Fried Rice

Gastronomic Guesswork was the name I chose for this blog, and the back story is when I first started to try to cook I was starting at zero guessing how to do the simplest of tasks. I remember trying to make fried rice and ending up with something so inedible it took the consistency of putty and the aroma of axle grease. My roommates at the time were horrified by the spectacle and we promptly went for takeout Chinese - I got the fried rice and lamented how far away I was from cooking something even approximating this staple of the bachelor.

A lot of time has passed, more than a decade, but it's still all guesswork - cooking without a net has now become a place of comfort, no longer terror. So with some sentimentality, here's my second attempt at fried rice - took a while for those wounds to heal I guess.

From gastronomic guesswork

The rice was pressure cooked for 5 minutes at 15 psi using a 2:3 ratio of white jasmine rice to water. The pressure was naturally released (not quick cooldown under the faucet). The rice was cooled uncovered in the fridge for an hour. In a large saute pan I crisped 1/2 lb of chopped bacon ends, added 4 beaten eggs, and removed the bacon and eggs. After rinsing the pan, I returned it to medium high heat with enough grapeseed oil to form a thin coat, added 5-6 cups of the rice, 2 chopped red peppers, 1 bunch of scallions chopped, and several dashes of soy sauce, then stirred constantly to break the rice up and to keep it from scorching. After allowing the rice to lose a little moisture, I reincorporated the eggs and bacon to warm through. Pretty darn close to that staple I enjoyed in my single days, but happily this time I did the cooking.