Reheating rice - safe or not?

Van Hellseek

Van Hellseek

Van Hellseek

Soldato
Joined
2 Jun 2004
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So we're not supposed to reheat rice because of Bacillus Cereus

But the way I cook my fried rice is to boil it, then run it under a cold tap in a sieve (not boiling water as many recommend) to wash off the starch + cold prevents sticking, then I whack it in the frying pan with whatever else I'm cooking it with.

Apparantly in chinese takeaways they actually do something similar, but cook the rice the day before and store it in the fridge overnight before reheating. And of course a lot of people then eat the same rice in leftovers the day after they purchased it, meaning it would have been reheated twice.

So what's your take on the matter, is reheating rice something to be concerned about or not?
 
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Having a Taiwanese wife the above about fried rice is correct, cook Monday for side dish , cook remaining rice on Tuesday for Egg fried rice, reheat Tuesday dish on Wednesday for lunch.

We've been doing for years (me 2years) her for 32 years!

I'm led to believe you have to wash the rice 3 times before cooking. Reasons i'm not sure but thats my 2 p worth.

I trust her as she grew up with rice , like I grew up with the potato
 
Been doing it for my entire life and the Chinese has been doing it for not years or decades or centuries but probably millennia!

And all my life I have never known someone got sick from heating reheated rice.
 
The reason you shouldn't reheat rice is a certain bacteria that I can't remember the name of... this bacteria is heat sensitive. It doesn't like growing in cold conditions i.e. the fridge. The most common condition for bacteria's growth is when cooked rice is left unrefrigerated after it is cooked. As long as you refrigerate the rice quickly after it is cooked, you shouldn't have any issues.

As for fried rice, I always prefer to use rice that has been refrigerated as it has less moisture. Also, when I'm doing egg fried rice, I always use toasted Sesame oil to cook the egg at the start.
 
Been doing it my whole life as well (home cooked rice) and it's been fine. I've even left rice out of the fridge for half a day before heating it up again and I'm still here. *Touch wood*
 
I remember a radio 2 discussion on this a couple of years ago but as others have said I regularly reheat rice left over from the previous evening.
 
I thought the issue was keeping rice warm at the ideal temperature for the bacteria; ie in a warming tray in a takeaway. Heating it up, ie past this point, will kill the bacteria, so it's safe to eat?
 
i often reheat rice. the main thing is to reheat it properly. so its better to heat it until very hot, and then let cool a little before eating.
never just warm rice
 
I never even knew rice could give you anything until a few years ago. I've been reheating rice for a very very long time otherwise :D
 
I saw a documentary a while back about how rice producers combat the bacteria by flash steaming before packaging, which is why home-made rice (or indeed any rice) can be reheated with no ill effect. I have been doing so for my entire adult life.
 
Day-old rice actually tastes better in egg-fried rice than fresh rice does, must something to do with the moisture content in older rice. Nothing wrong with reheating rice, I suppose make sure that it's piping hot if you want to be doubly sure.

I've been told (by Chinese people, so you know it's true :p) that washing rice once is enough - more than that and you're starting to wash away the vitamin B from the rice. I think the 3+ times washing is a tradition from the days when raw rice was not clean/polished as it is today.
 
I've been re-heating curries and chinese sometimes two days after having it, I keep it in the fridge once it's stopped steaming. Then a 3 minute microwave blast and ready to eat.
 
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