Comment by julianlam | Hacker News Reader

Comment by julianlam | Hacker News Reader

Last time rice cookers were discussed on HN I opined that all you really need is a decent (so, _not_ a $20 model) rice cooker made by a Chinese or Japanese manufacturer (e.g. Tiger), with a simple on-off switch.

Mine cooks white rice and brown rice perfectly, although I am supposed to soak the brown rice first (though it's still fine even if I don't). I suppose the only real improvement between my model and the new ones is that perhaps the rice cooker will soak the rice for you.

You can vary the amount of water to play with different textures, but once you have it dialed in, it's pretty hands-off.

I feel that these manufacturers try to pass off the new-and-shiny only because they have to. The old models last forever. In fact, the only reason why my last rice cooker broke is because gunk got stuck in the switch and it was not able to turn off automatically. In all other respects, the design is as simple and elegant as can be. A single circuit controlling a heating element, which automatically shuts off once a certain temperature threshold is reached.

Lastly, for those with one of those fuzzy-logic rice cookers, can you make scorched rice (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorched_rice)? I didn't think so :)

The Wirecutter had this to say about their main pick (Zojirushi NS-ZCC10, currently US$ 170)

> Rice made in the Neuro Fuzzy can seem like a work of art: firm, slender, intact, and milky white. Each grain plumps nicely without bursting and doesn’t seem to break when scooped out of the pot. In our tests, the Neuro Fuzzy was one of the few machines that made sushi rice, brown rice, and long-grain rice all taste great. Of all the machines we tested, this model produced the best basmati, cooking it up light and fluffy. By comparison, our upgrade pick, the Cuckoo CRP-G1015F, made overly moist long-grain white rice.

* https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-rice-cooker/

The main complaint is that it took longer than most other models.

They also have a US$ 45 budget pick. America's Test Kitchen / Cook’s Illustrated also has a preferred model (Aroma):

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uABJWCGrFPo

It's also worth considering whether just getting a multicooker (aka Instant Pot) may be the better option. Given it can also do pressure cooking and act as a slow cooker, the latest models are pretty good jack-of-all trades:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGLX40ge4zQ

my zoji has a quick cooking option that makes ok rice, its just not as fluffy as the long way.

I have a slow cooker, a rice maker, and pressure cooker--none of which I use that much. I'm guessing that an Instant Pot--even if not optimal for at least a couple of those uses--would be a better choice if I were starting over.

I just bought an Aroma pressure cooker [0] to replace our 15yo Aroma rice cooker that had reached its end of life after multiple uses per week (the cord and the lid latch both broke within a couple months of each other). It does a great job with the rice, but making a meal that requires both a pressure cooker and a rice cooker requires some advance scheduling.

[0] https://www.aroma-housewares.com/kitchen/appliances/MTC-8016...

> (Zojirushi NS-ZCC10, currently US$ 170)

Why does this model take longer than other brands/models?

Is it doing something special with its neuro fuzzy logic?

Probably a big part is that it soaks the rice (with no heat) for an extended period before cooking. I think the soaking is roughly a third of the total cooking time.

Finally Zojirushi is most favorite reliable appliance brand available in Japan for me. Nowadays I always buy Zojirushi product if it exists in category. Never looked back after bought. I also suggest Zojirushi's thermos bottle.

I bought the Zojirushi thermos bottles per recommendations on the Internet, but found that the silicon seals take on the smell of coffee and/or tea very easily. And once the smell is on them, it's impossible to remove. While Zojirushi does sell spare parts, the cost is usually not worth it.

I love my Zojirushi fuzzy logic rice cooker, mainly for the keep-warm. I can put several cups into the cooker and eat off it for several days. Also, yes my cooker has a Scorch setting.

Hah! Well, point taken :)

However, I have always been told not to keep rice in the rice cooker for days at a time, for health reasons. If it's warm, I'd imagine it's an even better environment for bacterial/spore growth.

I believe it is kept at a high enough temp that bacteria cannot survive.

