What's the best way to cook several gallons of rice?

[struggle4progress]

[PoliticAverse]

1. Do you have a pot that can hold the rice + 2x the rice in water? n/t

[struggle4progress]

2. Yup!

[elleng]

3. Good. Same way as for smaller amounts,

same/similar proportions.

[struggle4progress]

4. That sounds easy enough! Thanks!

[elleng]

5. You're welcome.

Good luck!

[PoliticAverse]

6. There you go then. Assuming white rice it's 1-1/2 - 2x water for each unit of rice.

For larger rice quantities you need less water so for 1 gallon of rice, 1-1/2 gallons of water
+ some salt in a covered pot. When it starts to boil reduce heat to minimum for boil.
When water is near gone (about 20 minutes) shut off heat and let leave it alone for 10 minutes or so.

Consider rinsing the rice first until the rinse water is clear (results in less 'sticky' final product).

You might want to start with a smaller batch to see if you've got everything right.

It's also possible to cook large amounts of rice in the oven (apparently that is the way
it is done in many institutional kitchens) see:
http://www.chowhound.com/post/cooking-rice-oven-564643

[struggle4progress]

8. Thanks!

[Liberal Jesus Freak]

7. I always bake it.

1gallon rice to 2 1/4 gallons water, chicken stock or vegetable stock. Bake at 350 for about 1 hour (covered) stirring once or twice. Perfect rice every time. Add a little turmeric for yellow rice!

[struggle4progress]

9. I may try that!

[dem in texas]

10. Yes, That is was I was thinking baking the rice, too.

Baking allows to use shallower pan which will distribute the heat better without a lot of stirring like you would have to do in a big pot.

If I am baking a meat dish in the oven and plan on rice to go with it, I will always bake the rice too. I have one shallow square baking dish which is perfect for rice. I put in the rice, right amount of liquid and cover and let it bake, doesn't take too long; about 25 minutes for a 6 serving amount of rice

[Tab]

11. It's all ratios

but when you get into big numbers, you have to have the thermal energy to sustain it. If you've got a big enough pot, and a strong enough burner, you'd be okay (although I don't know what you mean by "several" gallons).

Also, a consideration is the pot height:width ratio (I don't mean pot, I mean the pot, but if you have enough pot you might not care about the pot. Anyway...). A thinner, taller, pot will burn better on a small burner, but a wider one will reach temp quicker but may not have the pressure. The whole pressure/temperature thing is a science in itself.

Or, call a local restaurant. How much can rice cost anyway?

[struggle4progress]

12. I mean I want something like 5 to 8 gallons of cooked rice when done

[Tab]

13. I'll do the math in the morning.

Can't do it right now

[struggle4progress]

14. I got a PhD in math so that part I might be able to do

[Tab]

20. My degree is mainly in logic

You'd think you couldn't get through computer science without math, but you can - mainly need logic and algebra. But when I get into game play and need some physics explained to me (or even just a smoothing algorithm) it's off to the math guy/gal that I go. Right now, however, I just need to get through my taxes. I can't calculate rice.

I think, from my own anectdotal experience, smaller wider pots work better. The wider pot lets it get up to temperature more quickly, and the shortness (with a decent cover) traps the pressure for a good result. That said, I haven't tried to do 8 gallons, so I don't know what equipment you have available.

Consider a pressure cooker though - or even a rice cooker - if you have to do this on a regular basis.

[rusty quoin]

17. So a tall pot on the on a burner of the same size should work well better.

A small tube with large volume will give high pressure which is what you want with rice.

I don't think I have ever cooked more than 2 cups of rice, but I have found that I needed to scape the bottom of the pot at least 1/2 way through so that the bottom rice does not burn, and to get all the rice cooked the same. That is at the lowest burner temp.

With a very tall pot, I think you would need a very long and strong wooden spoon, and a strong arm. I don't know how restaurants do it.

[Tab]

18. You're forcing me to use more brain power than I usually have at 1 in the morning (EST).

I think the more effective thing, as you noted, would be a smaller tube rather than a wide pot. You have to keep it pressurized, which is easier with a small narrow base - OR - as I actually prefer, a smaller flat narrow container, particularly my Le Creuset, which is about perfect, ratio wise, but I confess I haven't tried to cook 8 gallons. Still, I'd think a wide 75% would be just about right. There's enough pressure to cook the rice, yet tight enough to keep the heat up. That said, I've never tried to cook 8 gallons of rice at one time, so YMMV.

[Phentex]

22. I don't do math but

you all are confusing me with talk of gallons of rice. I have always heard rice referred to by the cup. Even rice cookers refer to cups.

I thought gallons referred to liquid measure.

[Tab]

25. Well, I figured you were talking in gallons of liquid

but because of the ratios they relate directly to rice, anyone from 1 to 1/4 for brown, to 1 1/2 for shortgrain, to 2 for mushy or certain other grains of rice. So, when I said 8 gallons of rice I mean 8 gallons of mixture, which is still quite a bit for a regular household. I'm still not going to break it down - it's been a long day - but usually you have one or two cups of water per cup of rice.

