About Boiling - Rice and Potatoes
Wait a minute! What's this? You cook potatoes and rice the same way? Yes! Well - almost. And it's foolproof.
First potatoes. Which are the more difficult of the two to cook. You may not think so, but wait and see.
Add your potatoes to cold salted water, bring to the boil and cook until a wooden skewer will pass easily through them without undue pressure. Drain into a colander.
Now put about an inch or so of water in the pan, balance the colander (with potatoes) on top of that, return to a low heat and cover. You can either use the saucepan lid or some silver foil. Personally I use a tea-towel (by far the best) but if you do that you need to make very sure that it goes nowhere near the heat
- especially if you're cooking with gas.
Now the point is this. The potatoes will keep beautifully in the gently steaming atmosphere while you get on with everything else. They will even improve in texture and be ready to serve whenever you need them.
Okay. What about the rice?
Easy. Bring plenty of salted water to the boil. Then add the rice - roughly one cup for every two people - stir once, bring back to the boil and cook for exactly 15 minutes.
You will have to reduce the heat slightly to prevent the mixture boiling over and you also need to partially cover the pot to reduce evaporation.
Now drain and follow exactly the same procedure as you did for the potatoes.
No panic, no undercooked grains, no expensive electric cooker. Just perfectly separated fluffy rice which is ready to be used when you need it.
Can you see what a powerful system this is? It means you can prepare your rice before you even begin to worry about your stir-fry or whatever else it is that you're going to prepare.
Incidentally, don't be afraid to add a little color to your rice by dropping some chopped up red or yellow bell pepper into the water about five minutes before you finish cooking it.
Or serve yellow rice by adding saffron or turmeric to the cooking water. Once you know this technique, the results are limited only by your imagination.
Pasta
Cooking pasta couldn't be simpler. You boil it in salted water for however long it says on the packet. Then you drain it and it all sticks together in one inedible lump!
Well not any more. Here's the solution (and it's not adding oil during cooking)
Just before cooking ends, remove about half a cup of the cooking liquid and reserve it. Drain the pasta in a colander, return it to the pan in which it was cooked and add back in the reserved cooking liquid.
Stir it, and add about a tablespoon of olive oil. That's it. Done. The oil and liquid will combine to give your pasta a smooth, creamy finish.
No more stuck together lumps. No more dried out bits. And you can add any sauce you like.
If you're serving it plain and it seems a little sloppy, adding some grated parmesan or pecorino cheese will quickly solve that problem for you, as well as injecting some welcome flavor.
Boiled Beef
The expression 'boiled beef' probably arises from the fact that it's easier to say than 'simmered beef' - which is what it really is.
Salted, pickled and corned beef (or pork) amount to the same thing and are cooked by immersing in a bouillon (posh name for stock) which is kept just below boiling point. Cooking time varies with the size of the piece but it's going to take at least an hour and more likely two or more.
The great thing is that it's pretty hard to overcook it, so making it the center of your main dish saves hugely on stress. It's also delicious. You can serve it to anyone with confidence.
Nobody that I know pickles their own meat these days. Buy it from your butcher or supermarket, allowing around six ounces of meat per person.
Trim the fat off. Unlike roasting you don't need any fat to keep the meat moist. Put it in a pot only slightly larger than the joint, cover with water (no salt) and bring to the boil.
Then drain the meat and discard the water. Add fresh, some salt, a peeled onion into which you've stuck a couple of cloves, three or four carrots and a tablespoon of vinegar.
Bring this mix to the boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Give it about 20 minutes to the pound and serve it with your favorite mash and greens.
Oh yes, and don't forget to reduce the liquor you cooked it in to make a moistener for the meat.
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