I’ve recently been trying to put some new meals in my repertoire and when browsing for new ideas I’ve noticed that many recipes call for day old leftover rice instead of fresh one. Egg fried rice for example. Some people even seem to insist that it doesn’t work with fresh rice. Why is that?
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The only recipe I know of that explicitly calls for leftover rice is fried rice, the one dish used in the example. Because of moisture (and lack thereof).
The only recipe I know of that explicitly calls for leftover rice is fried rice, the one dish used in the example. Because of moisture (and lack thereof).
First of all, by “so many Asian recipes” do you mean just the one category you’re actually asking about which is fried rice?
And the answer has been given, it’s because of moisture and how it fries better the day after.
If you take uncooked rice, cook it, and let it cool, it doesn’t go back to being uncooked rice. When you cook things, they don’t just get hot, they undergo physical and chemical changes, changes that can’t be undone. And some of those changes occur over time, not just as you cook it, but as it cools again.
In the case of rice, it will lose some of its stickiness, its proteins and sugars will break down, thus changing its flavor and how it reacts when cooked again, etc. So day old rice and fresh rice are going to behave differently in a recipe, they aren’t the same ingredient, they don’t have the same properties. So something like egg fried rice, will have different flavor, different consistency, etc. using day old rice thats already been cooked vs. fresh rice. Which is better is a matter of opinion.
First of all, by “so many Asian recipes” do you mean just the one category you’re actually asking about which is fried rice?
And the answer has been given, it’s because of moisture and how it fries better the day after.
If you take uncooked rice, cook it, and let it cool, it doesn’t go back to being uncooked rice. When you cook things, they don’t just get hot, they undergo physical and chemical changes, changes that can’t be undone. And some of those changes occur over time, not just as you cook it, but as it cools again.
In the case of rice, it will lose some of its stickiness, its proteins and sugars will break down, thus changing its flavor and how it reacts when cooked again, etc. So day old rice and fresh rice are going to behave differently in a recipe, they aren’t the same ingredient, they don’t have the same properties. So something like egg fried rice, will have different flavor, different consistency, etc. using day old rice thats already been cooked vs. fresh rice. Which is better is a matter of opinion.
If you take uncooked rice, cook it, and let it cool, it doesn’t go back to being uncooked rice. When you cook things, they don’t just get hot, they undergo physical and chemical changes, changes that can’t be undone. And some of those changes occur over time, not just as you cook it, but as it cools again.
In the case of rice, it will lose some of its stickiness, its proteins and sugars will break down, thus changing its flavor and how it reacts when cooked again, etc. So day old rice and fresh rice are going to behave differently in a recipe, they aren’t the same ingredient, they don’t have the same properties. So something like egg fried rice, will have different flavor, different consistency, etc. using day old rice thats already been cooked vs. fresh rice. Which is better is a matter of opinion.
First of all, by “so many Asian recipes” do you mean just the one category you’re actually asking about which is fried rice?
And the answer has been given, it’s because of moisture and how it fries better the day after.
Clearly it’s ‘a thing’ — nobody eats stale food by choice. In the age of covid, I’m sure more people have more older food around. Be careful When rice or pasta goes bad it decomposes without a stink, but can cause serious nasty illness.
If you have a jet wok burner you can probably cook fresh rice easily like restaurants. The wok will get hot enough. Not possible with traditional home stoves though.
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