What can I use instead of brown rice?

With the bran milled off, water reaches the starch immediately, so it needs less liquid and less than half the time.

MethodCut the liquid to 1 3/4 cups per cup and the simmer from 45 to 50 minutes down to 18, then rest covered 5 minutes. Leaving the brown-rice liquid and timing in place will give you a wet, blown-out mush.

Trade-offSofter and milder, and it will not hold up in a grain salad dressed hours ahead the way brown rice does.

Farro has a similar firm chew and nutty flavour, but pearled farro cooks far faster and is best boiled like pasta rather than by absorption.

Trade-offNuttier and more distinctly chewy, and it contains gluten, which brown rice does not.

Allergen checkFarro is a wheat and contains gluten. Anyone avoiding gluten for coeliac disease should stay with rice, quinoa or millet. Check the packet for the specific wheat species, and treat a medical restriction as one — not something to work around in a recipe.

Wild rice is a different plant entirely, an aquatic grass seed, with a tough hull that needs more water and slightly longer than brown rice to split open.

MethodIt is done when the grains have burst and curled open. Drain off any liquid that remains rather than cooking it dry.

Trade-offMuch darker, chewier and more strongly flavoured, with a tea-like note. It will tint anything it is mixed into purple-grey.

Barley is similarly chewy but far more starchy, so it needs more liquid and thickens whatever it is cooked in.

Trade-offCreamier and slicker than brown rice, and it will thicken a soup considerably. Not gluten-free.

Allergen checkBarley contains gluten and is not safe for coeliac disease or a wheat-related allergy. If gluten is the reason for the swap, use brown rice, quinoa or buckwheat, and confirm any packaged product's labelling rather than assuming.