Best rice cookers

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Keith Sinclair

Keith Sinclair

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Anyone have experience with fuzzy logic rice cookers from Japan? I like the convenience of a rice cooker. Buy the cheap glass top my Panasonic lasted quite a while. Some of the cheap ones better off cooking in a pot on the stove.

I saw this show on PBS about a year ago of wealthy Chinese traveling to Japan to buy top of the line Rice Cookers because they are better than the Chinese models.
 
I have always been curious as to why people use rice cookers. I have been cooking rice for around 40 years and have never owned one. I looked into getting one once, but it seemed like you needed to make way more than I needed for two people so I passed on it. Maybe I'm missing out on something that I'm not aware of because with so many people using them there's has to be an advantage over the stove top method. My rice always comes out great so I'll never change, but I'm always open for a little education.
 
At work had to cook Saffron Rice always in a pot gas burner. Our sushi rice had to rinse completely then in a very large rice cooker. We had two of them. People buy them for convenience, put the water & rice in & forget it. Here in Hawaii everybody I know almost all use rice cookers. Few people I know still cook in pots.
 
fuzzy logic is just the starting point now days... Some of the modern rice cookers are so much faster and easier than other methods, and often, the results are better and more consistent. For a long time, i refused to use one, and cooked rice in a pot or donabe. Now, we have a fuzzy logic IH rice cooker at home, and its awesome. I've also used the higher end pressure ones, but i didnt find it necessary. We have rice at home every day, so it gets a lot of use. Either Tiger or Zojirushi are the way to go.

This is similar to the one we use at home:
https://www.zojirushi.com/app/product/nphcc

and this was just a bit of overkill for me:
https://www.zojirushi.com/app/product/npnvc

some of the fancier ones in japan even can do okoge
 
+1 on the Zojirushi, it's worth the extra cash for the induction/pressure model
 
K, Rice cookers generally come in at 3 price points.

Between 50 - 100 bucks are the cheap, add rice, add water, scorch rice models. The most common home models but people that can use three fingers are probably better off with a pot.

Between 2 and 300 are the fuzzy logic models. I'm not sure what "fuzzy" means but it's become an industry term. Several manufacturers are represented here, Zo and all the others. I've two fuzzy machines, a 3 cup and a 10 cup.

North of 400 are the induction (probably another misnomer) models. Those that have them, love them. I use a 12 cup Zo in cooking demos and can't see a tangible difference between the induction and the "fuzzy" machines.
 
the induction seems to do a better job at cooking faster and handling more difficult to cook rice varities (we have anywhere between 3 and 6 types of rice at home on any give day- tsuyahime, akitakomachi, uonuma, koshihikari, hitomebore, haigamai, etc.)
 
We have a Tiger which only my wife can understand and like Jon mentioned can cook a variety of rices perfectly every time. Best feature is the ability to program it so rice is done when we get home after work.
 
JBroida said:
the induction seems to do a better job at cooking faster and handling more difficult to cook rice varities (we have anywhere between 3 and 6 types of rice at home on any give day- tsuyahime, akitakomachi, uonuma, koshihikari, hitomebore, haigamai, etc.)
Click to expand...

:D Now that is rice variety. I eat rice every day. Cuz Janice was in health care(nurse) we started eating brown rice, now I actually prefer it. If I cook for more than for ourselves like to make a more fancy with Spanish saffron with a white basmati.

I am very particular about the bowl my Panasonic is non stick wash it only with a sponge no scrub pad. After 4 yrs. it still looks like new. The heating element seems to be toasting the bottom layer more now than when it was new.

I checked out the Zojirushi on Amazom prime the IH NP VD10-TA 5.5 is 205.02 that's the one I am looking at.
 
We have this one at home and use it few times a week over the past several years. We are very happy with it, but it does take a while. It requires a bit of planning ahead.
 
