We have a rice cooker, bought for us as a present by Chinese friends of
ours. Panasonic SR-TE10N. It makes great rice. The only downside
we've noticed is that the "keep warm after cooking" doesn't really
work - when it's done, we just unplug it.

Would it be better, worse, or no different to put the rice and water in
it a few hours before actually starting it? Or is there something
else - soak the rice then rinse it then use less water, or something - I
should be doing? It's white rice, nothing special, don't have the bag
any more but if the kind of rice makes a difference, please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

-S-

On Jan 10, 10:41*am, "Steve Freides" > wrote:
> We have a rice cooker, bought for us as a present by Chinese friends of
> ours. *Panasonic SR-TE10N. *It makes great rice. *The only downside
> we've noticed is that the "keep warm after cooking" doesn't really
> work - when it's done, we just unplug it.
>
> Would it be better, worse, or no different to put the rice and water in
> it a few hours before actually starting it? *Or is there something
> else - soak the rice then rinse it then use less water, or something - I
> should be doing? *It's white rice, nothing special, don't have the bag
> any more but if the kind of rice makes a difference, please let me know.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> -S-

IMHO, no need to. Rice is about the easiest thing to cook. I use
brown, but white is not substantially different as far as cooking it
goes.

I start with 2+ (+ for evaporation) parts water for 1 part dry rice. I
add about 1 tsp salt and 1 tbs butter for each cup of dry rice. I boil
the water/salt/butter first, then add the dry rice and bring to a
simmer and cover, and let it cook about an hour. Voila! Then I leave
covered and let sit until cool. Perfect rice every time!

John Kuthe...

John Kuthe wrote:
> On Jan 10, 10:41 am, "Steve Freides" > wrote:
>> We have a rice cooker, bought for us as a present by Chinese friends
>> of ours. Panasonic SR-TE10N. It makes great rice. The only downside
>> we've noticed is that the "keep warm after cooking" doesn't really
>> work - when it's done, we just unplug it.
>>
>> Would it be better, worse, or no different to put the rice and water
>> in it a few hours before actually starting it? Or is there something
>> else - soak the rice then rinse it then use less water, or something
>> - I should be doing? It's white rice, nothing special, don't have
>> the bag any more but if the kind of rice makes a difference, please
>> let me know.
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> -S-
>
> IMHO, no need to. Rice is about the easiest thing to cook. I use
> brown, but white is not substantially different as far as cooking it
> goes.
>
> I start with 2+ (+ for evaporation) parts water for 1 part dry rice. I
> add about 1 tsp salt and 1 tbs butter for each cup of dry rice. I boil
> the water/salt/butter first, then add the dry rice and bring to a
> simmer and cover, and let it cook about an hour. Voila! Then I leave
> covered and let sit until cool. Perfect rice every time!
>
> John Kuthe...

Thanks. I'm not necessarily asking if it's better to soak it - I also
want to know if it's a problem to soak it because there are times when
I'd like to measure out the ingredients (rice, water), stick them in the
rice cooker, and then come back and just turn it on later in the day
when I don't have as much time. Without telling you my entire life's
story, I give music lessons at home, and sometimes dinner prep time just
doesn't exist around dinner time. Rather than cook the rice early, it
would be nice to have it set up so that I could just plug it in. but
that might mean putting the rice and water into the rice cooker at 2 PM
then turning it on at 5 or 6 PM.

-S-

On Jan 10, 9:38 am, "Steve Freides" > wrote:
> John Kuthe wrote:
> > On Jan 10, 10:41 am, "Steve Freides" > wrote:
> >> We have a rice cooker, bought for us as a present by Chinese friends
> >> of ours. ....
> >> Would it be better, worse, or no different to put the rice and water
> >> in it a few hours before actually starting it? Or is there something
> >> else - soak the rice then rinse it then use less water, or something
> >> - I should be doing? It's white rice, nothing special, don't have
> >> the bag any more but if the kind of rice makes a difference, please
> >> let me know.
........
>
> Thanks. I'm not necessarily asking if it's better to soak it - I also
> want to know if it's a problem to soak it because there are times when
> I'd like to measure out the ingredients (rice, water), stick them in the
> rice cooker, and then come back and just turn it on later in the day
> when I don't have as much time. Without telling you my entire life's
> story, I give music lessons at home, and sometimes dinner prep time just
> doesn't exist around dinner time. Rather than cook the rice early, it
> would be nice to have it set up so that I could just plug it in. but
> that might mean putting the rice and water into the rice cooker at 2 PM
> then turning it on at 5 or 6 PM.
>
Cooking brown rice is entirely different from white rice. White rice
needs significantly less water and less cooking time.

