Rice Cooker for One; fuzzy logic

"Gary" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Perhaps a person who has owned both the inexpensive simple on/warm
electric rice cooker AND a fuzzy logic unit can help.

I am single and only make 1 rice cup at a time. I've used the simple
units for years. [National, Aroma, Betty Crocker]

- Is the fuzzy logic rice cooker worth it for me? [Such as a
Zojirushi]
- Does the rice come out better in such a small amount?
- How does it handle brown rice?
- There are 5.5 cup fuzzy logic cookers at ~ $100 and some half that
price. Is there a considerable difference in the units or are the
less expensive ones adequate for a single person?
- Would a 1-3 cup fuzzy logic cooker be more appropriate for me than a
5.5 cup? [I probably should skip a 10 cup model]
- Is there a difference between fuzzy logic neuro fuzzy logic and
micom fuzzy logic?
- Would less expensive fuzzy logic rice cookers such as Elite Pro,
Tiger, or Sanyo be satisfactory?

Who has some real experience that can provide some advice.

Gary

I've both had and used many different rice cookers in my time. What I've
found when you use the fancy-schmantzy rice cooker, you *can* keep rice warm
and "fresh" for about a day and a half. After that, the rice dries out, it
burns at the bottom of the cooker, it starts to turn pinkish in color and
develops a rather stinky odor. The container is a PITB to clean, because
the rice does stick, but the benefit with this kind of cooker is that you
can cook larger quantities of rice at one time. (We had one in a small
restaurant I worked at so that we didn't have to make rice daily.) Also,
some cookers have a timer, so you can set it and wake up to freshly made
rice (that may only apply to Hawaiians and Asians, though. <g>😉.

OTOH, the cheap $40 cookers are smaller so if you eat rice often, you will
be cooking more frequently. Most don't have a warming feature, requiring
you to plan in advance about when to start the rice for your meal. The plus
side, is you dump the rice out, soak the container and basically wipe it
clean. There may be a little bit of sticking on the bottom, but not nearly
as bad as the warming, high-fallutin' models.

Then again, here's my method. Dump about a cup of rice in a pot. Cover the
rice with water up to the knuckle of my thumb, cover the pot with a tight
fitting lid, let the rice boil, as soon as it boils, lower the heat and
simmer for 20 minutes, take off heat to rest for 10 minutes, uncover and
serve.

Hope this helps.

kili

Gary said:

I am single and only make 1 rice cup at a time. I've used the simple
units for years. [National, Aroma, Betty Crocker]

I never make more than 1 cup of rice at a time and always have lots
leftover.
I use the pasta-boil method: 10 minutes full boil; drain and rinse
with boiling
water. If it's a furrin rice I rinse and sometimes let soak.

I've bought 1 and 5 pound bags of Royal and Tilda basmati rice, but
found a
small bag of Tilda basmati mixed with wild rice at Fresh Market. Not
an
economical purchase, but the stuff was just short of miraculous. Takes
a
little longer on boil because of the wild rice, 20 minutes, but every
grain had
integrity, was dry and nutty, almost standing and marching onto the
plates.
Would have made great fried rice without chilling.

Gary said:

I am single and only make 1 rice cup at a time. I've used the simple
units for years. [National, Aroma, Betty Crocker]

I never make more than 1 cup of rice at a time and always have lots
leftover.
I use the pasta-boil method: 10 minutes full boil; drain and rinse
with boiling
water. If it's a furrin rice I rinse and sometimes let soak.

I've bought 1 and 5 pound bags of Royal and Tilda basmati rice, but
found a
small bag of Tilda basmati mixed with wild rice at Fresh Market. Not
an
economical purchase, but the stuff was just short of miraculous. Takes
a
little longer on boil because of the wild rice, 20 minutes, but every
grain had
integrity, was dry and nutty, almost standing and marching onto the
plates.
Would have made great fried rice without chilling.

Gary <[email hidden]> wrote in news:1179829742.213564.59580
@x18g2000prd.googlegroups.com:

Quoted message said:

Perhaps a person who has owned both the inexpensive simple on/warm
electric rice cooker AND a fuzzy logic unit can help.

