Types of rice and their use in cooking

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Saracen grain (one of the names of the product, which will be discussed in this article) is one of the oldest crops grown by man. Some types of rice in many countries of the world have long been used to prepare delicious dishes (both first and second, and even third) in national cuisines: pilaf, porridge, soup, drinks. Since ancient times, it has been used for the preparation of light and strong alcohol. Almost all types of rice have many properties that are beneficial to the human body, which allows people to eat it with confidence. And the variety of dishes that include this product in the cuisines of the peoples of the world - categorically testifies to this and confirms this fact.

Classification

Which types of rice are most widely used? Let us turn to the exact sciences, which tell us that the varieties of this cereal, bred over the entire thousand-year time of its cultivation, number in the hundreds. And from the point of view of botanical science, rice species are represented by 20 names, but there are more than 150 of them.varieties and slightly less than 8 thousand agronomic varieties. How do they classify all this rice in order to understand the diversity presented?

How to distinguish

Rice is usually distinguished by color, by the length of the grains, by the method of processing to which it has undergone. Moreover, the same variety of rice may therefore have different tastes, colors, aromas, and nutritional properties. And in the color scheme, rice is represented not only by white shades. There is also red, purple, black, yellow rice.

By grain length

How many types of rice are there according to grain length classification? According to the size of the rice grain, its shape and length, tasty cereal can be divided into three large groups. Round (it is also called round-grain, or short-grain), medium-grain and long-grain rice. Its types and properties in this context are also different. Consider in order.

Long grain

This type of rice is familiar to everyone, probably since childhood. Its grains are thin, oblong, sometimes reaching up to a centimeter in length. By color, we are used to seeing them as transparent, brown or whitish. During cooking (usually boiling), they tend to absorb a minimum amount of water, as a result of which they are not subject to sticking and boiling, that is, they turn out crumbly at the exit. If we talk about the types of rice and their use in cooking, then this representative is used very actively in the kitchen business. Long-grain cereal is taken for salads, soupsand stews, various kinds of snacks, side dishes for meat dishes. It is popular almost all over the world: in the East, in Europe, in America, in Australia. Its main distinguishing feature is hardness and friability. It is considered by culinary experts to be the highest quality and most useful of many types for cooking.

Medium Grain

The grains are rounded, up to 6 millimeters long. They are less transparent. Medium grain has a high starch content. Therefore, the grains absorb more water during cooking, and the output is sticky, but not too sticky. The color is usually white or brown. Medium-grain rice varieties are great for soups and cereals. Here are these varieties and types of rice and their use in cooking: for paella (baia variety), for the preparation of Italian risotto (arborio or carnaroli variety). Experienced European chefs recommend undercooking them a little to get a more crumbly and tasty result and a beautiful shape. These varieties of rice are grown in America and Asia, Europe and Australia - everywhere.

Round grain

Grains of cereal are almost round in shape. In size, they are smaller than their counterparts: up to 5 mm in length. Almost opaque, whitish color. Round-grain rice sticks well (there is the highest content of starchy substances here), so these varieties and types of rice for sushi are ideal. For the same reason, round grains are recommended for children. Such rice is well suited for making rice porridge. Back in the days of the USSR (and even now in many CIS countries) in its preschool institutionsconstantly included in the menu. If you cook long-grain rice for a long time, it absorbs the maximum amount of liquid, boils soft and becomes reminiscent of a cream. In England, all kinds of desserts and puddings are prepared from such rice. They love round-grain varieties in Japan. Here, traditionally, round varieties are used to make sake, a rice-intoxicated drink.

Types of rice processing

But according to the processing method, rice can be classified as unpolished (it is also called brown), polished (white) and steamed (transparent). These types of rice and their uses vary. Let's talk briefly about each of them.

