# How much rice do I need?



## cookingSoul (Oct 19, 2006)

you need 20 cups of cooked long grain white rice how many pounds of raw rice do you need to buy.......
raw rice 1 cup = 6.5 ounces .41 lbs
cooked rice 1 cup = 7.25 .45lbs
anybody know the answer or can you help me figure it out? 

when i say chef...i mean teacher...because at the school i go to every teacher is called a chef because the school does not hire those without chef skills as it would be inappropriate to pay the teachers the money they pay them and not have the experience to back that paycheck thus....every teacher is a qualified chef

i left the lbs out cause my friends kept doing it in lbs which isnt accurate enough...but that is all the information given...

theres a certain method to obtaining the correct answer but...idk what it is =\

ok raw rice = 6.5 oz (oz = ounces) now this means...if you put dry uncooked raw white long grain rice into a measuring cup with the measurement of 1 cup it will weigh 6.5 ounces or (oz) for those who are lacking the ability to grasp this

now...cooked rice = 7.25 ounces (again...its still..oz)  means that if you cooked long grain white rice and put it in a measuring cup marked as 1 cup it will weigh 7.25 ounces (oz)

now if you have to read that in order to understand the question..stop now and do not attempt the question...BECAUSE ITS COMMON SENSE

and assume nothing...logical reasoning...all the information is there if you cant decipher then dont worry about it...i will hopefully find out the answer tuesday or monday...i appreciate those who attempted to solve the problems and ive been checking them over but i honestly dont know cause theres so many different answers ive received...


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## Andy M. (Oct 19, 2006)

A cup of raw rice yields three cups of cooked.

To get 20 cups of cooked rice you would need 6.667 cups of raw rice.  That would amount to 43.34 ounces or 2.7 pounds of raw rice.


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## cookingSoul (Oct 20, 2006)

now is that using the numbers i produced with the question...or is that just basic rice conversion...i beleive the numbers must be used...im currently in culinary school and i am having problems on this..problem...which is from the book...so i think my chef (teacher) wants the class to use those numbers to determine the correct answer...


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## Alix (Oct 20, 2006)

According to your numbers, you gain .75 ounces from raw to cooked. I guess you should do the math from there. Never been to culinary school, so I don't have a clue how your math problems work.

If I were you, I'd just take Andy's measurement. He's right.


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## cookingSoul (Oct 20, 2006)

yes but my chef said some kid took 8 hours finished at 3 am and called him and said CHEF I GOT IT...and was one decimal place off...also ive had friends say its like 8.1 or something lbs...which sounded off....now either andy is incredibly smart and knows his stuff...or thats not the correct answer...but it sounds good lol


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## Caine (Oct 20, 2006)

One cup of raw rice, cooked in 1 1/2 to 2 cups of water, will produce 2 cups of cooked rice. One cup of uncooked long grain white rice weighs 6 3/4 ounces. There are 16 ounces in a pound. You can do the math from there.




Kwia-Chang Caine say, "You can never have too much rice."


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## Alix (Oct 20, 2006)

Andy IS incredibly smart! However, it is not such a tough problem for someone who has cooked a lot. If you've cooked for a lot of people, chances are you have made that much rice a time or two. PRACTICALLY, it is easy. 

The hard part is doing the theoretical math. If THAT is what you're looking for, you might be better looking on a math whiz site. LOL.


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## Andy M. (Oct 20, 2006)

cookingSoul said:
			
		

> ...now either andy is incredibly smart and knows his stuff...or thats not the correct answer...,


 

cookingSoul, please let me know as soon as the chef gives you the correct answer whether I'm incredibly smart or wrong.  The suspense is killing me.

My calculations are all based on the premise that cooked rice is three times the volume of uncooked.  If that's wrong, so is my answer.

Also, I didn't realize I was doing your homework, I thought I was helping with a practical situation.

Looking forward to your response, good luck in class.


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## Lizannd (Oct 20, 2006)

*Can you give us the question as it was asked?  It seems*

as if some information is missing.


