How many people own a rice cooker?

[FIREd]

I cook rice in my pressure cooker, probably one of my most versatile piece of cooking equipment I own (I use mine every day).

1 cup of dry rice + 1.5 cup of water. Heat until the cooker is pressurized. Turn off the heat. And let the cooker depressurize on its own. Done. Works for white or brown rice.

 

[Moemg]

Years ago I took a Chinese cooking class and the instructor said the way to cook rice is to put in the ingredients and ignore it . Well I've been doing that for thirty years and my rice is always perfect .

 

[Lisa99]

I cook rice in my pressure cooker, probably one of my most versatile piece of cooking equipment I own (I use mine every day).

1 cup of dry rice + 1.5 cup of water. Heat until the cooker is pressurized. Turn off the heat. And let the cooker depressurize on its own. Done. Works for white or brown rice.

Awesome method...thanks!

Going to try it right now.

 

[braumeister]

Most important is the choice of rice. My favorite is Kokuho Rose, a korean rice. It's a little sticky, and never dry.

+1
Yes, I should have mentioned that. This is my favorite white rice, too. In fact, it's the only one I use now.

 

[FreeAtLast]

I took a Politic Science course in college as an elective in the mid 70's and the professor would often ramble on about things in his personal life. He rice cooker was one of his favorite stories.

I never really understood why he did this at the time, however, now thinking about it he probably had tenure and was thinking about retirement and not about teaching.

 

[harley]

I've cooked rice both ways. I've screwed it up in a pot on occasion, usually through poor measuring or overcooking. The rice cooker has never messed up the rice. Adding to that, I don't know a single Asian born American who doesn't own one. I won't eat in an Indian restaurant that doesn't have Indian customers. Same with any other ethnic restaurant. If they don't have customers of the same ethnicity I assume they aren't very good. So I'm a believer in the rice cooker concept.

 

[audreyh1]

I have a little Panasonic rice cooker - 3.3 cup. Does brown rice great. Depending on the rice - last time I did 2.5 cups water to 1.5 cups long grain brown rice and it came out perfect.

I have used a rice cooker for years. It's just so brainless.

Audrey

 

[Bestwifeever]

...I don't know a single Asian born American who doesn't own one.....

DD's Japanese MIL gave her a rice cooker for a wedding gift. Her MIL has cooked sticky rice in an electric rice cooker every single day for at least 40 years. I can understand why they are popular in Asian kitchens.

 

[Dimsumkid]

We have used rice cookers for decades. The best one out there is Zojirushi. We like the smaller ones, as they seem to cook faster, yet make plenty for our family.

Most important is the choice of rice. My favorite is Kokuho Rose, a korean rice. It's a little sticky, and never dry.

Hate to break this to you, but Kokuho Rose is grown in the US, in Ca! The owner isn't Korean, he's Japanese! I've been using this brand for almost 30 years. I have a cheap 5 or 6 cup cooker. I use 1c:1.5c water ratio. With brown rice I use 2c water. Here's the website, they have a history page on the company and family:

Www.kodafarms.com

 

[JJPIES60]

In the Chinese cooking class I took, I was told to soak the rice for a least a half hour, then rinse the rice until the water runs clear, then measure the water, and follow the usual cooking directions. It helps.

 

[veremchuka]

rice cooker? i've used a pressure cooker for 25 years. 4 cups short grain brown rice : 6 cups of water. bring it up to pressure and turn down to low, cook for 30 minutes. i never heard of a rice cooker, i need to get out more. i've never used the pressure cooker for anything but rice and i must have used it thousands of times.

 

[GregLee]

I'm hard pressed to understand how any fuzzy-logic is going to help make rice any better.

In classical logic, to the question "Is the rice done?", we must either answer "Yes" or "No". Fuzzily, though, we might answer: "It might very well be done, but I'm not taking a definite position." With this additional flexibility, will the rice be better cooked? It might very well be.

 

[WM]

We have a $13 rice cooker that I use maybe once per month or so. Also good for quinoa. I never perfected rice on the stove - my attention always lapses and I end up with a mess. Rice cooker is great every time.

That said, I am thinking about replacing my old-style pressure cooker (with the weight that sits on top) with a newer model. At that point, I'd probably just use the pressure cooker and get rid of the rice cooker.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

Yup, I do have a rice cooker, much to my dismay. I had previously cooked rice on the stove top with perfectly good results. However, this method bugged my son when he visited so he sent me a 5 cup Zojirushi which I use about once a week as I am trying to get a goodly amount of whole grains in my diet.
It does cook rice very well. Perfectly in truth, and it plays a cute little tune when finished.
My favorite rice is a mix of brown and wild rice from Lundberg farms.

 

[photoguy]

I just ordered a $110 Sanyo 5 1/2 cup rice cooker from Amazon.

What does a $110 rice cooker do better than a less expensive one?

 

[NW-Bound]

We have always used a rice cooker, but cheapo ones. I don't know about this "fuzzy logic" thing. I believe mine just has 2 internal heat settings. It first turns on the high heat, and then after the water has steamed away, the temperature of the bottom plate rises, triggering the switch-over to the lower heat setting. Else the rice would burn, the same way when we cook with pots on the stove.

