The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker • Hacker News Board

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#101

Post by bch » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 5:44 PM UTC

jrimbault wrote: post #19

spaceflunky wrote: post #14

The science behind a rice cooker is fascinatingly clever, yet painfully simple. In short, boiling water temperature plateaus due to the latent heat of vaporization. When the water is gone the temperature of the pot starts to rise. The rice cooker uses this principle to control the switch. The switch is held by magnet. When the pot finishes boiling the heat rises and exceeds the curie point of the magnet, which means…

It's basically the same physics involved in this toaster https://youtu.be/1OfxlSG6q5Y same channel. Thing heats and deforms (change properties), when it reaches temperature n, thing deforms just a bit too much, cuts electrical contact.

These are both clever, but different physics. The toaster uses metallic elasticity (and a subsequent distortion) due to heat, and the rice cooker uses the heat-induced disappearance of magnetism to disengage a switch.

(I have one of those toasters, and they’re very pretty and charming to see work.)

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#102

Post by _5659 » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 5:47 PM UTC

skinkestek wrote: post #96

This is just a story I heard when I was a kid, but I think HN might either like it or have some more details about it : There's a marketing story about a western company that tried to introduce their product to the Japanese market with the slogan: "as easy as cooking rice" - which, according to the story managed to insult every Japanese woman as cooking rice was - according to the story - considered more or less an a…

I vaguely recall this story as well, all I've been able to find so far is an excerpt in International Business that doesn't go too far into detail.

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#103

Post by amphibian87 » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 6:11 PM UTC

smichel17 wrote: post #64

ThePhysicist wrote: post #10

For people that regularly eat rice, buying a decent rice cooker is really a no-brainer. Cooking rice in a pan is possible and you can obtain good results if you're careful and turn the heat down at the right moment before the rice starts to stick to the bottom of the pan and burn, it's easy to miss though. A rice cooker makes this process so much easier though: Put in the rice, the adequate amount of water, press a b…

If you have an electric kettle, you can sidestep this problem -- add boiling water and keep the stovetop flame on low the whole time. Then it's just a matter of turning off the heat at 15 minutes and uncovering at 20. I will admit, despite how trivial it may sound, that it is nice not having to worry about turning off the heat. It means you can walk away and get into some other task more deeply. However, I don't thin…

I am a pressure cooker proselytizer. Seriously, they can cook dehydrated beans in 35 minutes-no soaking required.

However, rice does poorly with my model. The grains are too small and can become lodged in the safety features.

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#104

Post by apalmblad » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 6:26 PM UTC

A good discussion of rice cookers, in my opinion, needs a link to Roger Ebert's (yes, of film fans) article on The Pot: https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/the-pot-and-how-to-us...

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#105

Post by hantusk » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 6:29 PM UTC

dogma1138 wrote: post #72

throw0101a wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When the water is gone the temperature of the pot starts to rise. Water-to-rice ratios are important. America's Test Kitchen has a good video on the topic, especially if you're using a pot and not a rice cooker: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOOSikanIlI * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJFU7ezipbg The rice actually only 'needs' a 1:1 ratio, but you need to put in extra to deal with evaporation; brown rice need…

Rinsing the rice and letting it sit for 30-60min absorbing some moisture then a 1:1.25 ratio is by far the best method I’ve used. I also let it steam in its own heat for the last 10min or so of cooking since the temp won’t rise it won’t overcook the rice but it will prevent any rice from being undercooked or from the rice at the bottom form burning. If I don’t have the tome to rinse I usually increase the ratio sligh…

Also, don't add salt until the process is finished, as that also makes it more starchy

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#106

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

gbear605 wrote: post #78

throw0101a wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When the water is gone the temperature of the pot starts to rise. Water-to-rice ratios are important. America's Test Kitchen has a good video on the topic, especially if you're using a pot and not a rice cooker: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOOSikanIlI * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJFU7ezipbg The rice actually only 'needs' a 1:1 ratio, but you need to put in extra to deal with evaporation; brown rice need…

The traditional method in a lot of Asia (per what I’ve read online) is to put a finger on top of the rice pointing down, so that your fingernail is touching the rice, and to fill water up to your knuckle.

[deleted]

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#107

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 6:58 PM UTC

blntechie wrote: post #83

Electric rice cookers are pretty uncommon in South Asian countries. Reasons could have been due to the electricity availability and affordability initially. But it has not caught on even now. I have seen electric rice cookers in minuscule number of households. Based on interactions, it’s more to do with people not liking the taste of the cooked rice. I always found this funny as older generation used to complain abou…

[deleted]

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#108

Post by pmoriarty » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 7:00 PM UTC

tradewarsonlyn wrote: post #52

Been cooking rice in a microwave for years now. Jasmine, Thai or Himalayan. Use any rice. Seems to cone out pretty well every single time.

What container, rice and water quantities, lids, and timings do you use?

Do you have any tips for microwaving rice?

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#109

Post by pmoriarty » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 7:05 PM UTC

colmvp wrote: post #30

FWIW, I'm Asian and I just use a pot on stove.

I cooked rice in a pot for decades, but eventually broke down and bought a rice cooker.

I love not having to pay any attention to it and focus on other things instead of having to time it or keep an eye on it. When I eventually get around to checking on the rice, it's perfectly done. It's almost as good as having a personal cook make the rice for me.

I'll never go back to a pot again, if I can help it.

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#110

Post by pmoriarty » Sat, Aug 01, 2020, 7:31 PM UTC

Just a warning about cheap rice cookers...

About six months ago I bought a tiny $20 model Dash[1].

I've often heard people say that cheap rice cookers are just as good as expensive ones, and since I'm poor, live alone, and this was my first rice cooker, I thought it would be enough.

It turns out this rice cooker had a number of problems.

First, the screw that held in the pot lid on this rice cooker wasn't made of stainless steel, so it quickly rusted.

I could have gone to the trouble of going to the hardware store and picking out a perfectly matching stainless steel screw (if they had one), but I never bothered, so to this day I still lift the pot lid with a paperclip that I insert in to the hole where the pot lid used to be each time I want to lift out the lid. It's a little annoying, but I can live with it. I'm sure for some people not dealing with this annoyance would be worth paying more for a decently made rice cooker.

The second issue is that this ultra cheap rice cooker only makes enough rice for me to eat at a single sitting. As a single person that only very rarely has people over, this is enough.. or so I thought until I found that I'd rather cook extra rice ahead of time that I could eat throughout the week (or at least one day in advance), so I don't have to even bother with the rice cooker ever day. As simple as the rice cooker is, it's still a bit of a hassle to rinse the rice out, and fill the cooker with rice and water. I'd rather just microwave leftover rice, which is a bit simpler.

Third, the markings for the water level and the instructions for this model are just plain wrong and take experimenting to get the optimal levels. After some months of experimentation, I managed to perfect my technique, but it would have still been a lot less hassle to just have the thing make perfect rice from the beginning rather than having to fiddle with it so much.

So, because of these issues, in retrospect I wish I'd gone for a larger, inevitably more expensive rice cooker... and hopefully it would have been less annoying and fiddly from the start.

[1] - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CHZP91L/