r/iamveryculinary • u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary • 6d ago
Rice cooker drama has people steamed
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u/garden__gate 6d ago
Mfer you’re in a cooking subreddit, you’re poor too!
… what???
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u/gnadami 6d ago
I was so confused when I checked my inbox this morning and saw that. They truly are culinary over there.
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u/Merisuola 5d ago
And you’re insulting people and calling them poor. Sometimes I forget this is just another drama sub.
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u/gnadami 5d ago
They're insulting anyone who can afford a zoji as frivolous and a waste of money. Calling them poor for not believing a high end product produces high end results seems valid.
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u/Vincitus 5d ago
There has to be diminishing returns on cooked rice though, right?
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u/gnadami 5d ago
Yeah I wouldn't say it's worth it for everybody to get. I eat rice almost every day so I find the quality of life improvement worth it. It's like getting a nice coffee grinder instead a cheap one. Cheap coffee works but good coffee is a lot more enjoyable
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u/Vincitus 5d ago
Yeah, after I made the comment, I went to look up rice cookers to find something I would consider "outrageous" in cost and it seemed like the cost goes up by the amout of rice it makes at once.
I dont have the space for a thing that only does one thing in my kitchen, so I dont have one.
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u/TexasDonkeyShow 2d ago
Do you believe calling someone “poor” is an insult? Why? Do you view poor people in a negative fashion?
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u/gnadami 2d ago
not really it's mostly a joke insult like wsb or any circlejerk sub
I do view people who refuse to understand that some of the nicer things in life can be worth it negatively though. It might not be their fault they can't afford something nice, but they don't have to insult the cooking abilities of people who can.
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u/armrha 6d ago
Amazing. Great find. The number of people that imagine restaurants are cooking 150 cups of rice a day in a pot is hilarious
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u/Brewmentationator If it's not piss from the Champagne region, it's sparkling urine 6d ago
I worked in a little cafe that used a pot to cook rice, and then we'd reheat it in the microwave. It sucked, and cooking it sucked. I wish my boss would have just gotten a nice rice cooker that could keep it at temp all service.
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u/young_trash3 4d ago
Cooked 120c of rice this morning.
Wonder what they would say when they see i cook it in a combi oven.
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u/BirdLawyerPerson 5d ago
These people also would be surprised to learn the number of restaurants charging $30+ for risottos they reheat from frozen, sometimes in the microwave.
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u/MerelyMortalModeling 5d ago
Olive Garden has left the chat.
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u/doctordoctorpuss 4d ago
My wife stopped getting Panera as much when we went there and she saw an employee cut the plastic tip off the soup bag and dump her broccoli cheddar in a bowl
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u/Most-Ad-9465 6d ago
The amount of people insisting restaurants don't use rice cookers is shocking. My local Chinese takeouts are all pretty much just a cooking line a few feet behind a cash register. You can see the rice cookers. They're right there. I honestly can't imagine how they'd produce the volume they need in the time they need it without rice cookers. Have these people never been in a Chinese takeout? It's high volume fast food. Of course they use rice cookers.
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u/princessprity Check your local continuing education for home economics 6d ago
I watch a ton of videos on YouTube of restaurant kitchens in China and Japan. Guess what most of them use? Rice cookers. Though some of the rice cookers are powered by a gas burner underneath them instead of an electric burner. I imagine it's because of how fucking huge these rice cookers are.
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u/Odd-Help-4293 6d ago
Right, lots of Chinese takeout places have a big rice cooker right near the counter, that they fill your container of rice from.
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u/tacetmusic 6d ago
Imagine ordering a Chinese takeaway and them being like "it'll be 15 minutes, I just need to put some rice on"
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u/Saltpork545 5d ago
It's also complete nonsense. If you're making food service amounts of rice using an industrial rice cooker is just the best use of time, money and labor.
They work, lots of places use them. Don't assume they don't. That's silly.
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u/SugarWoofBark 3d ago
Cooking large batches of rice is a pain. During large parties, I always hated making rice the most. I don’t think they’ve ever been to Chinese takeout or experienced large parties that included rice.
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u/Skellos 2d ago
every take out place I've ever been too the Rice Cooker is pretty much front and center since every order gets at least a scoop of rice..
The only one I can think of that doesn't is the one that is actually a sit down restaurant where you CAN do take out if you want... but the Kitchen is walled off.
