[7 - 7] today i want to talk about fear
[8 - 10] no not the 1996 psychological drama
[10 - 11] starring mark wahlberg and reese
[11 - 14] witherspoon set to the musical stylings
[14 - 17] of not one but two bush songs no today i
[17 - 18] want to talk about two things that
[18 - 21] strike fear into the hearts of many
[21 - 23] math and cooking rice
[23 - 25] we begin with math in the kitchen a
[25 - 27] ratio implies something universal and
[27 - 29] scalable for instance you can make a
[29 - 31] nice vinaigrette with three parts oil to
[31 - 33] one part vinegar that means that a
[33 - 34] vinaigrette made with three tablespoons
[34 - 36] of oil and one tablespoon of vinegar
[36 - 38] will taste the same as a triple batch
[38 - 40] made with nine tablespoons of oil and
[40 - 42] three tablespoons of vinegar that's a
[42 - 45] good ratio rice ratios they're not good
[45 - 48] ratios i'll explain let's say my normal
[48 - 50] rice ratio is one cup of rice and one
[50 - 52] half cups of water now when i make a
[52 - 54] batch of rice like that it comes out
[54 - 56] perfectly but now i've got friends
[56 - 59] coming over and i need a triple batch so
[59 - 61] my ratio is one to one and a half i
[61 - 63] triple both sides of the ratio and i get
[63 - 65] three cups of rice and four and a half
[65 - 68] cups of water and here's what i get
[68 - 70] here's my original recipe perfect intact
[70 - 73] grains everyone is tender there's not a
[73 - 75] mushy one in sight and here is my triple
[75 - 78] batch it's pasty and porridge like all
[78 - 80] of the rice is overcooked what gives i
[80 - 82] went to culinary school i learned these
[82 - 83] ratios from a book and i've cooked
[84 - 86] professionally for years what am i doing
[86 - 88] wrong well the truth is i've been lied
[88 - 90] to about rice ratios we all have but i'm
[90 - 92] here to tell you it's not your fault
[92 - 94] that you're not good at making rice in
[94 - 96] my research i talked to rice producers
[96 - 98] and i learned that in the industry it's
[98 - 100] understood that rice absorbs water in a
[100 - 102] one to one ratio that means that
[102 - 104] regardless of the type of rice one cup
[104 - 106] of water is enough to fully hydrate one
[106 - 108] cup so what's the point of that excess
[108 - 110] water in every rice ratio well it's
[110 - 113] there so that it can go away water in
[113 - 115] excess of the one-to-one ratio is
[115 - 117] included for evaporation during cooking
[117 - 119] to put this theory to the test i got my
[119 - 121] hands on 17 different kinds of rice
[121 - 123] short grain medium grain long grain
[123 - 125] white rice brown rice red rice black
[125 - 128] rice arborio rice jasmine basmati you
[128 - 130] name it after rinsing all of the rices
[130 - 132] to remove excess surface starch i
[132 - 134] combined one cup of each with one cup of
[134 - 137] water in a vacuum bag i sealed the bags
[137 - 139] so no water would be getting in and no
[139 - 140] water would be getting out i then
[140 - 142] dropped the bags into a 200 degree water
[142 - 144] bath and cooked until the grains were
[144 - 146] tender i then emptied each bag into a
[146 - 148] bowl and noted first whether there was
[148 - 150] any water left in the bag and second
[150 - 151] whether any of the grains of rice were
[151 - 154] mushy or still hard i was pretty blown
[154 - 155] away when i found that every single
[155 - 157] grain of rice in every single batch was
[158 - 159] perfectly cooked okay so if we know that
[159 - 161] in the absence of evaporation a
[161 - 163] one-to-one ratio works for all types of
[163 - 165] rice can we explain why doubling a
[165 - 168] traditional rice ratio ends so badly yes
[168 - 171] we can with a little bit more math let's
[171 - 173] look at our previous ratio for rice so
[173 - 174] we have one cup of rice and one and a
[174 - 176] half cups of water that means we have
[176 - 178] one cup of water to cook the rice and
[178 - 180] half a cup for evaporation if we make a
[180 - 182] triple batch the ratio tells us it's
[182 - 184] three cups of rice and four and a half
[184 - 186] cups of water so three cups of that
[186 - 187] water is for cooking the rice and one
[187 - 189] and a half cups is left over for
[189 - 191] evaporation but here's the thing that's
[191 - 192] a hundred and fifty percent more water
[192 - 195] for evaporation and that is not how
[195 - 197] evaporation works over a similar cook
[197 - 199] time the one cup batch and the three cup
[199 - 201] batch will evaporate basically the same
[201 - 203] amount of water so we don't need four
[203 - 204] and a half cups of water we need three
[204 - 206] and a half three to cook the rice and a
[206 - 208] half a cup for evaporation so our new
[208 - 210] ratio three cups of rice to three and a
[210 - 213] half cups of water now understandably
[213 - 214] not a lot of people love to do math at
[214 - 216] dinner time so most folks reach for an
[216 - 218] electric rice cooker one of the reasons
[218 - 220] that rice cookers work so well is their
[220 - 222] designers know exactly how much water
[222 - 223] they're going to evaporate based on the
[223 - 225] size of the vents and the cooking
[225 - 226] program so if you follow the
[226 - 228] measurements on the cooking insert
[228 - 230] you're good to go rice cookers also have
[230 - 232] an advantage because they know exactly
[232 - 234] when to stop cooking in most rice cooker
[234 - 235] models there's a thermometer at the
[235 - 237] bottom of the cooking insert as long as
