Here's my fast and foolproof method for cooking rice in a hurry. Subscribe and ring the bell! Facebook: / altonbrown Instagram: / altonbrown Twitter: / altonbrown
I have been cooking professionally for over 20 years and I have ALWAYS held you and your programming in the highest regard. Your program was a safe refuge from the bad habits and nonsense of the reality tv cooking shows that bastardized and ruined the Food Network starting about 20 years ago. One of the very few shows from which one can actually learn anything of use. Thank you for the service you have provided. You are a hero as far as I am concerned.
I also loved the shows he did on the road checking out funky little cafes and regional tasty treats. Deep fried pickles and koolickles cracked me up! Not throwing shade here - Ima cheesehead where deep frying cheese curds actually is a thing....a delicious thing🧀🍻🧀
My Dad always cooked rice this way, it is delicious! Alton you are my food hero, When I want to know how to cook something properly I can depend on you to show me the way
Damn that guy was funny, "The day I give up my dreams is the day I have, "Strategic Grill Locations", A dreamer has a philosophy, "The Entire Grill is Hot" !
Anyone else really want that kitchen timer? The way it adds a red sweep so you can tell how much time is left from a glance from a long distance is really cool
I appreciate that Alton Brown can go from 12 episodes a year to 2 episodes a week without a meaningful downgrade in material. Like sure there aren't the skits, but everything else is on point.
I'm glad after all this time Alton is still making shows and that he is here for us during the pandemic explaining how to cook foods we may not all know how to cook. The man is doing the nation a service!
Take it from a Brazilian (we sure like our rice): Wash your rice a couple of times before cooking, so some of the starch gets washed off. Instead of adding butter to the rice, fry some crushed garlic on olive oil or pork fat until golden, then add the rice and stir until throughly incorporated. After that, add your boiling water (if you want to go crazy, use vegetable stock to add some flavor, or a teaspoon of saffron to add some aroma and color) and let it simmer with the lid on until completely evaporated. When it's finished, transfer the rice to a tray and let the steam escape. That'll make a delicious, playful, fluffy and aromatic rice to use on your meals. To store it after it cools off completely, loosen the grains with a whisk and keep it in a loosely lidded pot in the fridge. If you use 2 parts of water to 1 part of rice, it will reheat very well on the microwave.
I have had great success with the method I learned from the Japanese, only with a little Italian flare. Equal amount of water to rice (might vary depending on the type of rice) Rosolare the rice (ie. heat with butter to give it some nutty flavor. ) Then add in cool water and cover immidiately. Cook on high heat (covered) until you can hear the water boiling (1 or 2 minutes). Turn heat to very low and leave for 12-15 minutes (12 for long grain, 15 for medium, at no point do you life the lid) After 15 minutes turn off the heat and don't open the lid, leave it for another 15 minutes to steam and settle After another 15 minutes you are ready to fluff and serve. Washing the rice before is always a great step if you want to go fancy but laziness can dictate whether you do that or not.
I've been watching this show my whole life. My wife and I make Alton's jerky about 4 times a year. Every Christmas I make his apple pie and its the only thing I make that my dad actually likes. I have tons of examples like this. Cookies, sushi, soup even how I maintain my kitchen. Alton has been the biggest influence on my journey threw the kitchen by a large margin. I appreciate your body of work. Thank you for everything you've taught me.
We do a variation of his Eggnog recipe, almost every year. We make a huge double batch. Generally we finish it (the wife and I) as we start on the second batch!
A friend of mine is keeping his restaurant on the margins of survivability with take out and delivery. His tagline: *"Familiar food in unfamiliar times."*
I wish I could go back in time. Study and actually pay attention in school. Become an engineer and focus on creating Smell-O-Vision and dedicate it to Alton Brown, who has been teasing me about the fact that I can't smell what he is cooking for over 20 years.
Hey Alton, My grandfather cooked rice exactly like this. When he added the water he put on a splatter guard and would pour through it and then slam on the lid. Never used tinfoil like that but if he were still with us I'm sure he'd of used that technique. Thanks!
