299402 Wed Dec 08 07:16:57 -0800 2004 24 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1658634 As another poster said, Barilla is really overwhelmingly favored by the Italians and is indeed the "Choice of Italy", as their ad goes. If Barilla is good enough for the Italians... In the same vein, I'm curious if any knowledgeable world travelers or better yet, natives of these countries know: What brand of short grain (sushi) rice is favored by the Japanese? What brand of long grain rice is favored by the Chinese? What brand of basmati rice is favored by the Indians? If it's good enough for them, it will be good enough for me! Wed Dec 08 07:16:57 -0800 2004 0 Douglas M. 1 1658635 that kind of reasoning will quickly lead you to mcdonalds in america ... several trillion served. Wed Dec 08 07:24:47 -0800 2004 1658634 0 howler 2 1658642 This may not be an apples to apples comparison. I'm not interested in a crazy long analysis, but couldn't one argue that, as a culture and a people, America/Americans are much less food than, say, India/Indians, China/Chinese, etc? Seems to be that, in GENERAL, the selectivity with regards to ingredients, the diversity of foods and their relationship to certain events, the social occasions for dining, the overarching philosophies about food and healthfulness, and many other factors point to a much greater awareness of food/foodways. American exceptionalism isn't always a good thing. I think of how many ingredients come from a can when my mother cooks ... or the inability of most Americans to distinguish good produce from bad or to talk about food in any sort of critical way whereas many Chinese/Indians would immediately would immediately turn to ideas of balance, hot/cold, texture, presentation aesthetics, yin/yang, and digestion. Just a few thoughts. rien Wed Dec 08 10:52:35 -0800 2004 1658635 0 rien 1 1658636 I don't know about a specific brand but I know that many Indians (including me) use jasmine rice, for everyday use, rather than basmati rice. I tend to buy whatever is on sale (but never the cheapest). Wed Dec 08 07:46:58 -0800 2004 1658634 0 rkn 2 1658637 For the jasmine rice, I go to an asian market and buy a size appropriate for me - I think usually 5 lbs. It's very very cheap (you can buy one meal's worth at a regular grocer for the same price - and I think the quality isn't as good). Don't know the brand I got last - I don't worry about that too much. Wed Dec 08 08:15:31 -0800 2004 1658636 0 Dennis S 1 1658638 Kraft is the brand of macaroni and cheese favored by millions of Americans AND Canadians. That doesn't mean it's any good, though. With rice and almost all other foods, I urge you to do your own exploration and find ones that you like. Wed Dec 08 09:25:12 -0800 2004 1658634 0 Kirk 1 1658646 For Japanese rice, we always use Kokuho Rose Rice. Perfect for sushi, fried rice. Most Japanese restaurants use this brand. You can find it in most grocery stores in 5lb bags or 25lb bags at Costco. Wed Dec 08 12:10:30 -0800 2004 1658634 0 Kim 1 1658648 Rice: In my family, each year (when the new crop is released) different family members do a "taste test" with the various brands available. My mother does not participate in the taste test, but follows (used to be her mother) her sisters' recommendations. This is a yearly ritual. But, in an attempt to help you: my family purchases different brands of Calrose rice. I can not tell a difference. To me, your question is the same as; what brand of potatoes are favored by Americans. As Kim wrote, Kokuho Rose is a good brand of a medium grain and is suitable for sushi, produced in Dos Palos (Central California) by Koda Farms. Wed Dec 08 12:27:22 -0800 2004 1658634 0 Alan408 1 1658652 If you're looking for a good basmati rice, I would really encourage you to seek out Zebra brand basmati . I discovered it years ago while working at a high end restaurant, they used it for our staff meal and I was so impressed, have been buying it ever since. There are directions on the bag, (comes in white cloth 10# bags) for soaking before cooking, but I know cooks who forgo this step. Don't know what area you're in, if you're in the Bay area I can steer you to some stores that carry it. Often have buy one get one free, so you'll have 20 lbs. of rice to share with family and friends... Really nice stuff, too. Imported by: Hamson's INC Hayward, CA #888.ZEBRA-11 Wed Dec 08 14:19:47 -0800 2004 1658634 0 rabaja 1 1658656 I'm half Japanese and half Chinese, but my taste in rice definitely falls towards the Japanese sushi grade short grain variety. I've tried most of them, and