Rice Cooker Question

[Dave N]

I recently bought a little 3-cup rice cooker -- the cheap kind that has a glass lid with a vent hole in it. I've tried 2 or 3 different kinds of rice, but I always get a lot of splatter coming out of the hole. The juice gets all over the counter and pools on top of the lid, making cleanup a pain. I rinse the rice 4-5 times before cooking, but it doesn't seem to help.

Is there any variety of rice out there that won't foam up and splatter all over?

[the other pc]

Sounds to me like you’re trying to cook to much rice at one time. I haven’t really seen a lot of splatter problems (coming from an Asian family I’ve seen my share of rice cookers in action). Remember, the capacity is after cooking. Have you tried backing down the amount of rice you’re doing and playing with the water ratio?

Mine’s a 5-1/2 cup cooker (the ubiquitous Hitachi) but I rarely use more than 2 cups. Here’s a “reflection shot” of my cooker’s lid (sorry about the poor focus, the little point-n-shoot doesn’t do well up close). No starch buildup here (I haven’t polished it out with Mothers or anything).



PC.

[Dave N]

Oddly enough, I find that it splatters less when I cook more rice. I typically cook about 1.5 cups, but when I put 2 or more in, it seems to do better.

I also have a larger (5 cup, I think) Zojirushi rice cooker which is much nicer. It has a sealed lid and a dew cup to catch the overflow. The only problem with this is that I live by myself and it tends to overcook the rice if I cook less than 2 cups of rice. Plus it's a pain to clean with all the extra parts.

Oh well, I guess either way I just need to cook and eat more rice

[lagniappe]

Could you lay a rag on top of the hole?

[Spilchy]

Why not use a quality, regular, non stick pot? I made rice tonight with dinner and it came out fluffy and tender. 1 cup of rice, 2 cups of chicken broth, a couple cracks of pepper and 1 Tlbs. of olive oil and voila! Plus it's large enough to make more if need be.

[truzoom]

Put dry rice into a spare bowl, rinse and clean it out a few times, fill it up with water and let it sit for a few hours, rinse it out again and this time fill the water up to about 3/4" above the rice and cook.

[CarWeenie]

I also have a larger (5 cup, I think) Zojirushi rice cooker which is much nicer.

Is this the newer model?
I have the newer Zojirushi rice cooker (with fuzzy logic or whatever).
They are really nice. I never have overcook problem (even with one cup).
They are a bit expensive (I think I got mine just under $100).
The cooked rice produced is really superior, though.
You can take mine word on this - coming from a guy who eats about 25 lbs of rice every 3-4 weeks - an undisputed "rice bucket" ("rice bucket" is a Chinese slang for a nimcompoop).

[the other pc]

Originally Posted by Dave N

… it tends to overcook the rice if I cook less than 2 cups …

Have you tried playing around with the water/rice ratio? The only time I’ve ever had cookers over or under cook was when the water ratio was wrong. Once dialed in for a given type of rice it was good forever. (note: It’s non-linear, you use different ratios for different amounts of rice. Don’t remember why that is but Alton Brown explained it in his rice episode.)

Originally Posted by Spilchy

Why not use a quality, regular, non stick pot?…

rice cooker technique:
add rice
add water
push button
walk away
after it goes ding, eat

Come back in fifteen minutes or an hour, doesn’t matter, there’s no such thing as burning. It turns itself off and goes into keep warm mode. When you eat a lot of rice it’s supremely convenient and allows you to focus on other activities like stir frying the rest of the meal, surfing Autopia or taking a nap.


PC.

[Mr. Clean]

Originally Posted by Dave N

... Zojirushi rice cooker...

This was the answer which immediately came to mind when I saw the topic. I don't have one personally, but the people I know who do have nothing but raves (as opposed to rants ) about theirs.

I continue to cook mine on the cooktop. No non-stick cookware required. Just a good SaladMaster stainless steel pot/pan.

[Dave N]

Thanks for all of the posts and suggestions. I really wanted to make this smaller cooker work because it takes up much less counter space than my large Z cooker and the cleanup is so much easier (if it didn't boil over onto the lid, that is).

I didn't know about the water/rice ratio not being linear. I always just put in twice as much water as rice. Maybe I'll give the larger cooker another chance with more water. It's an older model (had it for more than 10 years), so no fuzzy logic in this one. I was looking at a small Tiger cooker online that was similar to my large Zojirushi, but didn't want to spend $80 for it. Maybe I should have... I'll probably go to the Asian market and try 3 or 4 different kinds of rice to see if anything works better than what I've been using.

[CarWeenie]

Yeah, I have one of those round Zojirushi just like yours years ago.
IMO, the new ones (they are no longer round - sort of elliptical) produce
better much result. I think you probably can get one around $60.
The only drawback is that if you use the default mode, it may take up to 45 minutes
to cook the rice (there is a quick cook mode but the result is ok).
They also have a porridge mode. The porridge produced is rather impressive.

[marko]

use nishiki rice or better. the ratio is 1.5 cups of rice with 2 cups of water.

I recently picked up a very cool little rice cooker for the girlfriend, who reminds me that some cookers come with their own measuring cup, which doesn't necessarily correspond to anything other than itself.

those little cookers are great. press the little lever and you're good to go.

this one's been my favorite for years...