I find most foods are best as soon as they are made, but some things seem to get better when the flavors have more time to meld. The only two I can think of right now are chili and hummus. What other dishes am I forgetting, or haven’t tried that you think get better with a little time?
If alterations are allowed, fried rice is better with old rice. I think leftover mac & cheese fried with some garlic salt is better than fresh.
There are some desserts I make that need to be chilled for a few hours, those are mostly better after a few days and the porous parts can spend time absorbing flavor.
Very recently learned this after wondering why my fried rice was coming out so clumpy and mushy. It needs to sit in a fridge overnight for the starches to calm down and dry
You can use a dehydrator or oven to speed up the process but yea - there’s a good reason fried rice recipes ask for day old rice.
I agree, but only about the rice. Fried rice made with day old rice is better, but with day old fried rice the added components dont maintain their integrity as well.