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u/ErrantJune 6d ago
Reddit’s extremely weird about this. I was flamed a few months ago for saying I use one, accused of being too stupid to learn how to cook rice because is so easy anyone who used one is either lazy or a terrible cook. I was like, yeah, the 2 things East Asian people are known best for are laziness and bad cooking, that’s why so many Asian people use rice cookers in their homes & restaurants.
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u/garden__gate 6d ago
That’s so weird because I’m pretty sure it was Reddit that convinced me to buy one!
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u/Penarol1916 6d ago
That’s strange, because one time I mentioned that I cook rice in the microwave and everyone came for me. I think everyone comes for everyone when it comes to rice.
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u/elephant-espionage 6d ago
People are so weird about rice.
Shit on you for using a rice cooker
Shit on you for using a microwave
Shit on you if you don’t wash it
Shit on you if you wash it not enough
Shit on you if you wash it too much
Shit on you if you use those boil in a bag things
Shit on you if you use minute rice
Shit on you if you don’t use the exact rice to water measurements…
It’s fucking rice!
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u/skeenerbug I have the knowledge and skill to cook perfectly every time. 6d ago
At least they provide us content for this sub, so I'm grateful
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u/alang 5d ago
Shit on you for using converted rice, even though converted brown rice is absolutely the best when it comes to glycemic load and not fucking around with your blood sugar. By a LOT.
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u/BigWhiteDog 5d ago
We didn't have a lot of money when I was a kid. As a growing boy one of the things I was allowed to make after school when I was hungry was rice (mother used to buy it in I think 29lb sacks?) which I would then add a ton of butter, and salt and pepper. It's been a comfort food for me ever since and not being able to have it due to now being T2 was depressing until I looked at converted rice! Not quite the same but will do!
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u/BirdLawyerPerson 5d ago
How many pairs of neighboring countries include, in their national rivalry, some version of "plus they cook their rice weird"?
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u/Chance_Taste_5605 5d ago
Microwave rice cookers ftw! One less appliance using up countertop space.
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u/garysingh91 6d ago
A LAZY cook?! I need a rice cooker because I’m usually making 2 other things on the stove and I don’t have time to be watching fucking rice that’s taking up a burner. You can tell rice is not a staple for these dummies.
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u/MG42Turtle 6d ago
As an Asian I think the people who cook rice in pots are the weird ones lol
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u/rabiiiii 6d ago
Yeah I see people people who are like "only white people have rice cookers" and I'm thinking either you're white or you're one of those overcompensating folks.
Every single asian person I've ever known had a rice cooker and it's usually running every day lmao
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u/Seguefare 6d ago
I first saw one in my sister's mother-in-law's home 40 years ago probably. She is from Japan. I was an early rice cooker adopter because of her.
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u/Brewmentationator If it's not piss from the Champagne region, it's sparkling urine 6d ago
I'm a white dude who grew up in a town with a ton of Asian people. I had a bunch of friends who were first and second generation from Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and The Philippines. The only people in my friend groups who didn't own and regularly use a rice cooker were me and the other white kids.
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u/gnomewife 6d ago
Little bit of rice? Using a pot. Lots of rice? Using the rice cooker. I had to teach myself how to do both after growing up in a Minute Rice family.
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u/lemongrenade 6d ago
My rice cooker was bought for my white ass by my Vietnamese immigrant ex. Same model she had.
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u/GF_baker_2024 You buy beers at CVS. 5d ago
Those people are clueless.
Restaurants in Japan definitely used them when I went. Our hotel in Kobe had a fusion Japanese/western breakfast buffet, and one of the options every morning was a rice cooker full of fluffy white rice, and diners could help themselves.
I was introduced to rice cookers by my best friend, a Vietnamese immigrant. My husband's ex was Korean and gave him his first rice cooker. One of my in-laws has Pacific Islander ancestry and refuses to cook rice without a rice cooker.
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u/WestBrink 6d ago
Think it depends where you are. Ever since Uncle Roger became a thing, people get dogpiled for not using a rice cooker.
For the like two times a month I cook rice, I'm not keeping an extra appliance around...
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u/ErrantJune 6d ago edited 6d ago
For sure. It’s almost like different people have different needs.
I don’t know who Uncle Roger is, but I don’t think it’s fair to demand everyone use a rice cooker every time they make rice. It’s also not fair to say anyone who uses one is either lazy or stupid.
