Is this really the best way to cook rice?

Cooking rice is something that intimidated me for years. I did not grow up eating rice very often and when we did have rice, it was often included in a dish and not cooked separately. So when I was a young cook timidly exploring beyond the culinary borders of my upbringing, making rice proved to be a challenge. For one thing, there were so many types of rice available at the supermarket that I wasn't sure where to begin. Each variety seemed to require a slightly different method and the learning curve was steep. This involved a fair number of clumpy, soggy, dry, and even burnt batches before I landed on the combination of water quantity, heat, and timing for the stovetop method.

Since most of this learning was pre-internet, I did not benefit from the myriad videos and articles that are now widely available. However, sometimes I wonder if the proliferation of cooking videos makes learning a skill like making rice any easier. The sheer volume of information you have to wade through is daunting - plus not every cooking video is created equal. Turning to trusted names make sense, which is why I headed over to Food and Wine after seeing a post where they claim to have found the best method for making basmati rice.

Their testers tried six different methods: boiling and draining ala pasta, using an Instant Pot, using a rice cooker, making it on the stovetop, making it in the microwave, and finally baking it in the oven. They found the oven to have the best outcome and be one of the easiest methods, but I felt that they discounted the time it takes: nearly two hours from start to finish. I would never make rice if I had to wait that long on a weeknight. Also, although I have never done a side-by-side comparison, I don't think that I would find the quality difference between the oven method and a rice cooker (which I posit is the best way for most people to make rice) to be persuasive enough to overcome this drawback.

Not everyone will agree with Food and Wine - Nagi Maehashi certainly does not, and in her recipe linked above she says rinsing basmati rice is a no-no. She thinks rinsing leads to soggy rice. There are probably as many opinions on what is the best method as there are varieties of rice, and to some extent it depends on what you are going to do with the rice once it is cooked. What is your favorite method for cooking basmati rice?