The best way to cook rice, according to my Korean mom

Growing up in the suburbs, my family and I would go to steakhouses often, our Friday night ritual at the end of the workweek. Think: ABC's Fresh Off the Boat, Louis Huang's Cattleman's Ranch Steakhouse. As soon as we'd come home from dinner, even after that huge meal, my dad would head straight to the kitchen and eat a spoonful or two of cold leftover white rice (the gonggi bap) straight out of the rice cooker. Maybe with some ice-cold kimchi from the fridge, a sheet or two of gim (roasted seaweed snack). Dinner was never dinner unless there was white rice to round everything out. It was as if he couldn't feel fully satiated without it.

I wonder if other Koreans can identify with this longing for rice to complete a meal. It signifies for me a long-lasting lore I've always felt that white rice is food, and food is white rice.

It is significant, isn't it, how the word for "rice" in so many cultures is synonymous with the one for "food"? In Korean, bap means both "rice" and "food," or "meal." In Mandarin, it's fàn. In Japanese, gohan. I'm no linguist or historian, but it makes sense to me that this would be the case for cuisines where white rice is at the center, always the starch on the table, the prized crop in the agricultural makeup of all these cultures' food economies.

I think there's also a lot of mystification out there about how to cook white rice. Maybe because everyone does it differently: It's likely that your way of making it is different from your friend's or from Tejal Rao's, from mine. Indeed, how we cook food differently will always be an indication of the variability of culture, and the notion that there is no one right way.

That said, there is a right way in my life, and in my brother's, and in my dad's. I thought it was high time that I share some wisdom from my own mother Jean, whose rice is quite famous for being perfectly fluffy, never mushy, and exactly right. She's been making it for 50 years and, as far as I know, hasn't changed her method since. It comes out immaculate every time, so there's got to be something to it right?

 I have to say here: This method uses an electric rice cooker, which is prevalent in every Korean household like an electric kettle might be in every British household. If you're looking for the stovetop method, proceed here.

Otherwise, here's my mother's method, which, I've learned in recent years, is a little different.

 How To Make Perfect White Rice In A Rice Cooker

First, Jean rinses short-grain white rice (the sticky kind you get at Korean and Japanese restaurants, not jasmine nor basmati, not Uncle Ben's, but this one) straight in the rice cooker. That is, she fills the removable inner pot with rice (never measures), takes it over to the sink, fills it with water, stirs with her hands, and pours the cloudy water out—and repeats this process, say, three or four times until the water runs clearer. She used to make me do this when I was little while she prepped dinner, and I'd get rice all over the sink (which is why now I always rinse my rice in a sieve).

Next, she fills the inner pot (a little water in there is fine, good actually) with enough water so that when she places her palm flat into the rice, the water level rises to the crease in her wrist where it meets the hand. I always thought this was black magic. "My hand is way bigger than yours!" I'd say. And she'd go: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. But I'd end up making rice like this for decades, sticking my palm into the rice and feeling anxious about the lack of science of it all. How accurate could this be, really? Eventually, when I started developing recipes that required exact measurements, I was able to figure out the actual rice-to-wrist-level-water proportions. Which came out to be about 1 cup water for every 1 cup rinsed, drained short-grain white rice. Remember: This is for the rice cooker, not for the stove, so if it doesn't sounds like enough water, just trust me (or rather, trust my mother).

This next step is subtle but, in my experience, essential (especially if you're using the 1:1 water to rice ratio above): My mother lets her rinsed, drained rice sit in its water for a bit before cooking. Sometimes she'd forget about it completely and it'd sit there, and sit there, and sit there. But the idea is that the rice should soak. The resultant texture is, for me, so much fluffier, rounder, better. Even when you think you don't have the time, just soak it a little. Five minutes is better than zero. These days I set a timer for exactly 10 minutes, which I've learned over the years is totally sufficient. Longer is fine, if you forget like her (and me sometimes), but any longer than an hour or so and you run the risk of entering mushy rice territory.
Finally, press the button and wait. But don't watch it. A watched rice cooker never steams.

5 reasons why involving kids in cooking is recipe for success

Cooking for the family can be difficult at times and leave you wanting an assistant in the kitchen. Although it may not save you much time, there is a sous chef you can have start right away, with big benefits: your kids.