In Malaysia we have similar way to cook rice, it's called Nasi Minyak(literally translated to Oil Rice),but we used Ghee instead of butter with some spices(sauté cloves,star anise,cardamom and cinnamon stick in heated Ghee,then add washed rice,then water)-we eat this rice with Curries,Chicken Sambal,Fried Chicken etc and some Acar(cucumber,pineapple marinated in vinegar). Another type is Nasi Majerin(Margarine Rice). Just replace the butter with margarine. Same as shown in the video. Sometimes,if I feel lazy to cook accompanying dishes, I just followed my father's recipe, Sauté sliced shallots,garlic,ginger and lightly smashed lemongrass(optional) in veg. oil(peanut,canola,etc) (until brown), Add small cuts of chicken(sauté until half-cooked and brown),(if the chicken is not fresh,add some seasoning powder/chicken stock cube) Add washed rice and coriander leaves(optional) (lightly chopped then stirred evenly into the rice) Then add water accordingly. And wait until the rice is fully cooked and serve. (You can serve with some cucumber/tomato slices with some iceberg lettuce if you like)
Yup... I keep that recipe on the fridge just so I remember how to make this prefect rice. And he's right - simple and comes out perfect every time! And if you want to make fancy rice, add a few chopped dried mushrooms in with the dry rice.. AMAZING!
So I randomly remembered that back in high school, we had to make a team of people that would help us survive a theoretical disaster of some sort... Im glad to see that picking you for one of the slots was definitely the right call Alton XD
Alton, I just thought i'd let you know that you gave me a genuine laugh out loud moment when you turned the wrong burner on after adding the water. I said to myself "even Alton does that" Priceless.
I'm a white guy living on my own and eat rice maybe once or twice a week. Find a rice you like (maybe Thai scented jasmine long grain) and then buy 10 kilos of it. It lasts me a year if not more. I bought some a month ago and my friend kinda freaked at how much I bought. He has a big family and he bought one kilo of some strange red rice that I'm unfamiliar with.
The "foolproof" method for making long grain/jasmine/basmati I learned involves baking it. The base ratio is scalable, so you can make as much or as little as you want. You can also adjust the salt and fat to taste, as well as add in any flavor enhancers that strike your fancy with ease. I'm partial to minced garlic and cilantro, myself. To begin, start with... 1 cup rice 2 cups boiling water 1 tsp salt 2 Tbsp butter In an oven-safe, lidded baking dish add the rice, salt, and butter. Pour on the boiling water and stir briefly to get the salt and any other additives distributed evenly. Cover and bake at 350°F for 25 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 5 minutes, then remove from the oven and enjoy! If you prefer your rice stickier, reduce the fat and/or cook covered for the full 30 minutes.
Funny how that resembles making risotto at the beginning. I use stock instead of plain water after I toast long grain rice as I can’t have dairy. For short grain, I use a piece of kombu for flavour.
Thank you Mr Brown for keeping cooking fun and helpful,especially now.I watched your show when I was a teen.You made experience so many different cultures and experiences just from my home.
Alton Brown and Rick Baylees are 2 of my favorite chefs and shows. One shows passion and extreme knowledge of foods and the science behind it and the other also shows passion, knowledge and respect for Latin cuisine. As a teen i watched daily on food network and then with my kids as they grew up. Now both of them are grown up and out of the house, both great cooks and one became a Sushi chef. All because of shows like these. Thank you Alton for all your dedication and for teaching many of us.
I have always loved your show and this video on rice is the best ever! I've always hated cooking rice, even though I absolutely love eating it. This makes cooking it so much easier and the taste is AMAZING! I love you, Alton. You're the best!
I’ve needed Alton’s sense of humor; some people may find it dark, but it’s good to have someone reminding us that it’s still alright to have a laugh at our own situation
If anyone is wondering if this method works for a rice maker or brown rice; yes to both. I always was upset with my brown rice bubbling over. Using this method of browning it in butter before hand, then cooking it in a plain old rice cooker, NO BOIL OVER! This man has forever changed my life and I couldn't be more grateful.
The only thing my dad could cook was rice. So growing up he would make rice and crumble fry some sausage mix it with the rice and top it with shredded cheese. And that was a lot of my dinners as a kid when mom wasnt home.
I've been a fan since Good Eats first aired and it's content like this that keeps me a fan of AB! Just made this recipe with my dinner and the rice didn't need any seasoning when it was finished, excellent and sooo easy!
Great stuff, Alton! Most people raised in a full or partially Chinese household learned to make rice blindfolded and perfect every time. Your ratio is right on - 3:2 water:rice. Toasting the rice is something most of my Chinese friends think is weird as hell, but I love your results. In the method I learned, you started off all of the rice and water at room temp and over high heat. Once crater-like holes begin to appear across the surface, turn the heat down to its lowest setting, cover the rice, AND LEAVE IT ALONE FOR 10 MIN. After that turn off the heat and wait 5 more minutes. Remove the lid and fluff with a fork. The Chinese idea of perfection in rice is where each grain stays separate, but is perfectly soft. I've been doing this way for 40 years, and can't remember ever getting mushy or under-cooked rice.
My dad's preferred rice to eat : rice browned in oil and then you add water and tomatoes or tomato sauce. Basicly a kind of Mexican or texmex rice for a Texan guy.
