making fried rice brown

[Gianni123]

Hi everybody,
I'm a newbie here. In my house I'm the 'sou chef' to my wife, although I often come up with new ideas and take liberties with recipes.
As far as Chinese food goes, I make a good hot and sour soup. However, one recipe I've never been able to make the way it is prepared in Chinese take-out (or, as the British say, take-away) is fried rice. I am never able to get the dark brown appearance, even though I use plenty of soy sauce. The white of the rice still shows through. I once used annatto, but that didn't seem to work either. I wonder if it is the reddish pork that usually comes with the fried rice that gives it the color I so like. I'm beginning to suspect that the take-out places use a food dye. :-)

I hope someone can help me out.
Gianni

[cakerookie]

Have you tried adding fish sauce?Or turmeric or maybe curry powder?

[kuan]

You can use dark thick soy sauce, although, not all fried rice is brown. Some forego the soy sauce altogether.

[higjse]

do you chill your rice first or do you fry it right after steaming or boiling it...?

[SushiGaijin]

cold rice, ample fat, high heat, a little soy = brown rice.

[Gianni123]

Thanks, all, for your suggestions.
Gianni

[Chef Kaiser]

Originally Posted by Gianni123

Hi everybody,
I'm a newbie here. In my house I'm the 'sou chef' to my wife, although I often come up with new ideas and take liberties with recipes.
As far as Chinese food goes, I make a good hot and sour soup. However, one recipe I've never been able to make the way it is prepared in Chinese take-out (or, as the British say, take-away) is fried rice. I am never able to get the dark brown appearance, even though I use plenty of soy sauce. The white of the rice still shows through. I once used annatto, but that didn't seem to work either. I wonder if it is the reddish pork that usually comes with the fried rice that gives it the color I so like. I'm beginning to suspect that the take-out places use a food dye. :-)

I hope someone can help me out.
Gianni

hi,

Well the question is, what is brown, dark brown, light brown. The traditional way is adding a light soy sauce (depending the region and the fried rice). The pork could have an influence, as the traditional chinese BBQ pork was glazed with honey or sugar in the final stage and the fat does disolve some of the color.

regards

[Gianni123]

Originally Posted by SushiGaijin

cold rice, ample fat, high heat, a little soy = brown rice.

Hi SushiGaijin,

Can you be more specific about the kind of fat. I imagine you mean peanut oil or some such, but I'd like to be sure you don't mean Crisco. (When I was a kid we had a friend that we called Crisco, because he was fat in the can.) :-)

As Yan from "Yan Can Cook" says,

Gaijin

[liv4fud]

Originally Posted by Gianni123

Hi everybody,
I am never able to get the dark brown appearance, even though I use plenty of soy sauce. The white of the rice still shows through. I once used annatto, but that didn't seem to work either. I wonder if it is the reddish pork that usually comes with the fried rice that gives it the color I so like. I'm beginning to suspect that the take-out places use a food dye. :-)

Its usually the dark soy sauce (mushroom soy sauce as its sometimes called). Its usually less in sodium content and we usually mix the light (salt-substitute) and dark (color) and add it to the rice for a more uniform color. (usually mixed in equal amounts)

if you see a hole-in-the-wall type of place making fried rice, the ingredient that they keep adding on a regular basis while continuously stirring is dark soy sauce / mushroom soy sauce.

[Gianni123]

Originally Posted by liv4fud

Its usually the dark soy sauce (mushroom soy sauce as its sometimes called). Its usually less in sodium content and we usually mix the light (salt-substitute) and dark (color) and add it to the rice for a more uniform color. (usually mixed in equal amounts)

if you see a hole-in-the-wall type of place making fried rice, the ingredient that they keep adding on a regular basis while continuously stirring is dark soy sauce / mushroom soy sauce.

Thanks very much for your reply. I just went out to buy the dark soy sauce. I went only to one shop and I didn't find it, but I did get a barbecue sauce which is thick and black like roofing sealant. The first ingredient is sugar, the third is soy.
I have the rice boiling right now. We use my wife's method of boiling rice in lots and lots of water, not just enough so the water covers "the first joint of a finger". It comes out very fluffy. Of course, there is no "singing rice" stuck to the bottom of the pot. I guess my wife figured that if lots of water works for pasta it should also work for rice.

[Mezzaluna]

We use my wife's method of boiling rice in lots and lots of water

This is the method favored by Sarah Moulton, too.

I wonder if bead molasses is what turns the rice brown. It wouldn't add saltiness to the rice but would make it dark brown and somewhat sweet.

[Chef Kaiser]

Originally Posted by liv4fud

Its usually the dark soy sauce (mushroom soy sauce as its sometimes called). Its usually less in sodium content and we usually mix the light (salt-substitute) and dark (color) and add it to the rice for a more uniform color. (usually mixed in equal amounts)

if you see a hole-in-the-wall type of place making fried rice, the ingredient that they keep adding on a regular basis while continuously stirring is dark soy sauce / mushroom soy sauce.

hi,

this type of soy sauce is commonly used by the Japanese, when they make their fried rice and it is darker. however when refering to chinese fried rice in general, especially in the cantonese cuisine the rice is not dark brown. Well at least back here in Asia. Will post a recipe, when i am back form work.

regards have a nice day

[skilletlicker]

In addition to the Soy some Hoisin sauce helps. I don't cook Chinese much but I do like fried rice.

I've also added Worcestershire, more for flavor than browning but contributes to both. As I type this I'm wondering about Worcestershire and molasses in addition to the soy. Certainly not ethnically authentic but...

[Headless Chicken]

Some of the colour will come from the wok, the rest will come from either dark soy or oyster sauce and add near the end of cooking. Besides, fried rice shouldn't be dark dark brown but very light brown. If you want that dark brown colour, I recommend you steam your rice with a little soy sauce and add oyster sauce when making fried rice. Should help a little.

[Gianni123]

I made the rice yesterday. For the amount of rice I used I put too much oil in the pan and I also used too much of the barbecue sauce. It certainly came out much darker than what I had hoped for. It tasted too greasy while it was hot, but my wife liked it a lot after it had cooled off.

I'm going to experiment by steaming the rice, that is using a minimal amount of water, and add the barbecue sauce during the simmering process.