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## Lizannd (Oct 20, 2006)

*Assuming 1 part raw produces  2 parts cooked I figure you will need*

wait, let me think it over again.


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## cookingSoul (Oct 20, 2006)

i go back to school monday...also its not really hw....its a random question in the book chef told us to take it home and attempt to figure it out....if so we get extra credit on our test...

do you think you could solve the problem using the numbers i gave? or would it come out the same?....cause ive attempted and i get stuck like half way through or it doesnt seem right


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## Alix (Oct 20, 2006)

LOL! You are the only one who knows what the question actually says. If you want to post it word for word here you might get more help.


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## Andy M. (Oct 20, 2006)

Using the info you gave, you still have to make assumptions to get the job done,  

I took a second shot at it with your info.

Figure a cup of raw rice is cooked in two cups of water (an assumption).  The total weight of the rice and the water is 6.5 plus 16.67 ounces for a total of 23.17 ounces.

A cup of cooked rice weighs 7.25 ounces.  If you divide 23.17 by 7.25 the result is 3.2 cups of cooked rice from a cup of raw and two cups of water.  

This takes you to my original calculation in my first post with slightly different results if you use 3.2 cups of cooked rice from a cup of raw instead of the 3.0 I used.

Either way, you have to make an assumption.  

If there is a way to answer the question with the facts given and NO assumptions, I don't know what it is so be sure to share.


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## Corey123 (Oct 20, 2006)

Usually, the rule of thumb, Andy, as you mentioned, is to use two parts of water with one part of rice.

For instance, to get one cup of cooked rice, you will need a 1/2 cup of raw rice and one cup of water. For two cups of cooked rice, you need one cup raw rice and two cups of water, and so on.

With just about all types of rice, the rice and water ratio is the same.


~Corey123.


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## cookingSoul (Oct 20, 2006)

ok well i updated but there is nothing more to the problem...updated the lbs 

theres honestly nothing left there...the problem is as is...the only thing is the lbs which could be figured out by the ounces i gave...


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## XeniA (Oct 21, 2006)

cookingSoul said:
			
		

> you need 20 cups of cooked long grain white rice how many pounds of raw rice do you need to buy.......
> raw rice 1 cup = 6.5 ounces .41 lbs
> cooked rice 1 cup = 7.25  .45lbs



Can you get a clarification/confirmation from the teacher in order to solve this? I'd like to know this: does the "cooked rice 1 cup" mean a _*cup*_ of _*raw*_ rice, _*cooked*_, or is it a cup of cooked rice, presumably scooped from more-than-a-cup of _cooked_ rice?

If it's the former, you can take the two weights you're given and figure out what percentage of the final weight of the cooked rice comes from water and then you should be able to reverse that calculation on the final 20 cups of cooked rice to come up with the dry weight needed.

But if it's the latter, you don't have the information you need to solve this -- you'd need a _volume_ difference raw to cooked.


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## Gretchen (Oct 21, 2006)

The answer I get doesn't totally make sense with my kitchen cooking but here goes. But in looking, maybe it does. I just measure with cups so haven't ever thought about pounds/C.

If you take all your knowns then you can state  it another way, 
the lb. in 1C raw rice is to the lbs in 1C cooked rice is the same as     X lb. raw rice is to 9 lb. cooked rice.

Since you must compare similar things and in this case cups to lbs then

20C cooked rice weighs 9#.    (20 x O.45 (lb/C) = 9 )

o.41 (lb/C raw).........X (lb/ raw)
0.45_ (lb./C cooked_) = 9 (lb/20C cooked)

I can't get the formatting of the X to hold, but it should be over the nine, of course. And the = in the middle. (the dots are for the formatting.)

Solving this equation makes 8.2# raw rice.



Where are you in culinary school? We are REALLY enjoying our Johnson&Wales.
This question also interests me because it so exactly points out that chefs are not ALL about cooking. Got to plan and know how much to cook for the numbers served.
In touring J&W I was so interested to learn that it isn't just the cooking that is taught to get the culinary degree. J&W is a full accredited university so math, english, etc. are all also taught.


