cooking alchemy
I've been cooking my own food for the last twenty years or so and have developed an unerring ability to measure any ingredients by sight and by smell.

Rice, water, pasta, white sauces, spices - whatever, I know instinctively how much to use every time. Never weigh or measure anything. Which means I can cook an entirely new meal from scratch any time without seeing a recipe. This also extends to things I might eat in a restaurant. All I have to do is taste it, then I can replicate it (unless it's got £50 of white truffles in it or Argentinian steak etc).

My simplest pleasure is rice. Drop in a few handfuls, pour over the water, bang the lid on and I end up with perfectly fluffy rice with no excess water every single time .
(Brand name, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 9:45, 2 replies)

That's the best way to make rice.
leave the fucker alone. Do stir it or poke it about with a spoon, shake the pan or anything like that or you split the grains which releases gluten into the water turning your fluffy rice into a congealed mass.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 9:51, closed)

er...
That's considered a talent? I thought everyone could do it.

Don't cook rice like that though. I live in Japan and we have rice cookers that even idiot Japanese people can use.
(Mr.Dog was in love again on, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 12:46, closed)