Rescues · TO FRY
Fried rice came out mushy and clumped.
Why it happens
The rice went into the pan fresh and moist. Just-cooked rice carries surface moisture that turns a stir-fry into a steam bath, and its soft grains glue together before they can sear. Day-old refrigerated rice — dried out, its starch firmed back up — separates and fries; fresh rice spread on a tray until the surface dries is the same fix in an hour instead of a day.
Recovering it
Under-fried food can go back in once the oil has recovered temperature, and a second fry at a higher temperature is a real technique rather than a rescue — it is how chips are made properly. Greasy food does not un-grease. Soggy food re-crisps in a hot oven on a rack. If oil ever catches fire, cover the pan and turn off the heat; never water, which will spread it violently.
The mechanism
Hot oil conducts heat several times more efficiently than an oven's air, so the surface reaches browning temperature almost immediately. What happens next is a race: water inside the food turns to steam and pushes outward, and as long as it is escaping, oil cannot get in — the visible bubbling is that steam, and it is the food defending itself. This is why correct frying is not greasy. When the oil is too cool the surface never seals, steam pressure is weak, and oil soaks in; when it is too hot the exterior sets and colours before the interior has cooked. The working window is roughly 170-190°C for most things. Every batch drops the oil temperature, so the single most useful habit is waiting for it to recover between batches.
The full TO FRY lesson — how to tell, where to practise it, what it carries to.