On 4/22/2010 11:07 AM, dsi1 wrote:
> On 4/22/2010 4:35 AM, James Silverton wrote:
>> dsi1 wrote on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 04:27:35 -1000:
>>
>>> On 4/21/2010 12:26 PM, jeff_wisnia wrote:
>>>> SWMBO bought a non-electric "rice pot" at H-Mart last week,
>>>> but the only instructions for it were on the outside of the
>>>> carton in an asian language we don't read.
>>
>>> We used to have a non-electric rice pot back when I was a kid.
>>> It was cast aluminum with a raised lip that, as far as I can
>>> guess, let the condensed steam drip back into the pot. The
>>> invention of the electric rice cooker in the early 60s pretty much
>>> made that pot obsolete. My guess is that the majority of Japan
>>> households will use this most important of inventions.
>>
>> That's certainly the case. You can even buy rice cookers with timers so
>> that the rice is ready for a Japanese breakfast.
>>
>
> They do take their rice cookers seriously, don't they? There's a cooker
> that utilizes "fuzzy logic" in some way. I've never been able to figure
> out of me what that's about.

All the better ones do. Not sure how they use it exactly but they do
make nice rice.

> A question I have is that the cookers I've seen utilize a magnetic
> switch that latches on to the bottom of the pot. Do rice cookers use
> curie point switching? The pan appears to be made of aluminum but that
> can't be cause that's a non-magnetic material - right? Anyway, the
> method they use to regulate cooking time is exceedingly reliable - I've
> never seen one fail or malfunction. This is one appliance whose basic
> workings is a bit of a mystery.

Are you sure those aren't induction-heating with the magnetic switch
just there as a pot sensor? In any case they don't use timers per se,
they monitor the temperature and look for it to start to rise when the
water is all absorbed.