Rice Cooking Duel: Stove Vs Rice Cooker
As a child, the rice cooker in our family was a staple food, like a refrigerator or a kitchen sink. It never occurred to me that I did n’t have it . Growing up, I noticed that friends were cooking rice in a pot on the stove. Nothing wrong with that, but let’s see which approach gives you the simplest and consistently best pic.
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Okay, making rice is not that difficult. When it comes to culinary skills, this is one of the easiest foods to prepare, along with toast and cereal. However, there are two main ways to make rice, and both sides have strong opinions :
- Rice cookers: Rice cookers say they do a great job every time and they are essential. Plates vary quite a bit in price and utility. Some are as low as $ 15, while others, with many features and options, are over $ 200. Expensive rice cookers like Zojirushi use “fuzzy logic” technology that detects the type of rice you cook and adjusts to make the best sushi, porridge, brown rice, etc. I don’t cook a lot of sushi or porridge, so I use this Aroma standard rice cooker , the best version that is still very affordable for under $ 30. I fill the pot with rice and water, push the button and leave.
- Slab method : The slab method is pretty standard. Proponents argue, “What’s so hard about cooking rice on the stove?” You put some water in a saucepan , let it simmer, then reduce the heat (or turn it off, depending on who you ask) and cover for about 10-15 minutes. “You don’t need a stinking stove,” they say. It is true, this method does not require a lot of work, but you should watch out for it so as not to overcook it and not burn the rice on the bottom.
To test these two methods, we made a standard rice bowl. After all, this is the most basic function of a rice cooker, so we wanted to see how it compares in terms of efficiency, effort and taste to the stovetop method.
The rice cooker clearly requires less effort.
In the past, readers have expressed strong opinions about rice cookers. “Why bother with a rice cooker,” you asked, “when you can just cook rice on the stove?” Good question. Why bother with a toaster when you can just toast bread in the oven? Why use a juicer when you can squeeze fruit with your bare hands? Because it’s easier that way . And, perhaps more importantly, it is reliable.
It literally took me less than a minute to make the rice pot you see in the photo above. I rinsed the rice directly in the saucepan that came with the pressure cooker, added some water using the first joint method (you can also use the supplied measuring spoons), then hit cook. Twenty minutes later, I had perfectly cooked rice.
The main advantage of the rice cooker is that it cooks perfect rice every time . We can all screw up even simple tasks from time to time, and rice is no exception. Maybe Jeopardy is coming and you are killing him in the 90s sitcom category to distract yourself, and before you notice, your rice is overcooked and now it’s wet. And your stove is in disarray. It doesn’t really matter; you can always start over, but with a rice cooker, you have nothing to worry about. You pour some water into the pot and every time you have perfectly cooked fluffy rice, even when you’re distracted. Cooking stops when it is time to stop cooking.
At least in my experience, the rice cooker is easier to clean too. Most have built-in lids, so all you have to do is clean the non-stick pot. You should wipe down the lid, but it’s relatively easy.
Time and taste – toss
Many people claim that the rice cooker actually improves the taste of the rice. I’m not sure if this is entirely true. I’ve always thought the rice cooker tasted better, too, but probably only because I’ve never tried the tiled method.
This time, I actually followed the recipe, not cooked it, and my rice was the perfect consistency, like rice from a rice cooker. It was fluffy, a little sticky, and quite damp. Maybe it’s just my unrefined taste, but both bowls tasted the same.
It took me 5-10 minutes to cook the boiled rice, and from start to finish the whole process took about 20 minutes. I spent the same amount of time waiting for rice using the hob.
So, while the rice cooker makes the task easier, time rushes forward. After all, you still have to wait for the rice to cook. And the difference in taste is also negligible. As long as you cook a decent pot of rice on the stove, you probably won’t notice that it tastes better or worse than the rice you cook in the rice cooker. At least I didn’t.
The Rice Cooker Does More Than Just Cooking Rice
If you didn’t grow up with a rice cooker in a family, it might seem odd to have a machine designed for one particular job. The last time I moved in, I actually gave up my cheap $ 15 rice cooker because I wanted to downsize. I thought, why keep one more thing when I can use what I already have, the pot, to get the job done? But when I gave up on it, I began to cook rice much less often. Even though there isn’t a lot of work on the stove, it was still more than a rice cooker, so I used my culinary efforts to do something else.
When I received the Fragrance as a wedding gift, I was glad that a rice cooker had reappeared in my life. It makes rice so easy to cook that you actually want to cook more of it. I went back to making brown rice and avocado for lunch, white rice and fish for dinner, rice for soups, and so on. It’s weird to have a machine that only does one specific job, but depending on what you eat, it’s a lot of work. Rice is a great all-round food, and a rice cooker is a versatile tool . You can use it for other purposes as well, such as steaming vegetables. Or bake a cake !
Of course, you can use a regular saucepan for a variety of other foods as well. The point is, if you have a rice cooker, you don’t have to use it to cook rice. This is by no means a setting unit.
Verdict: if you cook enough rice, just buy a stove
If you cook rice often enough, say once a week, $ 15–30 isn’t much to spend on a machine that can help you cook your staple food with little or no effort. Zojirushi owners swear by their stoves, but I have never used them. They have to do what traditional rice cookers do, only better, and with different types of rice and cereals. If I was eating anything more than regular jasmine rice, I would probably try, but for standard needs, even a $ 15 stove is worth it. Scent is a good and cheap compromise.
On the other hand, if you don’t cook rice often or you just don’t like too many foods, don’t use the stovetop. Who needs more junk lying around in the house? I really thought about giving up the toaster for the same reason – I rarely use it and it’s easy enough to toast bread on the stove top or in the oven. However, as someone who loves rice and eats it often, I put an end to the controversy, at least for myself: the rice cooker wins.