Eric Sze is the King of Rice. He is one of the most passionate people I know when it comes to the grain and, even me, someone who loves rice and cares about it deeply, knows that when it comes to rice, Eric knows best.
Well, maybe not basmati rice, but short grain // fried rice, he’s your guy. ;-)
Which is why I decided I needed to get schooled in the art of fried rice from Eric and share this knowledge with all y’all.
Eric is the head chef / owner at two restaurants here in NYC: 886 and Wenwen. Both restaurants have fried rice on the menu and both fried rice dishes are done slightly differently.
At 886, they scramble the eggs, then remove them from the pan before adding the rice, leaving the eggs a bit softer, whereas at Wenwen, they scramble the eggs in the pan, then add the rice and continue cooking it all together. This results in the eggs releasing a bit more of that egg flavor, which is honestly really f-ing good, and how we ended up doing the eggs for our fried rice in the video.
I asked Eric to send me his fried rice tips (he gives them in the video, but also, I had to edit out some of our nonsense, especially because we made, not just one, but TWO kinds of fried rice).
Eric’s Tips for the Best Fried Rice:
While you CAN use leftover / overnight rice, the best rice for fried rice is a) short grain and b) rice that you cook yourself using 10-15% less water.
Use lots of aromatics / scallions!
Be mindful of the amount of fat in the extra things that you’re adding to the rice.
Don’t be afraid to experiment!
If your fried rice ends up being clumped up and wet, you failed.
One of the best things that Eric told me that I’d like to share: “When you go to a restaurant with good fried rice, buy the kitchen a round of drinks.” You may think that fried rice is so simple that there is no thought put into it, but there is more complexity to making fried rice than you’d think.
I’m not giving you the recipe for the second fried rice we made, pictured below. That was our f*cked up fried rice and we cooked it in butter with yellow onion in addition to the scallion, plus Chinese sausage and pork floss and peanuts and I don’t even remember what else and then we finished it with THC-infused sesame oil and the rest of my day was a bit of a blur.
Foundational Fried Rice
Serves 1 (if you’re like me and hungry af)
Prep time: 10 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
INGREDIENTS
1 bunch scallions
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 large eggs
8 ounces|250 grams leftover cooked rice
1 ½ teaspoons granulated sugar
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon MSG
DIRECTIONS
Thinly slice the scallions, separating them into 3 bowls: the whites, the white/greens, the greens.
Heat the oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high. Crack in the eggs and break the yolks. Cook, scrambling and breaking the egg into smaller pieces, but trying to keep the egg whites separate from the yolks, until cooked and getting a bit crisp on the edges, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the scallion whites and cook until soft and fragrant, about 2 minutes, then stir in the rice. Cook, pushing the grains of rice in the skillet, until they begin to take on some color and slight crispness, about 2 minutes. Add the scallion white/greens, the sugar, salt, and MSG and continue to cook 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a bowl and top with the scallion greens.
Fried Rice, Twice