This section is from the book "The Memorandum Cookery Book", by Countess Morphy. Also available from Amazon: The Memorandum Cookery Book.
Plain boiled rice, such as that which accompanies curries, is seldom as it should be—white and snowy, dry, without being parched, and each grain detached from the others. It is, more often than not, a sodden mass, which looks like a badly made rice pudding. I have never understood why it is that people consider it so difficult to boil rice properly. It is one of the easiest things to do, if the following instructions are followed faithfully. Put 1 breakfast-cupful of rice in a large saucepan of boiling salted water—-plenty of water and it must be boiling. Now when the water is again on the full boil, look at the time and allow exactly 13 minutes for the rice to boil. Turn it out immediately on a wire sieve, and put it under the cold-water tap, letting the cold water run over it for 3 or 4 minutes, and stirring it about with a wooden spoon. Let it stand on the wire sieve for about an hour, stirring occasionally, to evaporate and dry. A quarter of an hour or so before required, spread it out on a dish and put in a moderate oven to warm up. You will find that the grains are all detached and that the rice is as it should be.
 
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