So I'm in the market for a rice cooker, preferably something on the cheaper side. It only needs to make enough to feed a single hungry college student. Any suggestions?
So I'm in the market for a rice cooker, preferably something on the cheaper side. It only needs to make enough to feed a single hungry college student. Any suggestions?
Yes, you can get cheaper ones, but you don't want them. We used to have the mega-cheap one. It burned all the rice at the bottom. I have a Zojirushi one that makes beautiful rice every time. Just used it yesterday.
So I'm in the market for a rice cooker, preferably something on the cheaper side. It only needs to make enough to feed a single hungry college student. Any suggestions?
Yes, you can get cheaper ones, but you don't want them. We used to have the mega-cheap one. It burned all the rice at the bottom. I have a Zojirushi one that makes beautiful rice every time. Just used it yesterday.
Thanks, but that's about three times what I'm hoping to pay, and twice what I'm willing to pay.
We cook our rice on the stove in a basic non-stick pot with a lid. 1 part rice, 2 parts water. Bring to a boil uncovered, then simmer covered on low until the water is gone.
The pot is easier to clean than a rice cooker. It's not like you have to be exact with your timing or anything - if you're really simmering on low, the rice should be able to sit for 10-15 minutes cooked and be fine. I don't get why this needs to be made easier.
If you need to make rice and your stove is often occupied, or you want to make it while you are out of the kitchen, or you want it ready on demand and can't wait the 15 minutes it takes to cook, those are decent reasons to have a rice cooker. If you just need it to make cooking rice "easier," it means you are just shit at cooking rice.
1. Rice cooker takes 40 seconds to clean: it has one cleanable part that is just a nonstick pot.
2. It'll keep rice perfect for hours, not minutes. I'll put on some rice when I get home and just leave it. It doesn't matter when we eat dinner: the rice is perfect and ready.
3. Rice cooker requires literally zero intervention from the moment it's turned on until you clean it after eating.
My rice cooker had a lid, a pot, and a fluid-catcher compartment that got gross. Those were the parts that needed regular cleaning. More effort than a pot.
I don't need rice kept perfect for hours. I eat it or put it away. I will note that wanting rice cooked and ready on demand or while you are away is one of the reasons I already cited as legit.
Rice in a pot takes "intervention" of turning the heat to low and putting the lid on. That's it. Not enough to justify spending money on another gadget we don't have space for.
Your definition of "good rice" is obviously not the same as mine.
Let's have a contest. Same rice brand. You cook in pot. My cooker cooks. Then double blind. Also, your house will probably not smell amazing when the rice is cooking. Also, I dare you to cook brown rice in a pot. Good luck with that.
Okay, here's the point: we use basic rice as a basic starch. We don't buy expensive rice, and we rarely cook brown rice. For basic medium-grain white rice, a pot is little different from a cooker. We DON'T NEED to cook amazing gourmet rice. Also, I have cooked brown rice in a pot before and it comes out fine. How do you think people cooked rice before electricity?
You want to get fancy, then use your fancy gadgets. But we are poor and have incredibly limited counter space. The pot on the stove works fine.
Okay, here's the point: we use basic rice as a basic starch. We don't buy expensive rice, and we rarely cook brown rice. For basic medium-grain white rice, a pot is little different from a cooker. We DON'T NEED to cook amazing gourmet rice. Also, I have cooked brown rice in a pot before and it comes out fine. How do you think people cooked rice before electricity?
You want to get fancy, then use your fancy gadgets. But we are poor and have incredibly limited counter space. The pot on the stove works fine.
I'm not contesting whether or not you should personally get one. I'm only saying that a quality rice cooker is indeed superior to a pot. The same way that an iPhone is better than a non-smartphone, though there are people out there who should not be buying smartphones.
I bought a $15 rice cooker. Cooks rice awesomely and I buy shitty Winco Jasmine rice. I swipe a soapy sponge around it once. Boom, looks brand new. It's like the size of a standard basketball, probably smaller.
Let's have a contest. Same rice brand. You cook in pot. My cooker cooks. Then double blind. Also, your house will probably not smell amazing when the rice is cooking. Also, I dare you to cook brown rice in a pot. Good luck with that.
Scott, I can hold a barley mash at precisely 152 F for 70 minutes. I can make lamb pastrami that will make the gods weep. Liege waffle craving? Son, I don't even need gluten for that. You ever tried my polenta? You'll need new pants.
Brown rice ain't got shit on me. Y'all just need to suck less at stoves.
4. It takes an hour to cook good rice.
It takes an hour to cook good rice? In whose world? Rice lacks the enzyme content for cooking of that length to mean anything - and you're probably well above the maximum temperature range for most significant enzymes anyhow. Everything else is a function of physics - rate of water absorption and grain softening.