Depending on their age, letting kids help cook might seem like more of a hindrance than a help. But your kids can gain a lot by helping you out however they can.

Here are five reasons to put your kids to work in the kitchen.

Help picky eaters

Being a picky eater is like a prerequisite to being a kid. If every mealtime is a battle with your kids, letting them help you in the kitchen could help. When kids are part of the cooking process, they may be more likely to try new foods.

You can even go beyond the kitchen and let your kids help you plant a garden or pick groceries at the store. The more involved kids get in meal planning and preparation, the more likely they are to try some of it when the meal is done.

Teach math

Following and altering a recipe may seem second nature to you now, but it is harder than you think. Kids can gain a lot from using recipes to cook, like reading comprehension and math skills. Recipes often use fractions, like 3/4 cup of flour and 1/3 cup of sugar. Trying to make a double recipe can be a great chance for a practical math exercise.

Recipes also involve reading and understanding specific steps. So besides being delicious, baking a cake could also be just the study help your grade-schooler needs.

Make healthy choices

You can encourage your kids, big and little, to eat more healthy foods by getting them involved in meal prep. When your kids help you shop for and prepare the food, you can let them pick which healthy food they want to make and teach them ways to make delicious, healthy meals.

Cooking together is also a great opportunity to talk with your kids about nutrition and making good food choices.

"The best way to eat healthy meals is to make them from scratch at home," says nutritionist Emily Woll. "Preparing dinner with your kids and including lots of fruits and vegetables will help them make healthy choices themselves."

Help toddlers use senses

Little children learn by playing, touching, tasting and manipulating the world around them. Cooking is a great way for kids to use all these senses at once. Let them dig into whatever you’re making, rolling cookie dough, kneading bread, listening to the mixer, and smelling and tasting the finished product.

Encourage family dinner

Having dinner together as a family has many benefits, including spending time with your kids and helping them to eat healthy meals. As your kids get older, the opportunities to eat dinner together may dwindle due to school and sports obligations.

Have your teens cook dinner with you, and they may be more likely to stick around for the meal. As your kids get older, you can even give them weekly cooking responsibilities for family dinner. They can learn to cook for a group and make their own meals before they head off on their own.

Convincing kids to eat healthy food can be difficult, especially when they are often surrounded by tantalizing fast food and vending machine treats.

Prepare them for the future by cooking with your kids, helping them develop healthy eating habits and skills that will last them a lifetime.

Cooking the books, in his own words, by his own hand

James Cook's original, handwritten journals from his voyages through the Pacific Ocean will go on display in Canberra in an international exhibition announced to coincide with the day the legendary explorer set sail from England 250 years ago.

The National Library of Australia will, for five months from September 22, be home to three journals that chronicle Cook's voyages, from 1768 until one month before his death in 1779.

"We've got a chronometer Cook used on his first voyage, some of the things for making maps and navigating, we've got a telescope, some of the materials used originally by Cook," exhibition co-curator Martin Woods said. "We tried to cover the whole field."

The National Library is the permanent home of one of Cook's journals — it was purchased by the Australian government on March 21, 1923, for £5000 from a private collector at a Sotheby's auction. The other two will be on loan from the British Library in London, while other artefacts from around the world — including a swordfish dagger that may have been used to kill Cook — have been painstakingly collected from museums and collections in Britain and the Pacific.

"When Cook and the Pacific opens next month, we will have on display here in Canberra the most complete set of Cook's major Pacific voyage journals in his own handwriting," National Library director-general Marie-Louise Ayres said.

"Reuniting these journals is significant because they are Cook's own record, in his own words, of how he experienced the three Pacific voyages."

Dr Woods and Susannah Helman curated the exhibition, which includes rarely seen paintings, manuscripts, scientific ­instruments, botanical specimens, archeological material, maps and even a playbill inspired by Cook's voyage.

Dr Wood said he was "the right person in the right place" in the late 1700s. "He started life working the coal ships, the coal trade, and then joined the navy as a late entrant, a mature-age student, you might say," he said. "It's always been amazing he forged such an amazing career, and became the foremost British navigator."