Benefits of the Drain Method

• Brown rice takes much longer to cook than white rice. If there's not enough water, the brown rice will be underdone. If you add too much liquid, the rice will be overcooked, leaving you with a mushy, inedible mess. By cooking rice like pasta, draining it and then finishing it with a steam, you ensure perfect results every time.

Prepping for the Drain Method

• The drain method begins by rinsing your rice in a colander and heating water to a rolling boil. Rinsing the rice will help to reduce the stickiness of the final product. In general, you'll want to use a rice-to-water ratio of 1 to 10 -- 1 cup of rice to every 10 cups of water.

How it Works

• To cook brown rice using the drain method, you'll first boil the rice in the water for about 40 minutes. If you like your rice on the al dente side, reduce the cooking time to 35 minutes. Conversely, if you like your rice more tender or are cooking at high altitude, you may need to increase the cooking time to 45 minutes and the amount of water to 12 cups.

  With traditional rice recipes, you would have no liquid left at this point in the process -- just cooked rice. With the drain method, the rice will still be submerged in water, as if you were cooking pasta. After you've gotten rid of all of the excess liquid by draining the rice in a colander, you return the rice to the pot. The final stage of the drain method is a 10-minute steam in the tightly covered pot. After the rice has steamed for 10 minutes, fluff it with a fork and serve it.

The Perfect Pot of Rice

• To add more flavor to the brown rice, you can use chicken or another broth instead of water to boil the rice. You can also add other flavorings like spices and butter for the boil.