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Hi Reader
It's officially summer in the Northern Hemisphere, though if you live in Southern California, summer has been quietly auditioning since April. June here comes with its own plot twist: June Gloom. The mornings are foggy, the temperature drops just enough to trick you into thinking you might not need sunscreen, and then by noon you remember where you live. I've come to love it. It's the universe offering a small, merciful pause before the heat waves arrive and you spend three months pretending your kitchen isn't a sauna.
I can't fully prepare for what summer brings in LA: the fires, the heat, the general audacity of it all, but I've made peace with that. What I have gotten better at over the years, though, is rice.
My mother used to take me to the shop near our home in Bombay to buy rice and other staples. It was a small, serious place -- the shopkeeper knew exactly what you needed before you asked. He jotted everything down in notebooks (no computers!). It was there that I learned how to buy basmati: ask for aged basmati if you want a deeper, more fragrant grain, broken basmati for everyday cooking when no one is watching, and the long, intact grains reserved for occasions worth the effort. I think about those trips every time I open a bag of rice. Here, I was allowed to touch the grains before I bought them, something we don't get to do anymore or at least here in America. It helped me build intuition when I shopped for ingredients.
This week's newsletter is all about rice -- basmati in particular, one of the most prized ingredients in any South Asian kitchen. And because I cannot help myself, I also snuck in a recipe for black rice coconut milk pudding, which I have been known to eat for breakfast and feel absolutely no guilt about.
I hope something in here finds its way to your dinner table.
xx
Nik
Ends June 30
A quick reminder before this disappears: Barnes & Noble is offering 30% off when you preorder Fundamentals of Flavor using code CHRONICLECOOKS30 at BN.com. The offer ends June 30.
This book is six years of testing, writing, and chasing the same question that runs through everything I make: Why does food taste good? Inside you'll find 100 recipes paired with the science and flavor principles behind them, written to help you cook with more confidence and less guesswork.
If you've been on the fence, this is the window. Preorders matter more than most people realize. They directly shape how a book gets positioned, stocked, and seen when it hits shelves. Every single one counts, and I mean that.
The 30% discount disappears on June 30. After that, full price.
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A quick reminder before this disappears: Barnes & Noble is offering 30% off when you preorder Fundamentals of Flavor using code CHRONICLECOOKS30 at BN.com. The offer ends June 30.
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On screen this week
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AMERICA'S TEST KITCHEN
I didn't expect this episode to hit me as hard as it did when we were filming. Growing up rice was a staple at home, it was one of the first ingredients I learned to buy and cook.
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THE SCIENCE EDIT
THIS WEEK'S PRINCIPLE
Retrogradation is one example of how starch structure shapes texture and flavor across the kitchen. In Fundamentals of Flavor, I explore how starch behaves in everything from rice and bread to pasta, beans, and root vegetables.
WHY LEFTOVER RICE TASTES DIFFERENT (AND WHY THAT'S ACTUALLY A GOOD THING).
Leftover rice is a kitchen superpower. But to understand why, you need to know what happens to starch when rice cooks and what happens after.
1. What Happens When Rice Cooks
When rice cooks in water, heat causes the starch granules inside each grain to absorb water and swell. TThe two main starch molecules—amylose and amylopectin—become more mobile and begin to separate from their tightly packed arrangement inside the granule. This is what gives freshly cooked rice its soft, tender texture. It also makes it sticky and prone to clumping, which is why fresh rice performs poorly in a hot pan.
2. What Happens Overnight
As cooked rice cools, especially the amylose molecules, the starch begins to reassemble into a more ordered crystalline structure. This process is called retrogradation. The starch continues to recrystallize in the refrigerator, which is why rice chilled overnight is noticeably firmer, less tacky, and drier than rice left on the counter for an hour. The surface moisture evaporates, the grains firm up, and each one stays separate -- exactly the condition you need for frying, crisping, or absorbing flavor without turning to mush.
Retrograded starch is also slightly more resistant to digestion than freshly cooked starch because some of it becomes resistant starch. As a result, cooled rice may produce a somewhat lower glycemic response than freshly cooked rice, though the effect varies with rice variety, storage conditions, and how the rice is reheated.
3. Why This Matters at High Heat
Freshly cooked rice in a hot wok steams rather than fries. The surface moisture keeps much of the rice near 212°F (100°C) until that water evaporates, greatly limiting browning. Day-old rice has less surface moisture. Once it hits a hot pan, the temperature climbs quickly and the caramelization and Maillard reactions can run properly producing the lightly crisped, flavorful result that makes fried rice worth making.
Science Tip: How to Get the Most From Leftover Rice
Three rules worth knowing before you open that container:
- Safety first. Rice can harbor Bacillus cereus, a bacterium that survives cooking and multiplies quickly at room temperature. Cool leftover rice as quickly as possible and refrigerate it promptly after cooking. Use it within 3 to 4 days.
- The ice cube reheat. To bring plain rice back to life, place it in a bowl with a single ice cube in the center. Cover with a damp paper towel and microwave for 1 to 2 minutes. The ice creates a controlled steam chamber that softens the grains without waterlogging them.
- Break it up cold. If you are adding rice to a hot pan, break up any clumps with your hands while the rice is still cold. Trying to separate clumps in a hot wok mashes the grains and undoes everything retrogradation just did for you.
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THis week's RECIPEs
Something sweet and something savory, staying in theme with this week's episode on rice.
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WHAT IS BASMATI RICE AND HOW TO COOK IT?
The science behind perfectly fluffy separate grains -- every time.
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BLACK RICE COCONUT MILK PUDDING
Rice puddings are my comfort food, and sometimes my breakfast. This black rice coconut milk pudding is inspired by the creamy, fragrant Thai-style sticky rice pudding, but built with black (forbidden) rice and sushi rice instead of glutinous rice. The result is a deeply colored, velvety pudding sweetened with jaggery or brown sugar and perfumed with cardamom, coconut milk, and fresh lime zest.
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CHITRANNA/SOUTH INDIAN LEMON RICE
South Indian Lemon Peanut Rice, also known as Chitranna, is a beloved dish from the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is one of those comfort foods that turns simple ingredients into something memorable. The dish gets its golden hue from turmeric, its brightness from fresh lemon juice, and its unmistakable fragrance from curry leaves and coconut oil.
Get the full recipe hosted at ATK
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