Why does my brown rice seem not to want to cook?!


Question: I've always made raw white rice, but recently my wife asked, "Why don't you ever make brown rice?" It was a legitimate question. Of course, the answer was simply, I've just never made anything but white.

The problem is that I can't seem to get the brown rice to cook. Case in point, on round 2 today I used 1 cup of chicken broth, 1 cup of water, 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil and a pinch of salt (this is a common combination I use when cooking white rice). I brought the liquid to a boil, added 1 cup uncooked brown rice, lidded it, and brought it to a simmer. After 25 minutes I noticed the rice was not done. I brought the mixture back to a boil and cooked the daylights out of it. By the time I'd spent over 45 minutes, even adding more liquid, I still had tough rice.

Sidenote: My white rice generally takes about 15-20 minutes after I lid it and lower the heat.

What on Earth am I doing wrong?

http://www.springboardblog.blogspot.com


Answers: I've always made raw white rice, but recently my wife asked, "Why don't you ever make brown rice?" It was a legitimate question. Of course, the answer was simply, I've just never made anything but white.

The problem is that I can't seem to get the brown rice to cook. Case in point, on round 2 today I used 1 cup of chicken broth, 1 cup of water, 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil and a pinch of salt (this is a common combination I use when cooking white rice). I brought the liquid to a boil, added 1 cup uncooked brown rice, lidded it, and brought it to a simmer. After 25 minutes I noticed the rice was not done. I brought the mixture back to a boil and cooked the daylights out of it. By the time I'd spent over 45 minutes, even adding more liquid, I still had tough rice.

Sidenote: My white rice generally takes about 15-20 minutes after I lid it and lower the heat.

What on Earth am I doing wrong?

http://www.springboardblog.blogspot.com

Brown rice takes much, much longer to cook than white rice - usually up to an hour to cook. To quicken this cooking time, which will lower it to 45 minutes, rinse the rice in cold water first to remove some of the starch. Next do not add salt before cooking. Salt can make food go hard as it heats up and so it takes longer to cook and sometimes makes it impossible to cook. If you want to salt your rice, or any food, (but I never see a reason to add salt to rice) add it near the end of cooking or after it's cooked. I hope this helps and that you and your wife enjoy your rice.

As an extra note, I recently bought a microwave rice cooker and it's brilliant at making rice more soft and fluffier than using a saucepan. It's pretty much a plastic bowl with a lid that has steam holes but it is good and I use it to cook all my rice now.

I hate brown rice. If you're looking for the same texture as white rice, it's not easy to achieve. I tend to use brown rice as a veggie burger filler -- this works well.

I say stick with the white stuff!

Do you have the cooking directions for the Brown Rice. I know it's different than the white rice. Perhaps you're using too much liquid.../oil. Sorry i couldn't be of more help. I never use "oil" in my rice, I prefer to use 1/2 tsp. margarine...

Brown rice takes twice as long as white rice, and needs more water. It will have a nuttier, chewier texture than white rice. I've never heard of oil being used to cook it...but that could just be me.

Brown rice take twice the water as the rice and about 50 minutes. I also put t on a slightly higher heat setting than white rice.

I'm told that it will cook in 25 minute if you soak it over night. In that case the hydrated rice needs only the same amount of water as rice.

Brown rice still has some of the bran on it, which prevents it from absorbing water as quickly as white rice (with no bran). Yes, it takes longer to cook, and you might even have to add additional water, depending on the exact type of rice you have (there are dozens to hundreds of brown rice varieties processed to varying degrees).

Perhaps it was already done after 45 minutes? Brown rice is generally far tougher and chewier than white rice (comparable to whole grain bread vs. white bread).

In any case, brown rice is far healthier than white rice, so it's good to eat every now and again.

uncle ben;s brown rice servings 2-3 rice halr cup water1 3/4 cups salt 1/2tsp butter1/2tbsp bring water to boil add rice,salt,and butter covertightly cook low heat until all wather is absorbed about 50 min

Is it brown rice or wild rice? Brown rice often takes about twice as long as white rice, but wild rice can take up to two hours to cook. Next time, go with minute rice - there is a brown minute rice available in your grocery nowadays.

Brown rice takes 40 minutes to cook; white rice takes only 20.





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