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Cooking rice: pressure cooker, rice cooker, donabe, or stovetop?


Franci

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liuzhou, on 07 Jun 2014 - 09:52 AM, said:

A rice cooker requires no monitoring.

I seem to remember saying that I use a rice cooker for larger quantities.

 

 

I remember, too. It doesn't make my comment any less true or pertinent, does it?.

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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My rice cooker is a 10 cup Tiger that I used to use it for sous vide cooking. Bigger than your 3 litre cooker. I've never been game to go below the 3 cup minimum the Tiger people specify for this particular cooker. This is one of the reasons I use the microwave for smaller quantities. It's also easier to get out the microwave container in my kitchen and easier to throw it into the dishwasher.

 

One doesn't know others individual circumstances so I mentioned the microwave option as this may better fit the OP's (or others) needs. I rarely see evidence for single best ways of doing things as the environment is likely to be a large determinant of what can be done.

Nick Reynolds, aka "nickrey"

"The Internet is full of false information." Plato
My eG Foodblog

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I mentioned the microwave option as this may better fit the OP's (or others) needs.

 

I totally agree.

 

Many years ago, I used a microwave, but at that time I didn't eat rice so often and wasn't usually cooking for myself.

 

Now it doesn't meet my needs at all (especially as I don't have a microwave).

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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"""   My rice cooker is a 10 cup Tiger """

 

is your Tiger fuzzy or not ?  ( snicker )   the " better " fuzzy ones will cook 1 cup

 

google can explain why fuzzy can to this if one needs to know.

Edited by rotuts (log)
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I've been using a Zojirushi rice cooker for at least 6 years and I absolutely love it.

It cooks any kind of rice and porridge imaginable. Love the timer as well as the keep-warm function.

If the rest of the dinner runs over time my rice is still perfect and kept warm.

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I must be the last person in the world to still make my rice on the stovetop. Carolina, basmati, jasmine, sticky, arborio, carnaroli, polo / tahdig. It all turns out great, though of course very different methods are used for each kind.

 

Repeatedly tempted by the prospect of a Zojirushi rice cooker, especially the one that can sub as a slow cooker, but counter space is simply not available. Given the choice between a rice cooker and a wet grinder, I have to opt for the latter.

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I recently bought the Cuisinart Combo Convection Steam Oven and it has a Super Steam function recommended for rice cooking. I just tried it and was very pleasantly surprised. It's very easy - I just used a Corningware casserole dish, put in rice and water, covered and let it steam cook at 300F for 25 mins. The rice was almost perfect (I'd probably use a tad more water for my rice than what they recommended.) 

 

Although I occasionally thought about buying a rice cooker, I just kept using the stovetop. Most of the time, the results were OK but the Cuisinart is far easier! 

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I am conflicted.  Two nights ago I burned my stovetop rice and made a mess of the pot.  (Though the unburned part was great!)  I ordered the Zojirushi model paulrapheal linked, canceled my order (twice), and now have the unit in my amazon shopping cart.  I am torn between the 1L and 1.8L size.  I've dithered, and now have missed the amazon shipping cutoff for tonight.

 

From the Zoijirushi manual the 1L size can make as little as 1 Japanese rice cup at a time of (uncooked) brown rice or 1/2 cup of white, while the 1.8L size can make as little as 2 cups of brown, which is an awful lot of brown rice for one person.  On the other hand the 1.8L would be a lot less likely to boil over, I should think.  For this reason I am leaning towards the 1.8L as the cost increase is minimal, and the weight is only slightly more.

 

I mentioned rice cookers to a friend this afternoon, expecting her to talk me out of it.  She told me she's had three:  "Once you've used a rice cooker you never go back."

 

I've successfully cooked many delightful things in pressure cookers...rice is not among them.

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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I live alone but I have the 10 cup Zojirushi IH rice cooker.  I cook 4-5 cup batches (or larger) of various types of rice (and other grains) and freeze the "extra" in 1or 2 cup portions so I always have some cooked rice on hand for adding to soups, stir fries, nasi goring or plain fried rice, rice puddings or fruit puddings, for adding to breads, both yeast and quick breads, rice fritters, in omelets or in burritos, with beans. 

