I always wash my rice 🍚. The spirits of my Chinese ancestors including my mother, insist on it.

But why? Does it taste better? People keep talking about starch and I’m fully unconvinced this is a real thing to contend with if you use today’s rice cookers

yes. i was told for mold and whatnot. from www.sciencealert.com/yes-you-shou...

Basmati and Jasmine rice 👍

Yes unless it's enriched then no. It takes off some of the starch and lightens the flavor

I. Do not cook rice because I am Terri le at it!! I have found a product that produces perfect rice in. A pouch after 2 minutes in the microwave. Perfect portion size for me. They also have quinoa

I'll take some pics for instructional purposes and walk you through it next time I make some. You wont miss again and you wont need a microwave!

Advanced warning….I’m a hard sell 🤨

Do you like perfect rice?

I’m the least rice connoisseur person you’re likely to meet 😂😂

I got obsessed with making perfect rice in a pot a few years ago. It's my ocd I guess. I did something similar before with trying to recreate the glory that is the elementary school hotdog. Came pretty close with that one.

I lack the patience and focus for that. Every time I make a recipe , I just wing it and hope for the best 😂😂😂 9/10 it’s edible and somewhat tasty

Honestly?? I like a semi mushy rice (lime in a paella 🥘 or risotto) the few times I eat rice. I make a great jambalaya!! Otherwise , I prefer potatoes or noodles

Ooooh! I gotcha. This would be a bit of the opposite of that!

My sisters LOVE rice. I’m the oddball 😂😂

I bought one of those rice cookers and they do a great job for $20 or so.

Get a cheap rice cooker… it’s so easy.

I thought about it but I’m not the biggest fan anyway- prefer my carbs as potatoes so this product is perfect!! So darn tasty and not crunchy . Plus , for one person, it’s perfect. Can easily get 2 meals out of it and rice doesn’t get hard the next day

My kids and I eat a lot of Asian themed stuff… unless I’m running the smoker. So, we’ve always got a Ziplock bag of rice in the fridge… and if we don’t get to it, Pearl gets it. As a matter of fact, I think I’ll go make some bacon fried rice for brunch. 😉

I have a few packets of this in my pantry. I’d probably get a rice cooker if there were more people in the house . It is super handy. Charlie does enjoy a bit every now and then in his kibble

I take the rice packets up to my cabin… can’t beat the easy clean up 🤓

Exactly!!

Something like this… doesn’t need to be big and fancy. www.target.com/p/aroma-4-cu...

Some people buy shoes or handbags. I overbuy kitchen equipment and pretty dinnerware so I’m trying very hard to only put back essentials into my new kitchen. I tearfully donates 2 sets of dishes to the shelter - now the trick is to not buy new ones 😂😂

Rice cooker is a game changer for sure. And you can use it for quinoa too

And don’t forget the steaming try for Mandu (Gyozas)

I don’t know what that is 😬

Like pot stickers!! I love those!!

Mandu is the Korean word for them, Gyoza is the Japanese

Both words meaning delicious!!

Yaaaass

I watched my wife spend about 5 minutes cleaning the rice the other day. Her family still owns rice fields in the old country, so I guess she knows best. I on the other hand, rarely wash the rice

I need a blind taste test

I don’t taste the difference. Texture might vary. www.instagram.com/reel/DNJSDKY...

That’s like Kenyans with their ugali (polenta-like corn meal side which is ubiquitous). 😂🇰🇪

I’ve seen big Filipino families at the harbor eating seafood & they’ve brought their giant rice cooker with them

Love it ❤️😂

Rice is life.

Oh wowowowow… 🤣

Cover your eye teeth then 😁

No. No rice cooker either. And my rice isn’t sticky unless I am making sticky rice.

🤷🏻‍♀️ And do you regularly find rocks in your rice? (I don’t)

No but don’t buy that much rice…maybe it is bulk rice?

Removes arsenic

Less about rinsing than soaking a bit, at least for a rice cooker. Decreases the odds of hard dry rice.

But I never have hard dry rice from my rice cooker 🤷🏻‍♀️

Less gluey rice. Kind of makes each grain stand out on its own. At least thats what I find. Also, my Mum was wrong. Its never 2 parts water to 1 part rice.

Using rice cooker I rinse rice until water is clear then add water just to cover rice and depending on whats on the menu and in the fridge sometimes add better than bouillon and leftover veggies 🥕 towards the end. My cooker bit the dust, and need to replace it.

Yes to remove the excess starchy stuff and any bit of dirt 🍚🌾

What dirt? Lol

Oh, I've found tiny bits of gravel enough times in big bags of rice that I'm a habitual rinser. 🪨🍚

Nope

😁

Because rats and mice piss all over the rice in the warehouses before it is packaged and shipped. That’s what I was told.

No, and I cook my rice in the microwave. Not the instant kind and it turns out perfect every time.

Are we talking instant rice?

Noooo

Says to on the bag. I usually read that as "has dirt," but when it comes to food, I tend to obey. Except for uncalled-for expiration dates.

