Why rice cooker become The most versatile appliance in your kitchen

Why rice cooker become The most versatile appliance in your kitchen ? Although it’s not easy to tell from it’s name, the rice cooker does so much more than merely cooking rice. In fact, it can become your kitchen’s go-to appliance. You can cook main courses, desserts, pasta and even steam with only one kitchen appliance.

Rice cookers are available in many sizes, from so-called personal rice cookers to extremely large-capacity cookers seen in restaurant kitchens. The most popular sizes for every-day home use are the 7- and 10-cup machines.

Rice cookers cook by reduction, which makes them an excellent choice for preparing dishes that require a slightly thickened sauce, for example the filling and sauce for French dip sandwiches. Baby back ribs are also a good choice to cook in the machine, especially rib recipes where the sauce must be reduced to a sticky syrupy consistency.

Most cookers come with at least one steaming insert, and some come with several. This also makes the cooker into a steamer. Since the steaming insert usually sits on top of the deeper pot, you can cook your main course in the pot itself then steam your vegetables in the insert on top.

The cooker is also a boon for preparing pasta. Most people hate waiting for a huge pot of water to boil and then having to drain the pasta. A rice cooker eliminates this. All you have to do is add whatever pasta you wish to cook, add enough cold water to cover it plus a fraction of an inch more and about one teaspoon of oil (prevents foaming). Close the cooker lid, set to the cook function and you are done.

The rice cooker will automatically shut off or go to a warm setting when the water has evaporated. Stirring half way through the process of cooking the pasta is recommended to prevent sticking. You can also cook spaghetti, providing you break it in half before adding it to the cooker. Pasta such as lasagna is best cooked by more conventional methods. The rice cooker method is ideal for shapes such as elbows, bowties and shells.

Since it is moist heat you are cooking with, custard-like desserts are an excellent choice to be made in the rice cooker. Individual-sized flans and cheesecakes work very well cooked in the machine.

A rice cooker is a complete meal machine. It saves time, energy and clean up. Experiment with yours to see it’s full capabilities.

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