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## boufa06 (Oct 21, 2006)

CookingSoul, I cook rice most of the time.  For 2 persons, I prepare rice by cooking 1 cup of raw rice (Thai rice or equivalent) with 1-1/2 cups of water.  So you can calculate from there.


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## philso (Oct 21, 2006)

if you ask me, your chef is throwing you for a loop.

any chef in charge of inventory knows that you buy rice in bulk, by the 25 or 50 lb. bag, because that is what is most cost effective.  and i've never come across any purveyor that would be willing to sell 2.7 lbs.


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## Gretchen (Oct 21, 2006)

philso said:
			
		

> if you ask me, your chef is throwing you for a loop.
> 
> any chef in charge of inventory knows that you buy rice in bulk, by the 25 or 50 lb. bag, because that is what is most cost effective. and i've never come across any purveyor that would be willing to sell 2.7 lbs.


 
That would certainly be correct. I also have never been faced with the two trains coming toward me from opposite directions at differering speeds.  ;o)
But in a professional kitchen, you would still need to know how to figure out how much food you may need. For the most part, professional kitchens are run on the basis of weights--pastries/baking, for example--and have scales available. 
But perhaps more to the point for example, what if the chef knew he was fixing that amount of rice 3 times in the next 10 days. Then a 25# bag of rice would be approximately the amount needed for it all (if I am right in the previous calculations).


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## Michael in FtW (Oct 21, 2006)

Based on the information you have given (several people have asked you to post this word problem _*exactly*_ as presented but you don't seem to want to do that) - Andy M. is right at 2.7 (or 2.708) pounds of rice. This is based on the assumption that 1-cup raw rice with 2-cups water yeilds 3-cups of cooked rice. This is assumed (roughly calculated) from the weight of the "cooked" rice vs dry weight - remember, weight of the raw rice plus the weight of the water added to hydrate it during cooking equals the cooked weight (with some vairance for evaporation during cooking). Although the general rule is "a pint's a pound the world around" - the actual weight of a gallon of water is 8.345 pounds.

The general rule of thumb is 1-part rice plus 2-parts liquid = 3-parts cooked rice (REF: USA Rice Federation ... and all the bags of rice I have in the pantry).


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## Gretchen (Oct 21, 2006)

What if this problem was posed not for rice but for grain XYZ which the person has never cooked nor had any previous experience? 

I guess the other question to ask the OP is whether there are some cooking instructions for rice preceding the problem or something like that that could be inferred into the problem.
I think my answer is outlandish but working from the numbers/weights given, I think (obviously) it is correct. And I generally assume 4C cooked anecdotally from 1C rice.


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## Corey123 (Oct 21, 2006)

Michael in FtW said:
			
		

> Based on the information you have given (several people have asked you to post this word problem _*exactly*_ as presented but you don't seem to want to do that) - Andy M. is right at 2.7 (or 2.708) pounds of rice. This is based on the assumption that 1-cup raw rice with 2-cups water yeilds 3-cups of cooked rice. This is assumed (roughly calculated) from the weight of the "cooked" rice vs dry weight - remember, weight of the raw rice plus the weight of the water added to hydrate it during cooking equals the cooked weight (with some vairance for evaporation during cooking). Although the general rule is "a pint's a pound the world around" - the actual weight of a gallon of water is 8.345 pounds.
> 
> The general rule of thumb is 1-part rice plus 2-parts liquid = 3-parts cooked rice (REF: USA Rice Federation ... and all the bags of rice I have in the pantry).


 


What word problem are you talking about?


~Corey123.


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## Alix (Oct 21, 2006)

Corey123 said:
			
		

> What word problem are you talking about?
> 
> 
> ~Corey123.


 
The original poster's question Corey. It is part of his homework, and it has not been written here word for word.


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## Corey123 (Oct 22, 2006)

Sorry, but I never measured rice by the pound.

Only stuff used for baking, such as flour, sugar, butter, etc..


~Corey 123.


