I was going to write a column about rice cookers. Then my editor emailed and asked if I’d read this column in the Washington Post:
Grr, Washington Post! This is just the column I wanted to write, so I’m not going to bother. Enjoy.
Roots and Grubs
The home of Matthew Amster-Burton
So do you guys have a rice cooker? I got one not long ago, and I love it. I’m eating rice a lot more often. I could never make good rice with any stovetop method I tried.
If you have a rice cooker, have you ever made something in it other than rice? Also, do you know anything about using a rice cooker to make Thai glutinous/sticky rice? I’ve done a quick Google search, but couldn’t find a definitive answer on what the rice and water ratio should be. (I know it’s best to use a bamboo steamer, but I don’t own one.) Thanks, Matthew.
We have an old Rival rice cooker, not that different from the antique they tested in the article.
Lauren, I’ve never made anything other than rice in it. I can’t say I’m 100 percent sure of this, but I’m 99 percent sure you can’t make Thai sticky rice in a rice cooker. Any kind of steamer works fine, though; I make it in a stockpot with a steamer insert.
Yes, I have a rice cooker – my second one as I had to ditch one that never worked well.
But as the Post indicated, even the better cookers don’t do all that great a job unless you like rice that clumps together in Chinese-restaurant style.
Do you have a favorite model, Matthew?
We use our rice cooker quite often. So often it stay right on the counter. We cook a lot of brown rice, and it does a decent job. I’ve also cooked barley, quinoa and wheatberries in it as well.
Sweet glutinous rice with coconut milk still gets done the old fashioned way…
I have mine going right now for lunch.
the people of america are wondering: WHAT is iris dressing up as for halloween, IS it food or K.Rool related, and WHAT does the amster-burton household hand out to trick or treaters?
Good question. The answers are:
Iris was a goblin. She found this fright mask at Daiso for $1.50 and paired it with a black dress. I wonder how long we’re going to get away with this easy costume thing? K. Rool would be great but complicated.
We don’t get trick-or-treaters because we live in an apartment and there are no other kids in the building. The first year we lived here, we got some candy just in case. Which I ate.