The expiration dates for things brined, sitting in oil or made with a ton of sugar are weird. People who say those items need to be thrown out expiration date lets me know they don’t have a grasp of basic food science.

Which ought to be a required class in high school, even for the soon-to-be-full-time-grub-hub crowd.

Financial literacy is required for my kids to graduate (excellent-I’m pleased) and yes I think basic home ec should be required too

I’ve never seen anything other than clean rice!

Well, their lawyers are paranoid. Possibly with good reason.

It removes excess debris from shipping (starch dust from the rice grinding against each other). It also pre moistens the rice, which allows for better steaming.

Can you taste a difference or is it theoretical?

There is a texture difference 100% When you leave the excess starch, water takes longer to soak in, and it will stick and burn in the pot a lot faster while still not cooking evenly. When you rinse it off, water absorbs better and will leave the rice more fluffy while being cooked through.

Yes, rinsing of the additional starch helps the rice taste better. In my opinion.

Yes.

Why?

www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/394...

I just use a rice cooker and you know, it seems to be just fine 😊

It removes excess starch, so it doesn’t clump together. I usually use an instant pot to make rice, and depending on the kind of rice, I have found very little difference when rinsing and not rinsing. It’s possibly different when you cook using a traditional method.

My rice cooker doesn’t yield clumpy rice and I literally never rinse

I’m not disagreeing. I’m not discerning enough to really know. The starch thing is why they say to rinse, but again, I wonder how distinct a difference it is.

Every cooking show I’ve ever watched, all of the chefs rinsed their rice. I’ll trust the people who attended culinary school.

If only @danielmkim.bsky.social could tell me. He’s the Bluesky cooking expert. Dan!! We have rice questions!

My mom once told me rinsing rice made it fluffier, not sure if that's true, but it's become completely ingrained by now.

Well if your mom says so…

Was "ingrained" intentional? Cause that is a quality rice pun.

I need to blind taste test rice to be convinced at this point in life

Yes. Because my buddy’s Korean Mom said to. Nobody argues with Momma A!

😆

I don’t do it with parboiled rice, but with special varietals like Basmati or Carolina Gold, yes.

What does rinsing do specifically?

Most rice these days is harvested & threshed mechanically. That can leave stones & husk w/ the grain. You rinse to get rid of that stuff. Rinsing also hydrates the outside of the grain, so it absorbs water better. You don’t have to rinse parboiled rice is cause they did that @ the factory.

For 50 years I did not (because I did not want waste water) and things were fine. Lately tho I have succumbed to the shaming

And do you feel your rice is better now?

I cant tell, so I guess no

It's the Asian way. Uncle Roger explains. If you don't wash the starch off it's gloopy. 2:10 youtu.be/53me-ICi_f8?...

Haiyahhh!!! This is Uncle Roger when he finds out that someone is not washing their rice.

Oh she washed it. After it was “cooked”

At least she's rinsing the rice... only at the wrong time. 😅 (I wash rice to get rid of the dusty bits and then I use the rinse water for watering my plants. They love it! )

I wash my rice because an Asian guy on Instagram kept yelling at me about it

But it’s not gloppy from my rice cooker!

Haiyahhh!!!

I should have known Uncle Roger would have a video on this!

We have been told to do so by the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, to remove arsenic (and microplastics), because it reduces the risk of cancer. They recommend letting the rice soak in water for some hours before using it.

Yes. Because Dan Kim told me to. Makes a world of difference, imo.

So many hoity toity rice people in my feed lmao

Nope

I got yelled at on tiktok by a young man dressed as Mulan to wash my rice.. so now I wash my rice..

But why???

I do it to get the powdery starch off; tastes better, to me… but ymmv, etc.

To remove any dirt, bug carapace, and extra starch.. but mainly cause the Mulan man

removing some starch from starchier types of rice (jasmine) if you don't want your rice sticky. like your rice sticky? don't rinse or rinse less.

Yes! Rice is very dirty. It must be a minimum of 3 times. I learned it from many different Asian cooking demos/videos

You should, I don't always. Washing it removes dust and other debris as well as removing surface starch so your rice won't get sticky.

But I like sticky rice!

That's fine! I don't get too bent out of shape about it myself.

Rinse, usually. Soak, depends on the kind of rice and what I want it to do.

Jasmine rice for SE Asian food, usually yeah, otherwise it's way too sticky/gummy. And I save the rinse water to collect the starch to thicken certain soups and stews. Arborio rice for risotto no because it needs that starch as a thickener in the final product.

Nothing wrong with not doing it, though, because at the end of the day, the only judgement at matters is whoever is eating the food you make. The qualities that define recipes change so much over time that in 100 years people are gonna have a new definition for a Chicago dog that includes Za'atar.

Same. Funny that I've never rinsed Arborio but never thought about why until now.

I wash my rice so I can make horchata. Also, because I find washing rice very calming

Of course because I’m not a savage.

Not like that. 😳

🤣🤣

Absolutely, every time. It makes a difference and I don't know why but my rice sucks if I don't rinse it.