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## XeniA (Oct 22, 2006)

cookingSoul said:
			
		

> theres honestly nothing left there...the problem is as is...


 Beg your pardon Michael, but I didn't get the feeling cookingSoul _refused_ to post the problem word-for-word -- to the contrary, he seems to be confirming above that the problem presented to us is as it was presented to him!



			
				Gretchen said:
			
		

> What if this question was posed not for rice but for grain XYZ which the person has never cooked nor had any previous experience?


 Exactly! This appears to me (and Gretchen I gather) clearly to be a culinary math question, rather than a practical question that should be answered based on general rules of thumb and/or experience. It should be answerable based _only_ on the information given, with no assumptions or extrapolations!



			
				Michael in ftW said:
			
		

> This is assumed (roughly calculated) from the weight of the "cooked" rice vs dry weight - remember, weight of the raw rice plus weight of the water added to hydrate it during cooking equals the cooked weight ...


 I agree, however, cookingSoul has not been _given_ either the weight _or_ the volume of the amount of raw rice needed to get 1 cup of cooked rice, has he?

Unless, of course ... the problem's been written in pretty poor English and "1 cup cooked rice" actually means "1 cup (raw) rice, cooked". If the latter was intended (and cookingSoul, I still recommend you get your teacher to confirm this), we have all the information we need, but the lack of meaningful punctuation and standard grammar has rendered this problem confusing at best!


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## Gretchen (Oct 22, 2006)

This problem is addictive!!  And I believe I have come to my senses from some procedure meds and while I think my answer is ridiculously wrong (from a kitchen standpoint)  I still think my premise is correct with what has been given to work with. 
The other thing that is now niggling at me is that my answer is off by a factor of 3 to Andy's original 2.7--the number of cups of cookied rice you obtain/cup!!


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## Andy M. (Oct 22, 2006)

Ayrton said:
			
		

> ...I agree, however, cookingSoul has not been _given_ either the weight _or_ the volume of the amount of raw rice needed to get 1 cup of cooked rice, has he?...


 

That's the answer to the problem.  You need to know this to determine how much raw rice you need to yield the quantity of cooked rice in the problem.


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## cookingSoul (Oct 22, 2006)

stop saying its not posted word for word i copied it exactly there is nothing more this is why it is such a tough problem andy retrieved an answer...3 of my friends retrieved an answer...my father retrieved an answer and I retriever an answer...i wanted to compare to others to see if anybody else got the same as i did....

IT IS THERE WORD FOR WORD....now quit saying that it isnt


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## cookingSoul (Oct 22, 2006)

the book merely says rice cooked

also yes if you were in a kitchen and your volume of people coming in from the previous week was like 50 and you used 6 cups of rice you would probably make 6-8 cups and if you had left overs give it to the staff or store it for the next day....this is a culinary math problem and it is not as though my work chef said hey do this and were only going to order this amount....its just a math problem...i do appreciate the help...


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## XeniA (Oct 22, 2006)

Andy M. said:
			
		

> That's the answer to the problem.  You need to know this to determine how much raw rice you need to yield the quantity of cooked rice in the problem.


  I hear you Andy and I basically agree, but I still say that without knowing either the volume or weight ratio between dry and cooked rice, you can't solve this problem with the info given.  If the rule of thumb everyone's using (twice the water to rice) has been taught to cookingSoul and it's understood that when the kids in this class are solving problems they're to use the information in the problems AND anything else they've learned at school, then I agree with you.  Otherwise, seems there's something missing.  CookingSoul, please let us know what your teacher has to say!


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## Andy M. (Oct 22, 2006)

Ayrton said:
			
		

> I hear you Andy and I basically agree, but I still say that without knowing either the volume or weight ratio between dry and cooked rice, you can't solve this problem with the info given. If the rule of thumb everyone's using (twice the water to rice) has been taught to cookingSoul and it's understood that when the kids in this class are solving problems they're to use the information in the problems AND anything else they've learned at school, then I agree with you. Otherwise, seems there's something missing. CookingSoul, please let us know what your teacher has to say!