 

They do not "boil over" so there is no worry in that regard. 

 

And it can be used as a steamer for potatoes, vegetables, and other things.  Check the recipes here.

 

There are some cookbooks but you don't really need one - there are plenty of recipes right on the Zojirushi site and you can subscribe to their email newsletter that has new ideas every month.  (Zojirushi 101)

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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I'd put in a solid vote that a Fuzzy Logic rice cooker is the way to go.

 

We bought a small Zojirushi (NP-GBC05 3-Cup) shortly after returning from Japan. It works with as little as .5 "cup" (3 oz)  of rice and produces perfect rice.

 

It allows us to use brown medium grain rice and end up with  a sticky rice that has the texture of white rice.  We eat a lot more rice then we used to.  And waste a lot less too (since the ATK method requires at least 1 cup of rice).

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The amazon price for the 1L Zojirushi went up $5.75 since yesterday!  I am impressed with amazon's fuzzy logic.

 

 

Edit:  The 1.8L price has gone up too.  But only by $0.01.

Edited by JoNorvelleWalker (log)
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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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In the past, I always used my National rice cooker.  However nowadays I cook it in a pan on the stove top.  There doesn't seem to be any difference except you have to manually judge the heat control, switch it off when done and it does not have a keep warm function.  Apart from that the rice tastes pretty much the same.

 

I did try to use a pressure cooker but found I over cooked the rice very easily.

 

When cooking rice I use a small amount of salt and oil for flavour.  You can add spices at this stage too for biryani.

 

 

I was reading about Donabe for cooking rice (a video for you if you are interested  ) and was wondering about the difference in result vs pressured cooked rice,  rice cooker rice or stovetop rice. 

 

I generally cook my rice with a pressure cooker and usually I have a better and more consistent result than simply cooking on the stovetop. I never used a rice cooker and cannot compare.

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I got a rice cooker.  Almost everyone I asked, Asian or European, looked at me like I was crazy for trying to cook rice without one.  No results as yet.

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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Okay, not owning a rice cooker of any kind--and not seeing one in my future--I'm just curious. Does a rice cooker allow you to toast the rice first the way you can stovetop? Because that flavor is really yummy.

 

I eat a LOT of rice (mostly basmati) and have been cooking it the same way in a saucepan on the stove since I moved out of a dorm about 45 years ago. I have a number of challenges in the kitchen, but rice isn't one of them. To me it's like breathing. So, Patrickamory and Weinoo, that makes three of us with a little extra counter space. 

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Okay, not owning a rice cooker of any kind--and not seeing one in my future--I'm just curious. Does a rice cooker allow you to toast the rice first the way you can stovetop? Because that flavor is really yummy.

 

I eat a LOT of rice (mostly basmati) and have been cooking it the same way in a saucepan on the stove since I moved out of a dorm about 45 years ago. I have a number of challenges in the kitchen, but rice isn't one of them. To me it's like breathing. So, Patrickamory and Weinoo, that makes three of us with a little extra counter space. 

 

Hi Katie, when you say toast do you mean as in a risotto, or as in a tahdig? Because I understand that in Iran they make rice cookers that can make a tahdig… something that I think is very difficult or impossible in a Japanese rice cooker (I could be wrong!)

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When I make rice I throw a little knob of butter into the saucepan, and when it melts, toss in the rice with a little salt. I toast the grains first, in other words. After several minutes, when they start to smell delicious (you know, that basmati popcorn thing) I add the water. I think it enhances the flavor of the rice. It's been a while since I made a risotto, but yes I guess I toast the grains in butter before adding the first ladleful of wine. Although perhaps I toast them a little bit more when I make a simple pot of rice.

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I haven't tried it yet, but the Zoijirushi has a setting called "scorched" that is designed to produce a crust.  I assume one would want to do this with a long grain rice?

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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