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Comment by hilux | Hacker News Reader

I enjoyed reading the story, AND for most Americans, an electric pressure cooker (e.g. Instant Pot) cooks rice perfectly (12 minutes, 1:1 ratio of rice to water), rendering the rice cooker an unnecessary "single use device."

Bonus: instead of rice, use chicken broth, previously made in the IP, and frozen.

Bonus2: add some coconut milk. freeze the rest of the can in ziploc baggies.

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Being a single use device has its benefits. Rice cookers are lighter weight than an instant pot and have a single button, making them extremely easy to operate. I find this is very helpful to me when cooking.

You can get some very fancy rice cookers in Asia, with lots of buttons. Some of them really do produce a better end result.

I use a Zojirushi NS-LAC05. (I believe the current version of this model is the NS-LHC05.)

https://www.zojirushi.com/app/category/rice-cookers

It makes great rice consistently and easily.

The only quirk is that their "cup" measure is 1 gou (一合枡), which is just over 3/4 of a US cup. It's just a cultural thing, but the adaptation I had to make was real — I got this rice cooker as a hand-me-down from an Asian friend, and it didn't include the OEM 1-gou cup. It took a bit before I figured out how to get the proportions right.

The results are better than what my parents used to get with their old Black and Decker RC400. It's possible that there was user error involved with the RC400, which I recall burning on the bottom. I've never burnt any rice with the Zojirushi, and I'm not even sure how I could go about it if I wanted to. Certainly the Zojirushi produces better rice than I used to make cooking it on the stovetop in an ordinary pot.

I'd like to know just how the Zojirushi gets such great results. My guess is that it's some combination of good temperature measurement and even heat application to ensure that their well-researched cooking formulas get accurately applied.

Thanks for reminding me - I also used to own a Zojirushi, and all the conversions were a lot more headache than I've had with my Instant Pot. I had to write down all the calculations on a 3x5 card, and then try not to lose that, or get it wet in the kitchen!

I just take a 1-US-cup measuring cup and fill it 3/4 full for each "cup" that the Zojirushi wants. Like a "heaping cup" in reverse.

>I just take a 1-US-cup measuring cup and fill it 3/4 full for each "cup" that the Zojirushi wants.

I thought 3/4 was one of the 'normal' measuring cups in a set, but just googled it and I guess it's not.

The way I think about the Zoji cup is that one cup of dry rice makes one (US) cup when cooked. In other words, cooked rice is 33% more by volume than dry rice.

My mother's measure, from an old college cookbook: "One cup of rice make three cups of RICE". (With eyes springing wide open and fingers splaying outwards at "RICE", followed by a hearty giggle).

Our measures are way off from each other. Yours sounds like the "rice made for sumo wrestlers" I remember from an old story, where rice was made with progressively less water over time to toughen up the trainees.

I was surprised at the rice cooker section at Yodobashi Camera in Tokyo Akaba that they were serving samples of cooked rice from each of the many, many models they sell. My American senses failed to detect any difference. And yes, that was only one of the multitude of surprises in that wonderland of a store.

they really do, perfect rice everytime if you wash when necessary and use the proper rice to water ratios

Tastes and has the texture of Chinese restaurant rice. I use mine 3+ days a week. Worth it if you eat that much.

It's funny, because here in Singapore the gold standard for rice would be Japanese and Korean restaurants. The various Chinese cuisines aren't really all that renowned for their rice. (Just like eg the English technically have bread in their cuisine, but it's nothing to write home about.)

I can't say I know the difference, but I imagine the Japanese and Korean rices aren't like the 'boil in a bag' stuff Americans eat at home that I'm comparing it too.

Oh, approximately no one uses boil-in-the-bag rice in Singapore. Neither at home nor in a restaurant, even at the low end.

The various Chinese cuisines have serviceable rice, it's just that the premium stuff tends to be Japanese and Korean. (But it's not just a single 'quality' dimension. They differ in kind, too.)

