How to make rice Dominican style?

May 29, 2006
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Can someone explain the process of how they make rice in the DR? Why the plastic bag? What kind of rice is most popular there, medium or long grain?
 

Expat13

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Jun 7, 2008
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Can someone explain the process of how they make rice in the DR? Why the plastic bag? What kind of rice is most popular there, medium or long grain?

From what i have witnessed- rice in pot with sufficient water, let cook on medium heat until you smell burnt crusted rice. They really love that burnt crusted rice, and of course you need acid to clean the pot afterwards. lol
 

sylindr

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Nov 29, 2007
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dominican rice

From what i have witnessed- rice in pot with sufficient water, let cook on medium heat until you smell burnt crusted rice. They really love that burnt crusted rice, and of course you need acid to clean the pot afterwards. lol

you start with oil and big salt... heat it up and then add water and rice. the burnt stuff is called con con and they all fight over who gets to eat it. i think the bag is because it creates a better seal on a mishapen pot that is beaten up.
 

bob saunders

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I've never seen a bag used, it must be a regional thing. Con-con, if my wife does it, it very light brown and the pan is easy to clean. If my mother in law does it, the pan requires soaking and scraping.
 

Fiesta Mama

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Can someone explain the process of how they make rice in the DR? Why the plastic bag? What kind of rice is most popular there, medium or long grain?

Long grain white rice is the most popular. The bag is to trap the steam to help cook the rice and form the concon on the bottom but it cannot be burnt just brown and crunchy. Burnt rice tastes terrible and they will deem you a failure if the concon is black. I personally don't use the bag but a tight lid because I don't like the pastic to stick to my pot and I'm not sure about the chemicals in the plastic but most use it so I'm sure it can't be that bad! A tight lid will produce the same results. It is also important with Dominican style rice that you don't use too much water because if you cook the rice properly and let it sit long enough steaming, it will be fluffy and not sticky (which is how it will be if you use too much water). Also, don't use too much oil... nothing worse than oily rice!
 

Vacara

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I've never seen a bag used, it must be a regional thing. Con-con, if my wife does it, it very light brown and the pan is easy to clean. If my mother in law does it, the pan requires soaking and scraping.

Plastic bag is relatively new, I'd say a good 20-25 years. Before that it was common to cover the rice with plantain trees leaves. The purpose of the plastic bag is to accelerate the cooking process.
 
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If you have a rice pot with a tight fitting lid, then you don't need anything else to hold in the steam. Before plastic became popular, people used a brown paper bag, which is a much better option IMO.
 

M.A.R.

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Feb 18, 2006
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Lol, the plastic bag with the chemical fumes releasing gives it that special touch, :lick: ok just kiddin'

the recipe from the Dominican cooking site will give you perfectly cooked rice.

I've been using a method from a Cuban recipe book that calls for the pot to be cover as soon as its starts boiling or blubbling, it works for me, this way I won't have to stand there and wait til the water evaporates.

my concon doesn't come out automatically, maybe because i don't use the Dominican heavy pot, so after I take out all the rice out of the pot I place pot on low heat and let it get crispy...y depue a rapar.....mmmmm delicious, love it.
 
May 29, 2006
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Must be regional because I have never seen someone on the north coast not use the plastic bag trick. I get the idea they use less water than Americans do and rely on steaming to finish the cooking.

Re: the plastic bag. I worked for an Applebees in college and one thing that amazed me was how they cooked the pasta. They had the sauce pre-measured in a styrofoam cup and put it upside-down on top of the pasta in the microwave for two minutes. Most of the time the cup was half-melted. They tossed the cup and put the pasta out. Steaming rice with the plastic bag does't seem so bad..
 
Last edited:
Oct 23, 2008
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The way to make the dominican rice

Here's how I learned....

for any amount of rice.... make sure the amount of water is 1 inch above the rice. Add 1 or 2 tablespoon of oil along with a little salt.... you can taste the water to see if your rice will be salty enough or not. Then, you put the pot in the highest flame available. Once the water is gone from the top of the rice, turn down the flame to low and cover the pot and leave it for about 12 - 17 minutes. If you want con-con, the flame should be a little higher than low (medium low). Plastic bag open and wrapped is to keep the moisture in the pot. You first have to wet the open plastic bag and then wrap the lid with it. Most old timer Dominicans don't have lids that fit anymore, so they use plastic bags to make sure that the lid fits tightly. It is not necessary if you have a proper lid that actually fits the pot.

Enjoy
 

Vacara

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Most old timer Dominicans don't have lids that fit anymore, so they use plastic bags to make sure that the lid fits tightly. It is not necessary if you have a proper lid that actually fits the pot.

Enjoy


I don't think it has anything to do with the pot condition. In NYC still Dominicans use the plastic bag.
 

Vacara

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It would be interesting to know where does the word "concon" (the rice at the bottom of the pot) come from. In Puerto Rico I believe they call it "raspao", which actually makes sense -from a linguistic stand point- because you have to "raspar" it to get out of the pot, but "concon" makes no sense in Spanish. Any idea?
 

sylindr

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concon

It would be interesting to know where does the word "concon" (the rice at the bottom of the pot) come from. In Puerto Rico I believe they call it "raspao", which actually makes sense -from a linguistic stand point- because you have to "raspar" it to get out of the pot, but "concon" makes no sense in Spanish. Any idea?

I am in POP and my family says concon. So it is not regional
 

2dlight

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Jun 3, 2004
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Puerto Ricans also call it "pegao". "Si como caminas cocinas, yo me como hasta el pegao";)
 

pyratt

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Jan 14, 2007
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Con Con in the Bahamas is called a "potcake"....as are the street dogs that fight over the discarded "burnt rice"....I know, because I owned a Bahamian potcake for over 10 years...Potcakes are the best dogs around.
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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you guys like to complicate things or what? :)
i use rice cooker: a cup of rice, a cup and a bit of water and a pinch of salt. there.
i am unable to cook rice otherwise and totally uninterested in learning this skill as i hate rice. miesposo is lucky i even agree to make it at all.
 
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XXKWISIT

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Apr 15, 2007
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The first time my husband served me concon, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. I'm all like: 'what is this burnt uncooked rice that this guy is telling me is his favourite? I thought i was going to crack my molars clean in half.'
My husband religiously uses the plastic bag, as does his mother. I am slowly getting used to concon, but I can't really say that I am a big fan. Last time I was there I made rice the canadian way 2/3c. of rice, 1 1/4c water, salt and butter. My husband liked it and he liked not scrubbing the pot, but he said he missed the concon. I can't say i would ever really 'miss' concon.
 

T809

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i thought the bag was for speeding up the cooking and save gas, same reason they soak the beans in water for hours. and yes, con con is good. has a buttery popcorn taste to it.