Okay, I see I'm going to make myself break it down (sigh, for my own stupid reasons to figure this out). Part of the problem with the imperial system is that a cup of dry is not necessarily the same as a cup of liquid. But, for the hell of it, let's say it is. Also, rice varies between needing only 1 cup (brown) to 2 cups (mushy rice) and the reality in between, depending on what you're cooking, and I'm not counting risotto or anything like that. So, if a gallon has 16 cups of rice and water (presuming measurements are the same, which I already noted they're not), let's say - for simplicity purposes - that's 2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice, making it about 15 cups of rice+water mix for a gallon. You want 8 gallons, so that's 40 cups of rice+water mix. That's about 17 cups of water to 13 cups of rice, or some damned thing like that (it varies with the rice, not to mention you're mixing liquids and dry volumes) but still, it's a good pot's worth of rice and water.

And, of course, the rice absorbs the water, so to end up with X cups of rice (or gallons if you prefer) you need X (rice) + (X *2) (water) to end up with something like maybe X 1/2.

From their you're on you own, although maybe Warpy or someone will stick their head in and finish the math off for me (or just finish me off). Or read Harold McGee. I'm sure he has the answer in there somewhere.

[Phentex]

26. I'm just a bystander to the thread...

found it interesting that the OP referred to making gallons of rice and others followed suit.

[Tab]

28. Part of the problem is

That under imperial (meaning: U.S.) measurements, liquid is measured in cups/pints/quarts/gallons, and dry might be measure in different cups (to make it easier) although when you get into baking, the more proper unit is weight ratios. However, they started off in gallons and we're trying to go for it.

Perhaps the more proper question would have been "I have to make 30 cups of rice, how do I do that), but c'est la vie.

[Tab]

30. I would almost argue that if you have the scrape the pot more than once or twice

your heat is off. If I do it right, I just scrape it near the end when I'm running out of water. The pressure has done its work - I try not to keep the lid off too much, and one good scrape and then removing it shortly from the burner works well. If you're constantly having to scrape I'd argue you either have too much heat or it's not evenly distributed (or too little water) but you don't want to screw up your pressure by constantly stirring - I've never gotten anywhere with that. Or - and this should be considered - your pan may be too thin and not fully distributing the heat, which can cause hot spots.

[rusty quoin]

31. No, I do it once, and add a little water if needed.

I was just wondering how large amounts are done. I only know family size amounts.

[Tab]

32. I think that unless you have access to a real industrial kitchen with big-assed vats and stuff

it'll be a tricky think to do as a one-off at home in one single batch. You're going to have to break it up a bit.

Also, figure out if you're talking cups of rice or gallons of water. Better to start with the type of rice (long-grain, short-grain, wildrice) and figure out the water (and thus the batches from there).

[rusty quoin]

33. I agree.

[SheilaT]

15. Sometimes you just have to break up the very large quantities.

I often cook for my local homeless shelter, which involves large amounts of food. When I'm doing things like spaghetti, I boil up at most 2 pounds of spaghetti at a time. It's tedious, but it works.

[Retrograde]

16. Can you rent an industrial rice cooker?

I've seen very large ones at Chinese and Korean restaurants: put in rice and water, push the button, and wait. Would it be possible to rent or borrow one?

How much is "several" gallons? Two? Ten?

[Tab]

19. Actually, years ago

I worked for a company whose owner traveled to Japan a lot. This was the mid-80's. He brought back a "fuzzy logic" (all the rage back then) - "AI" devoted to cooking rice - no one says the Japanese don't take their rice seriously. Anyway, the brand was ingeniously called "National Rice Cooker" (I believe a subsidiary of Panasonic) but it made damned good rice. Too good - I learned you can't be on a rice diet and lose weight.

You probably couldn't get an 8-gallon cooker, but there are a lot of test kitchens around. I'd be curious to see how it went.

Or, I might just make a few batches of rice at night. Who knows.

[dem in texas]

21. Made Baked Rice for Lunch today

I was making oven barbequed chicken again (hubby loves this) so since the oven was on, I put long grain white rice in a baking and covered it with the right amount of water and a little salt and covered the dish with foil. I did not measure, I have been making rice this way for so long that I can tell by the level of the rice in the dish how much water I need to add. I made about 8 cups of rice when it was cooked. I just fluff it with a fork and it is ready to serve. Same as rice cooked on the stove.

I served about 3 cups of rice for lunch today, put the rest in the fridge to use for making Sonora Chicken Casserole in a few days. .

[trof]

23. OK, I'll ask. What are you doing with "several gallons" of rice?

[struggle4progress]

24. Dinner at local shelter. Their kitchen turned out to have two "steam tables"

that were perfect for cooking large pans of rice

[Tab]

27. See if you can borrow one after work one evening

and see what you can get out of that, and get it back in time for their morning Then you'll know how many more you need for it all, or if you need to set some aside and reheat it gently (maybe with steam).

[valerief]

29. Cook a cup of rice and see how much that yields in a gallon container. Then multiply.

Cook as many cups as needed to fill the gallons desired.