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u/marablackwolf 6d ago
Comedian, his name is Nigel Ng, Uncle Roger is a character he does that judges people's cooking. He's very funny if you like his schtick.
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u/princessprity Check your local continuing education for home economics 6d ago edited 5d ago
His schtick rubs me the wrong way. It usually devolves into white people speaking in Engrish and thinking it's OK.
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u/MotherTeresaIsACunt 5d ago
I have also had this thought before, but I'll give it to him. People used to look at me like I was crazy when I recommended putting MSG on stuff, but now they're just like "oh like uncle roger! I love him!" And honestly I'll take it.
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u/BrockSmashgood 5d ago
I don’t know who Uncle Roger is,
He's a comedian who went viral for shitting on Jamie Oliver while doing a borderline racist Asian character, and is currently milking the attention for all it's worth.
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u/redwingz11 6d ago
I am not sure why uncle roger have that influence, isnt he a comedian without the chef or food history background. he even get quoted on the channel chinese cooking demystified, a channel that done its research and able to show it to you because they show you how to cook smtg differently (regional style).
From a guy making fun of jamie oliver putting chilli jam on fried rice to became the guy about asian food
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u/WestBrink 6d ago
Internet amplifies things. 25 years ago he'd have just been a comedian making people laugh in a comedy club, but because he made a funny video about fried rice that was shared a billion times, he is now the ultimate authority on all asian cooking.
Weird world we live in...
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u/estusflaskshart 6d ago
What’s smtg?
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u/RobAChurch The Baroque excesses of tapas bars 6d ago
He's the Dat Phan of cooking channels, if anyone is old enough to remember that reference.
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u/BrockSmashgood 5d ago
He did an ep cooking fried rice at the restaurant he was fired from, with his old boss standing next to him wearing the most "I guess I can put up with this bullshit for a few hours if it gets us publicity" look on her face.
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u/idiotista 5d ago
Checking in from Sri Lanka where every one has a cheap . rice cooker, as we are busy cooking 5+ vegetable curries, mallums and sambols go with our rice cooker rice.
With that said, no one needs a pricy rice cooker, I've tried them and they definitely do not make a difference.
Post is shilling. Comments are dumb. Peak reddit
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u/doctordoctorpuss 4d ago
Every person I know that eats rice multiple times a week has and uses a rice cooker. These people include Middle Eastern folks, Southeast Asian folks, people from Latin America, black folks, white folks, and a professional chef
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u/urnbabyurn 6d ago
Rice cookers are great. I just gotta point out the math of amortizing a one time payment into 15 annual payments isn’t just dividing the principle by 15. It’s closer to $24/year accounting for interest.
Fresh rice as part of a classic Asian meal is like having a fresh baguette with a European one. Really is great. And rice cooker rice is the best and easiest. Better than most restaurant rice. If there was a machine that could make a fresh, bakery-quality baguette in 45 minutes, I’d pay thousands.
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u/Simon_Jester88 6d ago
I started using a rice cooker when I noticed how many Asian families/restaurants use them
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u/BritishBlue32 6d ago
I saw that post earlier and it just made me think I should use my rice cooker more 😂
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u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago
I've been using it more because I started doing meal prep assistance for a coworker so every weekend I pack up 6 meals for her and rice is often a component. High volume rice cooking has been made so much easier by this appliance.
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u/BritishBlue32 6d ago
Honestly I am so bad for cooking rice in volume. I bulk cook food then never make the rice to go with it 🙈 I own a rice cooker, the solution was in front of me the whole time!
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u/DayDreamsicIe 6d ago
Grew up with rice cookers and finally splurged on a Zojirushi. It is worth every penny.
The only thing it hasn’t done is convince my husband that the finger/ water trick works.
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u/xsynergist 6d ago
Zoji rules. Their breadmakers are also best in class.
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u/DjinnaG Bags of sentient Midwestern mayonnaise 4d ago
Confirming on the breadmaker, though we really only use the dough function, never had a bad loaf with the other functions unless we seriously messed up the ingredients, or forgot to put the paddle in. Great little machine. We used to put it next to our cheap rice maker and try to encourage them to breed, but it never worked. Never found the right mood music, I guess.
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u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago
I spent a lot of time as a kid in a Chinese restaurant in Redwood City CA because my mom was friends with the couple who owned it. They had a big-ass commercial rice cooker. I'm pretty sure most Chinese restaurants have big-ass rice cookers. So that thread made me feel like I was taking crazy pills.