Btw, you should try Nasi Lemak. It's a dish that has its rice in coconut milk. Very tasty.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasi_lemak

I only press one button ("Pressure") when cooking rice in my Instant Pot.

It remembers the last several settings I've used - one of those is 12:00 for rice.

If you don't have a pressure cooker, that's fine. But for those who DO already own a pressure cooker, I'm not sure how the lighter weight of the rice cooker is relevant. A single-use device takes up more room in the kitchen, and the accumulation of these devices just adds to our environmental disaster.

I do have both and still prefer the rice cooker for rice cooking. The lighter weight helps me move it around the kitchen as needed. I also like that it is easier to put in the dishwasher and that I never have to futz with the rubber seal or the hard to clean yet easy to lose pin and other small parts in the instant pot. It is always a chore for me to clean. The steps needed remind me of (not unhappy) times in the army having to assemble and disassemble an assault rifle.

If I making rice in the instant pot I can't use the instant pot to make actual food.

Also that 12 minutes is not inclusive of the 10 minutes it takes to get up to pressure, and the instant pot cannot keep rice warm throughout the day.

>Also that 12 minutes is not inclusive of the 10 minutes it takes to get up to pressure

This is a huge downside that people always neglect to mention with instant pots. Probably not a big deal with rice, since the other methods also take ~20 minutes total, but for larger meals, that extra time is a lot more than it takes for rice, and the slow release at the end is also somewhat necessary for other foods that don't completely cook during the short time that's recommended. Things like roast and such aren't 'done' just because everything is up to a reasonable temperature, that extra cooking that's done during the slow cooling of the release helps flavors develop.

How about soups? If a soup has multiple steps, you can easily end up paying the cost of building up temp and releasing twice.

Of course for bone broth, you are still savings many many hours, but the math isn't as simple as "bones 25 minutes, release, potatoes 5 minutes, release, carrots 3 minutes, release."

> If a soup has multiple steps, you can easily end up paying the cost of building up temp and releasing twice.

I think most people tend to avoid dishes that have multiple steps for that reasons. Generally the most you see is sauteing in the bottom of the pot before deglazing and adding more ingredients and bringing it up to pressure. Although I'm sure some people get fancier with them. At that point though, you probably aren't saving time or effort over just cooking normally.

So much arguing. Don't worry - I'm not going to confiscate or outlaw your rice cooker!

> If I making rice in the instant pot I can't use the instant pot to make actual food.

I'll just correct this one misinformation. You absolutely can cook multiple dishes at once - I've done it, google: 'pot in pot' - assuming they can tolerate roughly similar cooking times.

> I'll just correct this one misinformation. You absolutely can cook multiple dishes at once - I've done it, google: 'pot in pot' - assuming they can tolerate roughly similar cooking times.

I have the OG Instant Pot, it is too small for multiple dishes. Especially if I am making a bone broth soup + rice!

Honestly I am trying to think of a dish I've ever made in my instant pot that hasn't occupied a majority of the interior volume...

Our Zojirushi (NP-RC05, it's over 10 years old now) is actually advertised as pressure cooking the rice to make it taste better, so I guess the two devices are merging. And it has 8 buttons (you can select the rice type)

Also only needing to make single "cup"(rice measuring) is better for my use case. It takes longer, but I feel it is simpler process.

I cook one cup of rice in my Instant Pot all the time.

Hmm, if I use chicken broth instead of rice, isn't the end product just chicken soup instead of a rice dish? :D

Not if all the liquid is absorbed. I cook rice like this on the stove all the time, and it's really tasty. Works well with various grains, pltho probably pearl barley is a favourite - cooked with good stock, it reminds me of risotto.

If between rice and water, you replace the rice with chicken broth, I'm pretty sure you don't get to cook much rice...

If all of it is absorbed, then it’s a risotto ( you just need onions and white wine as well…)

All absorbed? That's a pilaf, or a terrible risotto.

