Brown Rice Pilaf

Many cooks are afraid of rice. Cooking it, not eating it. My test as a chef for every cook applicant was to, "Cook a pan of rice." Sounds simple but more than half failed the test. I usually would end up hiring them unless they got an additude about their crappy, sticky rice. Part of a chef's job is to teach.

If I wanted to make the test more difficult I'd ask them to cook a pan of brown rice. If you use you best white rice technique on brown rice, you will fail. White rice and brown rice are different animals. I shuuter to remember hippie chicks from the seventies cooking up huge pots of gummy, bland glue. No wonder 'Health Food' got a bad name.

Brown rice is healthy because it is the complete grain, it has the fiberous bran coating and the nutritious germ. The bran will help scrub your guts clean and contribute to a prize winning poop. The germ is the rice seed embryo it contains B1. B2 and vitamin E. The germ contains natural oils so brown rice can go rancid if improperly stored or left on the shelf too long.

This is a brown rice pilaf. The idea is to give the rice maximum flavor while cooking with the minimum labor.

A simple method to cook plain brown rice is to first rinse the rice under cold water. Add it to a pot with a large quantity of salted water brought to the boil. 12 cups water for one cup of rice. Add the rice to the boiling water and boil uncovered for 30 minutes. Take the rice off the heat and drain in a collander. Put the rice back in the pan off the heat and cover, let steam for 10 minutes. Serve on the plate with a butter pat.