaurant).

As for rice cookers, I cook almost daily with two, a NP-NVC10 6-cup and a NP-GBC05 3-cup. (That's in addition to large cookers for volume use.) The 3-cup version is induction heated and features basic functions including a gaba brown rice cycle, and is my daily cooker just for simplicity. I also have a variety of ceramic and metal rice cookers, but don't find they do better after I've experimented with a few hundred batches of rice by any of the methods, and they need more attention while I'm working on other work. The NP-GBC05 is low maintenance, quick to clean, and does an excellent job on a daily basis. The NP-NVC10 has a much more complicated design to support pressure cooking and special cycles (including a browning cycle that is great for recipes from northern Japan and for Osaka-mae sushi recipes). The latter takes a little more disassembly of the interior lid and careful cleaning, but the rice it cooks can be modulated more than the NP-GBC05 to your taste. The prices range from about $200 to $500 and both are induction-heating. I do recommend induction both for speed and to minimize unwanted rice browning; it's also utterly consistent. There are inexpensive plastic $70-80 rice cookers and they cook better than casual sauce pan cooking, but they don't do as well as the Zojirushi induction models -- mostly the rice isn't as consistent from inside to out, they vary more batch to batch, and the rice tends to become slightly soggy before extra water is removed.

 

[Legion74]

Wonder if it's because in Chinese culture 3 is considered a lucky number, whereas 4 is an unlucky number? We're a very superstitious lot. Personally I (Chinese-American) typically rinse rice 3–4 times, been doing it that way for half a century, ain't gonna change.

I grew up making rice in Hawaii—where my family would never rinse rice more than 3–4 times—which would be considered wasteful. People in Hawaii are charged for the amount of water their home uses.

Yeah, it might have been as simple as that. Even for Chinese people, they were super-superstitious. Miswash the rice, bad night at the casino.

 

[Luftmensch]

Just rinse until the water no longer looks like horchata.

Hey @M1k3? I've been rinsing with horchata. It never seems to end

 

[M1k3]

Hey @M1k3? I've been rinsing with horchata. It never seems to end

Try some Orange Bang next time. Or any flavor or Jarritos.

 

[rmrf]

I counted rice washes today. I made a 3:1 brown:white blend. After 4 washes, the water was still opaque. After about 6-8 washes (no hands), the water no longer looked milky, just cloudy. I stopped at 11 or 12, using my hands to agitate on the final 2 water changes. Each water change was maybe 20-50% more water than for cooking the rice. It took about 6 minutes from start to finish.