grew up on Kokuho, but my favorite is Tamaki Gold. I find that if you've used a brand consistently for a period of time (couple weeks, say), it's a lot easier to taste the difference when trying another one. Julian Wed Dec 08 14:57:13 -0800 2004 1658634 0 Julian Hsu 2 1658660 I agree - I'm a Tamaki Gold user for day to day, although I used to use Nishiki. I do find that you definitely can taste the differences in rice - if you ever get the chance to do side by side tasting, most people will definitely taste and feel the difference. There are brands that I save for special occasions (it is quite a bit more expensive) - mainly Tamanishiki and Nozomi. These are rices you can taste the quality of right away - there is definitely more depth to the rice flavor - more umami. Ironically, while these Calrose rices (which were seeded from Japanese rices many, many years ago) are popular with Japanese-Americans, you won't find them much in Japan itself. Their rice cartel is legendary - and they only started allowing the import of US rice in 1993, when they had a disastrous crop. Even now, they sell special products to make US calrose rice "taste right". Their own rice grades are numerous, and the most common brand is certainly not the best. I would recommend (to the op) that you try a "special premium" brand just for the experience of it - Tamanishiki is available at the local Japanese food stores. But for most, it's just not worth paying that much for every day use. You can't go wrong with Tamaki Gold. Wed Dec 08 15:47:33 -0800 2004 1658656 0 applehome 1 1658661 I'm going to echo Alan408 and Kim...I buy Kokuho Rose at Costco, in the big bags. If they've got 'new crop', I buy a bag even if I've still got some at home. (FTR, I'm half Chinese and half Japanese.) Wed Dec 08 16:01:37 -0800 2004 1658634 0 ricepad 1 1658665 I use Kokuho Rose too, mostly because that's what I grew up on. It just tastes right to me. Wed Dec 08 16:36:28 -0800 2004 1658634 0 Jujubee 1 1658668 To clarify, Chinese by and large prefer medium-grain rice to long grain, though the long-grain jasmine rice from Thailand has become popular in restaurants. My wife will buy any decent Calrose type rice in bulk, usually whatever they happen to be selling at Costco (generally either Nishiki or Homai) in 50-lb. bags. It's more than just coincidence that the four "chopsticks countries" tend to prefer short or medium grain rice. The long-grain rice is not only narrower in girth, but is also less glutinous and resists "clumping", which means it's a pain in the butt to eat with chopsticks. (Thais typically only use chopsticks for noodles, AFAIK). Link: http://eatingchinese.org Wed Dec 08 19:55:18 -0800 2004 1658634 0 Gary Soup 2 1658674 Jasmine rice tends to be more popular with the Chinese population in S E Asia rather than in China, likely because of the proximity to Thailand. In S E Asia, forks and spoons are the usual way to handle rice served on a plate (more common in Thai, Malay, Indonesian places, hands can also be used in the latter 2 types of places), but chopsticks are used when rice is served in a bowl. Thu Dec 09 00:34:36 -0800 2004 1658668 0 Limster 3 1658675 The rice best like by old time Cantonese Chinese in the States is Texas Long Grian Rice. The one we buy is AA by Comet. When my Mom and Dad were around that is what we buy. Mrs. Yimster only like this one also. From what I have heard people from Taiwan like a medium grain from Califonis. Some of those from Hong Kong like the Jasmine rice. But is my opinion that you like what you grow up with. Thu Dec 09 01:17:35 -0800 2004 1658674 0 yimster 3 1658701 I'm reminded that another factor in the popularity of long-grain varieties is that long-grain rice stores better in extremely hot, humid climates. Link: http://eatingchinese.org Thu Dec 09 13:56:38 -0800 2004 1658674 0 Gary Soup 4 1658726 Its also interesting, in terms of this discussion, that several of the east asian posters seemed to be expressing a preference for new crop rice, yet "aged" basmati appears to be more desirable on the indian subcontinent. obviously a very wide ranges of taste and texture preferences and cooking and eating methods enter in. fascinating discussion so far. Thu Dec 09 18:32:20 -0800 2004 1658701 0 jen kalb 1 1658728 From Amin (London Foodie) OrientRice@aol.com OK, here are my views: New crop basmati does not have the desired cooking properties viz, fluffy, individually cooked grains, nor the desired texture or aroma. Aged basmati provides the desired results purely because aged basmati normally has a lower moisture content. When the new crop