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The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

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Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#131

Post by ubercow13 »

tmd83 wrote: post #123
_5659 wrote: post #100

I grew up cooking rice on the stove. My mother preferred it this way because she liked crisping the bottom. It's definitely an art. Even picking what kind of rice you want is an art. Even slight variations in your technique can yield wildly different results. How much you rinse the rice changes the gluten content and stickiness, how long you let it soak changes the texture and size. Things like water quality, pot mat…

72 hours? Doesn't it get dry. My brother bought a cheap Cuckoo one (isn't available in country) that can keep it for 12 hours I guess but it starts to dry up after a few. Not sure if it will be germ free for longer but not really edible. Is that a capability of high end cooker or there's some more secret to it?

They have a rubber seal that is supposed to keep all the moisture in. I still find it dries out or goes yellow after a while though.

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#132

Post by _5659 »

krackers wrote: post #117
_5659 wrote: post #100

I grew up cooking rice on the stove. My mother preferred it this way because she liked crisping the bottom. It's definitely an art. Even picking what kind of rice you want is an art. Even slight variations in your technique can yield wildly different results. How much you rinse the rice changes the gluten content and stickiness, how long you let it soak changes the texture and size. Things like water quality, pot mat…

> the "flower name" for America is 米国. Means rice country I think in this case 米 was used for ateji (as it also has a reading of "me") and not for the semantic meaning.

For the ateji case yes, but this is usually pronounced beikoku.

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#133

Post by _5659 »

ubercow13 wrote: post #131
tmd83 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

72 hours? Doesn't it get dry. My brother bought a cheap Cuckoo one (isn't available in country) that can keep it for 12 hours I guess but it starts to dry up after a few. Not sure if it will be germ free for longer but not really edible. Is that a capability of high end cooker or there's some more secret to it?

They have a rubber seal that is supposed to keep all the moisture in. I still find it dries out or goes yellow after a while though.

Yeah I've used cheaper rice cookers and the main complaint is they don't insulate or seal properly. Mine was like $50 and made okay rice but it dries out almost immediately.

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#134

Post by ValentineC »

tzs wrote: post #85
yissp wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't this result in different amounts of water depending on the dimensions of the pot?

Evaporation rate should be proportional to surface area, so the volume of extra water you need to add to make up for that should also be proportional to the surface area too. Adding extra water to a fixed depth accomplishes that. This is assuming a pot with straight sides, at least above the lowest water level during cooking.

Thanks for the explanation. As an Asian, I've never quite figured out how it seems to work out until now, and was confused when the BBC suggested a 1:2 ratio of rice and water [1].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUgOz5emQ94

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#135

Post by atombender »

chris_st wrote: post #13

Note to those who already have an Instant Pot: they make fantastic rice.

I tried cooking Indian basmati rice in mine. I followed a recipe exactly, and it came out mushy. Basmati is supposed to be fluffy, dry, and not sticky, with grains that tumble around if you fluff it with a fork.

I decided one day to experiment until I got the water-to-rice-to-time ratio correct, and I just couldn't find the right combination. It always came out overcooked. I'd love to hear what the secret is.

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#136

Post by cma »

firethief wrote: post #118
tzs wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evaporation rate should be proportional to surface area, so the volume of extra water you need to add to make up for that should also be proportional to the surface area too. Adding extra water to a fixed depth accomplishes that. This is assuming a pot with straight sides, at least above the lowest water level during cooking.

> Evaporation rate should be proportional to surface area, so the volume of extra water you need to add to make up for that should also be proportional to the surface area too. This would be accurate at room temperature, but under stovetop conditions wouldn't evaporation rate be determined mostly by the amount of heat energy added to the water?

And altitude.

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#137

Post by jhallenworld »

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…

>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.

This is true for a lot of appliances: water boiler, coffee percolator, drip coffee maker, etc. They have to be reliable enough that you can have a 1000W+ heater right next ABS plastic and not have problems with millions of units.

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#138

Post by [deleted] »

tzs wrote: post #85
yissp wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't this result in different amounts of water depending on the dimensions of the pot?

Evaporation rate should be proportional to surface area, so the volume of extra water you need to add to make up for that should also be proportional to the surface area too. Adding extra water to a fixed depth accomplishes that. This is assuming a pot with straight sides, at least above the lowest water level during cooking.

[deleted]

Re: The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker

#140

Post by kijin »

ubercow13 wrote: post #128
kijin wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Japanese Kamado referred to in the article is related to Korean Gamasot [1][2], with one crucial difference. The Korean version has a heavy, close-fitting, holeless iron lid that helps maintain a higher-than-atmospheric pressure inside the cooking vessel. Higher pressure = higher boiling point = higher cooking temperature = different taste. Korean rice cookers modeled after the Gamasot are basically autoclaves. T…

How would you describe the difference in taste?

It's subjective, but I'd say that rice cooked under pressure is more chewy and has a stronger flavor of its own. The higher temperature produces a more pronounced Maillard reaction, which not only increases flavor but also turns the rice slightly yellow as if it had been toasted. This is exactly what you want in a strongly flavored Korean dish like stone-bowl bibimbap.

Rice cooked without pressure comes out light and fluffy. This is more appropriate for sushi where you don't want the flavor of rice to overwhelm or collide with the subtle flavor of the other ingredients.

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