CVap® Helps You Rice to the Occasion

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CVap® Helps You Rice to the Occasion

Rice is one of the most widely consumed cereal grains in the world. As an agricultural commodity, it ranks third globally (just behind sugarcane and corn). Rice provides more than one-fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by humans.

Traditionally, rice is boiled or steamed. But it’s particularly well-suited for cooking in a CVap® oven. CVap’s dual heat technology helps to avoid overcooking. Winston has several large chain customers who use CVap equipment to prepare and hold their rice. Rice can be held hot up to 24 hours in CVap equipment, with no degradation in quality.

In this cooking session, we tested five different types of rice, in the same oven, cooking simultaneously.

Brown Rice
Enriched Long Grain White Rice
Par-Boiled Long Grain White Rice
Basmati Rice
Short Grain Sushi Rice

For most of these, the ratio of water to rice is a simple 2:1. Sushi rice is the exception, its ratio is 2.5:1.

The Process

Pour premeasured rice and water into a hotel pan. We used a 4” deep, half hotel pan.
– If cooking brown rice, use boiling water.
– If cooking sushi rice, rinse prior to cooking, per instructions.
Cover with both parchment and foil.
Place in a preheated CVap oven. Our settings were 200°F Vapor temp, 350°F Air temp. The oven in this case was an RTV7-05.
After the cook phase, allow the rice to rest or “cure” for a few minutes before removing parchment/foil lid and fluffing with fork.

Different rices have different cook times. Sushi rice cooks fast – about 15 minutes. Enriched long grain, par-boiled long grain, and basmati rice all took about 25 minutes to cook thoroughly. Brown rice takes a bit longer, approximately 40 minutes.

Cook time can vary, depending on the size and depth of pans used, and the size and type of oven utilized. We encourage you to experiment to find the optimum settings for your operation.

The Results/Observations

Brown Rice
- As a whole grain, the brown rice took longest to cook, even with using hot or boiling water.
- After 40 minutes, the brown rice was fully hydrated, tender, and fluffy.
All Long Grain White Rice Varieties:
- Were fully hydrated, tender, and had great integrity
Short Grain Sushi Rice:
- Sushi rice is easy to overcook. We pulled this sample after about 15 minutes. Gotta watch this stinker.

A Word About Rice and Food Safety

Cooked rice can contain bacillus cerus spores, which can produce a toxin if the rice spends too much time in the temperature danger zone (40°F to 140°F). If storing rice for use the next day, rapid cooling is advised.

A safer alternative is to hold the rice hot in a CVap oven or holding cabinet. CVap can keep the rice safely above 140°F, with no degradation in quality, for up to 24 hours.

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