Do you think that a rice cooker is a good idea? If so, can you recommend one, and how do you use it?

Hi Sue

I use rice cooker only occasionally, though I have two, one large and one small for 2 people only.

I have many friends who wouldn't cook rice without it, but I find it is not necessary to have it. Rice cooks perfectly well in an ordinary heavy bottomed pan. I do use it very occasionally to make casseroles and similar dishes and sometimes a biryani. From my point of view, it just clutters up the space in my conservatory cupboard! I can't give it away because as soon as I do, I will need it. I know I will ;-)!

I guess it is a personal choice. Sorry, I am not being very helpful :-(!

Mamta

I know that some people swear by the quality of the rice product after having cooked in their rice cooker.

I mention the next item as a result of a neighbor discarding their steamer contraption consisting of various levels of baskets. I was surprised to see that almost the entire unit was made of plastic, and then thought, "steaming at high temperatures in plastic? Is this the best material to be cooking in?"

I believe that some of the rice cookers use containers that might cause a cook to question if they do want their food cooked in such material. A neighbor of mine puts ANOTHER container INTO the rice basket and cooks rice in THAT. I think if anyone has a choice of materials to cook rice in, using a plastic container, something made of petrochemical products which are subjected to high heat, should cause a person to choose a different kind of material.

If there are rice cookers that use different material in which the rice cooks, that would be a more natural substance. I compare this to using a microwave. They have yet to be shown to be harmful to the food, but common sense says that more conventional ways of cooking food may be a better choice, as long as one HAS a choice of how to cook foods.

The idea is to maintain the "life force" of the food in as natural state as possible while transforming the food into a state that we can utilize its nutrient potential.

Yes, my bias is not to use plastic to cook in, that is, I don't trust that plastic subjected to high heat intermingling with food is without some potential problem to our health down the road. I may be wrong about this, but as I said before, if the choice is there, choose the more natural and tested tool for cooking in.