I am very comfortable in the kitchen. I bake bread. Make fresh pasta. I will try any crazy off-the-wall technique. My knife skills are excellent. I am comfortable with all the basic cooking methods. I have a good idea of flavor combinations. I can improvise very well.
Why the F can I not cook a proper pot of rice??
I'm serious. I tried many different combinations. I tried stovetop. I tried microwave. I cannot get a bowl of rice to not be a sticky pasty mess. I tried brown rice tonight in the microwave, because that was the best way that I got white rice results before. It was horrible. It's good quality brown rice, and I follow the package. I rinsed it beforehand as well.
I've tried Mark Pittmans how to Cook everything easy grains method. Terrible. What the hell am I doing wrong? I have a whole conversion chart for all the different timings.
As much as I love rice, quinoa, barley, all of those grains, I hardly cook them because I hate the results. Usually, but I can't do something in the kitchen, I look toward it as a challenge. I usually overcome them. This one has got me really frustrated.