How much rice do I need?

[cookingSoul]

you need 20 cups of cooked long grain white rice how many pounds of raw rice do you need to buy.......
raw rice 1 cup = 6.5 ounces .41 lbs
cooked rice 1 cup = 7.25 .45lbs
anybody know the answer or can you help me figure it out?

when i say chef...i mean teacher...because at the school i go to every teacher is called a chef because the school does not hire those without chef skills as it would be inappropriate to pay the teachers the money they pay them and not have the experience to back that paycheck thus....every teacher is a qualified chef

i left the lbs out cause my friends kept doing it in lbs which isnt accurate enough...but that is all the information given...

theres a certain method to obtaining the correct answer but...idk what it is =\

ok raw rice = 6.5 oz (oz = ounces) now this means...if you put dry uncooked raw white long grain rice into a measuring cup with the measurement of 1 cup it will weigh 6.5 ounces or (oz) for those who are lacking the ability to grasp this

now...cooked rice = 7.25 ounces (again...its still..oz) means that if you cooked long grain white rice and put it in a measuring cup marked as 1 cup it will weigh 7.25 ounces (oz)

now if you have to read that in order to understand the question..stop now and do not attempt the question...BECAUSE ITS COMMON SENSE

and assume nothing...logical reasoning...all the information is there if you cant decipher then dont worry about it...i will hopefully find out the answer tuesday or monday...i appreciate those who attempted to solve the problems and ive been checking them over but i honestly dont know cause theres so many different answers ive received...

 

[Andy M.]

A cup of raw rice yields three cups of cooked.

To get 20 cups of cooked rice you would need 6.667 cups of raw rice. That would amount to 43.34 ounces or 2.7 pounds of raw rice.

 

[cookingSoul]

now is that using the numbers i produced with the question...or is that just basic rice conversion...i beleive the numbers must be used...im currently in culinary school and i am having problems on this..problem...which is from the book...so i think my chef (teacher) wants the class to use those numbers to determine the correct answer...

 

[Alix]

According to your numbers, you gain .75 ounces from raw to cooked. I guess you should do the math from there. Never been to culinary school, so I don't have a clue how your math problems work.

If I were you, I'd just take Andy's measurement. He's right.

 

[cookingSoul]

yes but my chef said some kid took 8 hours finished at 3 am and called him and said CHEF I GOT IT...and was one decimal place off...also ive had friends say its like 8.1 or something lbs...which sounded off....now either andy is incredibly smart and knows his stuff...or thats not the correct answer...but it sounds good lol

 

[Caine]

One cup of raw rice, cooked in 1 1/2 to 2 cups of water, will produce 2 cups of cooked rice. One cup of uncooked long grain white rice weighs 6 3/4 ounces. There are 16 ounces in a pound. You can do the math from there.




Kwia-Chang Caine say, "You can never have too much rice."

 

[Alix]

Andy IS incredibly smart! However, it is not such a tough problem for someone who has cooked a lot. If you've cooked for a lot of people, chances are you have made that much rice a time or two. PRACTICALLY, it is easy.

The hard part is doing the theoretical math. If THAT is what you're looking for, you might be better looking on a math whiz site. LOL.

 

[Andy M.]

...now either andy is incredibly smart and knows his stuff...or thats not the correct answer...,

cookingSoul, please let me know as soon as the chef gives you the correct answer whether I'm incredibly smart or wrong. The suspense is killing me.

My calculations are all based on the premise that cooked rice is three times the volume of uncooked. If that's wrong, so is my answer.

Also, I didn't realize I was doing your homework, I thought I was helping with a practical situation.

Looking forward to your response, good luck in class.

 

[Lizannd]

Can you give us the question as it was asked? It seems

as if some information is missing.

 

[Lizannd]

Assuming 1 part raw produces 2 parts cooked I figure you will need

wait, let me think it over again.

 

[cookingSoul]

i go back to school monday...also its not really hw....its a random question in the book chef told us to take it home and attempt to figure it out....if so we get extra credit on our test...

do you think you could solve the problem using the numbers i gave? or would it come out the same?....cause ive attempted and i get stuck like half way through or it doesnt seem right

 

[Alix]

LOL! You are the only one who knows what the question actually says. If you want to post it word for word here you might get more help.

 

[Andy M.]

Using the info you gave, you still have to make assumptions to get the job done,

I took a second shot at it with your info.

