Best Kitchen Appliances

By Ilse Hagen Rice cookers are best for preparing steamed rice and keeping them warm even after cooking. They have an insulated case with a removable cooking pot and a heating element that controlled by a thermostat is located between the two containers. The cooking pot is calibrated to ensure proper proportions of water and rice. How rice is cooked Water and rice are poured in at the start of the cooking, and the water is heated to boiling point so the rice can absorb it to expand. After the preset time, the remaining water is boiled away and the machine switches to "keep warm" mode or shuts down. Here are some models and the ways on how they cook your rice: Basic cookers Also called as on/off rice cookers, they automatically shut off after the rice cooks but they have no indicator lights and their pans are regular aluminum, not non-stick. They are cheaper but have fewer featuers. Cook/keep warm These cookers switch to lower temperatures after cooking to k...

By Peter Boston If you cook rice more than a couple times each month you want a countertop electric rice cooker. The electric rice cooker is a clever device that is as simple to use as a toaster but always produces magical results. It's a tribute to human ingenuity how this simple kitchen small appliance does its magic and cooks rice, every kind of rice, perfectly every time. How is it that a rice cooker knows when to switch from the cooking" mode to the keep warm mode automatically? If you take out the inner cooking pan of a Zojirushi rice cooker and look inside the rice cooker, you will see a small round disk, about 1-1/2" in diameter, in the center of the heating plate. This is a thermal sensing device, known as a magnetic thermostat, and it sits on a small spring. When rice and water are placed into the inner cooking pan and then put into the main body of the rice cooker, the weight of the rice and water in the inner cooking pan depresses the spring of...

By Benni Jenyfari Do you ever get frustrated by incorrectly cooked rice, rice that has burned on the bottom of the pan, rice that isn't sticky or fluffy enough, rice that has fallen flat? All these predicaments can be easily solved with one important tool: the rice cooker. Rice cookers ensure that rice is heated to perfection. In addition, they serve as automatic timers and have a self shut-off feature, so that rice is never under or over cooked. Rice cookers are electrical appliances that simplify the cooking process of rice and keep it warm once finished. While rice cookers do not speed up the cooking process, they eliminate the hassle of cooking rice on a stove. Most come with a measuring cup and plastic paddle, and can be purchase for as little as ten dollars. Rice cookers are composed of three parts – the outer, insulated bowl, the inner bowl which hold the rice, and the lid. The inner bowl, usually coated with a nonstick material such as Teflon, is removable....

By Curtis Miller Love fluffy cooked rice but dislike the preparation time and clean up? Then rice cookers maybe just what you need. Today's rice cooker is a thrifty time saving device for anyone's kitchen. Also eating rice weekly has many health benefits. With so many rice cookers to choose from how does one decide? Let's take a look at the many features and sizes of a rice cooker and determine which is right for you and your family. Size - How much rice will you cook at one time? Also consider how much space you have for storing the unit. Rice cookers very in the amount of uncooked rice they hold, between 5 to 10 cups. If one's family is large or rice is used when having a dinner party then a higher capacity rice cooker will do a nice job. On the other hand cooking for one or two people makes a smaller model a wise choice. More desirable features - Rice cookers with a glass lid is a "must have" to watch the cooking process. It is also a great...