Come again?
Rinse/wash your rice, before cooking it.
Every Asian and African knows this, no matter how disadvantaged, or uneducated.
Learned, well read, educated Westerners, not so much!
Echoing above, if you have your own well, no, they don’t. You fill a bathtub when a storm is coming to be able to flush the toilets.
Having grown up with a Ma Bell phone, it still surprises me when the phone **doesn’t **work during a power failure!
I find this odd because I’ve lived in New England all my life, and in New Hampshire 2/3rds of it, and no one has ever asked if I’m British. Canadian, yes though that’s another story, but people do seem to grasp the fact that New England and England aren’t really connected, nor are Hampshire and York (and I presume Jersey?) in England and our states. Weird that they can’t figure out New Mexico/Mexico too.
I never have, but it rings a bell, so I looked it up. One thing that learned, well read, educated Westerners can do is Google things on teh interwebs!
Unfortunately, it seems that opinions vary. According to Chowhound, it depends. Some say it helps prevent sticky rice, but Chowhound says that for short-grain rice used for risotto you actually want that texture, and certainly for sushi. For ordinary cooking with ordinary long-grain rice the advice seems to be: not necessary for domestic rice, may be a good idea for the imported kind which may be coated with talc, glucose, or other crap.
According to foodhacks, it’s important because some rice may be coated with diatomaceous earth as an insect repellent. And according to foodreference.com, it’s absolutely not necessary. And Viet World Kitchen takes an intermediate view: yes you should, but only for the taste.
So this learned, well read, educated Westerner is thoroughly confused. Next time I’ll just read what Uncle Ben has to say and do that.
ETA: One thing that everyone is consistent about is thoroughly rinsing dried porcini mushrooms, so clearly there are some things where there’s no doubt about the need for rinsing.
Well of course, the Irish are pure, godly Catholics – the activity concerned would never have occurred to them, and its name would mean nothing to them 
.
If you’re eating Uncle Ben’s, don’t worry about it! ������
I cook a lot of rice. I buy 25lbs of Jasmine rice (from Thailand) at a time, and I never wash it. It always comes out light and fluffy. Why add an extra step of washing it?
Some of the state of New Mexico’s southern border is part of the country of Mexico’s northern border . I’m guessing that could have something to do with it .
We have some home-made C clamps at work, in which the pad on the end of the screw isn’t peened onto the end of the screw with a swivel joint. It’s made by welding a little square of sheet metal onto one end of a nut. Therefore the screw threads through the top of the C and then into the pad nut. I spent a while the other day trying to convince a mechanic that this C clamp does not tighten and loosen unless the pad actually skids against the thing you’re clamping, as the screw is just translating through two internal threads as long as the pad doesn’t spin. The pad and the top of the C clamp do not change their separation, unless the pad rotates with respect to the clamp.
I tried several different lines of argument, but never did convince him. I don’t get how he can not get this.
I can promise you everyone in Thailand washes their rice.
( In fact, most Asians are a titch judgemental of white folk not being smart enough to wash rice!:D:D)
I use the exact same rice as you. Just try washing it, and you’ll see the difference for yourself!
( Just add too much water, swish it around until the water is milky, pour that water off, add portioned water and cook. I use a rice cooker myself!)
I used to wash my rice. Then tried not washing it, found no difference, so now I no longer do.
I use medium grain rice, if that’s relevant.
Don’t quite get why you would want to prevent sticky rice! But oddly, it was in Japan that I was taught to wash it in the first place, and they certainly aren’t trying to prevent stickiness.
Sigh. Fine. I’ll try it. This better be good, or I’ll hold you personally responsible for my wasted few cups of water.
A manual transmission still offers a few advantages for folks who know how to operate it. Ever gotten stuck in the mud or snow and had to try to rock the car to get it out? I’ve always found that a lot easier to do with a manual gearbox than an automatic.
As far as I know, you still cannot push-start an automatic car if your starter dies, but you still can with a standard transmission.
I can always beat the highway sticker mileage by around 10 to 20 percent with my standard cars, but the automatic cars never seem to get any better than what the sticker says. I get that a lot of automatic cars are geared higher for the highway, but 80% of my driving in Maine is on back roads with speed limits between 45 to 55 miles per hour.
Now to shift this back to the topic: I’m always surprised that folks who grew up driving manual-shift cars don’t know that you can use the parking brake to keep it from rolling backward on a hill while you shift to first. I’m doubly surprised that the method they were taught to prevent rollback involves holding the clutch partially engaged and giving it gas the whole time they are stopped! I guess someone has to keep the clutch manufacturers in business.
It took a scientific study to show them that? Had they never TRIED using it to tape ducts?
They are. Everybody knows, in their heart of hearts, that it is true and that Joanna Pettet is the hottest Bond Girl.
ETA: Except, maybe, Jill St John and her Coin Slot From Heaven.
Surprised? I’m downright astounded! When I learned to drive the parking brake technique was taught, emphasized, and mandatory! If someone did the slipping-clutch thing on their driver’s test where I live they’d never get their license!
I don’t know if that was snark but I was once at a tasting where a chef from a notable upscale restaurant told me Uncle Ben’s was his standard go-to rice, and it’s always worked for me, plain or with various cooking liquids and additions, and sometimes plain basmati to accompany grilled seafood. But in any case, Uncle Ben speaks:
Never Wash Uncle Ben’s® Rice
You never have to worry about washing Uncle Ben’s® rice. That’s because Uncle Ben’s® Rice is already washed, cleaned and milled (to remove the outer layers) before it arrives in your kitchen. In fact, if you wash Uncle Ben’s® Rice, you’ll actually remove essential vitamins and nutrients. All you need to do is cook and enjoy!
http://www.unclebens.ca/en-ca/RiceHealth/HowToCookRice.aspx
It actually works pretty well for taping ducks together, but it seems to upset people when I do it.
I’ve never washed rice. I always sauté it in olive oil before cooking it in a skillet or sauté pan. It hasn’t failed me yet.
Some people seem to think the parking brake is an “emergency” brake, and thus never use it. I don’t know where you’re from, but if you’re ever in this neck of the woods, just stand around on the sidewalk of hilly parking lot and watch how many cars lurch downhill after the engines are shut off. Most people are driving automatic cars, and even on steep hills, do not use the parking brake.
Plenty of people around here don’t even set the brake in a manual car.:eek: