Gear Heads | Lisa McManus Answers Your Questions About Rice Cookers and More!

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50 Comments

  1. Remember the Amazon reviews are suspect at best I had someone sending me products and when I do end of this thing which Amazon was no help I found out that basically they were using my purchase to say that their product was phenomenal the best in the world I will admit one set of earrings I got perhaps if I work for the Biden administration being a man and not stealing lingerie I might’ve been able to rock them lol just be careful with what you read on Amazon

  2. My aroma rice cooker has a slow cooker setting does anyone know about it. I love soup beans but always made in a reg. Slow cooker….please send help …..also interested in congee but want to try plain first 🤔

  5. I purchased the rice cooker on ATK's recommendation. I love the videos of the gear with Lisa. I did 2 Aroma cups with the Aroma Rice Cooker, basmati, rinsed. Then of the Aroma cups that came with it in water up to the 2 line, so the ratio is basically 2:3 or 1: 1.5, rice to water. The aroma cup indicates that it is 3/4 of an actual measuring cup. Thanks Guys.

  8. I have a belated question. I have always put a little butter in the saucepan with the rice on medium heat for just a couple minutes before pouring in my water. I think I learned it from Julie Childs cookbook, or somewhere. Have I been waisting my time and just fulfilling my butter addiction, or is it okay ? Thanks in advance and also thanks so much for all your reviews.

  10. I solved the starch dust problem by only using brown rice. White rice is brown rice with the brown coating removed. But brown rice is way more healthy and a billion times more delicious. Switch to brown rice and you will love it.

  12. A 1 to 1.5 ratio doesn’t work for all types of rice or all quantities. Jasmine and basmati use less water. And if you’re cooking a small amount (like 1 or 2 cups), 1:1.5 ratio is fine, but if you are cooking a lot (like 4 or 6 cups) a 1:1 or maybe 1:1.25 ratio is much better.

  14. Your rating always suck, i'm sorry to say. Your recommended garlic press – broke within a month. Your mandolin – to short to get good cutting strokes. Your bread knife I can draw across my bare palm and not get cut. And you recommending that 9 dollar blade destroying knife sharpener should have gotten you all fired.

  15. I'm under the belief many of those people don't read and fellow instructions and care for the product. Therefore the product dies faster then it would if you did follow manufactures recommendation. And many of those other reviews are pay for so should be taken with a grain a salt. I tend to only give any weight to my to choose. But more influential to my choose of my product preference is expert's recommendations.

  18. To much fuss about cooking rice. The easiest & fool proof way is to cook it like a pasta in lots of water.
    1. It is done at your desire donness texture when you taste a couple of cook grain. Then you drain in a fine collander. 2. No need to prior rince the rice to remove the excess starch since you are cooking it in lots of water. 3. No need to measure the precise ratio of rice to water which is a source of mishaps because different variety's of rice equal levels of absorption. 3. No need to control a very precise cooking time. 4. No need to have a very specific pot with a thick heat pad. Any pot will do. 5. It is the only way to control all the possible variable that can go wrong.

  19. Our rice cooker died yesterday and my wife is not happy (Hanabishi, we were lucky to get 7 years out of it). She is Filipino so rice is cooked multiple times a day. We are going to go buy a new one tomorrow, but the selection is so bad in the Philippines, we will get what we can. Getting a particular brand is doubtful. I use the 1:1.5 ratio, she of course using the knuckle measurement. I find in a rice cooker it is very forgiving, because it has the auto shut-off by temp. It knows when the water is gone.

  20. When I got my first Zojirushi 20-ish years ago, the cooker would hold rice warm, tender and edible for a week. I've bought several since then and they no longer do that–after even as little as 12 hours, the rice gets a hard crust and rapidly becomes unpleasant to eat. I would appreciate "long term warming" being one of your test criteria–it is incredibly convenient to be able to dip in for a serving over the course of a few days. I also now have a Ninja Foodi and it makes pretty good rice in remarkably short time (though I rarely use that feature because of the convenience of a dedicated rice cooker sitting right next to it!). I would recommend you include instant pots and other electronic pressure cookers (including Zojirushi's) in your testing.

  26. Hawaii people eat a lot of rice; usually the medium calrose variety— we always wash it and use the knuckle water level test. I’ve had the aroma rice cooker for over 10 years—it makes perfect brown rice. The first time I used it, I thought it was not working because it slightly warms the rice and soaks it for almost an hour before it kicks up the temperature.

  27. The rice cooker is not necessarily going to have the same ratio as the stove method because it is a more controlled environment. The cooker can control the amount of moisture loss due to evaporation. The actual amount strictly needed to cook rice is actually 1:1. The extra bit is for evaporation.

  28. I’ve had my aroma rice cookers for two years. I’ve used it once a week and I’ve had absolutely no issues. I bought mine at kohl’s. I think going to a store is sometimes better than buying online.

  30. Have you tested some of the more obscure but still easily available rice cookers like the Tiger or Toshiba models? The Tiger models seem to be the best bang for the buck in my view and are extremely simple.
    The JBV-A10U is dead simple (almost too simple) and cooks very good rice. I didn't see any pressure cooking or induction models in your testing either.

  31. Fwiw I cook rice in a corningware covered dish in my microwave just perfect every time by simply following the directions on the rice package. I can't justify buying yet another specific use electronic gadget.

  33. One thing I've noticed is rice cooker timer doesn't start till water is hot. My rice cooker takes a long time to heat up. After watching this, I think I've been incorrectly measuring water. One cup rice fill cooker to one cup mark? Wow. Maybe that will speed things up.

  40. All white rice used to be processed with talc and rinsing removes the talc. It was common to rinse rice until the water ran clean. US rice and many imported rices are no longer processed with talc, so there may be no necessity to rinse to remove talc (and other coatings such as glucose). Certain rices, particularly basmati, should be rinsed and soaked before cooking to achieve a proper result.

  41. Regarding the 1 to 1.5 ratio of rice to water – Dan Souza at ATK did a video a couple of years ago where he explains that ratio does NOT scale up to larger batches. In essence, the ratio should be 1:1 (equal volumes of rice and water) PLUS a half cup of water to allow for evaporation during cooking.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOOSikanIlI

    Ideally a rice cooker should take that proportion into account, but it's worth checking.

  48. I have an Aroma rice cooker and have worn it out for 4 years and it just keeps working. My wife confiscated it and loves it also. We cook all types of rice in and it comes out great everytime. Great device, great cost. I wash my white rice thoroughly, 5-6 times. The flavor is better and if I have leftover rice, it reheats much better. Soft not hard and still has great texture and flavor.

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