Rice cooker, is it worth it?

[Kaido]

Keep on cooking man! It’s becoming a lost art. 😕

It really is. Growing up in the 80's, I felt like everyone's mom had a decent handle on cooking. These days, I have maybe 3 friends IRL who enjoy cooking. On the flip side, I've sold dozen of Instapots over the last few years, as well as a bunch of sous-vide units, so at least people are incorporating cooking at home more into their lives, which I think is way healthier for people in the long-run, haha!

 

[Fritzo]

It really is. Growing up in the 80's, I felt like everyone's mom had a decent handle on cooking. These days, I have maybe 3 friends IRL who enjoy cooking. On the flip side, I've sold dozen of Instapots over the last few years, as well as a bunch of sous-vide units, so at least people are incorporating cooking at home more into their lives, which I think is way healthier for people in the long-run, haha!

I think these celebrity chef and cooking game shows have a lot to do with the revival. I mainly do it because it makes other people happy- which in turn makes me happy. It's therapeutic.

 

[Kaido]

I think these celebrity chef and cooking game shows have a lot to do with the revival. I mainly do it because it makes other people happy- which in turn makes me happy. It's therapeutic.

It really is. I bribe bring a lot of my IT customers home-baked goodies like fresh bread or cookies...it's always fun to make people happy! Very fulfilling, especially now that I've got a solid workflow setup at home to allow me to easily cook & bake and have it not be a chore to do so.

 

[Muse]

It is worth it even if you only cook rice in it or you can buy an instantpot. It can be used as a rice cooker but also a ton of other stuff

Got myself an Instant Pot. Haven't cooked rice in it yet, I think I'll try it. Has the Rice button, don't know if the manual has a recipe... maybe 1 cup rice, 2 cups water?

 

[sdifox]

Got myself an Instant Pot. Haven't cooked rice in it yet, I think I'll try it. Has the Rice button, don't know if the manual has a recipe... maybe 1 cup rice, 2 cups water?

Try 1-1 first then adjust per bag of rice.

 

[DigDog]

Got myself an Instant Pot. Haven't cooked rice in it yet, I think I'll try it. Has the Rice button, don't know if the manual has a recipe... maybe 1 cup rice, 2 cups water?

1 cup rice
1.1 to 1.2 cup water

the ratio goes down for long-grain and american, down to
1 cup rice
1.6 cup water
for the nastiest Uncle Ben shit.

1:2 will give you rice glue.

 

[Muse]

1 cup rice
1.1 to 1.2 cup water

the ratio goes down for long-grain and american, down to
1 cup rice
1.6 cup water
for the nastiest Uncle Ben shit.

1:2 will give you rice glue.

The rice I've been cooking in recent times is the organic whole grain brown rice from Costco. So, what ratio there? TIA...

Edit: Here's some info about how I cook rice these days... There's been concern about the arsenic in rice. Some research indicates that it depends some on the region it's grown in, probably what kind of rice it is. Arsenic is a carcinogen, and etc. Not good for you. Famous poison. My researches online don't absolve brown or even organic rice. Indian and Peruvian grown is probably safer. Thing is, rice tends to draw arsenic out of the ground more than a lot of crops.

So, in accordance with some online admonitions, I've been rinsing the rice before cooking. I also simmer the rice in some water for a minute or so, then drain, and rinse again, then cook. These processes remove a significant amount of the arsenic that might be in it. The upshoot of this is that I need to add a bit less water because simmering/rinsing has put some water into the grains already.

Of course, the Instant Pot doesn't leak much if any steam during the cooking process, unlike my simple sauce pan technique that I've used for many years, so a water reduction is in order just based on that.

 

[sdifox]

The rice I've been cooking in recent times is the organic whole grain brown rice from Costco. So, what ratio there? TIA...

How much water are you using now in a regular rice cooker? Use a bit less. So maybe 1:1.75. do not quick release.

I still prefer a rice cooker plus an instant pot.

 

[Muse]

How much water are you using now in a regular rice cooker? Use a bit less. So maybe 1:1.75. do not quick release.

I still prefer a rice cooker plus an instant pot.

Read my last post, I just edited it with a bunch of info concerning arsenic.

I have never used a rice cooker, have always used a covered sauce pan, probably a 2 quarter, Revere Ware stainless steel.

 

[DigDog]

The rice I've been cooking in recent times is the organic whole grain brown rice from Costco. So, what ratio there? TIA...

im not totally sure but i have to tell you that the single one* food (*actually two foods) i cannot eat is brown rice. So if you tell me the ratio is 1 rice to 9 water i would be ok with that.

 

[Hans Gruber]

A pressure cooker aka. instant pot works just as well as a rice cooker. Any other way of doing it is unspeakable.

 

[sdifox]

Read my last post, I just edited it with a bunch of info concerning arsenic.

I have never used a rice cooker, have always used a covered sauce pan, probably a 2 quarter, Revere Ware stainless steel.

...billions of people eat rice everyday. How many are dying from arsenic?

 

[Muse]

...billions of people eat rice everyday. How many are dying from arsenic?

I don't know, you do the math. It's kind of an epidemiological type of thing. Your odds of getting cancer are increased if you take in too much arsenic ... and a lot of other things, obviously. There's also very difficult to determine effects from several problematic substances working together, as it were, to screw you up. Best to keep bad shit out of your body, is the one size fits all idea here.

 

[Muse]

Well, I'd finished my left over rice yesterday, so today, before going to the gym, I set up my Instant Pot Duo60 with rice for the first time:

12oz organic short grain brown rice (Costco sells it in 15lb bags)
15oz water
~1/2 t salt

But first, I simmered that rice in some water for a good minute, rinsed and drained it.

