Rice Time

by RogerJune 15, 2022

Long-grain, short-grain, brown, white, black and red. Converted or minute? The rice section in your typical grocery store has a wide variety of rice and rice products and can be confusing for home cooks. On today’s episode we unpack some of the terms and varieties associated with one of the world’s most popular grains.

Mentioned in this Episode

Originating in East Asia, rice has a long and storied history. Today it’s grown all over the globe, including the United States, and provides staple subsistence to half the world’s population.

What exactly is rice? Louisiana Ag in the Classroom has a good, high level overview of everything rice.

A grain of rice has four main parts; the hull (the inedible husk that must be removed before the grain can be consumed), the bran and germ, and the endosperm. Brown, or whole grain, rice just has the hull removed. White, or refined, rice also has the bran and germ removed.

Diagram of a grain of rice, showing the hull, bran and germ, and endosperm.

This Bon Appetit video walks through 12 different types of rice.

Thomas Joseph delivers his take on using different types of rice in the kitchen.

Invest in a rice cooker

If you plan to cook rice often you may want to invest in a rice cooker. You don’t need to spend a lot of money for a good quality, basic machine. The Aroma brand rice cooker is popular and a good deal under $50. Of course you can spend more and get more features, so feel free to shop around on Amazon.

Some of my favorite recipes that use rice

I dedicated a live cooking episode to Risotto alla Milanese, probably my favorite rice dish of all time. In today’s episode I talked about Congee, a savory rice porridge that is comforting and good for what ails you. When I crave spicy flavors and some creole cooking, I turn to Jambalaya.