Keeps well , was making a moussaka last week but had miss calculated the amount of aubergine I needed, but had some lasagne pasta sheets in the back of the cupboard , BBE 2009 and they had been opened a few years back and very nice it was too
From what I remember, the rice in retort pouches is cooked at high temperatures ( in a massive pressure-cooker) and is then flash cooled so it spends only a few seconds in the temperature danger-zone.
I'm not sure when its sealed in the pouches though.
These processes are not something you can replicate in the home.
Not sure I totally agree with that. I'm pretty sure that if pre-cooked rice was vacuum sealed in pouches and then heated in a pressure cooker it would probably keep in fairly good condition for quite a while. After all, it's just pressure canning in a sealed plastic membrane rather than a glass jar or a can
Keeps well , was making a moussaka last week but had miss calculated the amount of aubergine I needed, but had some lasagne pasta sheets in the back of the cupboard , BBE 2009 and they had been opened a few years back and very nice it was too
Keeps well , was making a moussaka last week but had miss calculated the amount of aubergine I needed, but had some lasagne pasta sheets in the back of the cupboard , BBE 2009 and they had been opened a few years back and very nice it was too
Takes a lot of fuel to boil the water required to cook pasta. Or rice, for that matter, although you can reduce cooking time for rice by soaking it beforehand.
From what I remember, the rice in retort pouches is cooked at high temperatures ( in a massive pressure-cooker) and is then flash cooled so it spends only a few seconds in the temperature danger-zone.
I'm not sure when its sealed in the pouches though.
These processes are not something you can replicate in the home.
Not sure I totally agree with that. I'm pretty sure that if pre-cooked rice was vacuum sealed in pouches and then heated in a pressure cooker it would probably keep in fairly good condition for quite a while. After all, it's just pressure canning in a sealed plastic membrane rather than a glass jar or a can
Rice (and pasta) is not on the approved pressure canning list. I would not contemplate storing cooked at home rice, far too risky, I think it's because of the density of it being vacuum sealed, you can't guarantee that the very centre has been reached. This is also why you don't can mashed potatoes or mashed pumpkin etc etc.
Behind every great man is an even greater woman. She carried you, raised you and made you who you are.
Hope this link helps answer why you can't home can certain foods.
Thanks for that link Decaff and after reading through it I think it points to an excellent solution to the original question... Dehydration. Cooked rice can be dried in a food dehydrator, which will reduce the re-cooking time to a few minutes. And of course, as long as the pre-cooked rice is completely dehydrated it should keep quite well in vacuum sealed packs
Hope this link helps answer why you can't home can certain foods.
Thanks for that link Decaff and after reading through it I think it points to an excellent solution to the original question... Dehydration. Cooked rice can be dried in a food dehydrator, which will reduce the re-cooking time to a few minutes. And of course, as long as the pre-cooked rice is completely dehydrated it should keep quite well in vacuum sealed packs
As I said at the start of the thread. Pasta and rice, when cooked, needs to be eaten. If not cooled and refrigerated properly it will be infected by Bacillus Cereus. Cereus as in Cereal. And it is Serious. 5O% will be hospitalised and the other 50% will die. Vac packing or bagging in Mylar will not preserve it any further. How do I know? In the food industry since God was a lad.
Keep it dried. Cook it when you need it. Like we always have done.
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.
Robert Frost.
Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.
Smudge wrote:
Lidl do a couple of different rices, I just bought a egg fried rice for 49p to trial.
I tired the lidl egg fried rice, opened the packet it smelled rancid, I cooked it it still smelled rancid I just couldn't bring myself to eat it.................. the dogs enjoyed it though.
Note to self don't buy that again.
If at first you don't succeed, excessive force is usually the answer.
, was making a moussaka last week but had miss calculated the amount of aubergine I needed, but had some lasagne pasta sheets in the back of the cupboard , BBE 2009 
and they had been opened a few years back 
and very nice it was too 
glad it helped.
