Why is my rice mush?

[MrsMike]

I tried to cook rice the other night and it was a disaster. It's plain old long grain brown rice. I followed the directions on the package, but it came out so mushy and gross. I searched online and there are 3498497590325748909543759328459 opinions on how to cook rice. This was my first time, btw. I have no clue what I did wrong. It also sucks because my stove refuses to "simmer" on any of the burners 99% of the time. I actually got it to simmer that night, but still had musy rice.

[GardenStream]

All I can say is that my rice cooker is my favorite appliance. I had trouble with rice before I got it, but mine was generally crunchy rather than mushy.

[MrsMike]

We don't have any room for a rice cooker. Our kitchen is tiny and over-crowded. I had one before and used it once for something else. Hated it. So the stove is my only option for now.

[Yulia_R]

Mine used to be mushy when I put rice in cold water (now I put it in boiling water). Or another posibility is overcooking. I usually cook brown rice around an hour (70 min max). This was the first time I pre-soaked brown rice for only two hours in water with a bit of ACV and the rice did come out mushier than usual.

[Drummer's Wife]

no idea besides maybe less water?.... but wanted to also say I LOVE my rice cooker. It's a small, cheap one, but it makes cooking rice effortless and it always turns out perfect.

[Yulia_R]

Originally Posted by Drummer's Wife

no idea besides maybe less water?.... but wanted to also say I LOVE my rice cooker. It's a small, cheap one, but it makes cooking rice effortless and it always turns out perfect.

What lining does it have? I would love to get one if it's stainless steel. But aluminum is a big no-no in our house. I know that those cheap beans cookers are aluminum inside.

[MrsMike]

I will have to try less water. Hmmm...I must be thinking of a different rice cooker. Mine was plastic and you could do veggies in it, too. We don't use plastic anymore and I just plain hated it. It was a pita to clean. Do they come in stainless steel?

[californiajenn]

I promise that cooking your rice in the oven will result is perfection EVERY time! I use Alton Brown's recipe.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/a...ipe/index.html

1 1/2 cups brown rice, medium or short grain
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish.

Bring the water, butter, and salt just to a boil in a kettle or covered saucepan. Once the water boils, pour it over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, remove cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately.

[mamadelbosque]

I don't know if you cook white rice differently from brown or not (I only cook brown), but this is how I cook rice (and it always turns out great!!):

Put rice in a pot. Put twice as much water as rice in pot (so, if one cup of rice, 2 cups of water), bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer and cook for ~30-45 minutes or till theres no more water. Don't stir it, don't mess with it at all just let it cook, check it by inserting a spoon and checking for water on the bottom. The trick is to catch it before it burns/sticks but not untill all the waters gone. Good luck!!

OH btw, if its mushy, you put too much water in and it absorbed too much water. HTH!!

[MrsMike]

Thanks everyone! I will have to try that oven recipe. Sounds interesting.

[velcromom]

I have a different way of doing it. I soak the rice overnight then cook it as I would pasta - in a big pot of boiling water. It will not take as long to cook after being soaked, so just keep an eye on it and when the grains are tender but chewy they are done. Don't let them cook so long that the grains burst, that's what makes it sticky.

[inkedmamajama]

Originally Posted by californiajenn

I promise that cooking your rice in the oven will result is perfection EVERY time! I use Alton Brown's recipe.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/a...ipe/index.html

1 1/2 cups brown rice, medium or short grain
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish.

Bring the water, butter, and salt just to a boil in a kettle or covered saucepan. Once the water boils, pour it over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, remove cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately.

i was coming here to post this one!!

[CeciMami]

Seriously, try the baking recipe. You can also go to CooksIllustrated.com and search for their baked rice recipe...it's delish and turns out perfectly every time!

[CookiePie]

I also use Alton Brown's recipe!

[ursusarctos]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

I don't know if you cook white rice differently from brown or not (I only cook brown), but this is how I cook rice (and it always turns out great!!):

Put rice in a pot. Put twice as much water as rice in pot (so, if one cup of rice, 2 cups of water), bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer and cook for ~30-45 minutes or till theres no more water. Don't stir it, don't mess with it at all just let it cook, check it by inserting a spoon and checking for water on the bottom. The trick is to catch it before it burns/sticks but not untill all the waters gone. Good luck!!