I get bad results when cooking Calrose rice in an Instant pot, and much better results when using a rice cooker.

(Rice Cooker calrose recipe: Weigh the rice. 1.1 times the mass of the rice is the amount of water you need.)

I use a pot in a pot for 12 minutes and it's ok. I use those stacking metal pots you can get at an Indian food market. I also have an old rice cooker. The convience of the instant pot is I can set a 30 minute delay to soak the rice. The newer rice cooker my mother in law has in Japan does the delay and has lines on the inside of the non stick pot to measure the water so it makes pretty good rice every time.

Pot in a pot also minimizes cleanup, I'm a big fan but few people seem to use that method.

What if you're using the instant pot for something else (like beans, or maybe the entire rest of your dish) while you're cooking rice? A rice cooker is the best single use device because 1) you're probably having rice with 25-100% of your meals, and 2) set-it-and-forget-it; you can completely ignore it until you're ready to eat.

You can solve this placing a trivet in the pot with your rice in a bowl on top. I do this when im in a hurry and need to rustle up ruce and lentils on the double. Lentils, stock, trivet, bowl, rice, water, done.

any downsides to using a rice cooker? never used one before, and I am thinking of buying one.

It takes up counter/kitchen space, and if you leave rice in it too long, it go bad and disgusting (so don't do that). It makes rice, and for me, I cook chicken and vegetables in it, just put it on top of the rice, for single pot meals. It comes down to how often you eat rice. It makes it way easier, since you set it and forget it (just don't forget too long).

Importantly though, they've had decades to refine the design, so the cheap one from Walmart does just fine, no need to buy a $100 Japanese one if you're exploring if you even want a rice cooker.

thanks.

To be clear, "too long" is more than 24 hours.

Feel free to make rice the night before if you have dinner plans the next day, it'll work out fine in a good quality Japanese rice cooker!

got it, thanks.

I like to prepare my rice as if were pasta (i.e., tons of water, which gets drained and discarded at the end) to reduce the arsenic by half.

>I like to prepare my rice as if were pasta (i.e., tons of water, which gets drained and discarded at the end)

It's funny how upset some people get by that method.

I love my InstantPot, but never use it for rice. The few times I've tried, I haven't liked the results. Boiled/steamed on the stove ftw. :)

Now soups, veggies, artichokes, enchiladas, ... For those things, the instant pot is awesome. =)

The simple rice cooker can cook rice till all water is absorbed. Can Instant Pot do that? I think the Instant Pot cooks till the timer runs out, not till when the water is all absorbed into the rice.

If you measure the right amount of water (not optional with either solution), 12 minutes should do the trick. And you can just let it sit on the keep warm setting for some time and it will continue to absorb whatever water is left in the pot.

I actually got an instant pot recently but I haven't tried the rice cooking setting yet for the simple reason that I use the instant pot for cooking sauces and other things that would go with the rice. Also cooking rice on the stove isn't actually that hard. I don't see how this saves me time or effort. Just measure out the quantities carefully and you should be fine.

Anyway, I need less carbs in my life; not more. One reason I got the Instant Pot is cooking lentils and beans becomes really easy with it. Also am making lots of tasty meat stews. Works great for that.

Nope, it's a pressure cooker, the cooking vessel is air-tight.

My favourite recipe is to use 1:1 rice to water ratio and the adjust the time depending on the rice. For example, white rice takes 5 minutes, basmati 6, brown 30(!). When it'đ finished, wait at least 10 minutes before opening the lid, let the pressure drop naturally.

I sometimes indulge in doing the KFC chicken rice cooker hack recipe. Look it up if you haven't yet.

I do a 1:1 ratio, but only let mine run for 3 minutes for white rice, 20 minutes for brown rice.

Yeah I use Instant Pot, sometimes replacing water with broth or if I am feeling fancy I'll add some saffron. Good to go.

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