Of all the things to be pretentious about - rice? Really?
EDIT: Seriously, they figured out rice in a pot something like 54327868570 years ago, before we had forebrains and opposable thumbs and the ability to use oxygen. There was a time when baby humans were born with the ability to cook rice. Seriously. Look it up. I'm a scientist, I know these things. Fuckin' 3 week old amorphis human baby can cook brown rice in a pot.
I used a rice cooker for a year or so then switched back to using stove top. I got a more consistent quality from the stove top then the cooker plus I can use my pot for a number of things and is easy to clean.
My method is slightly different from Nuri's. I put in the rice and water together then bring it to a boil then leave it on low (this is on gas so heat is accurately controlled) to simmer for 12 minutes covered with a cloth between the top and pot to absorb any excess steam.
I can then reuse that rice and microwave it over the next few days.
I usually use Basmati rice but use Arborio for when I need to make risotto.
It does not take 1 hour.
Rice Cooker to pot is not equivalent to the smart phone / dumb phone analogy.
Rice Cooker to pot is more like electric shaver to safety / straight razor.
i.e. The rice cooker gives a shitty result but is safe and easy for noobs to use.
If you buy a shitty rice cooker you are going to get shitty rice. If you put a little bit of care and effort you can make great rice on the stove.
I, for one, felt it was worth it to spend the money to get a nice rice cooker that not only saves me stove space when I cook, but allows me to just forget about the rice while I usually spend time prepping the rest of the meal (which usually requires much more care and attention).
Goddamnit Pete, it would have been so much fun-er just to go with the double blind test, pull the proverbial rug out from underneath, and THEN explain it.
You know how some people think PCs suck because the only one they've ever had was some piece of crap with all this unnecessary crapware preinstalled? Then they proceed to judge all PCs based on the experience they had with just one of them? Methinks that people who only have experience with one shitty rice cooker are presuming all rice cookers to be shitty. The good ones are really really good.
In countries where people really really care about rice (Japan) rice cookers are crazy popular. Not just in houses, but in restaurants. Even Jiro (Jiro dreams of sushi) uses a rice cooker, although his is cast iron and gas powered whereas ours are electric non-stick.
You know what else is cast iron, gas powered, and cooks great rice? Old pot on a stove. Seriously stretching the definition of rice-cooker there.
The problem with what you're saying is that Jiro could cook fantastic rice in his gas-powered cooker. Jiro could cook fantastic rice in a shitty rice cooker or a great rice cooker. Jiro even could cook fantastic rice in a pot made out of an old Milo tin with a wire handle over an open fire.
Jiro Ono does not cook good rice because he has a rice cooker, Jiro Ono cooks good rice because he knows the fuck out of cooking good rice. You don't rack up five Michelin stars in a sushi restaurant if you don't know how to cook good rice with or without a rice cooker.
And I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that Jiro didn't learn to cook good rice by purchasing a top of the line electric rice cooker and never straying from that, either. Nor would anyone he's taught.
Edit - Also, declaring early: Rice cookers are not better or worse than stovetop. They both have their place and use. Either is fine, and you can get great rice out of both - One requires money, one requires time and skill. If you lack money, invest time, aquire skill. If you lack time, Invest money, Aquire rice. If you're lazy and have time but no willingness to learn the skill, fuck you, but spend money buy a rice cooker.
Also, we're arguing and getting superior about rice cookers. I think I can safely say that I've never sat down and thought "Man, I feel strongly enough about my method and equipment for cooking rice that I really want to have an argument about it."
Also fuck all y'all gonna cook my rice in a bamboo steamer over a wok.
Comments
Zojirushi NS-VGC05 Micom 3-Cup (Uncooked) Electric Rice Cooker and Warmer
Yes, you can get cheaper ones, but you don't want them. We used to have the mega-cheap one. It burned all the rice at the bottom. I have a Zojirushi one that makes beautiful rice every time. Just used it yesterday.
Evan used to make ramen with sliced hot dogs and eggs in his rice cooker when we were in college.
I roomed with a Philippino when I was in the army. I can't recall if we used some sort of crock pot or a rice cooker but we had rice cooking 24/7.
Further, the rice is kept warm and moist, perfectly ready to eat, for HOURS after completion in case you aren't ready to eat it right away.
They also properly handle different kinds of rice without any additional effort, knowledge, or planning.
http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-ARC-914SBD-Uncooked-Digital-Steamer/dp/B007WQ9YNO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379443364&sr=8-1&keywords=rice+cooker
They work OK...