> However, I have always been told not to keep rice in the rice cooker for days at a time, for health reasons. If it's warm, I'd imagine it's an even better environment for bacterial/spore growth.

IIRC, the reason Zojirushi gives for not keeping rice warm for too long is that it will get yellow and hard. I don't think they mentioned food safety concerns. Mine does have a small vent hole, so I guess the moisture must escape eventually.

An entire continent full of kitchens keeps rice in cookers/warmers for days at a time. There us just no there there.

Watch out for Bacillus cereus

Thanks for that tidbit, I had to look it up. This wiki page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_cereus) says, "Germination and growth generally occur between 10 °C and 50 °C, though some strains can grow at low temperatures". I just measured the rice in my Zojirushi cooker, and it read 70 °C.

But presumably the GP isn't keeping the rice cooker on keep warm for days. All the moisture would be lost. Safer to refrigerate cooked rice.

Whether they are or not: it is absolutely something that is fairly commonly done. Sealed cookers can do it pretty well, the rice is essentially fine for that long (safety aside).

I think that's exactly what GP is doing

Keep warm settings on rice cookers keep the rice above 60C to avoid bacterial or fungal growth.

I use the keep warm setting on a rice cooker for another reason: To make black garlic. Take 20 bulbs of good quality garlic, put it in the rice cooker, set it on "keep warm" (NOT cook!) for two weeks without opening the lid. Note the rice cooker will be useless for anything else after this because you'll never get rid of the ingrained garlic smell.

And don’t forget the value add of it playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when the rice is ready. At least that’s what mine does, lol.

Are you sure about that? Mine plays Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when you turn the rice cooker on. It plays a different tune when the rice is ready. ;-)

Do you leave it on 'keep warm' for days?

Cooking rice for some large portion of the global population is like cooking pasta noodles, meaning for some people, the fuzzy logic and other advanced features are worth $300+ especially when they cook rice every single day.

Well, if we're going to root for the simplest technology, then I have to say that I've never owned a rice cooker, I cook a lot of rice in a pot, brown rice, black rice, red rice, basmati, long-grain, short-grain, etc, and I've never thought I needed a machine to cook it to perfection. Just any random pot with boiling water seems to do the job well most of the time. So why do I need to replace my old pot with a rice-cooking-robot-with-fuzzy-logic (or just a thermostat throwing a switch)?

Edit: Of course my random pot can make Persian-style crunchy rice too... :)

I've used a cheapo Aroma rice cooker for most of my life and I think the rice tastes awesome. I've never questioned what I'm missing out on until I read this article. Sure, the fuzzy-logic sounds like a big selling point, but now I'm questioning how much better the rice actually tastes with the smarts built into these more expense cookers (vs me just thinking the rice is better because more work went into its automated cooking).

I think what would be interesting, is if a rice cooker not only performed the cooking part well that we all expect, but also percolated the rice to reduce the amount of arsenic in it.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-05-uk-rice-breaches-limi...

Yeah, whoever makes this product will make a lot of money. Another issue is that amount of rice products on the market especially for babies/children. Do those get arsenic testing regularly?

I used to hate brown rice, but my Zojirushi cooker has a "Gaba Brown" setting that pre soaks the rice for 2 hours at 104F. Make brown rice tolerable for me.

I used to think I need to get used to brown rice because it's healthier although I never liked it much. Now that I know that whole grain rice/wheat/... in general contains higher amounts of toxins (for instance arsenic in rice) I can safely consume regular rice and wheat with less of a bad conscience :)

source?

"the concentration of inorganic arsenic is generally higher in brown, compared with white, rice grain"

however

"the predicted lifetime cancer risk is 34 cases/million for white rice, compared with 5.4 cases/million for brown rice" where "higher risk associated with white rice is primarily a function of the higher consumption of this product."

"the predicted lifetime cancer risk from consuming one serving per day of white basmati rice is 82 cases per million, while the predicted cancer risk from consuming one serving per day of brown basmati rice is 139 cases per million."

so your mileage may vary

https://www.fda.gov/files/food/published/Arsenic-in-Rice-and...

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