BEGIN Japanology - Rice Cookers In Japan

[yuiyoshida]

[Warpy]

1. Thank you for this

Rice cookers were always things I dismissed as silly appliances since I could tell when to turn off the heat and let the rice steam by smell. Then I got a computer and that went out the window and I spent a lot of time chipping carbon out of the bottom of my favorite rice pot because I'd been too distracted to shut the stove off.

I did notice the dizzying array of them at the international grocery and ended up with the cheapest. It does a good job on Calrose and brown rice but tends to turn no-name long grain rice to mush, not terrible if I've got the wherewithal to assemble a good congee but not so nice if I want a side to chicken fricassee. Using a cooker has changed my rice buying habits, the short grain Calrose is the most similar to much of the Japanese rice I'd buy years ago.

[yuiyoshida]

2. I use mine all the time..

I wasn't aware you could add other ingredients to it as they do in this video. Mine also has a warm setting, so keeping food warm for a long while is helpful to me, when I am in the middle of a project.