Okay, so you know how to make Rice Pilaf from reading my previous post and you have mastered that, right? Super! One day, you may want to make LOTS of rice pilaf for a big party. The recipe is basically the same but I have converted everything to weight and changed the method slightly to accommodate the larger batch. Here you see everything staged to make several batches. I make 4 batches of the bulk recipe to serve over 100 people, start around 8 in the morning and have it ready by 11:30 to serve at our annual end of harvest BBQ.
Hope you have an accurate kitchen scale that will measure both ounces and grams because for consistency weighing ingredients is so much better than measuring with cups and spoons:
- 3 cubes butter (12 0z., or 3/4 lb.)
- 520 grams Cut Fideo (approximately 6 cups)
- 1120 grams white rice (6 cups)
- 45 grams salt (2 Tablespoons)
- 36 grams lemon juice (2 Tablespoons)
- 2 Large Cans Swanson’s Chicken Broth (49 oz ea.)
- 6 cups water (50 oz.)
The method is basically the same as before except you will need 2 very large stockpots. In the smaller of the two, pour the liquids and heat to just below a simmer while you are sauteing the fideo in the melted butter. Brown the fideo, remove from heat, add the rice and stir well. Add the heated liquids, the salt and the lemon juice. Return to heat and wait for a brisk boil to resume before covering, reducing heat to low and cooking on low for 30 minutes. This rice will stay hot for several hours if you DO NOT OPEN THE LID until you are ready to serve and wrap the pot in heavy towels or some other insulating material. When I open the first batch at noon (remember I started at 8 in the morning?) it is still piping hot. Stir well before serving. The lemon juice helps prevent the rice from getting too sticky, although this big batch tends to be stickier than the normal size based on one cup of rice and one can of broth. On the stove in the photo above you see my largest All-Clad Stockpot…and I own 3 of these just for this annual event. It may be their 20 quart model, I can’t remember. It’s BIG. If you had a restaurant kitchen, you could make this much rice all in one batch, but you’d have to be the Incredible Hulk to stir the vermicelli and lift the hot liquids to pour them in. I have found this 6-cup batch to be the very limit that I can manage. You should be able to serve around 50 normal party-goers with one batch. I have to make 4 batches to serve around 100 because this crowd has been waiting a full year for the rice, we serve a lot of it on each plate and we offer takeout boxes for the leftovers.