Unpolished

This is whole grain rice. It is handled to a minimum. At the same time, the bran shell is preserved, which are polished in other cases. It has a color scheme of brown shades and the slightest nutty flavor (due to the shell left), a pronounced aroma and richness of taste. As a result of minimal processing, many nutrients are preserved: vitamins, microelements, fiber contained in the shell of the grains. Therefore, traditionally brown rice is considered the most useful for consumption. Of the medicinal properties: the ability to strengthen the immune system, a beneficial effect on brain activity, improve digestion. In cooking, it requires much more time: it is usually cooked for up to forty minutes, but with all this it does not boil soft, but retains friability. Its only drawback is the short shelf life. Therefore, boiled brown rice is recommended hereor eat it. And they usually cook from it the same dishes as from white.

Brushed

Or the usual white rice. This is the most common cereal in the world. It is obtained as a result of grinding grains, in which their shell is removed - bran. The grains become even, smooth, snow-white in color, slightly transparent. By the way, they can have any shape: round, long (see the previous classification) and be of various agronomic varieties. Therefore, the type of white rice (as, in fact, brown) is a processing method. By analogy with sprats, for example, which are not a type of fish, but only its cooking method. Grains of white rice are boiled for only ten or fifteen minutes maximum. They contain a lot of starchy substances (up to 70 percent happen), but, accordingly, there are not enough useful vitamins and minerals with minerals that are removed along with bran during deeper processing of grain. No, of course, there are still many useful things, but, in essence, white rice is a refined product (akin to, for example, refined sugar). Although at the same time it is the most used product in our kitchens. It has a rather long shelf life and an attractive "popular" price, which is probably why it won such popularity among the population. It is from white rice that a great many dishes are prepared, familiar in domestic cuisine: from pilaf to sweet cereals with dried fruits.

Steamed

This is the name of rice that has undergone appropriate processing and acquiredgolden and translucent. At the beginning, the grains are washed, then soaked in hot water, then subjected to steam treatment. And only then they are dried, polished and bleached. Steam treatment, as it were, transfers useful substances into the grains. It turns out that steamed rice becomes in its qualities as useful as brown, unprocessed. Uncooked rice tends to have an amber hue. But after cooking, this effect disappears, and the rice takes on its usual white appearance. It takes longer to cook than white rice - about 20-25 minutes. Grains do not stick together, tasty and crumbly. Today, this type of cooks is gaining more and more popularity, as it retains, unlike white, a lot of useful substances.

Wild rice

Types of wild rice (or rather, its subspecies) are known in the amount of four. Moreover, three of them are from North America, and the fourth is from China. It has long been eaten by the Indians, and in ancient China it was also ubiquitous, but was subsequently replaced by ordinary rice. Now wild rice (4 species) is cultivated only in the north of America and in China, and therefore it is not cheap. It has a nutty light aroma, slightly sweet aftertaste. Very useful: rich in minerals, protein, vitamins. The grains are brown or black, shiny and smooth. Boiled for a long time: up to forty minutes. It is usually consumed by mixing with other types of rice. In terms of (this rice) species/calorie ratio, it has the lowest rate among all the others. Considered to be a naturally balanced product, it is recommended by nutritionists and nutritionists alike.

Popular varieties

As already mentioned, there are a huge number of varieties of this cereal. But traditionally the elite are ranked: basmati, camolino, jasmine, arborio, wild.

Basmati or "Thai" - long-grain rice, recognized as the world's king of rice varieties. It has the longest grains in the world. They can reach up to 2 centimeters when cooked. Cultivated in India and Pakistan, more recently in the USA.

Jasmine - white long-grain rice. Crumbly mi is soft, with a delicate milky aroma. Cultivated in the countries of Southeast Asia. Great for Oriental cooking.

Arborio is grown in Italy, from which Italian and Spanish dishes are traditionally prepared. And in Japan - a special glutinous rice for sushi.

For pilaf

Types of rice for pilaf, which can be used in the preparation of this most popular dish in the post-Soviet space, may be different. Experienced chefs advise taking the one that sticks the least during processing. Indeed, for a good pilaf, such a trait as friability is needed. Therefore, long-grain, and brown, and steamed are suitable. But it is not recommended to take round-grain and medium-grain polished: you run the risk of getting rice porridge with meat instead of tasty food.