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Here’s your rice recipe

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When you cook a big pot of red beans, you aren’t done till you serve up a bunch of rice. Here’s how to do that….

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Basic rice, grandma-style

Recipe by Chuck Cushman
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

5

minutes
Cooking time

30

minutes

Rice is so much more than basic. Good rice is the foil for a spicy stew or some great roasted meats, or a pile of delicious vegetables. I learned this from Cajun cookbooks and Turk and Persian cooking. The rice has to be good, and the method is what matters to get fluffy, flavorful rice where you can see every individual grain.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups rice (I prefer Carolina Gold, but just make sure to use good medium or long grain rice)

  • 4 cups water (check your rice package — some rice likes 3-to-1 or even 4-to-1)

  • 2 bay leaves

  • 1 Tbsp butter

  • 1 Tbsp Kosher salt

Directions

  • Put the rice in a mesh sieve and rinse thoroughly under cold water — when it runs nearly clear, shake the rice to get as much water as you can out of it. THIS STEP IS MANDATORY IF YOU WANT FLUFFY, INDIVIDUAL GRAINS OF RICE.
  • Put everything into a pan with a good, tight lid. Heat the pot over medium high heat, and when you see bubbles around the edge of the pot, lower the heat to medium/medium low and cover the pot. Cook for 15 minutes.
  • Turn off the heat, take off the cover and cover the top of the pot with a clean dish towel. Then put the cover back on and let the rice sit for 15 minutes. This allows the rice to finish cooking via steam, and for the excess water to be absorbed, leaving the rice perfectly cooked and not mushy.
  • Fluff the rice with a fork, and remove the bay leaves. It is ready to go.

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