Rice!

[aular]

We consume a lot of rice - I like cooking with it, well, because it's easy and pretty versatile

Comments

[tlatoani]

Rice cookers aren't an unnecessary gadget in our household, but YMMV depending on how often you cook rice. We do a lot of Asian cooking, and it's the only way to go. (Also, we wouldn't want that rice salted.)

[aular]

Cool - I'll try omitting the salt. I haven't made a decision about a rice cooker yet; it's just an issue of storage here. All of our cabinets are full and the ones upstairs have all the thing I semi-regularly use and I don't want to run up and down stairs to get anything routine, so I hold off on getting anything until it becomes a "must have".

What rice cooker do you use? What advantage does it have over a stove or oven method? Is it that easy? Durable? Dishwasher safe?

[shekkara]

Both of ours are 20 years old or older and we picked them up at Asian grocery stores. They're basic models with two settings: cook and warm.

[tlatoani]

We have two, and that's because we each owned one before we moved in together. Meaning, I'm sure neither of those models is still available.

They're incredibly easy to use. Rinse the rice a couple times, toss it in with the requisite amount of water, and click the switch. When it's done, the switch pops up. Makes it right every time.

[shekkara]

If you cook rice multiple times a week, then a rice cooker is a really useful "gadget" that frees up a spot on the stove top. I wash my rice, put it in the rice cooker, add water, turn it on, and walk away. When rice cooker is done, fluff rice. Can let rice sit in the cooker on warm setting to dry out if it comes out a bit too wet.

[lintra]

We bought a cheap one $20 from Meijer about 1.5 years ago. Fi uses it 1-5 times a week, and it is still going. It is dishwasher safe BUT we do get cooked on rice sometimes that needs scraping off. Or soaking. Or both.

[jdotmi]

We have a heavily abused rice steamer. It's falling apart. Of course, I do all sorts of things to make the rice taste even better, but hey.

[tlatoani]

I've gotta ask: how do you abuse a rice steamer? Ours have seen heavy use for a couple decades and are still just fine.

[jdotmi]

Oh it works perfectly fine. The clear plastic housing that we put the actual rice dish in is cracking due to repeated use.

[tlatoani]

Huh. The housing in both of ours is metal, which suggests that's something to look for when you're buying one.