I have about 8 quarts of dry brown sushi rice and am looking to cook all or most of it to incorporate into a handful of dishes on the same day. What is the most effective way of cooking that much rice, minus a pressure cooker, that would allow me to prepare the rice Friday and make the dishes that night and Saturday during the day to serve at night?
- Please include not only ideal kitchen hardware solutions (in case I can track it down), but more importantly likely stuff (i.e. I have a multi-gallon stock pot with lid).
- If there are any additives that would give the rice better staying power (e.g. would adding oil/butter improve or diminish integrity) to make it 24 hours without turning to crap please include this.
- Between Friday night and incorporation into dishes, as well for the sake of those dishes, I would like to know the best storage method for both the prepared rice, unmixed, as well as any peculiar caveats for mixing, if any.
If there are any not-so-common-sense problems that come screaming to mind that I might otherwise have thought to include please let me know as I have not done this before but am relying on multiple pounds of rice for the food I am making.
Best Answer
I'd cook it in a regular sauce pan, I guess you'll need a big one for your solution. Then add whatever additives you want (rice vinegar, Mirin ect). Then wrap the rice you're not going to use in cling film like onigiri and place in the fridge for the next day. This is a standard method for Japanese people who take lunch to work.
There are big rice cookers but unless you can rent one somehow (Japanese caterers perhaps?) then it'll cost you a couple hundred at least and you have potential problems with voltages and the language difference.
Definitely do not add oil or butter, I tried a similar thing once and it ruined the rice. Fat and Japanese rice do not go together.
The bigger issue are the dishes you are preparing the night before. Unless you wrap it in cling film it'll dry out also for sushi/sashimi you really should make sure it's fresh off the boat the morning it is served and never warms up.