Electric rice cooker including scoop, before cooking

A rice cooker or rice steamer is a self-contained electrical appliance, used primarily for cooking rice. There are also microwave, gas, and open flame variants. Zojirushi Rice Cooker/Warmer, Model #NS-JSS10 Taken 1/8/2005 by Jeremy Kemp. ... Zojirushi Rice Cooker/Warmer, Model #NS-JSS10 Taken 1/8/2005 by Jeremy Kemp. ... A riced Dodge Neon, including clear taillights, an overly large spoiler, Fart cannon tailpipe, non-functional hood scoop, body kit, despite having no performance modifications to the engine. ... Blender Small appliance refers to a class of appliances that are semi-portable or which are used on tabletops, countertops, or other platforms. ... Cooking is the act of preparing food. ... For other uses, see Rice (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that this article be split into articles entitled Microwave oven and Microwave heating. ... For other uses, see Natural gas (disambiguation). ...

Description

The preparation of rice has traditionally been a cooking process which requires attention to ensure the rice is cooked properly. Rice cookers simplify the process by automatically controlling the heat and timing, while at the same time freeing up a heating element on the range. Although the rice cooker does not necessarily speed up the cooking process, the cook's involvement in cooking rice with a rice cooker is reduced to simply using the correct amount of water. Once the rice cooker is set to cook, the rice will be cooked with no further attention.

Typically, a rice cooker contains an insulated outer container containing a heating element, into which is fitted an inner removable bowl, which is sometimes non-stick or teflon-coated, which often has graduations marked in cups of rice (white). Whereas less expensive and older models use simple electronics and mechanical and thermal sensors, high-end rice cookers use microprocessors with fuzzy logic to control the cooking process [1] and often incorporate a timer which can be used to set the desired "ready time". Many rice cookers can keep rice warm safely for up to 24 hours. This helps to avoid the dangers of food poisoning due to Bacillus cereus. New rice cookers normally include a small measuring cup, and a plastic paddle for serving the cooked rice. The rice cup measure is normally 180 ml, approximately 25% smaller than the western measuring cup of 8 (US) fluid ounces / 250 ml. Teflon is the brand name of a polymer compound discovered by Roy J. Plunkett (1910-1994) of DuPont in 1938 and introduced as a commercial product in 1946. ... Teflon is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), a polymer of fluorinated ethylene. ... ... Microprocessors, including an Intel 80486DX2 and an Intel 80386 A microprocessor (abbreviated as µP or uP) is an electronic computer central processing unit (CPU) made from miniaturized transistors and other circuit elements on a single semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) (aka microchip or just chip). ... Fuzzy logic is derived from fuzzy set theory dealing with reasoning that is approximate rather than precisely deduced from classical predicate logic. ... A simple digital timer. ... Foodborne illness or food poisoning is caused by consuming food contaminated with pathogenic bacteria, toxins, viruses, prions or parasites. ... Binomial name Bacillus cereus Frankland & Frankland 1887 Bacillus cereus is an endemic, soil-dwelling, Gram-positive, rod shaped, beta hemolytic bacteria that causes foodborne illness. ... Shamoji and a table spoon for size comparisom A shamoji (しゃもじ) is a flat rice paddle used in the Japanese kitchen. ...

Restaurants that serve a lot of rice, particularly those specializing in Asian cuisine, often use industrial size rice cookers that quickly and cheaply produce large quantities of cooked rice. A rice cooker is a standard appliance in kitchens in many Asian countries and in many Asian households; indeed a recent survey showed that over 95% of Japanese kitchens feature such a device[2]. Asian cuisine is a term for the various cuisines of South, East and Southeast Asia and for fusion dishes based on combining them. ... A kitchen is a room used for food preparation and sometimes entertainment. ... For other uses, see Asia (disambiguation). ...

