Maybe rice in a PC isn’t the best thing unless you do it a lot and figure out those details. On the stove, you can tweak the heat and time as needed based on how the rice is cooking. With a PC, you have to get the water ratio and time correct from the start.
If you make rice several times a week, a PC might work out great. But if you just make rice occasionally, you’ll probably get better results on the stove.
Have pressure cookers changed over the years? I see quite a few recipes for pressure cooker spaghetti, but I remember this joke from Too Close for Comfort in the '70s:
“You can’t cook spaghetti in a pressure cooker!”
“I know that now…”
(they both look up at the ceiling)
(later, one of them gets a pizza, opens the box, complains that they forgot the sausage, grabs a broom, taps the ceiling with it, and a meatball falls onto the pizza)
I’m only interested if 60% of the time, it works every time. [/ronburgundy]
I was given one of these things about five years ago. I was too afraid of it to ever use it. Pressure cooker wuss here, even if they promise they’re “safe” now.
I’m not sure about that. Once you find a method that works for you in each, it should be fine. My stovetop method is pretty much invariable: scant 2:1, rice in cold water, bring to boil, turn to lowest heat, cover, 20 minutes, off. I never need to adjust, except for basmati and jasmine, I use closer to 1.5:1. Other than that, it cooks as it cooks, I don’t change heat or anything. The amount of water is the only variable I need to adjust.
Mine is probably about 50 years old, the old bare cast aluminum stove-top kind with the removable cock on top. It’s amazing for dried beans – ready in 40 minutes straight out of the bag, no pre-soakking. I don’t often use it for anything other than beans, but I cook those pretty often. Occasionally for a stew, only about ten minutes for a frozen chicken part and potatoes and carrots.
There are a lot of things I’d never do in one, I prefer simmering in a cast iron frying pan.