How do I choose what rice cooker to buy?
Few appliances excel at a specialty the way rice cookers do. They are designed specifically to make high quality rice that is ready to eat, with far less errors than would occur if you tried to boil the rice yourself on a stove. There are hundreds of different rice cookers available with dozens of different options. When you are ready to choose your rice cooker, there are several things to look for.
Pot Sizes
If you are cooking for yourself, your family, or a restaurant, there are a variety of different pot sizes designed to handle different amounts of rice. If you are simply cooking for yourself, you will clearly need the small pot size, but many families can often do with a small or medium pot size as well. Restaurants or especially large families that all eat together can benefit from some of the larger sizes. Standard pot sizes are:
· 3 to 5 cups of uncooked rice.
· 5 to 6 cups of uncooked rice.
· 10 to 15 cups of uncooked rice.
· 15+ cups of uncooked rice (almost exclusively for restaurants).
Remember that a single cup of uncooked rice can be as many as 1.5 to 2 cups of edible rice – about as much as the average person eats.
Style
There are several different types of rice cookers available as well. Some of the styles include:
· Microwave Rice Cookers – Designed to be used quickly in the microwave, these rice cookers are not perfect, but then, they're not meant to be. They almost exclusively come in small sizes and are simply a good way to make rice fast.
· Basic Electronic Rice Cookers – These rice cookers have a start button and a variety of possible features. They cook from the bottom up and are great for making perfect/near perfect rice with little supervision.
· Advanced Electronic Rice Cookers – These include Fuzzy Logic and Induction Heating rice cookers. They are designed for the rice connoisseur – someone that can taste the difference between “perfect rice” and “probably perfect rice.” They are much more expensive but flawless in their ability to cook rice effectively.
Features
For all electronic rice cookers, you will also have your choice of features. Some of these features are more important than others, and choosing them should be based on your needs and preferences.
· Non-Stick Pan – Not all rice cookers come with an non-stick pan, but this is fairly important as the other pans tend to be very difficult to clean.
· Steamer Tray – These go above the rice to steam meats and vegetables before serving.
· Keep Warm – A nifty feature that helps keep your rice warm for hours in case you are not ready to consume it right away.
· Porridge Settings – For making porridge (also known as congee) easily.
· Different Rice Settings – Different rice can have different heat and cook times. Some rice cookers come with these settings already included.
· Fuse Protectors – A nearly vital feature that makes sure that the fuse of the rice cooker will not spark or start a fire.
· Cord Reel – Allows the cord to hide inside the rice cooker after use so that it cannot be played with or tripped over.
Brands
There are a lot of different rice cookers to choose from. However, some brands have been around a long time and are known for making solid products. Some of these brands include:
· Zojirushi
· Panasonic
· Aroma,
· Oster
· Tiger
Choosing the Right One For You
Due to the gentle cooking cycles of rice cookers, these appliances can last you five, ten – even twenty years or longer without breaking down. As a result, it is a good idea to make sure you have chosen the rice cooker that you like the most the first time, so that you will be happy with the appliance for years to come.
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