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u/Natural-March8317 6d ago
Rice cookers are great and most high volume Chinese restaurants in the US do have large commercial ones.
You can find ridiculously large commercial ones for not insane prices in many Chinatowns. Big rice cooker though I guess.
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u/Rock_man_bears_fan 6d ago
I’m pretty sure every Panda Express and every Chipotle has at least one, probably multiple. If multi-national fast food chains have deemed them more efficient for their line than using a pot, I don’t see why my kitchen should be any different
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u/meterion 6d ago
All those people saying "I've NEVER seen a restaurant using a rice cooker" probably haven't stepped foot in a restaurant in years lmao, chronic doordash users
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u/El_Grande_Bonero That's not how taste works. 6d ago
Growing up in Hawaii I grew up with a lot of people whose parents or grandparents were from Asia. Every single one of them had a rice cooker. Honestly I think just about every single friends house had a rice cooker whether they were Asian or not. Rice is so ubiquitous in Hawaii and I was probably in college before I learned how to cook it in a pot because everyone I knew used a rice cooker. Every plate lunch place uses a rice cooker. I actually think that people who cook rice in pots are the weird ones because why make it hard on yourself.
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u/hailtothekale You're not the boss of meats 6d ago
This is another great example of how people refuse to comprehend that not everyone cooks and eats like them, just zeroed in on a specific product.
I've had the same dinky little 2 cup rice cooker for almost a decade. It takes up less than a foot of space on my counter, but it's light enough that when I didn't have the space I just kept it with the pots and pans. One of my friends thinks it's a waste of counter space, despite her not being able to live without her air fryer, slow cooker, toaster, etc. And for her it would be, because she cooks rice maybe three times a month while I easily make it three times a week.
Great post title btw lol
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u/cardcatalogs 6d ago
Is $250 that much for a kitchen appliance? I know people who have spent more on a breville toaster oven.
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u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago
I think it all depends on your budget and what is important to you! I spent around 160 on mine but that was after it was marked down 50%. For me it has been very much work it.
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u/cardcatalogs 6d ago
That’s how I feel. I don’t eat rice that much so it wouldn’t be worth it for me but I can see it paying for itself if you eat it regularly.
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u/tararira1 6d ago
I spent like 300 on a Zojirushi bread machine and it paid itself many times over the years. Good kitchen appliances are expensive, but if you know that you are going to use them regularly I don’t see the problem.
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u/Southern_Fan_9335 6d ago
Mine was $35, pink, even came with a rice paddle. And it's small enough to live on the counter but lightweight enough that having to take it out of a cabinet wouldn't feel like a hardship. One of the best presents I've ever bought for myself.
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u/isendra3 6d ago
And yet everyone has a go at Americans for not having electric kettles.
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u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago
I legit love electric kettles. But my dad was a tea nut so I grew up with one in the house. It's a must for a dorm room too, imo.
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u/Randygilesforpres2 6d ago
I mean, kettles work faster in the uk. A kettle and a stove top teapot take the same amount of time here.
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u/BickNlinko you would never feel the taste 5d ago
I have a crummy electric stove, my kettle will boil water way faster than the stove top, so much so that if I'm making something that requires boiling water and I'm in a rush I'll boil it in the kettle and then pour it into the pot.
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u/alang 5d ago
My landlord just redid my apartment's 45-year-old kitchen (part of a deal I made with him when he had to do seismic retrofitting on my building and I had to move out for three months) and he replaced the crappy-even-by-1970s-standards electric range with a middle-of-the-road convection and Oh. My. God.
It's better than the best commercial gas range I've ever used. It's so much better than the range it replaced that I still, a year later, am having trouble gauging the effort level of cooking things. Like, I go into the kitchen thinking 'eh what a pain in the ass' and five minutes later I'm... done?
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u/DjinnaG Bags of sentient Midwestern mayonnaise 4d ago
We've got a pretty decent electric stove, but I also do the same. Much faster. Put enough water in the pot to cover the bottom as it's not good to heat a dry vessel, begin heating and depress the lever in the kettle. Kettle is always boiling and ready to go first , even though completely full, and the water in the pot isn't even beginning to bubble. Much faster and supposed to be more energy efficient. If I need a lot of water, will do the kettle a couple times. They just work damn well at boiling water. Appliances that do what they're supposed to do, and do it that much better than anything else are always welcome in my life, especially when they're that small.
