If, on the tablecloth, the cutlery can be counted on the fingers of one hand, behind the stoves, a wide variety of instruments is used to prepare food. Discover their origins, sometimes forgotten, and the best way to use them.
by Léo Bourdin
everyday cuisine is a cruel world. Why do it take ten minutes to control the cooking of pasta when that of rice is an inaccurate science that requires several years of learning? Add an overflow of water to the pan and here you are with an internetable porridge; Cut the heat a little too early and you will get under-tie grains. The invention of the automatic rice cooker, in the middle of the XX e century, appeared as a small revolution – at the same time as a relief.
The first model came out of Toshiba factories in 1956. Until then, in Japan, rice was cooked in a terracotta pot above a wooden or traditional coal stove called Kamado. From now on, it is no longer monitored like milk on the fire: it is enough to rinse it abundantly (to rid it of part of the starch it contains), to incorporate it into a container by adding a little of ‘Water at height, finally cover it using a lid … and press a button. In about fifteen minutes, the machine takes care of cooking the sweet starchy stalker – and keeping it at temperature. 2>
its use
Encouraged in a long corridor, accent kitchens (Paris 2 e ) have as a restaurant of wagon-restaurant. On the right, a series of stoves, a worktop and three heated lamps. On the other side, glued to the wall, a shelf supports four rice bakers covered with a beautiful patina. Which spit, here and there, some volutes of steam. But no rice on the program of this star restaurant. So what can they be used for? “Here, we are experiencing by making everything ourselves: from terracotta dishes to condiments, explains Romain Mahi, chef. To make my black garlic and brown the heads, I needed a hot and humid speaker , and, for that, nothing more practical than a rice cooker. “