How To Salvage Burnt Rice With A Single Slide Of Bread

It's happened to all of us. We turn our backs on a pot of cooking rice for a moment too long and come back to find the water evaporated and the grains burnt to the pan. Before you toss the whole batch in the trash and order a pizza, wait! It's not necessarily a lost cause. You may be able to save most of it with one surprising ingredient: A slice of bread.

First, don't try to stir or scrape it up. Your goal is to rescue the top layer, and you don't want any of the burnt bits mixed in. Instead, remove the pan from the heat, lay a piece of bread on top of the rice, cover the pan, and wait. With its spongy texture, bread can be very absorbent. It can be used to soak up the humidity in brown sugar and make it soft again, if briefly microwaved together. The same principle is at work here, but the goal is to absorb the burnt odor. 

After 10 or 15 minutes, open the lid and check to see if the charred smell is gone. If it is, do a taste test to be sure. If the flavor is acceptable and you've salvaged enough, you can carefully spoon out the unburnt portion and use it for your meal. If you don't have quite enough, save it for another recipe.  

One solution for your leftovers is to use them in fried rice. Day-old rice is often best for this recipe since it's drier and easier to fry. Grab any veggies you have on hand — even frozen ones will do — and saute them with aromatics. Stir in the rice, add your favorite seasonings and the egg and cook until ready. Your kitchen mishap is now a quick side dish or tasty lunch. If you're in the mood for something sweet instead, you can use the leftovers to make rice pudding. Cooked with milk, egg, sugar, and vanilla, the creamy texture will overcome any issues with the texture of the rice. 

Finally, let's get back to that pan. It may look like it's going to be a chore, but it's fairly easy to clean up a burnt pan by boiling sliced onions in vinegar. If you don't have that much vinegar, lemons and water work too — the key is to choose something high in acid, which will help dissolve the mess so you can remove it completely and leave your pan ready for next time.