Put the IP on Pressure Cook for 19 minutes, turned off the keep warm feature. At first I tried the Rice button but it had me at 12 minutes, couldn't change. Looking up the problem online it said 22 minutes Pressure Cook is the right setting. I'd already started it on Rice. I cancelled and set for 19 minutes Pressure Cook and left. Came out OK, a tad on the wet side. Next time I'll do the same thing but use 14oz rice and 16oz water.

 

[sdifox]

I don't know, you do the math. It's kind of an epidemiological type of thing. Your odds of getting cancer are increased if you take in too much arsenic ... and a lot of other things, obviously. There's also very difficult to determine effects from several problematic substances working together, as it were, to screw you up. Best to keep bad shit out of your body, is the one size fits all idea here.

Given how Chinese and Indian population keeps going up, I am gonna go with not worth worrying.

 

[Red Squirrel]

The problem now days is it seems too many things are said to cause cancer. It masks the actual real dangers. California actually says coffee causes cancer now. If that was true I'm pretty sure I would be dying of stage 5 full body cancer right now.

 

[Zeze]

Jesus christ not this crap again.

Do a search.

Two categories:

A: If you are white person that seldom eat rice, no you don't need it. Rice cam be cooked just fine using a pot.

B: If you are Asian or eat rice super regularly (i.e. at least twice a day), you need it.

Category A people will scream on about how you don't need it, when entire nations of Korea, Japan, and China all own rice cooker at home. It's more ubiquitous than having a toaster.

Advantages of a rice cooker:
1. It keeps rice warm, ready to eat any time. This is the primary reason for category B.

2. $300+ pressurised cookers actually cook the better and objectively tastier. Rice comes out distictly spongier/fluffy vs cheap $30 ones.

Close thread

Man this guy is spot on until i realized it was me. Lol

 

[dasherHampton]

I have a rice cooker. Cost like $50. I didn't use it last year because I was eating low carb but when I did use it before then it was pretty great.

So convenient - it came with this little plastic cup. Just pour in 2 cupfuls of rice and three cupfuls of water, turn it on, and you're set. It makes delicious rice.

The only negative? It doesn't have an alarm to alert you it's finished. The lever pops back up and it goes into warming mode, which will eventually burn the rice at the bottom. So you basically have to watch it off and on until its done.

 

[Kaido]

I have a rice cooker. Cost like $50. I didn't use it last year because I was eating low carb but when I did use it before then it was pretty great.

So convenient - it came with this little plastic cup. Just pour in 2 cupfuls of rice and three cupfuls of water, turn it on, and you're set. It makes delicious rice.

The only negative? It doesn't have an alarm to alert you it's finished. The lever pops back up and it goes into warming mode, which will eventually burn the rice at the bottom. So you basically have to watch it off and on until its done.

My workaround was to time each type of rice I use & then set my smartphone whenever I cook. I mostly do rice in my Instant Pot, which does beep, but sometimes I'm off doing other stuff, so I need a reminder to go take it out.

 

[Muse]

My workaround was to time each type of rice I use & then set my smartphone whenever I cook. I mostly do rice in my Instant Pot, which does beep, but sometimes I'm off doing other stuff, so I need a reminder to go take it out.

Yesterday, I turned off the keep warm feature when making (for the first time) rice in my instant pot. I'm fine with room temperature rice, I have a super duper microwave oven (the kind you'll find in workplace cafeteria/eating rooms). I hate carousel MW's!

 

[Iron Woode]

The rice I've been cooking in recent times is the organic whole grain brown rice from Costco. So, what ratio there? TIA...

Edit: Here's some info about how I cook rice these days... There's been concern about the arsenic in rice. Some research indicates that it depends some on the region it's grown in, probably what kind of rice it is. Arsenic is a carcinogen, and etc. Not good for you. Famous poison. My researches online don't absolve brown or even organic rice. Indian and Peruvian grown is probably safer. Thing is, rice tends to draw arsenic out of the ground more than a lot of crops.

So, in accordance with some online admonitions, I've been rinsing the rice before cooking. I also simmer the rice in some water for a minute or so, then drain, and rinse again, then cook. These processes remove a significant amount of the arsenic that might be in it. The upshoot of this is that I need to add a bit less water because simmering/rinsing has put some water into the grains already.

Of course, the Instant Pot doesn't leak much if any steam during the cooking process, unlike my simple sauce pan technique that I've used for many years, so a water reduction is in order just based on that.

here is a video on making brown rice in the instant pot:

 

[gill77]

I think you can have a lot of success cooking rice using various methods.

Some folks just don't feel right unless they buy a special gadget for the job. I get it.

For me it is all about keeping it simple and easy. A Pyrex bowl or the like. Goes into the microwave, onto the table and into the dishwasher, or back in the microwave.

Tastes great, nothing extra to store, easy to clean, you probably already have one.

 

[Captante]

I realize it's far less entertaining then a 5-page back and forth however allow me to sum this up with 2x Q&A:


Q: Do you (or anyone else) actually NEED a rice cooker?

A: Of course not.


Q: Do quality rice cookers do an excellent job at making rice?

A: Yes.


/thread

 

[Muse]

I realize it's far less entertaining then a 5-page back and forth however allow me to sum this up with 2x Q&A:


Q: Do you (or anyone else) actually NEED a rice cooker?

A: Of course not.


Q: Do quality rice cookers do an excellent job at making rice?

A: Yes.


/thread

[Thread reopened]

Q: Do you have room in your kitchen for a rice cooker?

A: Me... no!

 

[sdifox]

[Thread reopened]

Q: Do you have room in your kitchen for a rice cooker?

A: Me... no!

Well get rid of a dozen of instantpots. You will still have a dozen left.