 
That's what I've been saying! You must make an assumption to solve. If the chef has already taught the class on how to cook rice and gave them instructions on how much water to add and the yield info, then they could solve the problem. Since all DC members weren't in class, we had to make an assumption.

If you look back to my two solutuions, you'll see that I had to make a different solution for each attempt.


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## XeniA (Oct 22, 2006)

Andy M. said:
			
		

> That's what I've been saying!


  Sorry Andy, am I frustrating the living daylights out of you?!  Methinks we're in agreement here.


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## cookingSoul (Oct 22, 2006)

lol ya dont worry ill let you guys know im currently working on a study sheet for the test on teusday...soup test and definitions...consomee and the like even though i cant spell properly....


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## Andy M. (Oct 22, 2006)

Ayrton said:
			
		

> Sorry Andy, am I frustrating the living daylights out of you?! Methinks we're in agreement here.


 

Heck, no!  My comment was just for emphasis, not arguement.


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## Mel! (Oct 24, 2006)

I would try 5 pounds of rice, if u need 20 cooked cups of rice, for the recipe. 
Hope i calculated that right. Rice doubles in size when cooked. Then u need 10 cups uncooked. 1 cup is approximately half pound. 
10 cups of uncooked, is 5 pounds of rice and when this is cooked, it will double in size, and become 20 cups. 
?!!!!!!

Mel


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## philso (Oct 24, 2006)

Gretchen said:
			
		

> ...But in a professional kitchen, you would still need to know how to figure out how much food you may need. For the most part, professional kitchens are run on the basis of weights--pastries/baking, for example--and have scales available. ...


 
my previous post was just to poke a little gentle fun at the fact that the problem as originally stated was a math problem about the correct amount to _use_ when it was actually phrased with how much to _buy_.

it's true that a lot of cooking is done by ratios, both at home and in professional kitchens. on the other hand, there are ways of completely avoiding the need for many of them too. i'd say that as far as rice goes, two of the most common ways i've seen rice cooked in restaurants and hotels is:

plain white rice - a standard amount of rice that the restaurant expects to get them through a typical evening is simply added to a large stock pot of boiling water until the rice is cooked, then drained and allowed to sit for a few minutes before being placed into a bain marie.

pilaf style rice - the rice is cooked directly in the large rectangular bain marie pan to which diced onions, bell peppers, olive oil or whatever is also added. chicken stock is added to cover the rice. the pan is covered with aluminim foil and finished in an oven.

these methods have the advantage of a low risk of scorching as can happen when an exact amount of liquid to rice is used and cooked on the stove top until the liquid has all been absorbed. it happens from time to time that someone may get distracted, forget to reduce the heat, set a timer, etc. if the rice gets scorched, in the best case you may be able to use most of it, but in some cases the entire batch is wasted. 

maybe these are considered "tricks of the trade". here's another for our young chef-to-be. if you ever do forget to set the timer after memorizing your formula, keep your ears peeled. in the large-sized stock pot you may be using, you don't want to grab a large wooden stirrer to try to see how much water is left in the bottom of the pot. this will close off all the little vents caused by the boiling water which allow the entire batch of rice to be steamed evenly. in a worst case, the top half of your batch won't be cooked thoroughly, while the bottom half becomes mushy. instead, listen to the bottom of the pot (without getting your ears burned). when you hear the rice start to crackle, the very bottom layer of grains will be starting to form a crispy crust. this is still way before it starts to burn. here in japan, people go crazy over that crispy part of rice, but in your kitchen, you'll only lose a serving spoon sized amount.


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## Mel! (Oct 24, 2006)

*boil in the bag rice.*

Speaking of tips and tricks. 
Have u ever tried boil in the bag rice? I used to always buy rice in big bags and cook some. Then one day somebody gave me the boil in the bags ones. 
U put a bag in for the pot, for each person, and put as much water as u want, in the pot(covering the bags, of course). The rice bags only take in as much water as is needed, for that portion of rice. Then u take the bags out of the water. They have a tab on them, so u can hang them on a tap, to allow the water to drain out.  And no rice gets stuck on the pot. And here, where i am this boil in the bag rice, only costs 1cent more per 100g, than the not in a bag one. 

