On 2013-09-11 13:05:45 +0000, Steve Freides said:

> I bought two different bags of "heirloom" rice yesterday and I have a
> few questions about these and cooking rice in general. We have a
> purpose-built rice cooker, given to us by Chinese friends - these (the
> cookers, not the friends) are inexpensive, widely available, and highly
> recommended - makes cooking rice a no-brainer.
>
> Rice #1 is "Heirloom Bhutan Red Rice" made by Lotus Foods,. product of
> Bhutan. The directions call for 1 cup of rice, 1-1/2 cups of water,
> and a pinch of salt, and tell you that the yield for 1 cup of rice
> cooked this way will be 3 cups. My wife misread the directions and
> used 3 cups of water, no salt, and it came out fine. It tasted like,
> well, rice, which is to say it didn't taste like much - not bad, not
> good, not tons of flavor but I had a couple of helpings so I guess I
> liked how it tasted. (The rest of dinner was sautéed mixed greens
> with lots of garlic and pan-seared sea scallops - yummy meal.)
>
> So that begs the question - what if she'd used 1-1/2 cups of water
> instead of 3? The rice cooker seems to know when all the water is
> absorbed, and since this rice _could_ absorb 3 cups of water to 1 cup
> of rice, _should_ that be the way you cook it?

First: I don't know. My guess, though is that it far longer time
"cooking" as it turned much of the water it didn't use for absorption
into the rice into steam which exited the cooker. The rice can only
absorb so much water after all. I've never heard of salting the water
for rice, but then all I cook is Japanese short-grain and jasmine rice
in my cooker.

> Rice #2, as yet untried, is "Organic Khao Deng Ruby Red Rice (Heirloom
> Grain)" by a company called Alter Eco (cute). It's from Thailand. Its
> directions call for 1 cup of rice, 2-1/2 cups of water, no mention of
> salt, and promise a yield of "4 servings," whatever a serving may be.
>
> Please enlighten me - are there formulas for how much water goes with
> how much rice, different formulas for brown rice, regular white rice,
> other varieties - we seem to like Sushi Rice in our house.

I think the only "formula" is how you like your rice. If you like it
"al dente" then I imagine adding less water is key; softer texture, add
more water. If you the rice to be sticky and clump together, don't
rinse off the rice flour before cooking it. I don't know the rice
varieties that you are using, but they are still a kind of vessel for
water.

> How much is personal preference, what's the difference when you use
> more water with the same amount of rice, and how is any/all of this
> different with a pot on the stove versus a rice cooker? I guess the
> most important question is what changes when you use more or less water
> and cook until it's all absorbed.

So you've got my guesses. I'd suggest making small amounts of rice
that more decidedly direct your attention to each issue.

> Rice wasn't a food I grew up with, save take-out Chinese every now and
> then, and it's not a food we eat a lot of although we like it, so I'm
> trying to learn a bit more about it.

We eat Japanese short grain rice at least once a week, cook it in a
simple and very old rice cooker, and though I've changed rice brands a
number of times, and used varying amounts of water to see what changes,
I find more changes in rinsing it and inherent rice qualities than I do
the water factor. Just my experience.