How To Choose The Right Rice Cooker For Your Home

One of the most useful small appliances that you will ever buy is a rice cooker. A rice cooker can do much more than cook rice and is useful in both the kitchen and the dorm room.

Of course you can use a rice cooker to make excellent rice every time, but they also can be used to cook other hot cereals, soups, stews, steamed vegetables and even deserts. Be sure that you choose a rice cooker that has the features that you will use.

Most people that use rice cookers swear by the ones that are made in Japan. While less expensive brands are available from other countries, the Japanese make the best machines by far.

Rice cookers come in several sizes, some cooking over fourteen cups of rice at one time. You should choose the cooker that corresponds to the amount of rice you normally would cook. Large cookers can be used to cook smaller amounts, but they work best when three quarters to all the way full. Be careful not to overfill a rice cooker.

Additionally, you need to know that a Japanese cup is six ounces as compared to the American cup size of eight ounces. Be sure that you adjust recipes by remembering that the cups from the rice cooker are only three quarters of an American cup.

The Japanese home prefers a five cup rice cooker.

One feature that you will find very important for easy cleanup is the non-stick pan. This is a very high quality non-stick coating and rice literally slides out of the pan. A quick rinse and you are ready to cook the next batch.

There are three basic types of rice cookers, the on/off models, the keep warm models and the fuzzy logic models.

On/off models cook the rice and then turn off automatically. There may not be an indicator light but these inexpensive models are very versatile and do a great job at cooking rice.

The next in price range of rice cookers both cook the rice and then turn to a keep warm setting. They do not have an off setting so be sure to unplug the unit after use so that you do not create a fire hazard.

Some of the more expensive rice cookers have fuzzy logic. This means that they have differing settings for soup or brown rice. Some of these machines even allow you to choose the texture of your finished rice.

The newest and most expensive rice cookers offer induction heating. Rice comes out perfect each time as they can compensate for variations in measurements.

If you enjoy steamed vegetables with your rice, be sure that the rice cooker you choose has a steamer basket. You can steam vegetables as the rice cooks. For extra flavor in your rice add a couple of bullion cubes to the cooking water.

Do not forget that a rice cooker is perfect for a college student who is living in the dorm. They can cook their own meals in a small rice cooker and avoid the expense of the college cafeteria as well as all the unhealthy fast food. Be sure that they are stocked up on rice, canned soups and top Ramen for quick meals.