Steamed Rice
1 cup rice 1 teaspoon salt 2¾ to 3¼ cups boiling water (according to age of rice) Put salt and water in top of double boiler, place on range, and add gradually well-washed rice, stirring with a fork to prevent adhering to boiler. Boil five minutes, cover, place over under part double boiler, and steam fortyfive minutes, or until kernels are soft; uncover, that steam may escape. When rice is steamed for a simple dessert, use one-half quantity of water given in recipe, and steam until rice has absorbed water; then add scalded milk for remaining liquid.
To wash rice. Put rice in strainer, place strainer over bowl nearly full of cold water; rub rice between hands, lift strainer from bowl, and change water. Repeat process three or four times, until water is quite clear.
A double-boiler method from a period when rice was sold loose, often old, and never pre-cleaned. It produces separate, fairly soft grains without scorching.
- Water quantityThe range is 2¾ to 3¼ cups boiling water per cup of rice, more for older, drier rice. That is generous by modern standards because the long steam drives off a good deal of it; modern packaged long-grain rice needs considerably less.
- Why a double boilerRice cooked over direct heat on a coal range scorched easily. The five minutes of hard boiling gelatinises the surface starch, then the gentle steam finishes the grains with no risk of a burnt bottom. A heavy-based pan on a low burner does the same job in about 18 minutes.
- Forty-five minutesCorrect for the method, not excessive — the water in the upper pan never boils hard once it is over the steam. Modern white long-grain rice simmered directly is done in 15 to 20 minutes and will turn to paste if given three quarters of an hour.
- Washing the riceWorth doing for the reason given: it carries off loose starch so the grains stay separate. Rinse in a strainer under running water until it runs clear rather than changing bowls of water.
- Do not stir after coveringThe fork stirring is only for the first minutes, to stop grains sticking as the water returns to the boil. Stirring later breaks the kernels and makes the dish gluey.
- Uncovering at the endLifting the lid lets trapped steam escape so the surface grains dry slightly instead of sitting in condensation. Do it off the heat and leave the pan to stand a few minutes.
- The dessert variationUse half the water, steam until absorbed, then add scalded milk — about 1½ cups — as the remaining liquid. Milk added at the start would scorch and skin.
- YieldOne cup of raw rice gives roughly three cups cooked, enough for four to six as a side dish.
Rice reached American home cooking dusty and unpolished, which is why a cookbook of 1896 devotes a full paragraph to washing it. The insistence on the double boiler — usually attributed to Fannie Farmer, though the page itself does not confirm it — reflects the equipment of the era as much as the grain: the Boston Cooking School taught precise, repeatable technique on unpredictable coal ranges, and the water-jacketed pan was its answer to uneven heat for everything from oatmeal to custard. The instruction to judge water by "age of rice" is a reminder that shoppers then bought from bulk stock of unknown vintage rather than a dated packet.