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Been looking at Cuckoo IH pressure one recently, although I am quite happy with my current stainless steel pot Buffalo. Sampled cooked rice at the shop selling Cuckoo and I am quite impressed with how the same rice turned out (They used the same brand of Thai Jasmine rice that I usually use at home).
 
ecchef said:
We have a Tiger which only my wife can understand and like Jon mentioned can cook a variety of rices perfectly every time. Best feature is the ability to program it so rice is done when we get home after work.
Click to expand...

yeah... the program ahead feature is awesome... we use that every day too... set at night for the next morning and after breakfast for dinner
 
i had a Zojurusi. loved it. the rice bowl wore out and they NEVER sell replacements.

i now use a Panasonic, and it works fine. i have a lot of mileage on it. it's kicking butt. my parents had some simple one. lightweight lid..one button. it worked damn well to. i think they all work great, you just pay for features. if all you are doing is cooking some long grain or calrose, any rice cooker will do fine. ask any college student. we all had cheap ones. i'm chinese and my roomates were one Hawaiian and one Korean. we used that thing ALL the time. it never broke. one of our moms gave it to us.
 
99Limited said:
I have always been curious as to why people use rice cookers. I have been cooking rice for around 40 years and have never owned one. I looked into getting one once, but it seemed like you needed to make way more than I needed for two people so I passed on it. Maybe I'm missing out on something that I'm not aware of because with so many people using them there's has to be an advantage over the stove top method. My rice always comes out great so I'll never change, but I'm always open for a little education.
Click to expand...

for me,it is the auto shut off. :)
 
Lol, if i talk to my Japanese friends, they all recommend Zojirushi, if i talk to my Korean friends, they all swear by a Cuckoo. I own both and currently use a high pressure Cuckoo more, i simply like the 'final product' better with a Cuckoo compared to a Zojirushi. Just my totally biased opinion.
 
Thanks guys learning about higher end rice cookers. Seems you have to pay more for the similar models if you want English instead of Japanese or Korean script instruction & voice.
 
Zweber12 said:
Lol, if i talk to my Japanese friends, they all recommend Zojirushi, if i talk to my Korean friends, they all swear by a Cuckoo. I own both and currently use a high pressure Cuckoo more, i simply like the 'final product' better with a Cuckoo compared to a Zojirushi. Just my totally biased opinion.
Click to expand...

i didnt even know about Cuckoo... i checked them out and there are some pretty cool ones up there

@keithsaltydog yeah... thats why ours at home is only in japanese ;)
 
Zweber12 said:
Lol, if i talk to my Japanese friends, they all recommend Zojirushi, if i talk to my Korean friends, they all swear by a Cuckoo. I own both and currently use a high pressure Cuckoo more, i simply like the 'final product' better with a Cuckoo compared to a Zojirushi. Just my totally biased opinion.
Click to expand...

We've had an IH, pressure cooking Cuckoo for about 10 years. Best rice cooker ever. Sales person told us that the Cuckoo operates at higher pressure than the equivalent Zojirushi, so it cooks rice faster. Some of the current models will talk to you in Korean, Chinese, Japanese or English.

My wife is Korean, so I had no choice when it came to rice cookers.
 
Yeh I checked out the Cuckoo with multi language function it was north of 500 bucks. It's all good long live rice:hungry:
 
500 sounds cheap. It is about 620 here for 10 cup top of the line model here.


But we are talking different unit, :pirate1:
 
The Zojirushi song makes it totally worth the price
 
All day, I start salivating whenever I hear the bell
 
panda said:
+1 cuckoo
Click to expand...

I had to learn Korean just to know how to operate my rice cooker. Do love the fact it tells me each time it is ready to start cooking, that it is half way, almost ready and done. The catchy cuckoo song is truly brings out a Pavlov reaction.
 
The <$50 models can be made to work alright, but really need you to be precise with the water measuring, and will not work well with non-white rice types. They are tremendously useful in places where nobody will mind kettle-like appliances but everybody will mind hobs (dorms, hotel rooms, small office kitchens...)
 
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