Brown Rice or White Rice?

Shermie said:
Brown rice cooks for at least 45 minutes or more.
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Shermie, is that longer than the time it takes to cook white rice in your opinion or experience? I ask because I find that 45 minutes is a tad long anyways so I am just wondering how long cooking white rice for you is in terms of minutes/hours!

Night Train said:
I am just going by what my parents did.
Doesn't mean they were right though.
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Did your parents take longer with cooking brown or white rice? I sometimes also go off of what my parents did but I have also done a few experiments of my own and have come to the conclusion that white rice takes much longer, not by a large margin but still longer than brown rice.
 
As what I had read in many articles and heard from other people eating brown rice is healthy than white rice. But I grew up eating white rice even up to now that I had my own family. I know brown rice still had the nutrients compared to white rice that had undergone processes already.
 
elles-belles said:
Shermie, is that longer than the time it takes to cook white rice in your opinion or experience? I ask because I find that 45 minutes is a tad long anyways so I am just wondering how long cooking white rice for you is in terms of minutes/hours!
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This really seems to depend on what rice you have and also what country you are in.

In the UK, I have found this guide which is about right for the rice I buy

American brown rice
This is the whole unpolished rice grain, with only the husk removed. It has a nutty, stronger flavour than white or polished rice. It has longer, thinner grains than Italian brown rice but can be used in place of it. American brown rice takes longer to cook than Italian brown.

To cook: Allow approximately 50g rice per person, place the rice in a large pan of boiling water, add salt to taste and boil for 30-35 minutes. Drain thoroughly before serving.

American easy cook
A quick-cooking long grain white rice. Easy cook rice is treated to prevent the rice going soggy or sticky during cooking.

To cook: Allow approximately 50g of rice per person. Place the rice in a large pan of boiling water. Add salt if required. Boil for 10-12 minutes and drain thoroughly before serving.

American long grain
Most long grain rice comes from America. The individual grains are not sticky and will separate when cooked, the grains are three to four times longer than they are wide.

To cook: Allow approximately 50g of rice per person. Place the rice in a large pan of boiling water, add salt to taste if required. Boil for 10-12 minutes and drain thoroughly before serving.

Yet if I look here this chart gives somewhat different times altogether, but white takes roughly half the time of brown still.

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http://www.sparkpeople.com/food_vs_food.asp?food=58_59_white-rice_versus_brown-rice

Maybe that information will help. I have to say that I have not perfected the cooking any other rice besides white rice. I tell people I never run out of ideas for cooking it and mixing it up.

I can't say the same for brown rice. The times I have cooked it I am not happy with the taste. I had a guest once who I did not think was a great cook, but somehow she cooked me a brown rice that I would never forget. It was quite enjoyable. I believe she prepared it in the oven.
 
Thanks for the information SatNav, it has brought some light at the end of this brown rice versus white rice tunnel! I have to say that brown rice is rather tasteless and blend but because it is the healthier choice I do turn to force it down. I jazz it up with a lot of vegetables like mushrooms, carrots, onions, olives, green peppers and chilies just so some flavor is added to it!

I will admit though that I still somewhat prefer white over brown rice anytime. Which is very unfortunate health wise. Oops!
 
I like both brown and white rice, depending on what dish I am using them in. Brown rice, particularly something like a Texmati brown rice, has a more distinct nutty flavor and smell to it which doesn't always pair well with certain recipes. For example, I really don't like brown rice in something like a soup or stuffed peppers. But something like a rice pilaf, especially if it's got dried fruits and nuts in it, goes well with brown rice. Brown rice also works reasonably well in fried rice too.

Brown rice is also trickier to cook, as others noted, since it takes much longer. Another challenge with brown rice though is it will become really gummy, not unlike oatmeal, if you try to cook it with the standard absorption method. A more foolproof way of cooking it so that it's light and fluffy is to boil the rice in a large pot of water for 30 minutes (as opposed to only putting just enough liquid for the rice to absorb), then strain it, add it back to the pot and put the lid on it, and let it rest and finish cooking in it's own residual heat for at least 10-15 minutes. Boiling it in a large amount of water and straining it helps flush away all the excess starchiness, and prevents the rice from being too sticky and gummy.
 
Recently I thought I would pull out some brown rice I had there for quite some time. To my dismay when I opened it I saw some little suckers of some sort. In this case I was not surprise. I pretty much expected. Because I am no big fan of brown rice I always have to end up throwing it out. After that I determined that I would buy the smallest amount available and use it in a timely manner.
 
When I was young, brown rice was only eaten by the poor who could not afford to buy white rice. The main use of brown rice was for feed to animals particularly pigs. When I became an adult, there was the hype that brown rice was more nutritious. And since there were so many health buffs, it caught fire. But the truth is.. brown rice tastes bad. We had tried it so there's no question that it's only a hype. With the nutrition, it is slightly nutritious than the white rice but not that significant.
 
Corzhens said:
When I was young, brown rice was only eaten by the poor who could not afford to buy white rice. The main use of brown rice was for feed to animals particularly pigs. When I became an adult, there was the hype that brown rice was more nutritious. And since there were so many health buffs, it caught fire. But the truth is.. brown rice tastes bad. We had tried it so there's no question that it's only a hype. With the nutrition, it is slightly nutritious than the white rice but not that significant.
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Well I am thinking that around here, it's an expensive rice so I don't suppose many use it. From most I have spoken to it needs a lot of work to be really tasty and truth be told I don't like to have to do a lot of work with something like rice. Since the creatures helped themselves to my last set I have not replaced mine. The only reason I bought it in the first place is because of the healthy hype.
 
winterybella said:
Well I am thinking that around here, it's an expensive rice so I don't suppose many use it. From most I have spoken to it needs a lot of work to be really tasty and truth be told I don't like to have to do a lot of work with something like rice. Since the creatures helped themselves to my last set I have not replaced mine. The only reason I bought it in the first place is because of the healthy hype.
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You are right on that - healthy hype. My brother-in-law who is a physician said health buffs are stepping on the line with their excessive and extreme claims of healthy food and drinks. But for all we know, there is nothing to it. That brown rice has no conclusive proof that it is more nutritious just the same with the brown sugar against white sugar and the whole wheat bread against the white bread. Come to think of it, if they are indeed healthy then people would generally patronize those brown food stuff instead of the white.
 
I'm wondering if the brown rice you guys are getting is different from the kind we get here. I use it quite a lot and it doesn't go 'gummy' (as @OhioTom76 ) mentioned. Its really very different from white rice and I wouldn't randomly substitute it in a dish. But it is rather more 'healthy' because it has more fibre than white. The kind we get tastes nutty and sweet. Much less bland than white rice. But for Asian style dishes which are packed with umami flavour I would always use white rice. Brown is good with more rustic style Western dishes.
 
I usually have brown rice because for some reason I was just always under that (possibly misguided) belief that it was better than you.

My other half is someone that much prefers white rice, but he tries to support me and will eat brown rice in this healthy-alternative quest that sometimes I get on the bandwagon of.
 
I think white rice and any carbohydrate that is white gets processed by the body very quickly which would lead the person to crave for more thinking that it is not enough. Unlike brown rice which is a complex carb I believe is different. It is like a time release carb, it gets digested slowly and the body is supplied with the needed energy on a timely manner
 
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