What is tricky is the proportion of water to the rice volume. When we change brand or the type of rice, the new batch may come out too dry or too mushy, and my wife has to adjust the water level for the next batch. It is just too tricky for me, and I leave it all to my wife. Perhaps the "fuzzy logic" thing has something to do with that, but what sensor is employed, and what is it sensing? The "fuzzy thing" is the logic between the input sensors and the output, which is the heat control in this case.

So, what's the input? I say ERD50 needs to buy one, take apart, and report to us on his findings.

 

[easysurfer]

I got a rice cooker. I bought that several years back. The cooker costed only about $20 from Kmart. I like using that more than stovetop cooking because for rice, the cooker shuts from cooking to keep warm. No worries about rice burning like if I put that on the stovetop, and I can just set it and let it cook then warm. The cooker also came with an aluminum steaming pan (great for vegetables or fish) and plastic laddle for serving the rice.

 

[growing_older]

I used to always make rice on the stovetop. It's so easy I could not understand why anyone would want a rice cooker. Then I got a really low end one as a gift. Even my super simple one with no settings and no fuzzy logic is wonderful. I really enjoy the automatic cooking and not having to watch while it cooks. Set it up and come back when the rice is ready. It will even keep it warm if I wait too long. If you like rice, it makes it super simple to have some freshly cooked whenever you want.

 

[M Paquette]

In classical logic, to the question "Is the rice done?", we must either answer "Yes" or "No". Fuzzily, though, we might answer: "It might very well be done, but I'm not taking a definite position." With this additional flexibility, will the rice be better cooked? It might very well be.

Indeed. The proper preparation of rice is an emprise demanding the application of non-Aristotelian logic. I find, however, that Hamiltonian formulations are excessively rigorous, as such formalism does not appear to improve the result in any measurable way. Simple ad-hoc mechanisms appear to produce results well within the anticipated Wigner quasi-probability distribution.

 

[traineeinvestor]

We use our ancient and cheap rice cooker almost daily. Its the easiest way to steam rice and painless to clean up afterwards - much easier than boiling or using a microwave and next to no risk of overcooking.

 

[modhatter]

Cheaper models from my understanding do a very good job.
There are some good ones in the $40 range. The fuzzy logic ones cost more because of the following features.

1. It senses the moisture in your rice (or lack thereof) and makes adjustments on the cooking to insure good results.

2. It allows you to leave rice in for long extended periods without burning bottom. Some regular (but expensive-made in Japan only) rice cookers like Tiger allow you to leave rice in cooker for days, and it is still good. The fuzzy logic type also allow for keeping it for extended periods.

3. The fuzzy logic cooks brown rice better (harder to cook compared to white) as well as mixed rice, and porridge. Some even bake cake. Most can also function as a slow cooker.

I probably would have bought a $40 model I had my eye on, had it not been for the fact it was bigger than I needed and I have a very small kitchen, and very little counter space, so I wanted a smaller one. Sanyo was the right capacity 5.5 cups and had one of the smallest footprint, and was rated very high. Hope that answered your question.

 

[East Texas]

<sigh> I knew I should not have clicked on this thread. I love rice. I make rice in a pan and every time it's a challenge of being too sticky, not done, and sometimes - just right.

I just bought a basic little 3.3 Cup Panasonic off Amazon. It will probably be here the first part of next week. Do any of you rinse the rice before using your rice cooker? If so, does it really make a difference in cooking or is it just to diminish the frothing?

 

[Dimsumkid]

<sigh> I knew I should not have clicked on this thread. I love rice. I make rice in a pan and every time it's a challenge of being too sticky, not done, and sometimes - just right.

I just bought a basic little 3.3 Cup Panasonic off Amazon. It will probably be here the first part of next week. Do any of you rinse the rice before using your rice cooker? If so, does it really make a difference in cooking or is it just to diminish the frothing?

When I was a child, we ate rice everyday. My mom would rinse until the rice water was clear. Now they tell you to just rinse enough to remove the dirt/particles. We rinse once or twice depending on how cloudy/murky the rice is. Try this, cover the rice about 1" higher, swish the water around for 30 secs, then pour it out slowly and you'll notice particles that will come out w/the water. Some experts I've read claim to not rinse at all because rinsing removes the nutrients. Frothing I believe is the result of the starch being released.

Congrats on the Panasonic, I've had my cheap old Panasonic for over 25 yrs now and it's still going strong! Hope yours lasts as long!

 

[Major Tom]

I own a pretty big old rice cooker that I inherited from a Filipino family I used to spend quite a bit of time with. Due to the number of people coming and going in the household, and the fact that someone nearly always needed feeding, the rice cooker was on pretty much all the time. When the rice was all gone, they'd just clean it out and cook another batch. Seemed like it was never too long before someone would wander into the kitchen, scoop some rice onto their plate and match it with some tasty soup or other item to be found in one of the pans on the stove.

It doesn't have any fancy features, but rice always comes out well in it.

 

[Janet H]

I also use a rice cooker and love that it holds rice after cooking for a while with no real degradation of the rice. This helps meal timing a lot. I just start the rice first and it's ready when I am. Mine is a [-]cheap one[/-] LBYM model from a discount store. As I recall it cost about ten bucks on sale and I have been using it for many years.