OH btw, if its mushy, you put too much water in and it absorbed too much water. HTH!!

You can do it with either white or brown.
To me it sounds like you just put in too much water. Actually the directions on rice boxes vary widely and I never follow them.
I put in however much rice I need, then fill the pot with cold water so that the distance between the top of the rice and the top of the water is from the tip to the knuckle of my thumb. Then bring to a boil, turn down to simmer (leave half covered) and let the water boil off. Like pp said, the trick is getting the rice when the water is gone but it hasn't burned or stuck yet. If you listen to the rice cooking it actually makes a very distinct sound. When the water is almost gone you can hear it boiling quite loudly, and when it has boiled off you can't hear it anymore. Sounds unscientific, but works every time. My mom learned it in Japan in 1980, before most people had rice cookers I would think. I've never used a rice cooker.

[Ruthla]

I also find that rice gets less mushy when I mix in some oil (and sometimes spices), stir it around the rice, and THEN add the water.

I usually bake my rice rather than cooking it on the stove.

[noobmom]

Well, it depends on the kind of rice. But yah, in general I think you had too much water and/or you cooked it on too high a heat.

I would not cook jasmine rice with the pasta method. Works for long grain rice, but not jasmine or other med-short grains.

I believe basmati rice is often cooked in the oven rather than on the stove, but that would not be typical for jasmine rice.

When jasmine rice is done, you should see little pock marks all over the top of the rice where steam escaped. It's the sign of perfectly cooked rice. I found this pic that shows it:

http://ipbeats.files.wordpress.com/2...ooked-rice.jpg

[LittleBlessings]

i could never cook good rice until i got a rice cooker/steamer and now my rice turns out great

[Rikki Jean]

Tell us exactly what you're doing, and maybe we can be more specific with suggestions!

How close to a simmer can you get your burner?

Are you stirring the rice while it's cooking? That was my big mistake the first time that I made brown rice. I was used to white rice, which I always stirred with no problem. But with brown rice, stirring releases a lot of starch, and it gets sticky, mushy, and yucky!

Here's how I make my rice, and I never have issues with it:

1-2 T of butter (it just depends on how I feel that day, lol)
1/2 cup long grain brown rice
1/2 cup basmati brown rice
2 cups chicken broth (you can do 1 cup of water and 1 cup of broth, but I like lots of flavor, so I do 2 cups of broth)
A few squirts of lemon juice

Melt the butter in a small-ish pot (I use a 2qt pot), over medium heat. Add the rice, and sautee it until it starts to make a popping noise (about 30-60 seconds). Add the chicken broth and lemon juice, and bring to a boil. When the broth is boiling, put a tight fitting lid on the pot, and bring the flame down as low as you can w/o it turning off (sometimes I have to turn it back on multiple times, because I turn it down just a little too much, and the flame goes out). Let it cook for about 35 minutes. Lift the lid to check to see if the liquid is all gone. When there is no more liquid (you still want it to be moist, just not swimming), the rice is done. Stir it once, then replace the lid, and let it sit for ten minutes (or longer, if you don't need it right away).

[Beppie]

My DH is from India and I'll just say that rice is eaten in our house almost EVERY day. We cook ours on the stovetop. I never follow directions on the box/bag. Here is how we cook ours (turns out perfect every time!) ...

For white basmati rice:
A ratio of 1:3. For 1 cup rice boil 3 cups water, then add rice, and simmer for 15 minutes with lid on tight. that's it, perfect rice! If it's still watery at the end, just cook an extra 2-3 minutes.

For brown rice (from India, might be different with other kinds):
We add extra water and cook longer. In fact, DH grew up eating brown rice in India, and extra water is added so that the rice never absorbs all of it. Insead, at the end of the cooking time, the rice is strained (the way pasta is cooked). This rice water is also something that they would drink when they were sick. The ratio is more like 1:4 (1 cup rice, 4 cups water) and the brown rice simmers for 45 minutes.

Hope that helps!