comes available, moisture is normally at around 18-20%, while aged basmati normally has a moisture of around 10.5 - 11.0 %. Moisture reduction is either done by sun-drying which is cumbersome, or Through huge paddy driers which do the reduction in 2 or 3 passes, however the moisture does not normally reduce less than 14% through this process due to technical restraints. In India/Pakistan, basmati is normally an investment like gold, stocks/shares, etc., and many people buy the new crop and hoard it for 6-8 months, re-selling it at 30-40% profit This being a far greater rate of return than interest from a bank and far less insecure such as stocks and shares. Unlike ''fragrant'' rice, where normally rose water is ''injected'' into the grain through an artificial process using jet sprays, basmati has a Natural Aroma, which is unique to that produced in India & Pakistan. It is said that about 20-30 years ago the basmati paddy seed was planted in Texas, the resultant being called ''Texmati'' When the husk or hull is removed from the paddy, the rice grain within is Brown rice which contains bran as its outer coating. When this brown rice is polished with mechanical polishers,the more friction it receives the greater the lustre of whiteness, however with greater polishing, you also get more ''brokens'', as basmati is exceedingly brittle. For maintaining of quality, good aged and well polished white basmati is normally colour sorted whereby brokens,discoloured, immature grains are taken out, and made ready for packing based at around 0.5 - 1.0% brokens,leaving an anticipated margin for further brokens resulting out of transportation,shipment, handling etc US grade 1 is max 4% brokens, hence if shipment is effected as per the above, the arrival brokens would be around 2-3% Brokens are classified in sizes from 1 to 3 and 3 being the smallest, are refrred to as pin points, which are used either as animal & poultry feed, or is sold to the sugar industry for processing into liquid glucose syrup As to the question of which brand to use, someone mentioned Zebra brand, and while I know that zebra is well established in the US, it is in my view good quality, however as rice varities and crop results differ each year, IMHO it is preferable to try different brands (smaller quantities periodically), and switch to the one you feel provides the desired cooking results, texture, aroma, flavour, etc. Basmati rice is said to be gluten free, however it does contain starch, hence it is advisable to pre-wash the rice in a couple of soaks of very hot water, interspersed with cold water rinses (7-10 rinses), prior to cooking. Toasted ground rice can work wonders on a salad to give a light crunchy taste. Toast some rice lightly in an empty hot pan till it turns brown, then transfer into a mortar & pestle, grinding it into a crunchy texture not too powdery then spread lightly on the salad. When new crop rice is cooked, the grains upon cooking, will clump up together and as it would contain a lot of starch, the rice would be sticky or glutinous. The Japanese / Chinese normally prefer glutinous short to medium grain rice. Thu Dec 09 19:25:19 -0800 2004 1658634 0 Amin 1 1658729 In Japan, it is obviously "Uncle Ben-San". Thu Dec 09 19:39:32 -0800 2004 1658634 0 Jim H. 1 1658768 Please include the Charlestonians (SC)in the mix. The joke around y'eah is How are Chinese and Charlestonians alike? Answer: 1. They eat rice three times a day 2. They both worship their ancestors 3. You cannot understand either one Have enjoyed the discussion and have found out that the joke is incorrect. Charlestonian like their cooked rice as soft individual grains and not gummy. So I guess we are more closely allied with the Indian culture. Fri Dec 10 15:01:51 -0800 2004 1658634 0 1 wiener hound 2 1658772 Not gummy. Gummy is bad. The chinese that eat medium grain rice like the grains separate, but cohesive. Sticky is a better word. Gummy, mushy and the like are not desirable. Fri Dec 10 15:45:56 -0800 2004 1658768 0 Jujubee 1 1659947 if you are interested, there is a book all about rice called, well, RICE by Naomi and Anthony Duguid (i think). very informative. one type of short grain japanese rice you should try is haiga-mai, it has the goodness of brown rice with a nutty flavour. Fri Dec 24 13:23:45 -0800 2004 1658634 0 melissa 2 1661422 That is "The Seduction of Rice" Sat Jan 15 11:41:19 -0800 2005 1659947 0 Candy 3 1661435 "Seductions of Rice" by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. I'm copying right off the cover here. Sat Jan 15 18:21:31 -0800 2005 1661422 0 freply