isong's Full Review: Zojirushi NS-RNC-18 10-Cup Rice Cooker
"What the heck are you doing writing a review about a rice cooker?!"
Having been through several rice cookers, myself, I thought I'd help you spare the expense by purchasing the right one the first time...
GOOD RICE, BAD RICE...
Have you ever had bad rice? Ooooh, believe me, I've had my share.
With rice being an important part of my family's diet, we need to rely on a rice cooker that's capable of cooking rice consistently every time. The worst cooked rice is either too dry & overcooked or too watery & undercooked. I purchased a Rival rice cooker for a reasonable price ($40)my third year of college. I was hoping to use it quite frequently, as I had many friends visit me to freeload off my stash of food the previous year. As all of you rice-cooking professionals know, the key to cooking rice depends on the exact amount of water you put in- too much water will make the rice into porridge and too little will make it dry and crunchy. Not good. I noticed that with the Rival rice cooker, you had to be very precise in how much water you put in. Although the pot is marked on the inside with cup measurements, I found it to be quite inaccurate. Every time I cooked rice with the Rival, I was treated to a surprise... either a dry pot of crunchy rice or a soupy glob of porridge. I noticed that this rice cooker chased away all of my friends. My apartment became pretty quiet... until I purchased a Zojirushi rice cooker!
DEFINITELY WORTH THE $$$
I paid about $100 for this useful appliance. "I should have bought this thing the first time..." -I though to myself. It's hard to find a place that sells Zojirushi rice cookers, though. I had my mom order me the 10-cup Zojirushi for me at the nearest Asian market. I hear that you can get them cheaper in Los Angeles. In any case, I use my Zojirushi more than my Braun coffee maker, my Toastmaster toaster, my KitchenAid mixer, my Snackmaster... you get the point. ...so it was a very wise purchase in my opinion.
WELL MADE & SIMPLE TO USE
Zojirushi rice cookers are designed and made to the exact specifications. Also, they are built to last. My parents own the same Zojirushi rice cooker they bought over ten years ago and it's still going strong. All Zojirushi rice cookers are designed to let out just enough steam and retain just the right amount of moisture for perfectly cooked rice. To cook the rice, all you need to do is prepare the rice (wash and rinse) in the pot, pour the exact amount of water in (using the marked lines inside the pot), close the lid shut and press the 'cook' button. An orange light will indicate that it's cooking and a green light will indicate that it's done or warming. The 'warm' setting is automatic and will preserve the rice until the next serving. Keep in mind that keeping the rice in the cooker for a long period of time will discolor the rice and will eventually turn bad. The lid flips open by the use of the handle which is located on the top. With a simple press of a button, it opens, allowing easy access to the cooking pot. The pot is also lined with a non-stick coating so that rice won't stick to it, thus, it's very easy to clean. The steam droplets roll off the lid when opened and drained into a handy container that's located near the hinge. This container can be emptied at any time. On the side of the rice cooker, there's a holster for a rice scooper (which is included). Best of all, the longer-than-normal electric cord automatically retracts into its internal housing with a tug of the cord.
THE INFAMOUS FLORAL PRINTS
Seems like all Zojirushi rice cookers (except for the models incorporating Fuzzy-Logic) sport the various pastel floral prints on the outer casing. I guess as long as the rice cooker does its job (and it does it very well), it really doesn't matter what design is printed on the outside.
COULD THERE BE ANYTHING BETTER THAN A ZOJIRUSHI?
Of course. Two Zojirushis can be better than one, I'd say. My wife and I received one for a wedding present and we were so happy. Imagine that... jumping up and down because we received a rice cooker as a wedding gift. Oh boy, time for therapy. In any case, we now have two Zojirushi rice cookers (both 10-cup sizes). It comes in very handy when we have guests or relatives come over. Since Korean cuisine requires the main portion of the meal to be rice, you wonder why I'm so possessed with rice cookers. So, we use the newer one (which is almost 3 years old) on a day-to-day basis and we bring out my old one (about 6 years old) when we have additional guests over for meals. Both of them still look brand new. Maybe because I took good care of them. But I think they're made well to begin with.
DO I RECOMMEND PURCHASING THIS RICE COOKER?
If you're as passionate about rice as I am, then, yes. May I remind you, if you're not able to distinguish between Uncle Ben's and high-grade medium grain rice, then you may not really want to dish out $100+ on a rice cooker. But, if your main diet consists of various types of rice, I would highly recommend the Zojirushi rice cooker. Don't be surprised if you end up never having to buy another rice cooker again for many, many years.
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