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Food - Drink
Alton Brown's Key Step For Flavorful Rice
By KALEA MARTIN
One of the best ways to make rice more flavorful without adding extra seasoning is to simply toast it before cooking. Toasting rice brings out its natural nuttiness, but according to "Good Eats" host Alton Brown, you can take that flavor a step further by adding two staple ingredients you likely have on hand.
Instead of toasting the rice in a pan by itself, Brown adds fat and salt, explaining that "by cooking this in fat before we add water, we can up the nuttiness that is naturally in this kind of rice." Brown recommends using butter over any form of fat, as the milk solids in it will add another layer of flavor.
Brown uses 2 tablespoons of butter per 3 cups of rice, in addition to a generous pinch of salt. Sauté the ingredients over high heat, and as soon as you smell a popcorn-like aroma, add water and cook your rice as you normally would; when it's time to serve, you'll be able to taste the difference.