Rice Cookers

[rotuts]

I had a fuzzy Japanese rice cooker for a zillion years.

 

10 cup , ' National '  ie Panasonic  , way before induction and pressure induction

 

I got it because of this book , which was staring at me at my local library :

 

The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook: 250 No-Fail Recipes for Pilafs, Risottos, Polenta, Chilis, Soups, Porridges, Puddings, and More, from Start to Finish in Your Rice Cooker

 

inspite of having several iPots , I still do rice in the  Fuzzy.

 

see if your library has the above book.   its old but good.

 

the fuzzy also understand milk , which I use for steel cut oatmeal 

 

the iPot is said not to understand milk.

 

the fuzzy has done all sorts of rice , extremely well   55 minutes for two or more cups of uncooked rice.

 

the key is the amount of water you choose to use , and how you treat the rice before you cook it.

 

if my zillion year-old fuzzy kicks the bucket , ill replace it for sure.

 

I make groats w milk as much as I make rice

 

at least in the winter.

 

 

[heidih]

@Smithy  I am usually a Calrose medium grain girl but I did jasmine from Trader Joes recently and it was fluffy. Also used to do the big new crop bags of both jasmine and basmati years ago and they were great. As rotuts mentioned the water ratio and the wash/soak factors "factor in"   I let the hold warm function rest the rice for a bit, then use the paddle to gently "fluff" as shown to me by Vietnamese food friend.

[liuzhou]

31 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Does "perfect" rice, in this context, depend on which variety of rice you're cooking and what you ask of it? I sometimes us jasmine, sometimes basmati, sometimes something else altogether. I generally go for fluffy rice rather than sticky, but I'm curious about whether a good rice cooker will do either, with any variety of rice.

 

The only crucial thing for me, and I use different rices, is working out the correct water/rice ratio for each type. Once I crack that, it is perfect each time.

I mainly cook Jasmine/  Hom Mali rice, but recently my regular brand was out of stock and I had to choose another. The amount of water required for perfection (in my view) was slightly different, but I worked it out quickly.

I've also cooked sushi rice, sticky rice, arborio rice, red rice, black rice etc. They all require slightly different ratios.

Edited December 10, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[KennethT]

does anyone have experience with Cuckoo rice cookers?

http://www.cuckoousastore.com/shop-rice-cooker-products/all-rice-cookers.html

These are made in Korea, and look good, and are a lot less expensive than the Zojirushi...

[rotuts]

one very interesting thing about PC'ing rice and ' white '  ir potatoes

 

is that the hight temps change the starches in such a way that when cooled 

 

their glycemic index and thus glycemic load changes for the ' better '

 

this I found out by accident looking into iPod's rice

 

Ill leave it to you to look into glycemic index   '  the glucose spike in the blood '  

 

and glycemic index  ' the area under the glycemic cure '    as to issues w food and insulin load.

[KennethT]

I've heard that this happens with  most starches - and that the method of cooking is not important, but it is the cooling. Look for info on "resistant starch" - basically half of the starch becomes indigestible - but provide great food for your gut microflora.  Some people complain they get a bit gassy when first eating a lot of resistant starch due to the increased activity of the microflora.  The key is to not reheat things too high after the cooling - over about 110degF (I think but don't quote me) the starch will change back to non-resistant.

[rotuts]

@KennethT

 

very interesting   Ill have to look into this a bit more

 

my impression it was the higher than 212 f temps that affect the transformation, i.e. PC.

 

and ref's much appreciated.

[KennethT]

@rotuts https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26693746

[CanadianHomeChef]

I ordered the Zojirushi 5.5 cup induction from Amazon on Boxing Day when they had Warehouse Deals 20% off. With 4% cash back eBates, and after taxes, it came to $227CAD. Good deal?

 

A bit of a splurge as I think I’ve perfected rice on the Control Freak (including keeping it warm), but don’t want to occupy one of my Control Freaks cooking rice 🤪🤪🤪

 

Its a warehouse deal, so it’s advertised “Used - Like New”. My experience with warehouse deals in the past is just damaged outer package, with everything inside sulll sealed. Hoping for the same.

 

Canada Post says it’s in Calgary now, but not out for delivery. So o think I’ll get it on the 2nd. 

 

New Years resolution: stop spending money on kitchen equipment 🤪 

[CanadianHomeChef]

9 minutes ago, KennethT said:

@rotuts https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26693746

Skimmed the abstract, so apologies if I read it wrong. Wouldn’t cooling rice at room temperature for 10 hours greatly increase the pathogen population? I don’t mind cooling my rice down to room temperature, but I wouldn’t want to hold it there for sustain periods of time...

Edited December 31, 2018 by CanadianHomeChef (log)

[CanadianHomeChef]

2 minutes ago, CanadianHomeChef said:

Skimmed the abstract, so apologies if I read it wrong. Wouldn’t cooling rice at room temperature for 10 hours greatly increase the pathogen population? I don’t mind cooling my rice down to room temperature, but I wouldn’t want to hold it there for sustain periods of time...

 

Never mind. I see that the refrigerated rice that was reheated had higher amounts of resistant starch. I wouldn’t advise anyone try test rice I 

[chromedome]

On a semi-related note, the IEEE (the world body of electrical engineering) selected the original Zojirushi "fuzzy logic" rice cooker as one of its 25 greatest consumer electronics devices of the past 50 years.

