Text 11373, 120 rader
Skriven 2007-02-05 10:47:37 av mark lewis (1:3634/12.0)
     Kommentar till en text av Glen Jamieson
Ärende: RICE COOKERS AND 70128
==============================
 ML> with all the talk of using rice cookers, i decided to give our
 ML> another try, the other day... i'd used it a time or two before with
 ML> mediocer results... the rice was ok but there'd be a brown crunchy
 ML> layer... 

 GJ> If the rice cooker is working properly it is impossible to burn
 GJ> rice in the bottom of the pan.  

maybe it is a/the pasty starchy stuff? 

 GJ> Important things to watch are that there is nothing, not even one 
 GJ> single grain of rice stuck onto the underside of the pan or on top 
 GJ> of the heating element, as it relies on close metal to metal 
 GJ> contact to transfer heat to the rice, and temperature feedback to 
 GJ> the thermostat which should be spring-loaded to press against the 
 GJ> pan.  The thermostat operates to cut off power to the main heating 
 GJ> element well before the bottom of the pan gets hot enough to burn 
 GJ> the rice.  

well, yes and no... when you plug this one in, it is on what they call
"warm"... the only way to go lower is to unplug it... you put in your rice and
water and push the button down which turns it on "high"...

 GJ> You should have received a measuring cup with the rice cooker 
 GJ> (usually about 180ml, say, 6 1/2 fl oz), and then the water level 
 GJ> to use is inscribed on the inside of the pan, to correspond with 
 GJ> the number of cups of rice used. 

yes and yes... the problem is that my father and i, on the stove top, use 1/2
cup of rice to 1 cup of water, bring to boil and then lowest possible setting
for 20 minutes... that generally gives us just enough rice with a little bit
left over...

 GJ> If you only want to cook a half cup of rice the cooker probably 
 GJ> would not work properly.  

"half a cup"... which cup? the one that came with the cooker or a real 1/2 cup
measure?

 GJ> My 10 cup cooker will not work properly with less than 2 cups of 
 GJ> raw rice.

ahh! i bet that's it... dad brought this one home about a year ago... said it
was the only one he had seen since i had mentioned something about one a few
weeks before... it does 20 (!) cups...

 ML> as far as the rice used, it has been either food lion branded or
 ML> mahatmah... both just plain old 'merican white rice... no, we don't
 ML> rinse it normally... standard method is as follows...

 GJ> Probably long grain rice, which doesn't need rinsing, as you don't
 GJ> get much out of it, anyway.

yep... it does make for some very milky water, though...

 ML> take a sauce pan
 ML> 1 cup of water
 ML> 1/2 cup of plain old rice
 ML> a bit of salt

 ML> depending on the mood, put all in the sauce pan and bring to a
 ML> boil. reduce to lowest setting and let sit for 20 minutes or so.
 ML> alternative method, based on mood, add rice after water starts
 ML> boiling. same cooking time...

 GJ> Probably a bit quicker starting from cold.  The standard saucepan
 GJ> method used in Asian countries is the length of one finger joint of
 GJ> water above the rice, irrespective of how many cups are cooked. 

hummm... kinda like how measures first got started... i know my fingers aren't
as long as some and are shorter than others ;)

 ML> we keep our rice in the freezer... sometimes i'll take it and measure
 ML> our the desired amount and let it sit out for a bit to come to room
 ML> temperature... 

 GJ> No need.  Just put it in the water.  If you like you can let it
 GJ> soak for a while before cooking, as that slightly reduces the
 GJ> cooking time. 

what about the finished consistency?

 ML> these packages of rice don't have a method listed on them for using a
 ML> rice cooker... i can only guess...

 GJ> And you have probably long lost the book which came with the rice
 GJ> cooker.  (G)

actually, naw... have had this cooker for less than a year... we've tried their
measures with our size and that was when we got the crunchy stuff in the bottom
of the pan...

 ML> we've basically just been using the cooker as a steamer... it came
 ML> with a steamer basket and we've a couple of bamboo steamer baskets so
 ML> i'll stack them with stuff and let them roll...

 GJ> I would have thought that the cooker would stay in the "high heat"
 GJ> mode, boiling the water fiercely continuously if water only was put
 GJ> in the pan.  Is that how you use it as a steamer, or do you
 GJ> manually switch it from high heat to low heat after it comes to the
 GJ> boil? 

it boils like a wet hen until we decide the stuff being steamed is done and we
turn it off... that's how it says to do it, too...

 ML> until i/we can get a good handle on using it, it'll likely go back to
 ML> being used as a steamer with rice being done on the gas stove...

 GJ> Recently I have been experimenting with chicken parts and spices
 GJ> added to the rice in the rice cooker and all cooked together to
 GJ> give a flavoursome "one dish" meal for two.

i tried something like that one time but it didn't work as desired... the
mixture kept getting too thick and the cooker would cut off with the mixture no
where near done... not doing that any more unless done on the top in the
steamer some how...

)\/(ark

 * Origin:  (1:3634/12)