Serving rice in a buffet safely??

[sharond101]

Having an informal dinner party this weekend and usually do buffet style but the side dish is hot rice, one of my guests is an Environmental Health Officer. What should I do (or not do?)

Keeping rice warm in a bain marie/ hot plate, cook the rice last, never reheat, don't leave the rice out for more than an hour and throw in the green bin any waste

God, terrifying!! I'm a chef with my own place, and we have a friend who's an EHO, whenever we have him round for Dinner (at home) I'm terrified!!

For rice, by far the easiest, safest way to cook and hot hold rice is with a rice cooker with a keep warm function. It flicks to keep warm as soon as it's cooked so isn't overdone, and will safely keep your rice hot for you. Apart from that, follow pp's advice and you'll be fine.

If you have a digital probe/ thermapen/ food thermometer you can check the temp if the rice, it needs to stay above 63C - this is the legal safe limit.