Tip: finely chop some onion and garlic (a lot of garlic in my case), sautée it and add it together with the butter. Trust me, it brings the flavor to another level.
I used to mess up rice all the time, but then I didn't. I don't use this method; I cook it Brazilian style, which is a little different (sauté some onion and garlic, add the rice, add the water, let all the water boil off the pot before covering). I think what changed when I stopped messing up was being less afraid of burning the rice and actually letting all the water boil off (not relevant if using this technique), and make sure to not skip the fluffing step. Fluffing the rice looks pointless but it's actually very important because it lets the steam out and prevents the rice from overcooking. As far as I can tell it doesn't matter what you use to fluff as long as it lets the steam out. You can use a rice cooker but it won't come out as good.
My "trick" is to follow package directions up to a point. I I cook it at the lowest possible setting but for five minutes less than the instructions, and let it sit for the remainder of the time. Never scorched, never over cooked. Lift the lid, fluff with fork, as Alton says, to let the steam (& heat) out. Always perfect!
I could have dinner and listen to you both all day. Thank you for bringing in a home feel, real, down to earth and informative cooking show. Thank you for opening your home and your positive spirits during this difficult time. I also have two boys and will definitely be making those yummy peanut butter cookies! :)
I have discovered the two uni-taskers in my kitchen that have absolutely made my life so much more bearable these last few weeks: My fuzzy logic rice cooker and my bread machine. It's so nice to be able to turn them on while I'm preparing the rest of dinner and then have rice or fresh bread to go with dinner.
I was googling bread machine today..... I bought 2 breads on Saturday and it’s almost finished . Now they’re(2 kids) on the brioche bread(which is for French toast) 🤷🏾♀️
A rice cooker also doubles as an electric steamer as well. Just put a rack over the rice, which fits in the cook bowl, and steam a layer of whatever you want. And hey, if it's something good n savory, that's just free flavor for the rice.
As an Asian, the one constant in life is the rice cooker. It only cooks rice, and nothing else. Sole purpose is to cook rice. You can try to cook something else in it, but you'll probably fail. The rice cooker knows its place in this world, and it's to cook rice.
Hey who knows if you actually have time to read comments on here but just wanted to say you've been a hero of mine since the early good eats days, thank you for helping keep my mind off more trying issues with these little tid bits. You've inspired me in more ways than you could know to be a better home cook. Thanks for everything you do!
Please keeping making these, Alton! It's hard to get the cooking channel in a lot of places and it's fun to hear you as you and less censored. Appreciate you sir !
Watched that episode of Good Eats more than 10 years ago and always prepare my rice by this method, sometimes with a few flavor variations. Lived in Costa Rica for a few of those last ten years and made rice Alton's way for someone who has eaten rice three times a day every day for his entire life. He just looked at me and wondered how I did it. It was the best rice he had ever eaten. Thanks Alton!
OK Boys and Girls, as I recall from culinary school WAY back in the 80's, this was a method called the "pilaf" method. (Yes, it's a method not a type of grain dish). You can do this with ANY! type of grain, or even starch (think orzo, rice-a-roni, etc.) Try it with instant barley, couscous, any type of granular carbs. Chef Roland used to curse and swear at any fool (me) who put too much liquid in their pilaf (you shiothead!). Also try different liquids and seasonings (saffron, turmeric, stock mixed with tomato or salsa, let your mind go wild!) for even more flavor fun. Thanks Alton.
I used your red beans and rice recipe for a work put luck once three years ago... the guy who deep fried the turkey is still mad that my beans are all they talk about to this day
Thank you so much for this recipe Alton! I tried it once and many more times after and will never make rice the same boring boiling way again. Left it in fridge overnight and made fried rice today and it's so good! I am a new fan of yours and currently binge watching all of your videos and thanks for the laughs too! Have a rice day! Take care, stay safe.
Thank you so much for these! My teens are just starting to show an interest in cooking and they're both science-minded so these videos are perfect, especially while school is on hold.
I instinctively sniffed when he said that. Granted I have a few drinks in me, but I chalk it up to Alton's ability to draw you into the scene. DON'T JUDGE ME!
So this is the part where Dewayne “The Rock” Johnson walks in with the eyebrow. Says nothing just glares. Oh, and in his WWE garb. Just a cameo nothing will need to be said.
I always hated rice growing up. Largely for the reasons you listed at the beginning of your video. Another tip that I picked up from my father-in-law is to put a half onion in the pot as it boils. The sweetness from the onion really wakes up rice and made me love it! (And the onion makes a good side, much to my wife's chagrin) Thanks Alton, for keeping us educated, entertained and hungry during these strange times!
