Rice Quotes

“To you who eat a lot of rice because you’re lonely,
To you who sleep a lot because you’re bored,
To you who cry a lot because you are sad, I write this down.

Chew on your feelings that are cornerned like you would chew on rice.
Anyway, life is something that you need to digest.”
― Chun Yang Hee

“My eyes were closed, they're open now”
― Damien Rice

“I am such a bad girl," she thought. Yet...”
― Anne Rice, Beauty's Punishment

“I like rice. Rice is great if you're hungry and want 2000 of something. ”
― Mich Ehrenborg

“외로워서 밥을 많이 먹다던 네에게

권태로워 잠을 많이 자다던 너에게

슬퍼서 많이 운다던 너에게

나는 쓴다

궁지에 몰린 마음을 밥처럼 씹어라

어차피 삶은 너가 소화해야 할 것이니까

To you, who eat a lot because you are lonely

To you, who sleeps a lot because you are weary

To you, who cries a lot because you are sad,

I write this,

Chew on your feelings as you would your rice

Anyways, life is something you need to digest”
― Chun Yang Hee

“Rice is the crown jewel of Persian cuisine.”
― Naz Deravian, Bottom of the Pot: Persian Recipes and Stories

“In France, caviar, truffles and foie gras are considered to be the three major delicacies.
And when the French eat caviar, they don't drink wine with it.
The French aren't stupid. They're more than aware that no wine goes well with caviar.
That's why they drink vodka with it. But they don't know about sake."
"You're right. Vodka's usually served with caviar."
"But vodka really isn't a drink to have during a meal."
"It's not just caviar--- I don't think wine goes well with any kind of seafood.
It doesn't matter whether the fish is grilled, simmered, raw or in a bouillabaisse. And it's completely out of the question for things like raw oysters, karasumi and sea urchin.
Wine contains far more sodium than sake.
And some of those sodium compounds do not mix well with the fats in the fish, so that distinctive seafood flavor ends up being emphasized even more.
On the other hand, sake has hardly any sodium, so it doesn't bring out the fishiness.
And the sugars from the rice starch enhance the flavor of the food."
"Hmm."
"Come to think of it, shiokara tastes a lot better when you eat it with rice than when you eat it on its own. I guess this is the same thing.
It's the power of rice.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Sake

“The first thing Rika felt was a strange breeze emanating from the back of her throat. The cold butter first met the roof of her mouth with a chilly sensation, contrasting with the steaming rice in both texture and temperature. The cool butter clashed against her teeth, and she felt its soft texture right down into their roots. Soon enough, just as Kaiji had said, the melted butter began to surge through the individual grains of rice. It was a taste that could only be described as golden. A shining golden wave, with an astounding depth of flavor and a faint yet full and rounded aroma, wrapped itself around the rice and washed Rika's body far away.
It was, indeed, a lot like falling. Rika stared down intently at the bowl of rice with butter and soy sauce and let out a long sigh, feeling her breath rich and milky.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Butter

“Look at the way the rice is shining... it looks like jewels. Each grain of rice retains its original shape... and they're all the same size too. It's stickiness and scent... it's been washed to perfection. Washing the rice just to rinse off the dirt and excess bran without wasting the flavor and scent of the rice is extremely difficult.
I made my fortune before the war at the rice market... I still find time to do research on rice. I'm sure I can figure out what this rice is and where it comes from...
It's Sasanishiki... but it's not from Miyagi. It's Shonai rice, from Amarume-Yamagata prefecture! Well?! "
"That is correct!"
"Wow... he guessed the type of rice and where it came from!"
"I don't believe it!"
"This rice has been dried under sunlight, not by machine--- and you milled it right here, just before washing it, didn't you?"
You cook it over an old-fashioned furnace using firewood for fuel... and just before steaming it, you throw a handful of straw into the fire if you want to cook rice like this."
"Yes."
"Then this miso soup too...
Ah... it's real miso made from domestic soy and natural salt. The dashi is made from katsuobushi, an obushi from Makurazaki. And he used the good part in the center. And the tofu is made with domestic soybeans and real brine.
Aah... this is so good that it's making me cry!”
― Tetsu Kariya, The Joy of Rice