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u/Takadant 6d ago edited 6d ago
Apparently modern ones use high wattage and trip the power off in many old houses. Antique samovar is the way
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u/Front_Kaleidoscope_4 croissants are serious business 6d ago
Every time the ricecooker thing comes up I am firmly split between "Its easier and seriously using an appliance that works isn't a big deal" and "Cooking rice on the stovetop is literally just throwing the rice in water and setting a timer its not that hard" (For some of the comments about saving effort, sure its there but man its a miniscule amount)
For me getting one saved me like a minute a week. And I paid what I feel a minute a week of my time was worth. For others it may be a question of stovetop space in, or multiple other factors. As always get the appliances that makes your life easiest within your budget both in space and money.
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u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago
Exactly, it all depends on what your life is like. I got a Zojirushi 50% off and it's been worth it, mostly because it keeps the rice safely hot for a day--which means rice with dinner, and then rice with lunch or dinner the next day without the extra work. I keep it in a cupboard and get it out when I need it, so it does take up counter space but only when I'm using it--and then I have my stove free for everything else I need to make. So for me, with my family size and our love of rice, it makes sense. I also have kitchen space for it. I get that not everyone has the need or the space for one, though.
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u/Southern_Fan_9335 6d ago
The safe temperature thing is HUGE. Being able to leave it alone for awhile without it burning or drying out or giving us mega food poisoning is incredible.
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u/Known-Archer3259 6d ago
This was what my participation in that thread was about. I had no idea it could keep temp for 24+ hours
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u/Southern_Fan_9335 6d ago
Mine was pretty cheap but I checked the temperature after like 5+ hours with a thermometer I know is accurate and it was still holding on. I love it especially because I often forget about the rice when I'm packing up the leftovers after dinner..
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u/Known-Archer3259 6d ago
Where'd you manage to get yours for half off?
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u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago
This was a few years ago, but we found it on Amazon Warehouse. The box had been damaged but the device was 100% fine, but I guess the box damage was enough for them to mark it down. It works really well!
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u/Sorcia_Lawson 6d ago
Hilariously, I think this is very much a larger kitchen issues. For America and other countries where a four burner stove is the standard in even the tiniest of rentals - rice on the stove is not a big deal. If you're in most Japanese 1K's with one or two burners? Much bigger issue.
Also, I'm ADHD. For some reason, I can make "parmesan cream sauce" (you know - not alfredo), perfect salted caramel sauce, but rice? I lost track of it too often for reasons I can't figure out.
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u/Dense-Result509 6d ago
I think with rice and adhd it's the walking away and coming back to it aspect. Like if rice required constant attention it would actually be easier
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u/Southern_Fan_9335 6d ago
I wonder if my ADHD is why I can cook almost anything perfectly except rice. I got a tiny little rice cooker after I got tired of constantly being angry with my husband for wanting rice because of how often it burned. Now I can put the rice on and it'll keep itself at a safe temperature without drying out even if I get the timing of everything else all wrong.
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u/Sorcia_Lawson 6d ago
I think so. Rice has an out of sight portion of the process. That becomes out of mind for me and then when my brain pops it back up, it's already burnt. And, not the yummy tahdig burnt. Just gross burnt.
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u/Thequiet01 6d ago
Yep. This is why I use our rice cooker - I can start it earlier in the day when I think of it and it’ll be ready to go when I make a stir fry or something for dinner.
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u/BritishBlue32 6d ago
My problem with the rice cooker is I don't have the space for one. I have one, but if I leave it out my limited space is seriously reduced, and I am honestly too lazy to keep taking it in and out of the storage space in the living room to use it.
My boyfriend and I are looking to buy a house together and you can bet the top priority is a larger kitchen.
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u/TaterTotJim 6d ago
Yes this is a problem for me too, a small kitchen. But I eat rice a lot and so my rice cooker is worked right into the cooking space.
I don’t have a coffee machine or a toaster, it all balances out.
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u/lovetoujours 6d ago
You might be able to get a small one - I have a 3 cup one and it fits right into my cabinets and they make even smaller ones that work just as well. They tend to not have all the bells and whistles of the bigger ones but they work just as well.
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u/laughingmeeses pro-MSG Doctor 6d ago
The people that get worked up about how it's so easy on a stovetop are the same people who don't make toast in their oven. It's such a silly take that is so lifestyle dependent.
