It isn’t that hard to make good rice on a stovetop, but it’s also really easy to screw up. There are far too many variables that can mess up the process: type of rice, amount of rice, age of rice, type of pot, thickness of the pot, temperature of the fire, etc. Those that claim to make perfect rice every time have clearly hit upon the right combination of factors. Change one of those factors and you’ll have to tinker with the process.
With a rice cooker, you don’t have to think about any of that, except perhaps the amount of water. You can make any amount of rice, from 2 cups to eight (if your cooker is large enough). Just put the rice in, put the in appropriate amount of water, and turn it on. You can then go and make your stir-fry or have a beer or whatever. You really don’t have to think about it. When the rice is done, the cooker pops up, stopping the cooking process, but still keeping the rice warm.
There’s a reason why almost every Asian household has a rice cooker.
I got a cheap little rice cooker and now my boyfriend makes himself rice. It’s great because I no longer have to make some kind of carb dish - I can make a light meal when I feel like it and he supplements it with rice when he’s hungrier than I am.
The one rice dish I never could make properly was pulao, which at least for me, turns out much better after I dump the sauteed rice with water in the rice cooker. Though I think in large part my problem is that I have a much easier time cooking with gas than I do electric (which I HATE but what can you do in an apartment situation?).
Yes, there most definitely is. All my friends can make decent rice without a cooker, but we all still have one. The rice snobs use a pressure cooker, which you have to keep more of an eye on (but the rice is usually, albeit subtly, better) while the rest of us make do with an electrical one, which does all your work for you and keeps the rice warm as a bonus. It’s nice because you can just flip a switch and forget about it while you’re cooking other stuff.
That is the problem right there. If you “pay attention” to the rice, that means you are lifting the lid, (or worse, not using a lid) stirring, testing, etc. No better way to ruin rice.
I use recipes for almost nothing except rice, and in that case I have a strict formula: 2 cups water, 1 cup rice, bring to boil on high flame, put on lid, turning burner to low, set timer for 20 minutes, (I don’t live at sea level) and don’t even think about checking on it untill that timer goes off. When the timer goes off, turn off burner, and let rest with the lid on then fluff just before serving. I haven’t missed on a batch of rice in perhaps 20 yrs. and Kevbabe has about a 10 yr. streak going since I showed her how.
Oh, I did that at first, certainly, but I paid heed to all the warnings to NOT TOUCH THE RICE. I still had to juggle the pot, keep an eye on that timer, switch burners (since my burners don’t cool to a simmer fast enough, the best method I could use was switching the pot from a burner on high heat to an empty burner on low heat). The water would also boil over and spill out of the pot anyway…bah.
It’s not necessary to tell me what I was doing wrong, as it won’t help now. I love my cooker.
rice cookers are indespensible. stove top rice generally does not taste as consistently good. IMHO the only way to make a superior stovetop rice is via a steamer. you have to watch it though unlike just dumping it in the rice cooker.
my household goes through at least 5 kilograms of rice per week. make a load for breakfast lunch and dinner for 5-12 people each time. stovetop for that much rice would be a giant labor intensive pain.
only more used appliance in china is the mobile phone.
That’s a good point - the rice is cooking away in a separate appliance, in a different place in the kitchen, while I’m doing other things. I’m sure I could figure out how to cook good rice on the stovetop; I just don’t really want to. The rice cooker does everything I need it to do, in a convenient fashion.
OK, I buy all the rest of your post. If we ate rice by the metric boatload we probably would need a dedicated appliance, maybe one the size of our washer/dryer.
But what kind of ‘watching’ should I be doing to the rice in the steamer on the stovetop? What am I ‘watching’ for? What is the rice going to do when I’m not ‘watching’ it? Can’t I set the timer and turn off the heat when I know (from experience) that it’s cooked?
This is why people use rice cookers. You hit the “cook” switch and you’re done.
For the steamer action, I guess you can probably get it down to x amount rice, y amount water, z amount water to steam for so many minutes. I only do it when stuck in Colorado at my relatives with no rice cooker, so I’ve got to check. It looks done is one way, a finger poke and a sample is another way.
Ok, now you got me convinced. My husband makes perfectly ok rice on the stove top, but getting him to steam veggies can be a challenge. I think I might get him one of these. I wonder if the Super H Mart would have one.
I’m serious. I think I would lose my Asian card if I used rice out of a box. My SO can make beautiful rice on the stovetop but I am a rice-loser. Still, with an Indian and a Chinese in the household I wouldn’t be caught dead with packaged rice around.
You mean you go out and pick it yourself, or you don’t use stuff like Minute, Uncle Ben’s or that Jasmine that comes in a little box under the Thai label for $5.00?
While I have you all here, a glass jar of domestic rice lasts until it’s cooked, but the Jasmine from Thailand gets weevils halfway through. Does it spend more time in the package on a boat with eggs hatching than the stuff grown in state?
I slave away and pick it myself. No, I don’t use the little boxes and only get the big bag for $11.99 that is real authentic jasmine or whatever.
Honestly, I don’t have the hangup myself too much but it does kind of…squick me out. Just too many years of pressure and horrified looks from both sets of parents and family.
Since Papa Tigs lived all around Asia for over 20 years, we buy the 20-kilo bags of Asian short grain rice. We also buy the 10-kilo bags of basmati since I like that when I fix Indian food; we keep brown rice around as well; and he’s even taking to buying some medium grain rice for Cajun food. Like you, Anaamika, we wouldn’t be caught dead with anything like Uncle Ben’s. The closest we’ll come is using the basic Zatarain’s jambalaya mix, but that’s decent Louisiana medium grain rice so it’s still a major step up from Uncle Ben’s/etc.
It’s amazing how much difference the type of rice you’re using can make. And each one cooks a bit differently, plus we cook in different quantities all the time, so the rice cooker takes all the guesswork out of it. We don’t fix the quantities you do, Chinaguy, but we do have rice several times a week. It’s not that we’re rice snobs; it’s just that once having eaten really good rice, it’s hard to go back to the nasty boxed stuff.
I love my cooker.
Very funny. However, I must (as always) make the disclaimer that I’m not a chef, just a good cook who can do a lot of other things.