Bittman Basics
You Can Make Better Rice
Forget what you’ve heard about how tricky rice is to get right
There are literally thousands of different kinds of rice — more than enough to overwhelm even experienced cooks — but let’s group them all into two simple categories: long-grain rices and short- and medium-grain rices.
Long-Grain Rice
These include the southern varieties (the most common rice in America), as well as aromatic rices like the nutty basmati and the floral jasmine. American aromatic rices, like Texmati, are also delicious and getting easier to find. All cook up into the fluffy, familiar rice of side dishes and pilafs.
Short- and Medium-Grain Rice
Plumper, starchier, and slightly sticky, these are the grains we know from dishes like risotto, paella, and sushi. Packages in supermarkets are often labeled simply short-grain or medium-grain. Risotto — the creamy Italian dish — is made with short-grain rices (the most common variety is Arborio), as is the classic Spanish dish paella (Valencia is the most common). The short-grain sticky rices used throughout Asia are increasingly available here in specialty markets. And a whole group of American short- and medium-grain rices are gaining popularity.
