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Growing up, every meal with chef Jordan Andino’s family shared one thing: “You actually couldn’t have a meal without rice,” he says. It accompanied fried pork belly, chicken adobo, lechon, and so much more, “no matter the time of day, from 5:00 a.m. ‘til 12:00 a.m.” Today, the Netflix host and entrepreneur behind Flip Sigi—his Filipino taqueria with locations in New York City, Jersey City, and Chicago—still makes rice for breakfast.
Andino wakes up around 6:00 a.m. every day. “If I have time, then I will make bacon, eggs, and rice.” He starts by cooking RiceSelect® Jasmati®, then puts the bacon in the oven at 375°F until crispy (making sure to rotate it, he notes). When the bacon finishes, he cracks the eggs into the hot grease and puts the pan back in to roast until the eggs hit medium-done. Then he lays the egg over the rice, puts the bacon on the side, and adds a teaspoon of mushroom soy sauce and a little sriracha on top.
“I love rice,” says Andino. “It allows me to unleash my creativity, because it's a perfect blank canvas.” At home, he uses RiceSelect® because the consistency of the premium quality matches what he expects from working in restaurants since the age of 10, when he started alongside his chef dad. “It's a proper chef ingredient,” he says. The versatility appeals to him, too: “It lets me cross-pollinate ideas from different cultures and still feed back to the texture I’m looking for,” he explains. As a chef, he analyzes for granular things, like the aromatic weight of the rice, the length of the grain, its ability to rehydrate, and cooking time. So when it comes down to choosing rice, he says, “RiceSelect® makes it easy, because it cuts out any doubt I have. I understand what the final product will be. That kind of consistency allows me to not have to worry.”
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He considers the RiceSelect® Jasmati® his go-to, the rice he uses at least every other day for the combination of jasmine-style sweet aroma, the subtle nuttiness of basmati, and the exquisite texture. “It has the perfect amount of starch release,” he adds, giving him the desired level of stickiness, but without any clumping. “The amount of moisture in the hybrid is ideal,” he says. “It just works on a technical basis.”
That appeals to Andino’s sharp precision in all matters. Almost every day, he follows breakfast up by cleaning his entire house before he hits the ground running, taking calls and meetings, and hopefully managing a workout in between. “Then,” he says, “in all likelihood, there will be more rice.”
Lunchtime often means leftovers from a previous day. If he is eating oxtails or curries, he likes to use the RiceSelect® Texmati®. “It has a light, fluffy airiness that allows liquids and flavor to just soak in,” he explains. In Tagalog, the braising liquid is called sabaw, and he likes to pour that into a bowl, throw the rice in, and mix it up. “It becomes this middle-ground porridge texture,” says Andino. “I just shovel it into my mouth at that point.”
Andino’s trio of Filipino taquerias use as much as 600 pounds of rice each week, most of it going into the garlic fried rice for his bowls, like the O.G. with chicken or jackfruit adobo, and burritos, such as the Plan B, filled with longanisa pork sausage, fried eggs, and spam.
But at home, he always keeps RiceSelect® products on hand to add a chef’s touch to meals. “They fit easily into the residential pantry,” he says, which makes it convenient for him. As an efficiency lover, he likes how they stack, and always reuses the recyclable BPA-free jars—as containers for leftovers, to save bacon grease, and even for saving loose change by cutting a coin slot in the top. He finds the reasonable size less daunting for people who might find a 10-, 25-, or 50-pound bag of rice intimidating. “It vibes with the portion size and the amount that an average home cook would want.”
As someone whose cooking style combines formal French techniques, classic Filipino flavors, and casual California style, Andino also values the versatility of the brand’s combination styles. Having a bit of something people know makes it easier to branch out and try new things. “Familiarity breeds a willingness to take a slight risk in cooking,” he says, which helps people find their personality and style in the kitchen.
Checking out other people’s styles is a big part of Andino’s life, and he goes out for a happy hour or something fun every evening. “Just seeing what the market thinks is cool at the moment,” he says. Then, as often as possible, he comes home and cooks for his wife—what he calls the best part of his day. “We put on music, no TV, no phone, she sits at the kitchen counter, and we just talk.” With fall coming up, he might make something with root vegetables, which means he would use the RiceSelect® Royal Blend®: a mix of RiceSelect® Texmati® white rice, brown rice, wild rice, and red rice. “I like to use it as a textural and visual note to break up food,” he says, as it gives different colors, sizes, and feel to the dish. Come winter, he might use the RiceSelect® Arborio for a classic risotto. Andino marvels at how it gets the traditional Italian al dente texture without taking as long as the usual rice. “I don’t know the science of that,” he says, but it provides the ideal creaminess without having to work to coax the starch out of the thicker grains.
Andino draws inspiration everywhere, whether taking notes on the subway, looking at a billboard, or talking to a friend. He uses that to develop the new dishes that keep people hungry for his food at Flip Sigi, and to bring out his style on TV—including a new Netflix series, Cook at All Costs. Andino, the host, teases that the show is about challenging people to get creative, no matter the cost. “RiceSelect® would work super well on the show," Andino says. "It allows any level of chef to infuse as much or as little of their personality into a dish.”
See how you can do the same and unleash your creativity in the kitchen with RiceSelect®. Get inspired at RiceSelect.com.