Rice cooker…

Worth it?

A friend just got one and said he can’t believe how much better rice now tastes. Someone else at work said they couldn’t taste any difference compared to other cooking methods.

As above. Rice is very simple to cook. Wash rice to remove excess starch. Add salt if required - up to 2 tsps for a 500ml measuring jug of dry rice. Then add 1.4-1.7 times the volume of rice in boiling water. Cover with tight fitting lid and cook on lowest heat for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and open lid to allow any excess steam to escape. After 5 minutes fluff the rice with a two-pronged carving fork.

Perfect rice is all about knowing what ratio of rice to water to use and it depends on the type of rice you use as well as your preference. You still need to know this with a rice cooker. The main difference is that it will shut off or keep the rice warm once all the water is absorbed.

I will never understand the British thing of boiling rice in a pan full of water and then draining when done. That's the perfect recipe for awful rice.

Two things always stands out to me when rice is cooked in the west.

- There seems to be a Salt Bae level of mystique around the process
- The cooked rice is expected to be as free flowing as dry sand. It's supposed to be slightly sticky.

Even a very basic rice cooker will do the job well if the rice / water ratio is about right.

The rice is important and before we lived in a house with an Aga I would have agreed with you - not sure how similar it is to a rice cooker (bring measured quantities of rice and water to boil then lid on, in the oven) but what it turns out is much better than any rice I ever managed on the hob.

I think so. I know it’s not a huge amount of effort to cook it in a pan but I like how it comes out and the fact that you can set it going and forget about it, and the convenience of not needing to be dealing with it when you are finishing the rest of the meal.

I paid under £40 for a one that knows by weight what you’ve put in and so how to cook it.

Every time one of these threads comes up I keep thinking of buying a rice cooker.
This one looks ok https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B083V96Q9G/?coliid=I3G...

Also what else do you add to your rice? To add a bit of flavour I have been adding three whole cloves, two cardamnon pods and a half a teaspoon of caraway seeds while cooking. I fish out the cloves and cardamon pods before serving.

I'd be disappointed if you did that, as one of my pleasures in life is finding a well-cooked cardamom pod in my rice or curry and eating it. So fragrant - I love it! I also like to eat cooked allspice, cloves, ginger, and lemongrass. All the things you're supposed to throw away. I love strong flavours and abhor the absence of them in food.

Personally I use the method I detailed above in a saucepan with water measured rather than boiling and then draining.

But Uncle Roger is amusing - see him roasting some BBC presenter showing how to make egg fried rice, and see the same of him roasting Jamie Oliver for doing anything at all.

Anyway here's his quick guide to using a rice cooker. Apologies for vertical vijeo (ughh!)

Not sure that is going to help the OP, they were talking about rice cookers, not cooking it yourself.

Well I guess my point was one doesnt need a rice cooker…. We’ve got one and I prefer to use the method above. Better results IMHO