Did you know the size of your frying pan can seriously affect the texture of your omelette?
Yup – pros swear by a medium-small option to get the right mix of thick curds and fully cooked fluffiness.
These are the kinds of secrets chefs keep under their white sleeves when making restaurant-level food, and the sort I’m always keen to learn about.
So, you’d better believe I tuned in when former chef (and current YouTuber) @SenpaiKai9000 began his video by describing “why rice tastes better in restaurants.”
Why DOES rice taste better in restaurants?
The chef explained that, as with so many other gourmet “secrets,” chefs simply start off with “better-quality” rice.
It might surprise you to learn that not all rice is created equal. Lower-quality rice contains more blemishes, has more broken grains, contains the right amount of starch, and is the correct length.
The YouTuber says he prefers higher-grade basmati and jasmine rice “because they have so much more flavour” than other kinds.
Then, the former cook says it’s important to rinse rice in three to five times as much cold water to remove excess starch, “otherwise it can taste gummy or tacky.”
When cooking, he uses one part rice to 1.25 parts water and – a true chef’s trick – chucks butter into the pan.
If you’re cooking rice in a pot, allow it to boil, then let it simmer for 15 minutes and rest for at least a further five minutes with the lid on. That way, the steam continues to fluff up the rice.
But “really good restaurants will cook [rice] in the oven or rice cooker,” he added.
To cook it in the oven, the ex-chef covers a baking dish with foil and bakes the water, rice, butter, and salt together for 40-45 minutes.
“This allows the rice to cook way more evenly, because the heat source isn’t just coming hyper-aggressively from the bottom.”
Why does butter work in rice?
The addition gives rice a fuller, richer flavour, which it then imparts onto other food,
.
But that’s not the only advantage of the added fat – the experts say that including it in your rice cooker or pan can also improve its fluffiness.
That’s because, as with greasing a baking dish, it prevents the starches from sticking to the sides of the pan.
So, you’ll be left with more evenly-cooked, richer-tasting grains (don’t mind if I do).