Basic principle of operation

The bowl in the rice cooker is usually removable, and beneath it lie a heater and a thermostat. These form the main components of the rice cooker. A spring pushes the thermostat against the bottom of the bowl, for good thermal contact to ensure accurate temperature measurement. During cooking the rice/water mixture is heated at full power. The temperature cannot go above the boiling point of water -- 100°C (212°F) -- as any heat put into the rice/water mixture at that point will only cause the water to boil. At the end of cooking some of the water will have been absorbed by the rice and the rest is boiled off. Once the heating continues past this point, the temperature exceeds the boiling point. The thermostat then trips, switching the rice cooker to low power "warming" mode, keeping the rice no cooler than approximately 65°C (150°F). Simple rice cookers, like the one below, may simply turn off at this point. Bi-metallic thermostat for buildings A thermostat is a device for regulating the temperature of a system so that the systems temperature is maintained near a desired setpoint temperature. ... For other uses, see Temperature (disambiguation). ... Boiling, a type of phase transition, is the rapid vaporization of a liquid, which typically occurs when a liquid is heated to its boiling point, the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid is equal to the pressure exerted on the liquid by the surrounding atmospheric pressure. ...

Cheap electric rice cooker after cooking

A rice cooker, in use. ... A rice cooker, in use. ...

Cooking rice with a rice cooker

The rice is measured and added to the inner bowl. Cold water is measured and added or the bowl is simply filled up to the appropriate graduated mark in the inner bowl.

Different kinds of rice require different amounts of water. Usually, there are graduated marks for the right amount of water only for white rice, but sometimes there are separate scales for brown rice (as more water is required) or for cooking other food in the appliance.

Rice cookers come from japn or china. Once the lid is closed and the cooking cycle has been activated, the rice cooker does the rest. Higher-end models give a countdown in minutes to the "ready time," or beep when done. Many people prefer to let the rice soak for a while before cooking the rice; additionally, some like to allow the rice to "rest" for a while after cooking before eating the rice. Higher-end models automatically time the soaking and resting periods.

Rice cooker techniques

Rice cookers are typically used for the preparation of plain or lightly seasoned rice, but more elaborate recipes are possible using a rice cooker, and there are cookbooks devoted entirely to dishes prepared using a rice cooker. One of the more unexpected dishes that can be made in a rice cooker is a beef stew. By simply adding ingredients and setting it to "warm", a rice cooker would cook that at about 65°C (150°F). In a few hours, the stew is fully cooked and ready to eat. For other uses, see Beef (disambiguation). ... Beef Stew A stew is a common dish made of vegetables (particularly potatoes or beans), meat, poultry, or seafood cooked in some sort of broth or sauce. ...

Some rice cookers are designed to accommodate a basket above the rice. This basket is generally used to steam vegetables, holding them in the steam coming off the rice. Most dumpling and buns can also be cooked this way.

Miscellaneous

Each rice cooker typically comes with the cup that should be used for measuring rice for that particular cooker. The graduations on the bowl for adding water rely on using that particular measuring cup. The rice cooker cups can vary in size, but are typically 180 ml, which is the size of a traditional Japanese cup (gō). Note that this cup is not the same size as the customary 8 fl oz cup (about 237 ml) which is used for cooking in the United States. The litre or liter (see spelling differences) is a unit of volume. ... The gō ) (sometimes also written go or gou) is a traditional Japanese unit of volume. ... A fluid ounce is a unit of volume in both the Imperial system of units and the U.S. customary units system. ... The cup is a unit of measurement for volume, used in cooking to measure bulk foods, such as chopped vegetables (dry measurement), and liquids (fluid measurement). ... The litre or liter (see spelling differences) is a unit of volume. ...

Production

There were about 85 million rice cookers made in 2005. 70% of the production were made in China. The rest of them were from Korea and Japan. Most of Chinese production were from Zhanjiang City and Lianjiang City in Guangdong Province. Location of Zhanjiang Zhanjiang (湛江) is a city in Guangdong province, in southeast China. ...

External links

Wikibooks Cookbook has an article on

Rice cooker

• Zojirushi Rice cooker instructions and recipes
• Rice cooker recipes at Recipezaar
• Yahoo Group for Rice cooker recipes
• Sally's Kitchen Recipes