White and brown rice
Rinse long-grain white rice in a strainer until the water runs mostly clear, which removes the surface starch that makes it gummy. Combine one cup of rice with one and a half cups of water and a pinch of salt. Bring it to a boil, stir once, cover tightly, and turn the heat to its lowest setting for fifteen to eighteen minutes. Then turn off the heat and leave the pot covered for ten minutes before fluffing the rice with a fork. Unrinsed rice needs closer to the two cups of water that most packages call for. Lifting the lid lets out the steam that does the cooking, and stirring makes the rice sticky.
Brown rice takes about two cups of water per cup and forty to forty-five minutes. One cup of dry rice yields about three cups cooked.
Pasta
- Bring four quarts of water to a rolling boil for a pound of pasta, and add about two tablespoons of kosher salt.
- Add the pasta and stir during the first two minutes, which is when the pieces stick together.
- Skip the oil in the water, since it only keeps sauce from clinging later.
- Start tasting two minutes before the package time, and stop when the pasta is tender with a slight firmness at the center.
- Scoop out a cup of the starchy cooking water, and then drain the pasta without rinsing it.
- Finish the pasta in the pan of sauce for a minute, loosening it with splashes of the reserved water.
Plan on two ounces of dry pasta per person as a side dish and three to four ounces as a main course.
Other grains
Quinoa should be rinsed, because its natural coating is bitter. Simmer one cup in two cups of water, covered, for fifteen minutes, and rest it for five. Pour one cup of boiling water over one cup of couscous, cover it for five minutes, and fluff it with a fork. Pearled farro and pearled barley take twenty-five to thirty minutes. Both can be boiled like pasta in plenty of salted water, tasted, and drained when tender.
Better flavor for no work
Toast dry rice or grains in a little oil or butter for two minutes before adding the liquid, and they will take on a nutty flavor. Cook them in broth instead of water for more depth. Always salt the cooking water.
Note Cooked rice and grains should be refrigerated within two hours, and sooner is better, since they can harbor bacteria whose toxins survive reheating.
