Not much rice in my genes, I guess.

Today we made risotto milanese (with saffron, parmesan, and cream), steamed rice (rice + water), and two kinds of pilaf (according to Chef, pilaf is traditionally made in the oven): one with wild rice. You'd think rice would be simple, and the prep work really was — just some mirepoix to brunoise for the pilaf, and some onions to sweat. Naturally, the two ingredient rice was the one I had to discard and begin again. DON'T STIR IT UNTIL IT'S NOT WET ANY MORE. It cooks from the bottom up; if you stir it, you are mixing cooked with less cooked, and it will never reach uniform consistency throughout. You know how the white rice becomes flat in the pot, once the water is absorbed over low heat? You have to use a teaspoon to peek down to the bottom, in the middle of the pot, to see what the consistency is down there. If it's still a bit soggy, put the lid back on and let it cook a bit longer. You only fluff it up with a fork once it's evenly cooked.

We didn't eat much rice when I was growing up. Usually, it was half soft and half crunchy, and cooked in the same pan with pork chops. I'll be happy to make these dishes as "sides," once we begin cooking entrées, but nobody in class (Chef included) was really that enthused with today's dishes, in theory or in practice. In fact, Chef went so far as to procure a flank steak and marinate and broil it, for snacking during cleanup.

We're done with food science. The last question on the 50-item multiple choice test was, "Tonight, I will recover from this final by eating the following Ben & Jerry's ice cream." I chose (b) Cherry Garcia, and picked up a pint on the way home. Apparently, the only wrong answer was no answer at all, even though Chef has a preference for One Sweet Whirl. Ice cream is totally relevant to the food science test: we learned about Blue Bunny, largest manufacturer of ice cream in the world, and at one end of the quality spectrum, with Ben & Jerry's as an example of the ultra premium other end. Two big factors in ice cream quality: the amount of buttterfat in the cream, and the speed at which the ice cream is churned. Low butterfat, fast churn = big crystals and cheap ice cream. We'll be celebrating TGIF with the other stuff after dinner tonight.