I have to say...I'm coming back to this video after...however long since it posted just because this has completely changed how we cook rice and WOW! It's !amazing!! Thank you Alton!!!
Alton, I have always struggled to cook rice. with boiling in the water then adding the butter and seasoning AFTER, and it had never came out completely cooked. Thank you for providing this, this will definitely change how I prep to cook rice. I don't think I would have ever thought to season and butter before starting the actual cooking.
Alton...you are such a fun educator/ chef to watch. Today, I ordered a scale, to measure and yes, I am going to learn metric! I have been a fan for years...I have learned to love cooking, because of you.
This is EXACTLY how every single person in Turkey makes rice. We call it pilav. Once it finishes cooking we put a clean dry tea towel on top of the pot, then put the lid back on. The tea towel collects all the steam. The Turkish grandma wisdom says you need to let the rice wait like this for 5/10 minutes for it to be perfect. They would call this last operation "brewing", confusingly enough.
It’s also not that different from risotto. Although most risotto recipes have you add the water a bit at a time - and of course using different varieties of rice.
@@peterfi. I was referring to the method of preparation, not the variety of rice used. Hence the specific caveat on rice variety at the end of my post.
It is vital, and by vital I mean absolutely crucial to note that the rice:water ratio does not scale according to higher volumes of rice. 3 cups of water to 2 cups of rice is perfect. But if you make 4 cups of rice, do not make the mistake of adding 6 cups of water. Why? Because evaporation does not scale at the same rate as absorption. You are cooking 4 cups of rice for the same amount of time 20 min) and you will not lose twice as much water as evaporation, you will lose the same amount! So for 4 cups of rice, a more accurate amount of water will be about 5 cups of water. So here is a general table: 1 cup rice: 2 cups water 2 cups rice: 3 cups water 3 cups rice: 4 cups 4 cups rice: 5 cups Notice the what throws people off is that the 1 cup quantity rice needs 2 cups of liquid. This is because over a 20 min. cook time you will lose the same 1c (approx) of water as evaporation regardless of the volume of additional rice. This is only an approximation because each pan has a different lid and different water loss, plus different stove tops have different low setting BTUs. Cheers everyone!
Just tried this for the first time about an hour ago and it worked SOOOOOO well! Thanks so much! Only "problem" I had was when it finished cooking I remembered that I had bacon drippings in the fridge - could have swapped out some of the butter for that but didn't think of it in time...
i was one click away from spending over $250 for a rice cooker until i decided to give one more rice cooking technique a chance and, holy crow, this one worked. thanks, alton. a few years ago i gave my son a chef's apron with the embroidered inscription "blessed be the word of alton" with a gold crown on it. he loved it. been watching you for a long time. thanks, alton.
In the past, I hadn't been able to find the "new crop" Jasmine rice I'd heard of, but this virus brought me to my Asian market at just the right time before the pallet was gone. Now, I'm the proud owner of 100lbs of 2020 New Crop Jasmine rice from Thailand in my emergency stash and, after this video, I know what to do with it! Thanks Alton!
Today I'm going to make Jook (Thai Congee...rice porridge), and I'm DEFINITELY going to rinse my Jasmine rice. I've worked with my inlaws harvesting rice, and know it DEFINITELY needs to be rinsed and rinsed but good!!! Any kind of Congee is satisfying, and Lord knows we could ALL use a little more satisfaction in our lives these days!!! If I can get my hands on some pork bones today, I'll make some pork stock to make my Jook. If not, I'll use some chicken stock. I found some really nice ginger and green onions to serve this with. I gave myself a top of the line Instant Pot as a Christmas present to myself. This past week I've used it to make some dynamite chicken wings, ribs, and an amazing beef stew using some red wine. Today will be my first experiment making rice. The ratio for Jook is 1 cup of rice to 9 cups of water/stock. Some people use 6 cups of water. As for me, I'll stick to what my mother-in-law showed me, and she has made THOUSANDS of pots of Jook and hasn't gotten any complaints yet!
I’ve been using Alton’s method and it works great. I also like doing this for Mexican rice. Coat the rice in butter as in the video and separately in a bowl mix some tomato sauce, cumin, and a few other ingredients. Once the rice is coated stir in the sauce to coat the rice with it, then quickly pour in the boiling water (or I actually use chicken broth instead for extra flavor) and cover for about 25 minutes at a low simmer. Fluff and recover and let stand for a few more minutes as desired. It’s come out fantastic every time. 👍
"Go on, how can we add flavour? I'm listening" Well, spices like cardamom or turmeric, fats like butter or oil, "Who said fat?" I near about decided to get a tinfoil hat right then and there
