I'm always on the lookout for a good long-grain rice for day-to-day cooking. With Basmati and Jasmine rice being so expensive these days, I tend to only use those rices for South Asian and East Asian food, respectively. When I'm making other foods - especially Latin American dishes - I need something a little simpler. Although I'm a spendthrift through and through, I've found that with rice you really get what you pay for. Never go for the bargain stuff as it tends to clump up and the grains break up into unrecognizable little bits. Thrifty Maid is one of the absolute worst that I've used and has given me countless pots of rice that I've had to throw away...rice that I'd be ashamed to serve anyone. My go-to rice has always been Canilla, which is produced and marketed by Goya. With a good rinsing and careful preparation, it's almost always produced a good pot of fluffy rice where the grains are all separated and have a slight chewiness, a quality known as desgranado in Spanish.
Recently at the store, Rico rice was on sale for about half the price of Canilla. I've heard of Puerto Ricans using Rico rice almost exclusively and decided to buy a 5 lb bag. The individual grains were, for lack of a better word, beautiful! Each one held its shape and there were very few broken pieces. In fact, the packaging advertises that there are fewer than 4% broken pieces in each bag. Rinsing can usually cause grains to crumble and fall apart, and I was pleased that the Rico grains retained their shape. After boiling with some olive oil, salt, and the correct proportions of water (1.25 parts water to each part rice), I uncovered a pot of the most perfect white rice I have ever made! For anyone who cooks rice on a daily or weekly basis, I highly recommend Rico. I know it will be in my pantry from now on.
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