Chef Juliette
Suet Dumpling
Boulettes au suif, poached beside salt beef, turn equal weights of flour and finely chopped suet into tender, rich dumplings. Keep the beef liquor at a bare tremble and the old garnish works beautifully at home.
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Riz Pilaff
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2255, Riz Pilaff, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Riz pilaff teaches the buttering of every grain: onion, rice, and white consommé baked under a tight lid for eighteen minutes, then moved immediately so the tender base never cooks on.
Side Dishes
French
Weeknight
Budget Friendly
Make Ahead
10 min
Active Time
25 min cook•35 min total
Yield4 servings
Riz pilaff (butter-coated rice baked in consommé) teaches a quiet foundation of the French canon: liquid must never meet a naked grain. The dry rice is first turned in butter until its whole surface shines, a technique called nacrer, to coat the grains until pearly. That coating gives the finished rice its tenderness without surrendering every grain to its neighbor.
The original kitchen assumed white consommé always hot beside the range, a moderate oven judged by experience, and a clean saucepan waiting for the instant transfer. At home, that becomes prepared consommé brought to a bare simmer, an oven set to 180°C / 350°F, and a cool shallow dish beside the stove. The half-pound batch already makes four generous side portions, so its proportions stay intact. The second saucepan was brigade scaffolding; moving the rice off the hot base at once is the part that must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
After eighteen covered minutes, the onion has nearly disappeared and the rice carries a butter-gold sheen. Don't leave it sitting in the baking pan while the rest of supper catches up, because the bottom continues cooking even after the oven door opens. Before you touch the pan, remember the one true thing: the rice must be dry, and every grain must shine with butter before the consommé arrives.
Riz pilaff belongs in France to the Parisian classical kitchen rather than to one regional larder. Its method traveled west from Persian and eastern Mediterranean rice cookery, where grains were coated in fat before cooking under seasoned liquid. French kitchens made the method their own with butter, chopped onion, and white consommé; the immediate transfer was never ceremony, but a practical defense against an overcooked bottom layer.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
yellow onion
Quantity
1/2 medium onion (about 1/2 cup / 75 g)
finely chopped
Carolina rice, preferably Carolina Gold or another long-grain white rice
Quantity
1 1/4 cups (300 ml / 225 g)
kept dry
unsalted butter
Quantity
4 tablespoons (60 ml / 57 g)
prepared white consommé
Quantity
4 cups (950 ml / 950 g)
heated to a bare simmer
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| yellow onionfinely chopped | 1/2 medium onion (about 1/2 cup / 75 g) |
| Carolina rice, preferably Carolina Gold or another long-grain white ricekept dry | 1 1/4 cups (300 ml / 225 g) |
| unsalted butter | 4 tablespoons (60 ml / 57 g) |
| prepared white consomméheated to a bare simmer | 4 cups (950 ml / 950 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •25 cm / 10-inch ovenproof sauté pan or 3-quart casserole with a tight lid
- •Small saucepan for heating the consommé
- •Cool shallow saucepan or serving dish
- •Wooden spoon and fork
Instructions
- 1
Ready the kitchen
Set a rack in the middle of the oven and heat it to 180°C / 350°F, or 160°C fan. Bring the white consommé to a bare simmer in a small saucepan; the eighteen-minute cooking time assumes the liquid is already hot. Place a cool, shallow saucepan or serving dish beside the stove now, because the cooked rice must leave its hot pan without delay.
- 2
Soften the onion
Melt the butter in a 25 cm / 10-inch ovenproof sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the chopped onion and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring often, until soft and translucent but not browned. Keep the heat patient: browned onion would pull this pale pilaff toward sweetness and away from the clean savor of the consommé.
- 3
Nacrer the rice
Add the dry rice and nacrer it, turning constantly through the butter for 2 to 3 minutes until every grain glistens and some edges look faintly translucent. The rice should smell warm and buttery without taking color. If a few grains begin to toast, lower the heat immediately and move on to the consommé; the pilaff will taste a little nuttier, but it is still sound.
If you rinse the rice, spread it on a clean towel and dry it thoroughly first. Water left on the surface keeps the butter from coating each grain evenly. - 4
Moisten and bake
Pour in all the hot white consommé carefully, scraping down any grains clinging above the liquid. Bring the pan back to a bare simmer, stir once to distribute the onion, then cover tightly and place it in the oven for exactly 18 minutes. Don't lift the lid while it cooks; every look releases the heat on which the timing depends.
- 5
Transfer at once
At 18 minutes, uncover and bite a grain. If its center is still chalky, re-cover and return the pan to the oven for 2 minutes. Once tender, transfer the rice immediately to the waiting cool saucepan or serving dish, fluffing it only once with a fork. If the rice is tender but a shallow pool of consommé remains, lift the grains with a slotted spoon and leave the surplus behind rather than cooking them to paste. If the bottom has caught, don't scrape it through the good rice; lift cleanly from above. Ça se rattrape. Serve at once. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Carolina rice is the grain named by the source. Carolina Gold honors it most closely, but a dry, ordinary long-grain white rice is the honest budget equivalent and holds the technique well.
- •Taste the white consommé before it reaches the pan. It should be fully seasoned and savory, but never briny; the source adds no separate salt because the consommé carries the seasoning.
- •The immediate transfer matters as much as the eighteen-minute bake. A heavy pan stores enough heat to overcook the lowest layer while it waits, so have the receiving dish ready before the rice enters the oven.
Advance Preparation
- •Chop the onion, measure the dry rice and butter, and have the consommé ready up to one day ahead. Keep the onion covered in the refrigerator and the rice dry at room temperature.
- •The finished riz pilaff can be made one day ahead. Transfer it immediately to a shallow container, cool it quickly, and refrigerate within one hour; cover once cold. Reheat it only once, covered, at 160°C / 325°F until piping hot, then fluff gently.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 290g)
Calories
335 calories
Total Fat
12 g
Saturated Fat
8 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
4 g
Cholesterol
30 mg
Sodium
850 mg
Total Carbohydrates
47 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
7 g
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