Gordon Ramsay's Rule For When To Season Rice

Rice is a side dish staple that pairs well alongside everything from seafood to chicken, pork, and beef, largely because its flavor is a canvas that is waiting for your culinary creativity to add its mark. However, when you do add your own spin to this dish, you should follow Gordon Ramsay's rule for when to season it. On his Youtube channel, Ramsay recommends seasoning your rice before you start cooking it so it can infuse into those grains as it boils. 

Why not wait? If you wait to add your salt and pepper and all the wonderful spices you love, they are really just a dusting of ingredients layered on top of a finished product rather than blended into the dish. Opening up your spice cabinet and breaking out those shakers before you turn on a burner is going to allow all of those lovely and fragrant flavor choices to be absorbed during the cooking process.

When Ramsay is cooking rice, he likes to use whole cardamon pods which he pierces to get the full effect of their spicy and sweet taste along with star anise seeds for their aromatic properties as well as the flavor. Additionally, he uses black pepper and salt. Ramsay's rule works best with dried herbs and seasonings; if you are adding those of the fresh, delicate variety, you still want to wait until after the rice has cooked in most cases. 

Other taste enhancers you can turn to if you are looking to make your rice really pop include a lovely chicken, beef, or vegetable stock, a citrus zest, or even something as simple as butter which adds a rich, creamy flavor to your mouth. Meanwhile, cooked with a little nutmeg, cinnamon, and brown sugar, rice can satisfy the sweetest of sweet tooths and complement a number of proteins.