Brad Hurley never expected to make rivals over rice.
But in the rural town of Condobolin, in central west NSW, the best cup of cooked rice is just as important as the best jam or scone when it comes show time.
Hurley is a seven-time winner of the annual Condobolin Show’s famed best cup of boiled rice competition.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today 
He managed to take home the gong yet again this year despite fierce competition from cooked rice enthusiasts from as far away as Somers, in regional Victoria.
Hurley said he first entered the competition 20 years ago as a joke, only to walk away with the win.
Afterwards, he bragged about it at the local pub and a fierce — although thankfully mostly friendly — rivalry was born.
“I think I might have rubbed a few people up the wrong way and they thought ‘how hard can it be, I can cook rice better than you’, so they entered the next year,” Hurley told Sunrise on Wednesday, adding the competition has “just been growing every year” since.
Over that time the prize money has also increased — from $2 to $100 — as has the banter over just who is the best.
The rice competition has become a huge feature of the Condobolin Show, held in August each year, which features all the usual agricultural show events and competitions, such as horse jumping, sheep, cattle, best produce, crafts, and cooking, along with quirky events such as the best mullet haircut.
And of course, best rice cooking.
Hurley said he is honoured — but also a little bemused — to be the town’s rice champion.
“It has grown into something that is quite ridiculous, to be honest,” he said with a laugh.
Hurley was later pressed on what makes a good cup of rice — and, like many champion country cooks before him, his secret remains closely guarded.
“Are you serious? Which one of my archrivals has sent you?” Hurley joked.
“This is the most elaborate plot I have ever heard to get my secret.
“All I will say is the method of cooking rice is on the side of the packet.”
Stream free on
