Of course you can cook rice without a cooker, it ain’t that hard really, I’ve cooked it over a camp fire in the woods.
The beauty of the rice cooker is that it not only makes perfect rice every time, but it keeps it perfect and hot till you need it. In fact, for hours and hours. I love my rice cooker and wouldn’t go back to doing it the other way if you paid me.
You mean they didn’t have rice cookers in the Qing Dynasty? I’m shocked!
But really, rice cookers are for convenience more than anything. Add rice, add water, wait while it does all the work for you. There’s really not much reason not to use one if you have one, unless you just really enjoy doing things the old-timey way.
Rubber scraper/spatulas are great, but now you can get them in silicone, so they won’t melt in a pan.
What work? You bring the water to a boil then you turn it down, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Perhaps you’re thinking of risotto, which a rice cooker won’t help you with anyway.
Rice cookers are only useful if you make a crapload of rice all the time.
You’ll love it, and never go back to a press again.
I have done garlic Sturmhauke’s way, when I just need a very small amount, but I vastly prefer the Garlic Twist.
There are several “levels” of Riedel, all very nice. Some are more fragile than others. I’ve broken some by hand-washing too vigorously; there’s no way they’d survive a trip through the dishwasher.
Overall, I think the damn things are far too fragile and expensive. I’m simply too stupid to go with a different type of crystal.
I didn’t want to hijack the thread with this, but yes, exactly. Many different levels of glasses made by Riedel. I’ve got a couple of the ‘O’ glasses and those go in the dishwasher just fine. But the stemware I have is just too delicate; much of it hand-blown, and considerably more expensive, so I don’t even risk it. My husband found out the hard way while I was on vacation a few months ago and broke at least a couple of my glasses by putting them in the dishwasher.
They absolutely can’t go in there, and I like how you said it earlier, if you just look at them the wrong way, they shatter.
Most of my glasses aren’t Riedel anyway, they’re a mix of Schott Zwiesel and Spiegelau. Both are excellent quality glass producers, IMO.
Chef’s knives. I have three and use whichever one comes to hand; honestly the cheap stamped santoku ($12 at Target, Henckel’s I think - bought it for camping trips) works as well as my really nice blade.
Cutting board. Inexpensive one from BB&B.
Immersion blender. $25 at Target many years ago, just starting to get old (plastic has started to crack, I’ll have to replace it in a year I bet).
Wok. Plain steel, cheap from Cost Plus about 12 years ago. Can’t stand the nonstick woks, personally.
Colander (for rinsing canned beans, washing veggies, etc).
Couple of nonstick pots (from small 1L up to bigger stockpots). Housewarming gift from friends who just received brand new stuff as their wedding gifts. I inherited their old Calphalon and nonstick copper, it all works great.
Bamboo spatula (for stirfrying) and wooden spoons.
Small stainless steel and glass bowls.
Tea kettle.
Potholders.
Porcelain coated cast iron dutch ovens - have both an oval and round - love them. Note: reasonable price alternatives to Le Creuset are available. I paid about $35 for each of mine instead of the $180 of whatever for a Le Creuset.
Crystal Wine Glasses - picked up Red, White & Flutes at Tuesday Morning for about $2.50 each. Out local store is not very organised and it took some time to pick through and find matching items, but they were there.
Rice - Guess I’m an old fashioned, but it turns our perfect every time. Boil, cover & simmer 20 minutes - Taa-Daa - perfect rice.
10" cast iron skillet
Coffee maker
1970s knives with straight edges and wooden handles – creat for cheese
Henckels chef’s knives
Microwave oven