October 11, 2026

Rice and Rice cookers

As you no doubt know, there are two food groups.

Rice and everything else. No, I am not asian. However I am happy to have rice as part of every meal and/or several times a day.

Rice cookers

My hat is off to Ed Moriuchi. He was my roommate many years ago and gave me my first rice cooker as a gift. Thank you Ed!!

I still have an use this unit and have repaired it many times.

If you don't make rice in a rice cooker, you are still living in the stone age. With a cooker, you just measure in the proper amount of rice, rinse it (more or less optional), then add the proper amount of water and push a button. Nothing else to do. No stirring. No burned rice. Perfect for the busy hungry person.

Zojirushi

My son bought one of these. The "Neuro Fuzzy" model and recently gifted it to me (he lives in Europe and the unit he gave runs only on 110V). This thing costs almost $300! You wonder why until you make rice in it. It takes longer, but is absolutely worth it.

If you make brown rice, it really takes longer (almost 2 hours). Plan ahead!

The machine keeps rice warm, it would seem almost indefinitely, certainly several hours, which is all I ever ask of it. So getting a batch started ahead of time can work out nicely with the machine keeping it warm.

Why is the rice so good, and why does it take so long? Well, the simple (and cheap) machines just turn the heat on, bring the rice and water to a boil, and then turn off when all the water boils away and the temperature rises. The Zojirushi has a "schedule" with various phases and purposes. In particular, there is an initial "warm presoak" phase that is particularly extended for brown rice.

The "algorithm" has 7 phases, somewhat like so:

Cosori

I don't have one of these, but I was attracted to it before I became the recipient of a Zojirushi. The price is nicer ($90) and it has a ceramic coated cook pot. A negative with the Zojirushi is the PTFE lined cook pot. I have pet birds (parrots) and everyone with pet birds knows that the first time you boil a pot dry and overheat it, all your birds are dead. This isn't likely to happen with a Zojirushi, but any PTFE in your home is an accident waiting to happen. If it kills your birds, it can't be good for you, but we drift into another topic.
Feedback? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's Culinary Resources / tom@mmto.org