Mel


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## Corey123 (Oct 24, 2006)

The only brand that I've seen like that is the brand Success Rice.

I used to use that, but even though the rice came out looking perfectly cooked, it somwhow tasted watered down to me. So I went back to using Uncle Ben's Rice.


~Corey123.


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## boufa06 (Oct 24, 2006)

In my opinion, the easiest and safest way to boil rice is with a rice cooker.  It comes in different sizes, with either a stainless steel or non-stick pot with measurements.  The accessories include a plastic ladle and a measuring cup (slightly smaller than a coffee cup).  To boil rice, all you need is measure it by using the cup - 1 cup of raw rice to water reaching the level marked 1 in the cooking pot, 2 cups to 2 and so forth.  Once you press the 'cook' button, the cooking process will begin until the rice is done, at which time it will switch to 'warm' mode automatically until serving time.  This baby is very useful when you have guests or parties. A very helpful appliance indeed for the homemakers.


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## Corey123 (Oct 24, 2006)

Even with the smallest one, I wouldn't know where to put it when not in use.
I've got so many small appliances that I ran out of room to store them.

I did however, buy a SS rice spoon the other day from the local supermarket.

~Corey123.


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## Andy M. (Oct 24, 2006)

Corey:

How does a SS rice spoon differ from a regular SS spoon?


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## Corey123 (Oct 24, 2006)

Don't know. I guess it all depends on your own personal preferences.

I imagine also, that they are now available in stainless steel, plastic (nylon) and wood.

Oh. The bowl part of the spoon is supposed to be a bit wider, I guess. I DID notice that. 

Asian restaurants use these, mainly for scooping large amounts of cooked rice from their large rice cookers.


~Corey123.


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## Andy M. (Oct 24, 2006)

Got it.  I can picture one now.  Thanks.


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## Michael in FtW (Oct 25, 2006)

Well, cookingSoul - I'm going to guess that you are in the Culinary Arts program at West Boca Raton High School? Am I close?

Before you write all of us off as being incapable of grasping the situation, much less that oz = ounce - here is the problem: the final weight of a cup of cooked rice will depend on the yield of the dry rice and the amount of water used (dry rice + water + heat + time = cooked rice). Since dry rice absorbs water - the weight of the cooked rice will increase (unless you have another explanation for it).

You have chided those who have tried to help you for stating that some "assumptions" must be made, or that there might be some information you have not given us to work with (perhaps information from a lecture in class that was not included in the book question). 

The most obvious are:

1. Weight of water - are you using the old saw of, "A pint's a Pound the World Around" - or are you using the actual weight, 16.69 oz (oz = ounces if you didn't know what oz stands for).

2. Yield - what is the ratio of raw rice + water = volume of cooked rice. Raw rice can be cooked with 1 cup rice +1.5 - 2 cups water. Obviously, the more water the rice absorbs the more it will weigh.

Maybe those of us who have actually been cooking for some years are "over thinking" the problem. I'm sure we would all love to know not only the answer but also how to solve this problem.


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## cookingSoul (Oct 25, 2006)

ok well i got the answer from chef and yes andy was very much correct....your first statement....ty for the help​


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## Andy M. (Oct 25, 2006)

Thanks for getting back to us.


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## XeniA (Oct 25, 2006)

So Andy, jury's in then? You ARE incredibly smart!


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## cookingSoul (Oct 25, 2006)

sure np...the chef ****ed with my head and made it sound tougher then it actually was  ah well...the whole 2 cups water 1 cup rice equaling 3 cups per or w/e....eh im gone for now..ty again for the help


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## Andy M. (Oct 25, 2006)

Ayrton said:
			
		

> So Andy, jury's in then? You ARE incredibly smart!


 

There was some doubt?


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## Corey123 (Oct 26, 2006)

Andy M. said:
			
		

> Got it. I can picture one now. Thanks.


 


You're welcome!! 


~Corey123.


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