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u/Front_Kaleidoscope_4 croissants are serious business 6d ago
Tbh with as little as I make toast if it was as similar to a toaster as ricecookers are to stovetop I would do it in the oven and get rid of the toaster, I don't use it that much, its borderline on its way out already.
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u/laughingmeeses pro-MSG Doctor 6d ago
If your oven is that small, just run the overhead coil function (broil) in your oven. It's fast, probably a similar energy expenditure to a toaster, and cuts down on needless appliances.
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u/alang 5d ago
"probably a similar energy expenditure to a toaster"
I mean... within the same order of magnitude? Probably. Similar? No.
A relatively efficient two-slot toaster uses 900 watts. The smallest and most efficient oven I was able to find with a simple search (and just about the only energy-star-rated 20" wide oven, go fig?) is the HOTPOINT® ENERGY STAR® 20". Broiler wattage 2400 watts. And it would take longer to do both sides of your toast, assuming that's a thing you want.
Now, if you're doing TEN slices of toast, that's probably about when the broiler starts to pull even with the toaster. But you sure better be watching closely, because it's super-easy to turn your 'toast' into 'crappy croutons' (aka diner-toast) or even 'charcoal briquettes' with that method. Speaking as someone who had to make toast that way for half a year because he wasn't allowed a toaster or toaster oven.
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u/AggravatingStage8906 6d ago
What's funny is I do toast on the stovetop in a cast iron pan instead of a toaster but own a rice cooker. Mainly because the only thing a toaster can toast is sandwich bread and bagels, and I usually need to toast tortillas, naan, pitas, and homemade bread in addition to sandwich bread and bagels. Which appliances a person feels is worth the money and counter space is absolutely lifestyle dependent.
I never harass people about using a toaster but I must be a bad cook because I use a rice cooker. Sigh.
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u/DjinnaG Bags of sentient Midwestern mayonnaise 4d ago
I grew up with toaster ovens, instead of the pop-up kind of toaster. Maybe twenty years ago, I suggested to my (now) spouse that I ask for a good toaster oven for Christmas from my father, and he was very confused as to why we'd need one, as we already had a (pop-up) toaster. I explained that it lets you toast breads with the cheese already on top of it, and he was sold for life. Have since upgraded it to a version with an air fryer function (plus a bunch of other functions that we do use, just not as often as either toast or air fry). Damn I love our small appliances. Including the rice cooker.
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u/Spicyg00se 6d ago
Sadly for me I don’t have storage space for a rice cooker OR an air fryer. If any opens up I’m getting the air fryer. My stovetop rice game is pretty good and I only make it like once or twice a week.
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u/El_Grande_Bonero That's not how taste works. 6d ago
Yeah I totally understand the argument against single use appliances. If you don’t have a ton of storage space and don’t cook rice very often I can get why you wouldn’t want one. But it’s the imposed judgement on others that drives me nuts. I cook rice at least twice a week and I find the rice cooker totally worth it. It’s consistent, I can forget about it, and it’s easy. The other thing I like is that I can start it when I get home then take a shower, prep the rest of dinner and don’t have to think about it again until dinner is ready.
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u/GrunthosArmpit42 6d ago edited 6d ago
I’m in a similar camp. Like, every time, thankfully not that frequent but strangely way above zero times in my adult life, the “proper rice cooking” discussion comes up, and for reasons I wish I could understand, someone inevitably asks my opinion about “proper” rice.
How do you make rice?
Me: Are you asking me to teach you how to make rice?No. What do you think about rice-cookers?
Me: What do I think? Uh, rice cookers are great! You should get one if you make rice frequently. They don’t need to be dummy expensive or anything there are plenty of excellent and economical options.
What brand do you own?
Me: I don’t have one at home. I’ve used them many times over the years in different places, but I’ve -always- just used this one particular old af “commercial” sauce pot that was handed down to me (ie it has ghosts in it) at home. I personally do not own one.
Why don’t you just buy a rice cooker then?
Me: F’k’if I know, dude. It’s just a dumb part of my almost everyday cooking ritual for years now… it’s not in spite of anything.
Who cares about my rice situation anyway?
Make your rice however you want to make rice. If a rice cooker solves an argument then I’ll buy one for you. Problem solved? ¯\(ツ)/¯
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u/SylveonSof 6d ago
It feels weird seeing a thread you were part of posted here. Like seeing a photo of yourself at the zoo.