The pot is easier to clean than a rice cooker. It's not like you have to be exact with your timing or anything - if you're really simmering on low, the rice should be able to sit for 10-15 minutes cooked and be fine. I don't get why this needs to be made easier.
If you need to make rice and your stove is often occupied, or you want to make it while you are out of the kitchen, or you want it ready on demand and can't wait the 15 minutes it takes to cook, those are decent reasons to have a rice cooker. If you just need it to make cooking rice "easier," it means you are just shit at cooking rice.
2. It'll keep rice perfect for hours, not minutes. I'll put on some rice when I get home and just leave it. It doesn't matter when we eat dinner: the rice is perfect and ready.
3. Rice cooker requires literally zero intervention from the moment it's turned on until you clean it after eating.
4. It takes an hour to cook good rice.
I don't need rice kept perfect for hours. I eat it or put it away. I will note that wanting rice cooked and ready on demand or while you are away is one of the reasons I already cited as legit.
Rice in a pot takes "intervention" of turning the heat to low and putting the lid on. That's it. Not enough to justify spending money on another gadget we don't have space for.
Your definition of "good rice" is obviously not the same as mine.
You want to get fancy, then use your fancy gadgets. But we are poor and have incredibly limited counter space. The pot on the stove works fine.
Brown rice ain't got shit on me. Y'all just need to suck less at stoves. It takes an hour to cook good rice? In whose world? Rice lacks the enzyme content for cooking of that length to mean anything - and you're probably well above the maximum temperature range for most significant enzymes anyhow. Everything else is a function of physics - rate of water absorption and grain softening.
Of all the things to be pretentious about - rice? Really?
EDIT: Seriously, they figured out rice in a pot something like 54327868570 years ago, before we had forebrains and opposable thumbs and the ability to use oxygen. There was a time when baby humans were born with the ability to cook rice. Seriously. Look it up. I'm a scientist, I know these things. Fuckin' 3 week old amorphis human baby can cook brown rice in a pot.
Damn son. Brown rice.
I used a rice cooker for a year or so then switched back to using stove top. I got a more consistent quality from the stove top then the cooker plus I can use my pot for a number of things and is easy to clean.
My method is slightly different from Nuri's. I put in the rice and water together then bring it to a boil then leave it on low (this is on gas so heat is accurately controlled) to simmer for 12 minutes covered with a cloth between the top and pot to absorb any excess steam.
I can then reuse that rice and microwave it over the next few days.
I usually use Basmati rice but use Arborio for when I need to make risotto.
It does not take 1 hour.
Rice Cooker to pot is not equivalent to the smart phone / dumb phone analogy.
Rice Cooker to pot is more like electric shaver to safety / straight razor.
i.e. The rice cooker gives a shitty result but is safe and easy for noobs to use.
I, for one, felt it was worth it to spend the money to get a nice rice cooker that not only saves me stove space when I cook, but allows me to just forget about the rice while I usually spend time prepping the rest of the meal (which usually requires much more care and attention).
In countries where people really really care about rice (Japan) rice cookers are crazy popular. Not just in houses, but in restaurants. Even Jiro (Jiro dreams of sushi) uses a rice cooker, although his is cast iron and gas powered whereas ours are electric non-stick.
The problem with what you're saying is that Jiro could cook fantastic rice in his gas-powered cooker. Jiro could cook fantastic rice in a shitty rice cooker or a great rice cooker. Jiro even could cook fantastic rice in a pot made out of an old Milo tin with a wire handle over an open fire.
Jiro Ono does not cook good rice because he has a rice cooker, Jiro Ono cooks good rice because he knows the fuck out of cooking good rice. You don't rack up five Michelin stars in a sushi restaurant if you don't know how to cook good rice with or without a rice cooker.
And I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that Jiro didn't learn to cook good rice by purchasing a top of the line electric rice cooker and never straying from that, either. Nor would anyone he's taught.
Edit - Also, declaring early: Rice cookers are not better or worse than stovetop. They both have their place and use. Either is fine, and you can get great rice out of both - One requires money, one requires time and skill. If you lack money, invest time, aquire skill. If you lack time, Invest money, Aquire rice. If you're lazy and have time but no willingness to learn the skill, fuck you, but spend money buy a rice cooker.
Also, we're arguing and getting superior about rice cookers. I think I can safely say that I've never sat down and thought "Man, I feel strongly enough about my method and equipment for cooking rice that I really want to have an argument about it."
Also fuck all y'all gonna cook my rice in a bamboo steamer over a wok.
Berries.
Damn I wish I had more berries. The only thing around at the moment for me are strawberries.