What Should It Be Like When It’s Done?

If you go round the world asking what sort of texture perfectly cooked rice should have, you will get different answers everywhere you go. Two obvious extremes are Basmati, which should be light, quite dry, with separate grains, and sushi rice, which must be soft and sticky. Generally speaking, though, people like the mouth-feel of separate grains, tender but not mushy, with just a little bit of bite left in them. Brown rice, of course, is a different matter. The bran coat always remains chewy. Unpolished rice, like the Italian semilavorato, remains firm when cooked.