please tell cooking neophyte about rice cookers

[Anonymous]

What do they do differently from boiling rice in water? My brown rice always comes out gummy when I boil it. Should I buy a cooker? What brand? TIA.

[Anonymous]

I've never used one but do you rinse the raw rice and let it soak for a while before you cook it? That should help.

[Anonymous]

You add rice and water up to the line inside the pot, so no worries about having gummy or hard rice. You hit start (or pre-program using the timer) and it automatically starts and turns off, so no worries about overcooking. No need to soak rice either. You can also cook porridge and other foods. It's a nice investment for convenience if you cook rice often. Go to a Korean grocery store (H Mart, Grand Mart, etc.). They know their rice cookers so any of the models they carry should work fine.

[Anonymous]

I suck at cooking rice on the stove, and I'm a good cook otherwise. I got a small rice cooker (3 cups) and I also have a big one. I honestly like the 3- cup better because the regular sized cookers make way too much for my family of 3.
I make regular white rice and also more,exotic rice like bamboo rice, black forbidden rice, wild rice, etc. perfect every time in the cooker.
Good luck!

[Anonymous]

We love ours. The rice is always perfects and it is so easy to use. I would look for one with a lid that fits tightly, we sometimes have the water boil over and out of our very cheap model with a looser lid. A timer is also a nice feature. We do use ours for rice dishes (not just plain rice) and steaming veggies.

[Anonymous]

I finally bought a fuzzy logic rice cooker after years of $20 rice cookers failing on me. I love it! It's programmable, so I can have the rice ready when I need it. It cooks the rice evenly and flawlessly. I also use it for steel cut oats (set it up the night before and we can have a nice hot breakfast!) There's also a great rice cooker cookbook by Beth Hensperger.

I can't cook rice on the stovetop to save my life. And like a PP, I'm a good cook otherwise.

[Anonymous]

I have a 3-cup model that has a non-stick bowl inside it and it is great and easy to clean. We start the rice up when we begin making dinner and by the time the main course is done, the rice is done too (usually about 15 minutes). We usually make basmati rice because its quick and the kids love it. We have a gluten free eater so make more rice than we used to.

[Anonymous]

I can cook rice on the stove (I'm Asian, so have been doing so most of my life), but I still love the rice cooker. I have a basic one, no timer. I like it because I can turn it on and let it go and do other things. I don't have to set a timer, don't have to watch it, don't have to adjust the heat because on how much water is there. I put it on and can work on other parts of the dinner and when the dinner is ready, so is the rice or pilaf or whatever.