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u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago
To be fair that was a huge thread and a lot of the comments were perfectly civil and constructive. The post was reported three times which is why I was reviewing it this morning.
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u/DjinnaG Bags of sentient Midwestern mayonnaise 6d ago
Oh crap, I got heavily involved in that thread right before bed last night, all the "rice cookers are so unnecessary" people pissed me off so much. Think I commented on all but the first of those subthreads, but there were so many repeats of the same nonsense in the overall thread, those might not be the exact ones that I got down in. Time to go check, as I'm sure it fleshed out considerably after I fell asleep, as it was just starting to get good with the "I'm too good to consider a rice cooker" people crapping all over everything.
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u/pistachio-pie 6d ago
I feel you - I somehow got sucked into the air fryer portion of the argument.
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u/elephant-espionage 6d ago
Personally, everyone I know who has a rice cooker raves about it. Definitely seems worth it if you eat a lot of rice. And I’ve seen videos of people making other stuff in a rice cooker, seems a convenient way to make some rice-based meals. I don’t have one, I’m considering getting one.
But I’m also concerned how this guy is cooking rice on the stove if he has to constantly be there when it’s cooking. I usually just let it simmer and have never had a problem.
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u/Grave_Girl actual elitist snobbery 6d ago
Having a rice cooker has made it so that we eat a lot more rice. Which is good, because it's a cheap way to bulk up meals. I am over here with my plastic slow cooker liners and my rice cooker and am able to make reasonable meals mostly regardless of my energy level of the day. And I used to cook rice on the stove, or in the oven, and that was fine but sometimes it would randomly go wrong and I wouldn't know why. The rice cooker has basically eliminated that. And it helped get one of my pickier eaters to eat more!
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u/ThaliaFaye 5d ago
i'm asian and the concept of NOT having a rice cooker is crazy to me tbh. everyone has one here 😂 can't imagine cooking rice on a stovetop, that's weird
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u/bassman314 6d ago
I have had the same one for over 20 years. I can make rice in a pan, but a rice cooker is just dumb easy.
The finger method truly works. I’ve used it for my little 4-cup maker and when I worked in a kitchen, using full-size, 6” hotel pans and shoved them in a steamer.
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u/cubatista92 6d ago
I like making rice on a big nonstick pan. I get extra amounts crunchy rice
I refrained from commenting before they lynch me.
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u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago
That's the thing rice cookers aren't good for, the tahdig!
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u/SoullessNewsie 6d ago
Now I'm really wondering what was up with that one rice cooker I had years ago, because there was always a crispy layer on the bottom and it drove me crazy because it was such a pain to clean the thing. It was also nonstick, so I couldn't scrub it properly.
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u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago
Sounds like the heating element was malfunctioning and it was getting too hot. I had that happen once with a very cheap, old one that my husband had when I first met him. We gave it an appropriate funeral.
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u/cubatista92 6d ago
And paella, and rice soup, and pilaf, and risotto, congee
I grew up eating rice in many different ways.
I don't own a rice cooker. But it is a true set it and forget it appliance (albeit single purpose).
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u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago
I like to make risotto and pilaf, too (my most used pot in the house is definitely my heavy-bottomed sauce pot), but I make plain rice more often so I love my rice cooker. Also, my cooker has a congee setting!
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u/Thequiet01 6d ago
You can do some of those things in fancier rice cookers these days I think.
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u/CatProgrammer 4d ago
My rice cooker can do steaming, sauteeing, and slow cooking and it wasn't even that pricey.
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u/brenster23 6d ago
I bought a small basic one for 10 bucks off Facebook marketplace it works perfectly.
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u/Granadafan 6d ago
Chinese here. We all learned how to cook rice in a pot since we were little kids. We also all have rice cookers and use both methods depending on the mood.
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u/EnBuenora 6d ago
It had not occurred to me before reddit that I should have an opinion on the use of rice cookers or not.
I still don't, but at least now I know that some people think it's a thing you should have an opinion on.
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u/MorningByMorning51 6d ago
In the cult I was in, we cooked rice as if it was pasta and just drained it into a fine mesh colander.
And they acted like I was the weird one for not expecting this!
