I Tried An Olive Oil Trick For The Fluffiest Couscous, And I'm Never Going Back

Olive oil on the left: couscous on the rightDespite what you might have heard from the likes of Gordon Ramsay, most experts agree that nope ― you probably shouldn’t put olive oil in your pasta water. Not only is it unlikely ot keep your spaghetti from sticking to itself (regular agitation can do that), but the pros reckon it’s a waste of a pricey ingredient.So I was pretty surprised to read that it might genuinely help to get another semolina-based staple – couscous – to fluffy perfection. I’ve made my fair share of brick-like, soggy and/or sandy couscous, with light, well-seperated grains very much the exception rather than the rule. After giving the trick a try, though, I’ve seen much better results consistently. How does olive oil help make couscous fluffy?I’m used to letting couscous sit in hot stock for about 10 minutes before removing its container’s home and fluffing it with a fork. But per BBC Good Food, “You can toss the uncooked couscous in a drizzle of oil before adding the liquid, which coats each grain in oil and helps them stay separate.”You can also add it when you fluff up couscous, they add. The advice is shared on Nigella Lawson’s site, too.So, I thought I’d follow the instructions (the same amount of boiling water as couscous, with about 15ml oil per 200g of couscous) and see how it went.I was surprised by how well it workedI’ll be honest: I didn’t expect the trick to work as well as it did.I stirred it straight into uncooked couscous, added the water, stirred, and let it sit for 10 minutes (any longer and the spheres become claggy). The result was gloriously light and tender grains.I was sceptical at first, not only because couscous is made from the same semolina that forms pasta, but also because oil and water don’t mix. But that affects pasta differently, because you boil it in water and then drain it away (which is why you can make pasta water so salty). In the case of couscous, it absorbs all the liquid – including oil – you place it in, making the result deliciously fluffy. Safe to say I’m never going back.Related...I've Been Living Off This Spanish Potato Salad For Days In The HeatwaveI Tried A Chef's Trick To Prevent Watery Cucumbers, And My Salads And Sandwiches Have Never Been BetterI Tried The 'Pomodoro Technique' To Get Over My Work Slump – I've Never Been More Focused

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