Reheating rice

Zazen999

Skint_Catt wrote: »

Ah! I was trying to microwave egg fried rice with bits in - prob not good to boil! Will try plain rice next time!

No problem with this either; I'd pop it in a colander/sieve and place it over the pan of boiling water with a lid on it - it will absorb the steam and soften up and heat as it goes. Might take a bit longer than a couple of mins, and make sure it is hot all the way through. I don't have a microwave but the other method as described would also work well.

GreenNinja

I reheat rice all the time and have never had so much as an upset stomach. I don't have a microwave so put it in a glass pyrex dish with a lid with a bit of water just to moisten it and heat up in the oven.

zarazara

no no no dont do it. rice has VERY NASTY bacteria and you can be made seriously ill by eating reheated rice. rice can be reheated to a high temperature which will kill the bacteria but each and every grain has to be thoroughly heated through to eliminate risk. Its just not worth it. its akin to eating a salad which raw chicken has been dripping on. you might eat it and get away with it and be ok or you might not. I wont take that risk, would you?

Caterina

When I was doing my Food Hygiene Certificate I was told that the safest way to reheat rice is to fry it rather than boil it, because boiling only reaches 100 degrees C, which does not kill the Bacillus Cereus (the bug responsible for the food poisoning caused by rice). Whereas frying oil reaches much higher temperatures that are able to kill the bug.

We were also told that most of the times when someone gets a bad tummy after a dodgy chinese or indian takeaway it is not due to the meat but more likely to the rice!

Having said all that, I have lost count of the number of times I have left a pan of leftover brown rice on the cooker and reheated it (boiling it hehehe) for the next dinner, fed to myself and family and we all lived to tell the tale (crossing fingers!).:eek:

Caterina

Pretani

Caterina wrote: »

We were also told that most of the times when someone gets a bad tummy after a dodgy chinese or indian takeaway it is not due to the meat but more likely to the rice!

and nothing to do with the spices? sometimes the people who give out the Food Hygiene Certificate's, need to think broader.

thriftlady_2

zarazara wrote: »

no no no dont do it. rice has VERY NASTY bacteria and you can be made seriously ill by eating reheated rice. take that

That isn't so. Rice is perfectly safe if it is cooled quickly and reheated thoroughly. The danger is in keeeping it at room temp for long periods. Check what the Food Standards Agency has to say here.

I've been eating reheated leftover rice all my life (42 years) and never once been ill from it.

thriftlady_2

Pretani wrote: »

and nothing to do with the spices? sometimes the people who give out the Food Hygiene Certificate's, need to think broader.

Interesting, I've never heard of spices making anyone ill. Can you give us more info?

kiwifruit_2

what is the difference then of me reheating rice Id cooked the day before, and, heating up a bag of well known brand precooked rice I can get from the supermarket????

thriftlady_2

kiwifruit wrote: »

what is the difference then of me reheating rice Id cooked the day before, and, heating up a bag of well known brand precooked rice I can get from the supermarket????

Good point -none at all I would think as long as you reheat both thoroughly. Oh, there is one difference of course -it's much cheaper to reheat home-cooked rice.

There's some useful advice here on rice safety also loads of brilliant leftover recipes.

Pretani

thriftlady wrote: »

Interesting, I've never heard of spices making anyone ill. Can you give us more info?

it may be possible that the people who were ill became ill because of the spice used, instead of other reasons. I know several people who can't eat food with certain spices, many of which are used in takeaways.