Figure a cup of raw rice is cooked in two cups of water (an assumption). The total weight of the rice and the water is 6.5 plus 16.67 ounces for a total of 23.17 ounces.

A cup of cooked rice weighs 7.25 ounces. If you divide 23.17 by 7.25 the result is 3.2 cups of cooked rice from a cup of raw and two cups of water.

This takes you to my original calculation in my first post with slightly different results if you use 3.2 cups of cooked rice from a cup of raw instead of the 3.0 I used.

Either way, you have to make an assumption.

If there is a way to answer the question with the facts given and NO assumptions, I don't know what it is so be sure to share.

 

[Corey123]

Usually, the rule of thumb, Andy, as you mentioned, is to use two parts of water with one part of rice.

For instance, to get one cup of cooked rice, you will need a 1/2 cup of raw rice and one cup of water. For two cups of cooked rice, you need one cup raw rice and two cups of water, and so on.

With just about all types of rice, the rice and water ratio is the same.


~Corey123.

 

[cookingSoul]

ok well i updated but there is nothing more to the problem...updated the lbs

theres honestly nothing left there...the problem is as is...the only thing is the lbs which could be figured out by the ounces i gave...

 

[XeniA]

you need 20 cups of cooked long grain white rice how many pounds of raw rice do you need to buy.......
raw rice 1 cup = 6.5 ounces .41 lbs
cooked rice 1 cup = 7.25 .45lbs

Can you get a clarification/confirmation from the teacher in order to solve this? I'd like to know this: does the "cooked rice 1 cup" mean a cup of raw rice, cooked, or is it a cup of cooked rice, presumably scooped from more-than-a-cup of cooked rice?

If it's the former, you can take the two weights you're given and figure out what percentage of the final weight of the cooked rice comes from water and then you should be able to reverse that calculation on the final 20 cups of cooked rice to come up with the dry weight needed.

But if it's the latter, you don't have the information you need to solve this -- you'd need a volume difference raw to cooked.

 

[Gretchen]

The answer I get doesn't totally make sense with my kitchen cooking but here goes. But in looking, maybe it does. I just measure with cups so haven't ever thought about pounds/C.

If you take all your knowns then you can state it another way,
the lb. in 1C raw rice is to the lbs in 1C cooked rice is the same as X lb. raw rice is to 9 lb. cooked rice.

Since you must compare similar things and in this case cups to lbs then

20C cooked rice weighs 9#. (20 x O.45 (lb/C) = 9 )

o.41 (lb/C raw).........X (lb/ raw)
0.45 (lb./C cooked) = 9 (lb/20C cooked)

I can't get the formatting of the X to hold, but it should be over the nine, of course. And the = in the middle. (the dots are for the formatting.)

Solving this equation makes 8.2# raw rice.



Where are you in culinary school? We are REALLY enjoying our Johnson&Wales.
This question also interests me because it so exactly points out that chefs are not ALL about cooking. Got to plan and know how much to cook for the numbers served.
In touring J&W I was so interested to learn that it isn't just the cooking that is taught to get the culinary degree. J&W is a full accredited university so math, english, etc. are all also taught.

 

[boufa06]

CookingSoul, I cook rice most of the time. For 2 persons, I prepare rice by cooking 1 cup of raw rice (Thai rice or equivalent) with 1-1/2 cups of water. So you can calculate from there.

 

[philso]

if you ask me, your chef is throwing you for a loop.

any chef in charge of inventory knows that you buy rice in bulk, by the 25 or 50 lb. bag, because that is what is most cost effective. and i've never come across any purveyor that would be willing to sell 2.7 lbs.

 

[Gretchen]

if you ask me, your chef is throwing you for a loop.

any chef in charge of inventory knows that you buy rice in bulk, by the 25 or 50 lb. bag, because that is what is most cost effective. and i've never come across any purveyor that would be willing to sell 2.7 lbs.

That would certainly be correct. I also have never been faced with the two trains coming toward me from opposite directions at differering speeds. ;o)
But in a professional kitchen, you would still need to know how to figure out how much food you may need. For the most part, professional kitchens are run on the basis of weights--pastries/baking, for example--and have scales available.
But perhaps more to the point for example, what if the chef knew he was fixing that amount of rice 3 times in the next 10 days. Then a 25# bag of rice would be approximately the amount needed for it all (if I am right in the previous calculations).