Author Topic: A random thread for food things that don't really warrant a thread of their own  (Read 508165 times)

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Parboiled rice (like Uncle Ben’s) has more nutrients than non-parboiled white rice.

It still tastes mostly of disappointment, though.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

ian

Compared to a pair of hefty DD dollops of nsima, trust me, any rice tastes like heaven. The trick was to eat the super hot sauce, and then as your head combusted, shove it in the nsima and try to inhale it.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Kim mentioned Uncle Ben's rice upthread. Apart from being a possibly racist brand name, what is it? I didn't realise it was a distinct thing as opposed to, well, a possibly racist brand name.

We have a few packs of this as a result of the Government's largesse at the start of the COVID pandemic. I have yet to cook any - I have only ever cooked rice from scratch and have never dealt with packet rice.

If it's those pouches you can do in the microwave and have rice in 90 seconds then they're the sort of thing we keep in the cupboard for "too ill to cook" and similar emergencies (barakta finds them useful if her arms aren't working).  They're edible, but pretty disappointing texture-wise.

Uncle Ben's dry rice can be cooked in the usual manner.  There's also the overpriced boil-in-the-bag version, for people who don't own a sieve or colander.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
You don't need a sieve or a colander to cook rice. There shouldn't be any water to drain, it should all be absorbed into the rice. Put rice in pot, boil water, pour onto rice about 2cm above rice line, boil for a minute or so, cover, turn off heat, leave to absorb.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Boil for a minute? Don't you rinse your rice at all?
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
That's not cooking, that's the minion's job. When he can be made to move at all.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Boil for a minute? Don't you rinse your rice at all?
Actually, hang on! Do you mean rinse after cooking? If that's what you mean, as opposed to washing it at the start, then no.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
I find both techniques work fine.  Boil-until-done-in-a-surplus-of-water-and-drain was what my mum taught me, and works well if there's excess of starch or you're unsure of the quantities.  Titrate-water-bring-to-a-boil-and-leave-standing has obvious camping advantages if you want to prepare something else on a single stove.  Embarrassingly for a  ukc.misc veteran, I've never actually used a rice cooker.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
I think there are also several schools of rice technique from different parts of the rice-eating world. So China, Japan, India, very probably a West African technique too, etc, etc. Maybe a Deep South USA technique from which Uncle Ben's sprang.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
We do 1 vol rice to 2 vol water. Boil til water has disappeared, then rinse with a kettle full of boiling water.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

ian

For long-grain rice, I add it unrinsed to boiling water, let it come back to a full boil and turn it off. Leave for ~35 minutes (or longer, it doesn't go mushy) and then rinse through with boiling water to warm it up and remove any excess starch.

It's how I cook bulgar wheat and couscous too. Actually, I make it easier by just pouring boiling water from the kettle over them (never tried that with rice, I always assume it needs a bit a more heating as it's bulkier and you want to start breaking up the starch).

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
I don't think you can just pour boiling water over it and leave it. It needs boiling for a minute or two before leaving. Or maybe not? Perhaps with sufficient time you could just soak it couscous style? I just find it easier to pour boiling water on to rice than cold water and then boil it.

Found a webble on cooking rice without boiling water: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/83874/how-to-prepare-rice-in-a-very-real-emergency-no-boiling-no-electricity-or-alt
Tl;dr: It's not possible.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ian

Yes, I think it needs that initial brief boil to start to break down the starches, after that it's just mostly soaking up the water. Couscous and bulgar wheat are so small, the boiling water alone does the trick.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
I have some blueberry flavoured jaffa cakes. They are nice but at the same time disappointing.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Blueberry flavour is rather weak IMHO.

I can live without blueberries.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Real blueberries – actually I think I mean bilberries, the little ones that are purple inside and grow wild in European forests, with a dimple – are delicious and IMO they make delicious jams and yogurts. But these are more sugar than fruit.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
They're only good when you pilfer them in the wild :)
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
That's foraging not pilfering!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Anyway, were they actual Jaffa Cakes or some sort of lookalike?
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
They were Polish jaffa cakes from the Polskish shopek. Known as delicje, which I think is a generic term rather than a brand name. They're available in all sorts of flavours in Poland though I've never had bilberry before. TBH orange and perhaps raspberry are the best.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Real blueberries – actually I think I mean bilberries, the little ones that are purple inside and grow wild in European forests, with a dimple – are delicious and IMO they make delicious jams and yogurts. But these are more sugar than fruit.

I thought they were called whinberries in your part of the world. They are in the Welsh valleys, and that's the term Jan (Tameside) uses too.

I find them very disappointing. Give me blackberries every time if you are out foraging wild fruit.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
I've heard that term but they're not really something I think of as being locally abundant.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Blueberries and bilberries are slightly different things, aren't they? AIUI, blueberries are a north American cultivated crop, whereas bilberries grow wild in northern Europe. I guess the names are used interchangeably though, and they're close enough.

I don't think I've ever picked bilberries in the wild. Not sure where I would find them round here either, though I wouldn't be surprised if they were in the woods next door.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Yesterday I picked my first peas and broad beans in the garden.  Less than an hour later they were on plates next to our steaks.
Mmm. Fresh.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Yesterday I picked my first peas and broad beans in the garden.  Less than an hour later they were on plates next to our steaks.
Mmm. Fresh.

Well jel. We didn't get round to growing peas or broad beans this year, and our runner beans have not been a success - we were late planting them out, and then a combination of hot weather/inadequate watering and attack by pests has pretty much done for them. We did get a few beans off them at least.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."