Shout out to my trusty rice cooker, which patiently keeps my rice warm for 15 hours after I forget to put it away after dinner. (Seriously, this thing is the best — love a tool that does one thing incredibly well.)
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Discussion 10 comments
@whogivesashirt reminded me of Roger Ebert's classic piece about rice cooker cookery, The pot and how to use it.
That opening line! He later expanded the piece into an entire cookbook.
This is the exact model we have that my partner swears by. Better than a pot of boiling water. Better than an instapot. It makes rice perfectly every time. I wish it weren't so good, so we didn't need it. But it is so good.
Per the Amazon description, it's 'wall-mountable.' People, help me resist the urge to search for images of 'wall-mounted rice cookers,' I beseech you.
Note that keeping rice on the counter can lead to food poisoning. The cooker is probably keeping it at around 140°, which is the lower limit to prevent growth of bacteria. So maybe don't get in the habit of trusting the rice cooker...
Yes, this. Be cautious about leaving it in the pot for too long. A warm moist environment is a bacteria's best friend.
I had the exact thought!
Not to freak anyone further out, but the bad stuff
that grows in rice (and pasta) left out in the “danger zone” temp range (40-140F) cannot be eliminated by simply reheating the food. It survives even reboiling and will still make you sick.
I have a zojirushi from 2001 that has even less features, only one button (cook or warm heat setting) but has consistently made perfect rice every week since I bought it. I buy a new low-end zojirushi for every wedding involving any friends these days and for years after I get regular updates about how the rice cooker I got them still works flawlessly for years after, even outliving some of the relationships.
It's just a perfect damn rice cooker.
Rice cookers also work in a really neat way, using magnets that vary in strength over temperature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSTNhvDGbYI
Whoa, that is a very clever little bit of engineering.
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