don’t need a separate rice cooking appliance
as our household already has @petermorwood
who makes absolutely perfect rice every time
one of his many superpowers
We’ve got a small enough kitchen that getting an air fryer / slow cooker / bread machine / rice cooker have all been considered, then abandoned for lack of space.
TBH, they’re also not needed.
We don’t deep-fry stuff often enough to need a dedicated device (the long-ago deep fryer was used just twice in 12 months, after which it was carefully cleaned and passed on to a charity shop); our oven has a slow cook setting; we make bread with a mixer or processor and that oven; I do the rice.
I searched “Why use a rice cooker” and got more or less the same info from several different sources. The writer of this Huffpost article said:
I tried cooking rice over the stove and ended up with a soggy mess, then tried making it with an Instant Pot and got uncooked grains.
…
Instead of having to boil water over the stove, stir in the rice, cover it and simmer (all while keeping your eye on a timer), all you have to do is put the rice and water in the cooking pot, place it in the cooker, and press a button.
There’s no need to peek under the lid to make sure your heat isn’t too high or low, or worry about babysitting a pot to keep the rice at the bottom from burning.
This is from Tom’s Guide:
Anyone who cooks rice regularly knows it can often be tricky to get it right each time. Much like a science, if the water levels in the pot are not precise, or the stove temperature is not adjusted carefully, you’ll end up with either soggy, crunchy or worse still, burnt rice.
…
After all, who has time to stand by a pot of boiling rice, constantly stirring, and having to scrub it clean at the end?
I get it right every time.
Once, very early on, I ended up with soggy rice, but I’ve never had crunchy or burnt rice.
I don’t have to stand by the pot constantly stirring, in fact my method doesn’t involve doing either.
I don’t have to peek under the lid, in fact my method says Don’t Do That.
I don’t have to keep an eye on the timer, it’s got a loud beep.
My saucepan is as easily cleaned as the pot of a rice cooker.
Put 2 containers of water in a saucepan & bring to the boil (control dial Full On).
Add 1 same-size container of rice, stir, return to the boil.
Reduce to low simmer (turn control dial to one stop up from Off), cover and wait 12 minutes.
Preheat oven to 120°C. This is optional, see (7)
After 12 minutes, check if water is absorbed.
If it’s all absorbed, fluff the rice with a fork, cover again & transfer the saucepan to the heated oven for about 30 minutes. Turn the oven off; residual heat is enough. Rice CAN be eaten straight away, the oven stage just improves things from Great to Excellent.
If it isn’t all absorbed, put the lid back and wait about 2-3 more minutes, then continue as (7).
I’ve been cooking white long-grain and Basmati rice this way for years, and It Always Works. Conclusion: even if we had room for a rice cooker, we don’t need one.
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