Stop watching the pot, a Rice Cooker will turn out perfect rice every time
Rice cookers and rice steamers have taken the guesswork and the drama out of cooking rice in the kitchen. When you cook with a Rice Cooker you will never again wait in trepidation, wondering just how the rice is going to turn out. Companies such as Zojirushi, Aroma, Tiger and National/Panasonic have a range of rice cookers that will produce perfectly cooked rice every time.
While gas powered rice cookers are available, for domestic use most are electric, of which there are two main types. The first, simply known as an electric rice cooker, cooks and then in most case keeps your rice warm and fresh for anything between 4 and 24 hours. The second type, and this is where hi-tech electronics comes to the paddy field, are microprocessor controlled and are know as fuzzy logic rice cookers.
What's the difference between the two you ask? Well price and convenience for a start. Besides that, an electric rice cooker is designed and calibrated mainly for easily cooking white rice and cooking it to a medium texture. Simply throw in a measured quantity of washed rice with the appropriate amount of water, switch to cook and Bob's your uncle, 20 to 30 minutes later you will have perfect white rice.
You can very the texture of the cooked rice by varying the amount of water you cook with. Adding a little more water than is recommended results in a softer rice, a little less water, a harder, crunchier rice. Electric rice cookers will also cook other types of rice, such as brown and mixed, but you will need to follow your recipe book carefully and experiment with water levels.
Fuzzy Logic Rice Cooker
A Fuzzy logic rice cooker on the other hand will do all the tweaking for you. It will take all the variables, such as type of rice, water quantity and desired texture, crunch the numbers in its little brain and start cooking at the perfect temperature and for the exact duration to give you exactly the texture of rice you are looking for. Best of all, you can throw in the ingredients and program it to have finished cooking at a specific time, like just as you walk in the door from work.
And rice cookers are not just one trick horses. Most can be used for steaming. Steamed vegetables, fish, chicken and meat. You know how healthy steamed food is for you, no oil and all the vitamins and minerals sealed in. Many have slow cook features so you can pull out and make use of your crock pot recipes. There are in fact whole cookbooks devoted to the healthy and appetizing meals you can make by just using your rice cooker.
Rice Cooker Brands
The most popular brands to lookout for include Zojirushi, National, Aroma, Panasonic, Tiger, Hitachi, Sunpentown and Sanyo. Less well known brands, at least for their rice cookers, include Rival, Salton, Krups, Black & Decker and Oster.
Rice Cooker Features
Rice cookers are available with loads of different features, some such as the auto cook and warm functions are standard on most rice cookers. A lot of other optional features you might never use, but a few are essential to make life easier in the kitchen.
Non stick pan. Don't consider a rice cooker without one. Makes serving and cleaning so much easier.
Steamer tray. Essential if you are going to use your rice cooker for cooking more than rice, and I'm sure you will when you discover how easy it is, how great food tastes steamed and how healthy it is.
Size. Rice cookers are rated in cup size. Common sizes are 3 cup, 5 cup and 10 cup for home use. The cup is an amount of uncooked rice which will double or treble, depending on the variety of rice, once it has been cooked.
Retractable or detachable power leads. Keep the kitchen tidy and uncluttered.
Glass lids. Nice to see what's happening inside the pot, but not essential, not too much will go wrong with a rice cooker.
Locking lid. Keeps the rice fresher for longer. A day is not uncommon.
Rice Cooker Tips
Here are a few tips about cooking rice and rice cookers. There are more scattered throughout the site.
The steam in the pot is still cooking the rice after an automatic rice cooker switches itself off. The rice will taste all the better for it if you allow it to do so for 5 or 10 minutes.
Did you ever wonder how an automatic rice cooker works?
It's all to do with water temperature. The temperature of water has to be
less than 212°F (100°C) otherwise it boils and becomes steam. While
there is any water in the rice pot the temperature will remain below 212°F.
As soon as the water has been absorbed by the rice or turned to steam the
temperature starts to rise. A temperature sensor detects this rise and turns
the rice cooker off or to warm.
Other Brands of Rice Cooker
Sunpentown Rice Cooker
The Sunpentown rice cooker range is quite extensive running to over a dozen
models.
Rival Rice Cooker
If you are buying the Rival brand and not searching for specific features
your choice is limited to four Rival rice cooker models
Black & Decker Rice Cooker
The RC 400 Black & Decker rice cooker is about as basic as you can get,
but is consequently relatively inexpensive, often being available for less
than $20.
Krups Rice Cooker
The Krups rice cooker has 3 different cooking modes, one for rice naturally,
one for steaming and one for slow cooking. And secondly the Krups rice cooker
feature an electronic control panel with an automatic timer.
Oster Rice
Cooker
With Oster rice cookers there are really only two different decisions you
have to make, cup size and lid type.
Pressure Cooker Rice
Pressure cooking has had somewhat of a revival in recent years after decades
of decline as cooks have rediscovered that it is one of the fastest ways to
get food cooked.
Rice Dispensers
Tiger Rice Dispenser
Take your
pick from three stylish colors, blue, pink or gray when you are selecting
your Tiger rice dispenser.
Sunpentown Rice Dispenser
A
more convenient and tidier way of storing and dispensing rice..
Best Selling Rice Cookers : Link to us : Add URL : Partner sites : Privacy : Terms of use
© Rice-Cookers.net 2004-2005