 

https://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/gadgets/the-consumer-electronics-hall-of-fame-zojirushi-micom-electric-rice-cookerwarmer

[andiesenji]

20 hours ago, KennethT said:

does anyone have experience with Cuckoo rice cookers?

http://www.cuckoousastore.com/shop-rice-cooker-products/all-rice-cookers.html

These are made in Korea, and look good, and are a lot less expensive than the Zojirushi...

I will ask my friend Doddie who lived in Korea for several years.

[andiesenji]

Doddie says:

Yes, lots of experience

If they need translation help, Billy can help         Billy is her son

 

Cuckoo rice cookers are

Very good

You can do lots of stuff

Rice porridge

Steaming

Cake

Cooked different kinds of rice

It's the Rolls Royce of rice cookers

 

Copied from Messenger on Facebook

[TicTac]

I picked up a used Zoji 3 cup rice cooker (note, their 3 'cups' are actually closer to 2.2 'standard' cups) to see how these things stacked up to traditional rice cooking (paid $65!).

 

We are converted.

 

Superior rice, and so easy to use.

 

We also found out about Haiga rice, which I now believe is the superior form and blend between 'healthy' and 'enjoyable'.  In 55 minutes it cooks up the perfect, steamed, plump rice.

 

 

[KennethT]

@TicTac Where did you find a 3 cup zoji for $65?   Are there any left?

[TicTac]

Kijiji

 

Gently used - near perfect condition.

 

I can see however why the lady wanted to get a larger version - for 2 people this is great.  We may at some point get a larger format.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

6 hours ago, TicTac said:

I picked up a used Zoji 3 cup rice cooker (note, their 3 'cups' are actually closer to 2.2 'standard' cups) to see how these things stacked up to traditional rice cooking (paid $65!).

 

We are converted.

 

Superior rice, and so easy to use.

 

We also found out about Haiga rice, which I now believe is the superior form and blend between 'healthy' and 'enjoyable'.  In 55 minutes it cooks up the perfect, steamed, plump rice.

 

 

 

It depends on whose standard.

 

[TicTac]

47 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

It depends on whose standard.

 

 

Perhaps clarify which point you refer to - the rice cooker's end product or the variety of rice...

[JoNorvelleWalker]

23 minutes ago, TicTac said:

 

Perhaps clarify which point you refer to - the rice cooker's end product or the variety of rice...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge_(unit)#Volume

 

[CanadianHomeChef]

Zojirushi arrived from Amazon today! Since it’s a warehouse deal (used-like new), I immediately looked over it. On the surface it looks like it hadn’t been unpacked or was repacked really well. All the manuals were neatly piled on top. Styrofoam in place. Wires tied together. 

 

Upon closer inspection, It has a small cosmetic dent on the outer stainless steel lid; if this was new and I wasn’t looking so closely for damage, I probably would have missed it. The inner removal stainless steel lid is pretty badly scratched up, as though it had lots of use. Not dirty though. Wondering if this is a refurb?

 

I checked the pot to see if there were any scratches. It looked good except there’s a slight off-black ring around the entire circumference of the pot. At first I thought it was used and it was a water line. But it was a perfect circle. I looked on the outside of the pot and noticed that it matched with the outer ring that’s part of the design. Could anyone wth the induction model confirm if the inside of the pot contains this ring? I’m just worried about the longevity of the nonstick, but if it’s part of the design, I’ll accept it. 

 

Not sure if it’s worth reporting the scratches and dents to Amazon. They’ve been known to give me a further discount in the past. Like-new is supposed to be just a damaged box. But I don’t want to push my luck.  Maybe I’ll see how it cooks first. 

 

Speaking of which, I’m doing a basmati cookoff with the Zojirushi and my old rice cooker. I’ll see if I can tell the difference. I’ll have my Dad do a blind taste test later this evening. 

 

The rice washing process described in the manual seems onerous. I usually just put the rice in a fine mesh strainer and rinse/swirl it around for 1-1.5 minutes under cold running water. I wonder if that’s sufficient?  For the test, I followed the Zoji process. 

Edited January 2, 2019 by CanadianHomeChef (log)

[rotuts]

@CanadianHomeChef

 

hope tis works out well for you

 

I noticed ' Porridge '  selection

 

I can't remember is this is Induction / pressure.

 

if so

 

after you get it going

 

does it say anything about milk with the Porridge cycle 

 

only it its ' pressure '

 

based on what ive read on the iPot from several books

 

milk does not do well w ' pressure ' cooking.

[CanadianHomeChef]

3 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@CanadianHomeChef

 

hope tis works out well for you

 

I noticed ' Porridge '  selection

 

I can't remember is this is Induction / pressure.

 

if so

 

after you get it going

 

does it say anything about milk with the Porridge cycle 

 

only it its ' pressure '

 

based on what ive read on the iPot from several books

 

milk does not do well w ' pressure ' cooking.

This is just induction. The pressure unit was a few hundred more 😮

[rotuts]

thank you

 

Im sure you will enjoy it

 

I hope it works out.

 

if all the iPot stuff suggests milk does not do well PC

 

than that must be so for induction ( or not ) pressiure Rice Cookers

 

thanks for looking into this.

[CanadianHomeChef]

The president choice rice cooker finished 10 minutes earlier. The markings in the pot start at 2 cups, but I did 1 cup with 1.5 cups as per Zojirushi's specs. It's a little stickier than normal. Might have to redo the cookoff with 2 cups. But I'll see if I notice a great improvement based on memory. I'm skeptical.  If anything, the build quality of the Zoji seems very solid.