“This is salmon takikomi gohan. You slice the salted salmon into fillet strips and grill just its skin first to give it a savory scent. Then you cut it into cubes and cook them along with the rice.
By placing some Japanese wild parsley on it before eating it, the fishy scent will disappear, making it even more better to eat."
"Hmm. I like how they grilled the skin first to give it the savory scent. And cooking the bones with the rice really brings out the flavor."
"This takikomi gohan lets you taste every essence of the salmon."
"The next one is a classic maze gohan, hijiki rice. A good hijiki is one that's thick and long, with a slight firmness to it. You cook that hijiki along with carrots, shiitake mushrooms, lotus roots and thin fried tofu into a sweet and salty taste and then mix them into the cooked rice."
"Ha ha ha. This is definitely a very Japanese flavor!"
"It's rustic, but it has a rich, fertile flavor that moves my heart.”
― Tetsu Kariya, The Joy of Rice

“It has such a warm and gentle flavor."
"The rice has soaked up the rich flavor of the scallops. Could you teach me how to make it?"
"Of course.
You mix soy sauce with sake and boil it, then place the scallops in it and cook it for about a minute.
After that, you take the scallops out, place them on a different plate, and start cooking the rice.
And when cooking the rice, you pour the broth you used to cook the scallop into the rice.
You won't get the full flavor if you don't cook the black area called the midgut gland together with the scallop. Once the rice is cooked, you put it on a plate and place the scallops on top. That's when you take the midgut gland off."
"Keep the midgut gland on when cooking the scallops, and take it off when mixing them into the rice. That must be the secret.”
― Tetsu Kariya, The Joy of Rice

“Tsukudani is a condiment for rice made of seafood, meat or seaweed that has been simmered in soy sauce and mirin.”
― Tetsu Kariya, The Joy of Rice

“Takikomi gohan and maze gohan are two methods of cooking rice mixed with other ingredients, and they cover a wide range of similar dishes. Roughly speaking, takikomi gohan is a dish where the ingredients are cooked together with the rice, while maze gohan is a dish where the ingredients are mixed into the rice after it is cooked.”
― Tetsu Kariya, The Joy of Rice

“I get to prepping, slicing up fresh tarragon, the grassy floral fragrance enveloping me. I take two pieces of foil and set filets of cod on each one, followed by the salicornes. Drizzle a bit of lemon. A few razor-thin slices of garlic and lemon. A bit of salt and pepper. Paprika. Some herbes de Provence, my special blend. And, finally, the tarragon.
While the fish is baking, I make the rice, deciding to add a dash of cardamom and cumin. Soon, the kitchen smells like heaven, and I feel like I'm floating on my feet. It could be the aromas emanating from the oven, or it could be my wrists, the base notes from the perfume she gave me.
Finally, once the meal is ready, I plate it, adding edible violet flowers as a last-minute garnish. Before bringing Garrance her dish, I taste it. And, oh my, now I'm swept away into a fantasy of the sea---the same one I'd had before when she'd first given me the salicornes, but stronger, more intense. I'm running along the rugged beaches, and then I'm falling on the sand. I can hear the waves crashes, the calls of seagulls, the---”
― Samantha Verant, The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique

“So, what are we cooking for your mom?"
"One of her favorite dishes---nasi campur, a traditional dish from Jakarta, where my father was born." He pauses, flashes a wicked grin. "You'll love it."
"What if I don't?"
"Then there's something wrong with your taste buds." He grins again. "I assure you that you'll be licking your plate."
After giving me a sexy smirk, he unpacks the crate, unloading spices and ingredients, and says, "Nasi campur is one of Indonesia's national dishes---very traditional. The name means 'mixed rice,' and it's typically served with a variety of local dishes, such as chicken satay, beef rendang, prawn crackers.”
― Samantha Verant, The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique

“Steam rises from the surface, smelling of soy and ginger and hot peppers. A fried egg sits atop the slices of braised pork, the golden yolk loose and glistening in the light of the candles. A thick layer of white rice covers the bottom of the bowl, sopping up the rich, porky juices.
"So what exactly is this? Bibimbap?"
"Similar. It's a riff on a Japanese dish---donburi. Meat and an egg with rice.”
― Dana Bate, A Second Bite at the Apple

“This! That powerful intensely rich flavor is the true greatness of A5 beef!"
"And this cut was roasted taking into consideration the angle of the heat!
Heating a cut of meat perpendicularly to its grain ensures the meat will heat evenly and that the greatest amount of juice will be produced.
First class chefs always read the meat's grain when they cook it!"
"Don't forget the rice hiding under the beef petals!
Steamed in butter and beef's own grease, this garlic rice is exquisite!”
― Yūto Tsukuda, Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 2

“ While the bird is boiling, it's time to brown the skin...
...extracting all of the fatty oils from it.
Then, in all of that light and delicately rich chicken oil...
...I'll stir-fry some uncooked jasmine rice with garlic and ginger! ”
― Yūto Tsukuda, 食戟のソーマ 17 [Shokugeki no Souma 17]

