Cool Tip: Wild Thing!
- Jun 23, 2015
Photo courtesy of Gourmet Sleuth
Wild rice is not actually a rice, but rather a grain harvested from a species of grass that grows in shallow water in small lakes and slow-flowing streams. Almost always sold as a dried whole grain, wild rice is gluten-free and high in protein, the amino acid lysine and dietary fiber, and low in fat.
The trick with wild rice is to cook it long enough that it is soft, but not so long that it becomes mushy. (I've served it both under-cooked and over-cooked, so I consider myself something of an expert on the wrong way to cook wild rice!)
After a lot of experimentation, here's the method we like best:
After rinsing the wild rice in cold water and removing any foreign material (e.g. gravel), put it in a pot with chicken broth (cooking wild rice in water tends to make the rice taste a little muddy, but chicken broth brings out the good earthiness!) and boil for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover the rice, and let it soak in the hot chicken broth for 1 hour. This makes it easier for the rice to absorb the liquid. Then cook the rice as specified in your recipe.
The trick with wild rice is to cook it long enough that it is soft, but not so long that it becomes mushy. (I've served it both under-cooked and over-cooked, so I consider myself something of an expert on the wrong way to cook wild rice!)
After a lot of experimentation, here's the method we like best:
After rinsing the wild rice in cold water and removing any foreign material (e.g. gravel), put it in a pot with chicken broth (cooking wild rice in water tends to make the rice taste a little muddy, but chicken broth brings out the good earthiness!) and boil for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover the rice, and let it soak in the hot chicken broth for 1 hour. This makes it easier for the rice to absorb the liquid. Then cook the rice as specified in your recipe.