Rice cooker?

PetiteSheWolf

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Alchemist from France
Posts: 1,451
I have always had the habit of cooking my rice in a regular pan (plenty of water - more than needed, and I drain the extra water at the end). I think it has the advantage of finishing the rice at exactly the consistency I want.
But my (fairly recent) crockpot / pressure cooker has the rice cooker function. I know many people swear by it, and it many cultures the rice cooker is a capital tool in the kitchen. So, for those who use rice cookers, what do you think are the advantages? What do you like about it?
 

Sage

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Posts: 15
I love my rice cooker! Even planning on upgrading to a better quality one as I just brought the cheapest and smallest I could find at the time.

Always cook my rice perfectly and keep the rice warm at the correct temp for hours after so I could prepare super early if desired . I found that saucepan, while simple, the result can vary especially if mistimed when to start, and often waste of water. Rice cooker use up the exact amount of water.

I do recommend it especially if you often have rice.
 

Nihopaloa

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Duelist from Germany
Posts: 271
"Eyyyy"
I finally bought a rice cooker and yesterday I used it the first time!
Until now, I cooked it in a sauce pan: 1 cup rice with 2 cups water, bring to a boil, turn down heat, open the lid and wait until it's not boiling any more, close the lid and keep on low heat for 10 minutes, hoping that it won't boil over all the time and I have to clean the f$§*@* cooking plate afterwards. The rice was good, no complaints.
So, yesterday, first time in the rice cooker. 1 cup rice, 2 cups water, close lid, choose programme, press start, and let it work until it beeps. Awesome. And the rice is super fluffy, a bit sweeter than in the sauce pan, and just more delicious. There really is a difference. It also doesn't use as much energy as a sauce pan on a stove and the rice keeps warm for quite some time. Not only that, you can apparently cook soups, pilaw, one-pots and other things in there. Even rice can be cooked differently. You can even make cake! I'll try more with the rice cooker in the coming weeks/days, but just the white rice already had me convinced that it was a good investment.
I've bought a fancy one with fuzzy logic for 150 Euro, just to give a rough estimate. It's not the cheapest, but also not the most expensive.
 

PetiteSheWolf

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Alchemist from France
Posts: 1,451
Thanks for your description, @Nihopaloa , that's helpful. Is it a basket "above" the water (i.e. it gets cooked by steam / pressure), or is the rice in the water (classical boiling) ? I wonder if that may play in taste ; for example I find steamed / pressured potates tastier than potatoes in water.
 

Nihopaloa

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Duelist from Germany
Posts: 271
"Eyyyy"
@PetiteSheWolf it's a pot above a heating element, so the rice is cooked in the water. But you still taste a difference, in my opinion. Maybe because the steam during the cooking process is being let out by way of small openings.
I also made a "pan"cake yesterday in it, and I have to admit, I probably won't do it the regular way in the pan any more. Much more comfortable, a bit less fat, you get one big fluffy pancake and the crust is very delicious.
I don't know how it is with simpler rice cookers, but I think usually you can also toss meat and vegetables on the rice and it gets cooked/steamed at the same time, which is pretty good.
But, as your original question was just about the rice, I wouldn't go back to the sauce pan. Not only because of the comfort, but also because of the fluffiness and the taste. I use broken jasmine rice.
 

Saffity

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Ranger from Southern Ontario, Canada
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Posts: 111
"Getting strong enough to keep two tiny humans from unaliving themselves."
My sister in law is SE Asian and got me a super fancy rice cooker that I love. It gets the rice to the perfect consistency which was something I wasn't finding when I did it on the stove top. My favourite part is a time for delay start which allows me to throw the main meat/veg in a slow cooker and set the rice to be done when the food is and not have to worry about rushing around to make sure the rice is ready.

My rice cooker also has a soup/porridge/congee/steam/slow cook option which allows me to do a bunch of stuff with it other than rice. It's probably my most used appliance in my kitchen, and when it breaks you can bet I'll have a new one within a day :)
 

Nihopaloa

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Duelist from Germany
Posts: 271
"Eyyyy"
@Saffity do you have a rice cooker from the brand with the panda? Mine is mostly the same as yours (I suppose you can bake cake in yours, too?). I always thought cooking rice in a sauce pan was good enough, but after three times making rice in my rice cooker, I absolutely don't want to miss it any more.
 

Saffity

Well-known member
Ranger from Southern Ontario, Canada
Pronouns: She/Her
Posts: 111
"Getting strong enough to keep two tiny humans from unaliving themselves."
@Saffity do you have a rice cooker from the brand with the panda? Mine is mostly the same as yours (I suppose you can bake cake in yours, too?). I always thought cooking rice in a sauce pan was good enough, but after three times making rice in my rice cooker, I absolutely don't want to miss it any more.
This is the one I have. I don’t think it has a panda, but a number of rice cookers have the same features. I love it, and truly use it multiple times a week.
 

thinman

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Posts: 111
"Be Strong - Be Active - Be empowered."
My wife is out of town for 2 weeks so to make things simple I bought a whole bunch of long grain parboiled rice, wild rice and mushrooms in a pouch. Splitting one tonight but I plan to eat a whole pouch for 75g carbs, help me get my carbs load.

Comes in a variety of flavours, also got with garden veg and jambalaya.
 
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