“ Hainanese Chicken Rice
An entire chicken is steeped in broth at sub-boiling temperatures and is then served with rice steamed in the same broth.
Originally a Chinese dish, it was spread across Southeast Asia by migrants from the Hainan Province. A well-loved staple, it is also known as Khao Man Tai or Singapore Chicken Rice.
*Many restaurants that serve it will also serve chicken soup on the side.
"That makes perfect sense! This dish is an excellent choice for emphasizing the unique deliciousness of the Jidori! I already know it can't help but be good!"
"That one's yours."
"Uh, thanks. I'll dig right in."
Delicious! It's too delicious!
The tender meat so perfectly steeped! Each bite is sheer decadence! The delicate yet bold umami flavors!
But that's not all...
Next comes the very best part!
As if that one bite wasn't enough, after it's swallowed...
... There's the subtle and sophisticated aftertaste!
"Mmm! That decadent flavor lingers in the mouth for so long! Exquisite! Simply exquisite! This dish is the pinnacle of Jidori cooking!"
"Don't stop yet. I've made three dipping sauces to go along with it.
Chili sauce, ginger sauce and some See Ew Dum."
*See Ew Dum is a dark, thick and sweet soy sauce commonly used in Thai cooking. Its viscosity is similar to tamari.
"I made the chili sauce by grinding red peppers and adding them to the broth from the steeped chicken. The ginger sauce is fresh ginger mixed with chicken fat I rendered out of the bird.”
― Yūto Tsukuda, 食戟のソーマ 17 [Shokugeki no Souma 17]

“Many people nowadays are worried about where to get protein. However the top 3 protein sources in the world are rice, peas, and beans.”
― Martins Ate, Martins Ate's 108 Pure Vegetarian Food Cookbook: Excellent munchies recipes for a whole family

“Cultivating excellence, delivering satisfaction.”
― Self

“외로워서 밥을 많이 먹다던 네에게

권태로워 잠을 많이 자다던 너에게

슬퍼서 많이 운다던 너에게

나는 쓴다

궁지에 몰린 마음을 밥처럼 씹어라

어차피 삶은 너가 소화해야 할 것이니까

To you, who eat a lot because you are lonely

To you, who sleeps a lot because you are weary

To you, who cries a lot because you are sad,

I write this,

Chew on your feelings as you would your rice

Anyways, life is something you need to digest

― Chun Yang Hee”
― Chun Yang Hee

“The butter should still be cold. Remove it from the fridge just before. Superior-quality butter should be eaten when it's still cold and hard, to truly luxuriate in its texture and aroma. It will begin to melt almost immediately with the heat of the rice, but I want you to eat it before it melts fully. Cool butter and warm rice. First of all, savor the difference in their temperatures. Then, the two will melt alongside one another, mingle together, and form a golden fountain, right there inside your mouth. Even without seeing it, you just know that it's golden--- that's the way it tastes. You'll sense the individual grains of rice coated in butter and aromatic fragrance as if the rice were being fried will ascend to your nose. A rich, milky sweetness will spread itself across your tongue...”
― Asako Yuzuki, Butter

“They were brought over a mix of different kinds of rosy-seabass sashimi. The surface of its skin had been lightly scorched. On her first bite, Rika widened her eyes at the deep sweetness of the meaty flesh.
Next to appear was her bowl of rice, its shining white grains forming a mound over the rim of the bowl. Rika picked up her chopsticks and tucked in. On the other side of the table, Reiko was biting into her onigiri wrapped in dense black nori. Both of their expressions took on an ecstatic cast. Each individual grain of rice was so intensely sweet. She could sense not only the flavor of the grains on her tongue, but their shape as well. When she chewed them, the inside of her mouth loosened, and when she made to greedily absorb them and taste them, she could feel the insides of her body whirring round as if all its cogs were moving. A soft heat rose up from her solar plexus. Cutting the taste with the pumpkin pickles, pale pink millet roe, and the umeboshi brought out with the rice, she worked her way through in small mouthfuls.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Butter