I am single and only make 1 rice cup at a time. I've used the simple
units for years. [National, Aroma, Betty Crocker]

- Is the fuzzy logic rice cooker worth it for me? [Such as a
Zojirushi]
- Does the rice come out better in such a small amount?
- How does it handle brown rice?
- There are 5.5 cup fuzzy logic cookers at ~ $100 and some half that
price. Is there a considerable difference in the units or are the
less expensive ones adequate for a single person?
- Would a 1-3 cup fuzzy logic cooker be more appropriate for me than a
5.5 cup? [I probably should skip a 10 cup model]
- Is there a difference between fuzzy logic neuro fuzzy logic and
micom fuzzy logic?
- Would less expensive fuzzy logic rice cookers such as Elite Pro,
Tiger, or Sanyo be satisfactory?

Who has some real experience that can provide some advice.

Gary

I have a cheapie, very little or no-logic rice cooker...A Black & Decker
unit. Cost maybe 20-40 bucks, I don't remember. It will keep rice in warm
cycle for up to a 2 hour limit. It works well when making 1 cup of raw
rice into 3 cups cooked. The unit also has a non stick liner and maxes
out at 5 cup max raw rice useage. Meets all my needs as a single person,
who on ocassion has dinner guests. But it does create a brown skin on
the rice that touches the non stick surface, which isn't that much of a
hardship. Rice was always cooked to my liking, which is all I required.

I use to use it a great deal to make 1 pot rice meals...such as 1 cup
rice, 1 can cream of chicken and water to make up the 2 cups liquid,
large cubes of raw chicken meat, mushrooms, diced carrot, various
seasonings; stir and turn on the unit; then stir in a handful of frozen
peas and a handful of frozen corn just before serving type meals.

Made for a fast (around 17 minutes) 1 pot lazy man's meal with minimal
effort and easy clean up. The non stick liner worked well if not totally
effective. But I never left the rice cooker on more than about a 10
minutes to a max of maybe 1 hour after use. It was used for cooking 1
meal at a time and never for warm rice for a day or 2's meals.

--

The house of the burning beet-Alan

It'll be a sunny day in August, when the Moon will shine that night-
Elbonian Folklore

"Gary" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Perhaps a person who has owned both the inexpensive simple on/warm
electric rice cooker AND a fuzzy logic unit can help.

I am single and only make 1 rice cup at a time. I've used the simple
units for years. [National, Aroma, Betty Crocker]

- Is the fuzzy logic rice cooker worth it for me? [Such as a
Zojirushi]
- Does the rice come out better in such a small amount?
- How does it handle brown rice?
- There are 5.5 cup fuzzy logic cookers at ~ $100 and some half that
price. Is there a considerable difference in the units or are the
less expensive ones adequate for a single person?
- Would a 1-3 cup fuzzy logic cooker be more appropriate for me than a
5.5 cup? [I probably should skip a 10 cup model]
- Is there a difference between fuzzy logic neuro fuzzy logic and
micom fuzzy logic?
- Would less expensive fuzzy logic rice cookers such as Elite Pro,
Tiger, or Sanyo be satisfactory?

Who has some real experience that can provide some advice.

Gary

The Zojirushi web site may answer many of your questions.

http://www.zojirushi.com/ourproducts/how_and_chart/howtochose_rice.html

Their FAQ states in part:

Since Zojirushi has been making rice cookers for over 30 years, we offer
different types of rice cookers to suit everyone's needs. The basic models
of electric rice cookers are the NHS and NS-PC-series rice cookers. These
cook the rice and keep it warm. The larger size NHS models also come with
steaming trays to steam vegetables, fish and other foods. The next family of
rice cookers is the computerized rice cookers. They are the Micom (which
stands for Micro Computerized), Micom Fuzzy, and Neuro Fuzzy® rice cookers.
These rice cookers include micro computer chip technology and are programmed
to adjust the heat and cooking time to the type and style of rice being
cooked. The newest and most advanced Zojirushi rice cooker is the IH
(Induction Heating) rice cooker, which utilizes advanced induction heating
technology to heat up the whole inner cooking pan. It also has a special
function for cooking GABA brown rice.

Mitch