AriadneArts

The problem I have with boiling the rice is when you drain it, you're pouring a lot of the nutrition down the drain, whereas in steaming, it absorbs all the water and retains all the nutrients. Also, the article instructs one to use the same amount of water per cup regardless of the type of rice. In my many years of eating and cooking rice, I have found that certain types, like the pearl/calrose types may take more water than the long grain, (and certainly brown rice takes more water than white, as a rule). Also, the age of the rice figures into the equation: rice that's been sitting on the market shelves longer will need more water to cook. My first batch cooked from a new bag of rice is therefore an experiment, after which I know how much water it really needs. I do use my rice cooker and, as others have said, it makes perfect rice every time, as long as I get the amount of water right for that particular type.

GlorifiedRice: I am new here. That was only my SECOND post. Yes, I did say she was a full-time homemaker. Sorry, that wasn't totally accurate. You, on the other hand, said "woman now living in DC for the Govt" which is no longer the case. But I wasn't addressing your post at all. Maybe you should read her book. She writes that she spends MOST of her time at home with her family, and that she's happiest when doing so. I thought my third post would clarify my intentions to you, but it apparently did not. I'm sorry you feel I "implied" otherwise, but perceived implications are, at best, assumptions on the part of the perceiver. They may or may not be correct. I absolutely did NOT mean to imply that she lacked qualifications! As for me, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. Won't you do the same for me? Thanks.

Whoa.... I never said she wasn't qualified. I was actually responding to Tim Chambers' request for 'upscale Mexican' cookbooks. I have her book, have read it from cover to cover, and think she would agree that the recipes in that book are hardly upscale--they aren't meant to be. The subtitle of her book is "The Secrets of Real Mexican Home Cooking", and as I said in my prior post, that is her focus in the book (as she, herself, writes). I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone. BTW, her book just came out and she writes that she now lives in Texas with her husband and kids. She travels a great deal--to DC where, as official chef of the MCI, she often hosts programs, and to Mexico, where she visits family and also travels to towns and villages collecting recipes and traditional cooking techniques. All that in addition to her TV show and teaching! Mighty busy lady.

Pati Jinich's book "Pati's Mexican Table" is geared to home cooking. She also has a TV show of the same name on Nat'l Public TV. The former political analyst is now a full-time homemaker. It's a lovely book, very readable, with charming stories about her upbringing in Mexico City before coming to the U.S. as an adult. Her focus is "real" Mexican everyday home cooking, the kind she grew up with and now feeds her husband and three boys. I'm thinking it's probably not what a professional chef is looking for. Just MHO. :-)

Wow! That was truly heartwarming! So lovely to see the 'natives' gradual change of attitude--180 degrees. I'll bet they're still talking about it to this day. Thank you.