[237 - 239] the temperature does not go over 212
[239 - 241] degrees which is the boiling point of
[241 - 243] water the rice cooker keeps cooking once
[243 - 245] the temperature notches above 212
[246 - 247] degrees the rice cooker knows that all
[247 - 249] the water has either been absorbed or
[249 - 251] evaporated and so it switches over to a
[251 - 253] keep warm setting it's an elegant bit of
[253 - 254] design and it's something that we can
[254 - 256] actually steal and use for our own rice
[256 - 258] cooking purposes i'll show you that in a
[258 - 259] minute but there's another way around
[259 - 261] the math and it is called the first
[261 - 263] knuckle trick so here's how it works you
[264 - 265] pour your rinsed rice into the pot and
[265 - 267] then you add water until it comes up to
[267 - 269] the first knuckle on your index finger
[269 - 271] and you cook your rice and it comes out
[271 - 273] perfectly that might sound crazy but it
[273 - 275] actually works for a lot of people so
[275 - 277] let's take a look at how that's possible
[277 - 279] so let's say we put one cup of rinsed
[279 - 281] rice in a small pot then we add one cup
[281 - 283] of water that nets us our one to one
[283 - 285] ratio so we know we need a half cup of
[285 - 287] water for evaporation but instead of
[287 - 289] measuring that out and adding it i'm
[289 - 290] going to use my knuckle test so i'm
[290 - 292] going to add water until it hits that
[292 - 294] first knuckle on my index finger now if
[294 - 295] i strain this off and we measure the
[296 - 298] water it actually comes out to about one
[298 - 300] and a half cups pretty cool right but
[300 - 303] it's not infallible so obviously people
[303 - 304] have different size fingers and that
[304 - 306] could affect things a bit but the bigger
[306 - 308] issue is if you change pot size
[308 - 309] dramatically so let's do this experiment
[309 - 312] again using a dutch oven which is
[312 - 314] arguably a little bit silly i add my
[314 - 316] rice i add a cup of water and then i add
[316 - 318] water until it hits that first knuckle
[318 - 320] and i end up with four cups of water
[320 - 323] which we know is way too much the first
[323 - 325] knuckle trick works great for cooks that
[325 - 327] establish a ratio that works for them in
[327 - 328] a pot that works for them and then they
[328 - 331] repeat that over and over okay i think
[331 - 332] it's time to head into the kitchen and
[332 - 334] put this all together for most folks a
[334 - 336] good rice ratio is one cup of rice to
[336 - 338] either one and a quarter or one and a
[338 - 340] half cups of water so pick a pot that
[340 - 341] will be your rice pot if you wanted to
[341 - 343] have a nice tight fitting lid then make
[344 - 346] a batch of rice with each ratio and pick
[346 - 348] your favorite now you have two ways to
[348 - 349] put this information to use when you
[349 - 351] want to make a double triple or
[351 - 353] quadruple batch of rice one add your
[353 - 355] rice to the pot with one cup of water
[355 - 357] for every cup of rice then add your half
[357 - 360] a cup of evaporation water or a quarter
[360 - 361] cup if that was your preferred ratio but
[361 - 363] if you don't want to do any measuring at
[363 - 365] all you can establish your own first
[365 - 367] knuckle trick start with your winning
[367 - 369] ratio i've got one cup of rice and one
[369 - 371] and a quarter cups of water in this pot
[371 - 373] and it comes up to here on my knuckle
[373 - 374] that's why i've got this line
[374 - 376] permanently tattooed on my left index
[376 - 378] finger i'm kidding but don't think i
[378 - 380] haven't considered it once you have your
[380 - 382] own first knuckle trick established you
[382 - 383] can simply pour rice into the pot and
[383 - 385] then water until it comes up to the
[385 - 387] level of the rice then gently shake the
[387 - 389] pot to level out the rice and add water
[389 - 391] until it hits that line no measuring
[391 - 393] required no matter how many people you
[393 - 395] are serving oh and remember when i said
[395 - 397] that we could steal from rice cooker
[397 - 399] technology well this is what i'm talking
[399 - 400] about after you bring your rice and
[400 - 402] water to a boil and lower the heat to a
[402 - 404] gentle simmer cover tightly with foil
[404 - 406] you can even add binder clips like this
[406 - 409] to seal it in place then add a probe
[409 - 410] thermometer you want it to go down into
[410 - 412] the pot until it touches the bottom then
[412 - 414] pull it up ever so slightly so it's not
[414 - 416] touching the bottom set the alarm for
[416 - 419] 214 degrees when the alarm sounds your
[420 - 422] rice is done no guessing or timing
[422 - 424] required then you simply remove the
[424 - 426] binder clips and the foil place a folded
[426 - 428] dish towel over the top to catch any
[428 - 429] steam that would otherwise condense and
[429 - 431] drip back down onto the rice put the lid
[432 - 434] on let it sit for about 10 to 15 minutes
[434 - 436] to firm up slightly and then we just
[436 - 438] scoop our perfect every time rice into a
[438 - 440] small bowl i like to shake on a little
[440 - 442] furukake which is a japanese rice
[442 - 445] seasoning mix and this is how to eat
[450 - 450] do you love rice as much as me are you
[450 - 452] contemplating the first knuckle trick
[452 - 454] tattoo well let me know in the comments
[454 - 455] and don't forget to hit that subscribe
[455 - 459] button we'll see you next time