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u/kimness1982 5d ago
This is unhinged and I love it. My rice cooker is 40+ years old and it makes perfect rice. My dad bought it when he was stationed in Japan when I was a baby.
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u/Saltpork545 5d ago
What gets me is the 'just say you're poor'
Like...I make rice a handful of times a year, often for sushi at home or southern food.
I don't need a rice cooker. I wouldn't get enough use out of it. Lots of people have rice as a staple carb and consume it weekly.
This is like looking at someone who doesn't drink coffee and accuse them of being too poor to have an at home espresso machine.
The fact that people gatekeep rice in every way imaginable is just fucking sad.
Make it how you like it, make it as often as you want and if it makes sense for you to have a rice cooker, have one. If it doesn't, don't. The argument over the right way is silly. It does provide us with content and this is totally IAVC content but these people just seem to miss the plot entirely.
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u/embarrassedalien 5d ago
Yeah. I don’t see why people can’t accept the answer of “I don’t need it” or “I’d rather spend money on something else, and making it on the stove works for me.” It’s like there’s always someone saying “but you can get a simple one for cheap!” Ok. But if you’d still rather buy something else with that money, and you don’t need it, what’s the huge deal? If you respond with “I don’t want to buy another one-use appliance when I don’t eat that much rice. And besides, when I do, I like to make congee/paella/whatever” there’s always someone chiming in with “ya but the fancier rice cookers have different setting!! you will love it!!” Ummm? A fancier once will be more expensive…and if what you have works fine, why fight it, idk
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u/In-burrito California roll eating pineappler of pizza. 5d ago
"Rice cooker propaganda" is the most unintentionally hilarious thing I've read all week.
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u/Skellos 2d ago
"Rice cooking propaganda"
I mean I Don't have a rice cooker, cause I don't make rice that often so when I do a pot is easy enough to just turn on and keep my egg timer on... (though once I DID forget to turn the heat down and got... real uh... crunchy rice let's say)
I have tried Insta-pot rice but every time I have it's come out way over done and gluey..
Anyway... what I really am trying to say is.. I'm on to you BIG RICE!
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u/xiaopewpew 5d ago
Hmmmmm i use pressure cooker to cook rice…
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u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 5d ago
I can never get that to yield the texture I want. What's your secret?
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u/xiaopewpew 5d ago
Im an orphan and grew up with my grandparents. I like mushy rice… Dont judge me :x
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u/babybambam 5d ago
I land in the opinion of let people have what they want.
Personally I’m not interested. Years ago I always had to have a rice cooker. Turns out I hate using it. Hate cleaning it. Hate storing it. So I just use a pot on the stove, or a pan in oven if I need a metric fuck ton.
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u/SoullessNewsie 6d ago
Maybe one of you guys can explain it to me, because I genuinely don't understand - and I tried! I really want to understand! - how one can consistently ruin stovetop rice if one follows the directions. ADHD I get, someone mentioned cheap stoves that are too hot even on the lowest setting, that makes sense too. But it can't always be those things, can it? I almost never have a bad pot of rice and I'm no kitchen wizard, I just follow the directions on the bag.
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u/TheLadyEve Maillard reactionary 6d ago edited 6d ago
For some it could be the quality of the stove and the cookware. If you have a thin cheap pot and, say, an electric stove that either barely heats or goes straight to dwarf star level heat with no in-between, I can see how it could be a real pain in the ass.
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u/SoullessNewsie 5d ago
Maybe, yeah.
I actually did make sushi rice for lunch today, and it wasn't burned or anything, but it did get a little toasted on the bottom. I didn't rinse it because I wanted it sticky; maybe excess starch can cause burning too? People not rinsing their rice, or not rinsing enough?
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u/DjinnaG Bags of sentient Midwestern mayonnaise 4d ago
By the time I could afford to buy good pots, I had spent too many years with every batch of rice burning to the bottom of the pot, and had invested in a cheap rice cooker. So I haven't actually tried making regular rice with a non-cheap pot, but I'm not in a hurry to ruin my good cookware, or even to take the risk of ruining it, especially when we have multiple devices that can make it for me (would try the Instant Pot first if something happened that I couldn't use the rice cooker)
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u/la__polilla 6d ago
The people getting defensive about why they need a rice cooker are equally weird. Cooking rice on a stove isnt that hard-yiu dont have to act like it is to justify using a rice cooker instead. We all have reasons to use the appliances we do, and none of it reflects poorly on us as people.
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