“You quickly simmer the hamaguri clams in sake, mirin, and soy sauce, then serve them on the rice. At Fusa Sushi, the resulting leftover liquid was boiled down and used as a glaze for the conger eel and hamaguri clam sushi. But because Kazusa-meshi was so popular, there was still plenty of the stuff left over. Rather than waste it, the owner started taking it over to his brother next door--- who put it in his ten-don sauce. The owner of Fusa Sushi kindly told me the recipe."
"So that sauce I just ate was flavored with... hamaguri clams?" asked Keiko, gazing steadily at the photo.
"That's right. Now, the soup at Tenfusa was hamaguri broth. I made the fish ball the way he told me too, using a mix of hamaguri and white-fleshed fish. That's right--- the first time you visited, I happened to be serving a sake-simmered hamaguri stock for the soup. Of course, in that soup, the fish balls were made from sardines--- which your hometown of Ishinomaki is famous for. That, combined with the clam-flavored broth, explains why you found the flavor so nostalgic. You've quite the discerning palate, clearly!”
― Jesse Kirkwood, The Restaurant of Lost Recipes

“At home, a bowl of long-grain white rice will get a stream of melted butter and a crumbling of sea salt and then, as I turn the grains slowly in the warm, golden fat, perhaps a grating of Parmesan, then a little black pepper and lemon juice. A bowl of sticky rice feels more at home with sansho pepper or toasted sesame seeds, crumbs of dried nori and some crisp pickled radish. Another day I will heat the meat juices left over from the Sunday roast and stir them into the rice, streaking them with ribbons of glistening mahogany.”
― Nigel Slater, A Thousand Feasts: Small Moments of Joy… A Memoir of Sorts

“The day I filled my little larder with jars of beans and seeds, sugars and flours, was one I had looked forward to all my cooking life. A little space for tins of sardines and bottles of anchovies, a dark corner for dried shiitake and porcini, and a home for tins of treacle and golden syrup. There was an entire shelf for vinegars, a tall one for bottles of rose and orange blossom water and shallow ones for slim boxes of crystallized violets and jars of candied orange and citron peel. Two pink egg cartons sat on the marble slab along with space for pots of marmalade and damson gin.
Over the years the larder has changed a little, and I soon realized I needed to make space not just for dried beans (flageolet, cannellini, ful, chickpeas, chana dal, green and brown lentils-- I could go on), but also for bottled and tinned. Dried fruits now take up eight storage jars and there are at least six of rice (white and brown basmati, arborio and pudding rice, sushi rice and a Spanish rice called bomba that makes a delicious paella and produces a fine undercrust). My obsession with storage jars is a result of a personal concern over opened cellophane bags of ingredients in the cupboard, bags that fall or unfold allowing the contents to spill or spoil.
You can often tell the time of year by peeping through the larder door. At Christmas I juggle jars and bottles to make space for beribboned packages of panettone and Stollen, golden tins of Lebkuchen and the muslin-wrapped Christmas pudding. In summer the marble slab is a useful space for ripening peaches and melons.”
― Nigel Slater, A Thousand Feasts: Small Moments of Joy… A Memoir of Sorts

“Kinoshita brought over several trays, placing one in front of each of them. Each had soup, a main dish, and--- orange-colored rice?
"What is this?"
"It's carrot rice! With unlimited second helpings!"
Sure enough, the rice was packed full of so many carrots, that's all you could see.
Otoha started with the soup, which was a potage with roughly mashed potatoes. Not very showy, yet the wonderful flavor spread throughout her. She let out a deep sigh. Not the type of sigh she'd let out in front of Mr. Tamura, but one of deep satisfaction nonetheless.
She next turned to the carrot rice.
"Wow... this is delicious," she said as she took a big bite. The sweetness of carrots, the aroma of soy sauce--- what a gentle, delicious flavor the rice had.”
― Hika Harada, Dinner at the Night Library

“It's so tasty it's hard to believe that rice tastes like this with just carrots and fried tofu."
"It's healthy too," Tokuda added.
"Good for when you're tired," said Tokai.
The main dishes were lotus root cooked in soy and chili pepper, and the head and bony parts of yellowtail cooked in soy sauce and sweet sake. Both were mildly seasoned and went well with the rice.”
― Hika Harada, Dinner at the Night Library

“In a donburi bowl, on top of the rice, were four or five little fish, and a scattering of sliced scallions. Accompanying this was soup in lacquered bowls.
"And this would be...?"
"Try it first."
Otoha picked up the donburi bowl and put one of the small fish and rice into her mouth.
"It's delicious, Mr. Kinoshita. It looks so very simple, but it's amazing."
"I just warmed up canned oil sardines in a frying pan, added some soy sauce, and put it and the sardine oil over rice. That's it. The scallions I bought at a convenience store on the way her 'cause it was the only place open. But it works, doesn't it?"
"It does. I could eat a ton of this rice."
"It's a recipe in an essay by the novelist Yoko Mori. The soup is an egg soup with dried wakame seaweed and eggs.”
― Hika Harada, Dinner at the Night Library