Rice in camp

[rusty_tlc]

I always steam cook my rice at home. I have never cooked rice outdoors.
I'm talking regular old long grain rice, not instant, or some boxed mix. Just white rice.

Any tips?

 

[myquestoyota]

The first two things that come to mind are cooking it in a pan on your coleman stove or pre-cooking it and vacuum sealing it to warm up later?

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Pretty much the same for us ^^ pre-cook, vacuum seal and store in refrigerator. It will keep for around 2-3 cool days, 7-10 days in the fridge or about 3 months in the freezer. Take it out, add a little water and heat up or eat at outdoor temp. One guy I camped with froze his pre-cooked rice and put it in a thermos. It stayed frozen/really cold for 2 or 3 days that way. We have a Whynter 65qt fridge/freezer so we don't really ROUGH IT on most trips anymore.

J

 

[spressomon]

Although at home nothing beats fresh whole grain rice simmered out from raw grain. But on the trail its too time consuming and then the pan is water intensive to clean.

With the advent of frozen cooked brown/whole grain rice at Trader Joes, Whole Foods, etc., and already cooked vac sealed of same at TJ's (no refrigeration required) its just a matter of a quick session with a covered pan and a little water for steam generation to make it work...and very well it does on the trail.

That's how rice gets done for me on the trail...

The other, much quicker and easily cleaned up option for hot grain, from raw, on the trail: Quinoa. 15-20 minutes from raw to fluffed. And any leftover is great the next 'morn for breakfast with a little honey, maple syrup, etc. Done.

 

[zebrabeefj40]

I have done basmati rice in a pan on the Coleman stove many times at both the race track and at camp after a trail ride. 15-20 minutes at best while cooking up an Indian sauce on the other burner with a second stove handling a flat bread of some sort to go with it.

Nick

 

[rusty_tlc]

I am not a fan of quinoa, I tried to like it but just can't. The pre cook stuff in the autoclave packages would be okay for car camping, I have not been impressed with the quality compared to fresh cooked though. Maybe I'll try to work out a steam cook method.

Sent via the ether from my candy bar running ginger bread

 

[rusty_tlc]

I've thought about this and think it is doable. My normal method fro cooking rice:
Wash rice in cold water
Combine rice with an equal amount of water in a bowl
Put the bowl in my stove top steamer
Cook for 30min or until dinner is ready

This method never fails and the rice is always perfectly cooked.

I just need to figure out how to make a steamer that works with the cook pots I carry.

 

[JohnVee]

There are lots of various sizes and styles of 'steamer' baskets out now. Some are silicone. You might have to line one with cheesecloth to prevent the rice from falling through the holes if they're large.

--john

 

[snobdds]

I just use the cook in the bag rice. Seems to work...

Also, jet boil approved...

 

[rusty_tlc]

There are lots of various sizes and styles of 'steamer' baskets out now. Some are silicone. You might have to line one with cheesecloth to prevent the rice from falling through the holes if they're large.

--john

I put the rice and water in a bowl that sits in the steamer basket.

Sent via the ether from my candy bar running ginger bread

 

[rusty_tlc]

Progress;
1 - I learned to cook rice on the stove in a pot, I've always steamed rice so this was a milestone.

2 - I cooked rice on the stove in my backpacking pot, possibly the worst case scenario. It's the little soup pot from my BSA mess kit. Clean up was surprisingly easy.


This is the procedure I use which has proven to be very repeatable;

1. Measure rice into the pot and rinse at least four times or until the water is basically clear, (I'd skip this if water supply was short).
2. Add an equal amount of water (stick your finger into the pot until it touches the bottom, the water should be as deep on top of the rice as the rice is deep).
3. Soak 15 minutes
4. Bring to a boil
5. Simmer 15 minutes at the lowest setting you can get.
6. Done

The next step is using one of my small camp stoves. All the ones I use for backpacking suck at simmering so I may try the Esbit folding stove.