Soaking rice is just another variable, and may or may not work to your
satisfaction. Try a batch and see. The raw rice will absorb some
water during the soaking process, so whatever ratio of water to rice
that you now find works for you should be reduced slightly. The rice
will likely still be softer, but it doesn't have to be too watery or
too gummy. If I normally used, say, 1.5 water to 1 rice, I'd reduce
that to 1.25 to 1 and then adjust the next batch depending on the
result.

Leaving aside your timing needs, good results can also be had by
soaking first for 30 minutes, then draining for 30 minutes, then
cooking. This gives nice tender rice that is less sticky than when
you don't drain it.

Soaking or not and how long, draining or not, the type and even crop
of rice, the amount of water are all variables. Experiment until you
like the results. -aem

On 1/10/2011 6:41 AM, Steve Freides wrote:
> We have a rice cooker, bought for us as a present by Chinese friends of
> ours. Panasonic SR-TE10N. It makes great rice. The only downside
> we've noticed is that the "keep warm after cooking" doesn't really
> work - when it's done, we just unplug it.
>
> Would it be better, worse, or no different to put the rice and water in
> it a few hours before actually starting it? Or is there something
> else - soak the rice then rinse it then use less water, or something - I
> should be doing? It's white rice, nothing special, don't have the bag
> any more but if the kind of rice makes a difference, please let me know.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> -S-
>
>

I think you'll be fine if you let the rice sit for prolonged periods.
I've done it and have not noticed any difference. I only make Japanese
style white rice and have no experience with anything else.

On Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:38:59 -0500, "Steve Freides" >
wrote:

> Without telling you my entire life's
> story, I give music lessons at home, and sometimes dinner prep time just
> doesn't exist around dinner time. Rather than cook the rice early, it
> would be nice to have it set up so that I could just plug it in. but
> that might mean putting the rice and water into the rice cooker at 2 PM
> then turning it on at 5 or 6 PM.

Rice isn't hard to make... maybe 30 seconds when you don't measure.

How about putting the rice and salt into the rice cooker and keeping
water in a measuring cup next to it to pour in when you want to start
it? Personally, my rice cooker is near the sink. I pour in the rice,
swivel, stick the pot under running water (eyeball when to stop),
swivel back, replace it in the rice cooker, a couple shakes of salt,
put the lid on and click "cook". Like I said, it takes maybe 30
seconds... or a full minute if I did everything in slow motion and
measured.

--

Never trust a dog to watch your food.

On 2011-01-10, Steve Freides > wrote:

> would be nice to have it set up so that I could just plug it in. but
> that might mean putting the rice and water into the rice cooker at 2 PM
> then turning it on at 5 or 6 PM.

Just put rice or water in, alone, and have the other pre-measured in a
separate container. When ready, toss the one in the separate
container into the cooker and turn on. This is not rocket science.

nb

On Mon, 10 Jan 2011 10:09:13 -0800 (PST), aem >
wrote:

> Leaving aside your timing needs, good results can also be had by
> soaking first for 30 minutes, then draining for 30 minutes, then
> cooking. This gives nice tender rice that is less sticky than when
> you don't drain it.

Firm (not crunchy) and sticky rice is a goal for me; I don't like it
fluffy or soft.

--

Never trust a dog to watch your food.

On Jan 10, 12:09*pm, aem > wrote:
> On Jan 10, 9:38 am, "Steve Freides" > wrote:
>
> > John Kuthe wrote:
> > > On Jan 10, 10:41 am, "Steve Freides" > wrote:
> > >> We have a rice cooker, bought for us as a present by Chinese friends
> > >> of ours. ....
> > >> Would it be better, worse, or no different to put the rice and water
> > >> in it a few hours before actually starting it? Or is there something
> > >> else - soak the rice then rinse it then use less water, or something
> > >> - I should be doing? It's white rice, nothing special, don't have
> > >> the bag any more but if the kind of rice makes a difference, please
> > >> let me know.
> .......
>
> > Thanks. *I'm not necessarily asking if it's better to soak it - I also
> > want to know if it's a problem to soak it because there are times when
> > I'd like to measure out the ingredients (rice, water), stick them in the
> > rice cooker, and then come back and just turn it on later in the day
> > when I don't have as much time. *Without telling you my entire life's
> > story, I give music lessons at home, and sometimes dinner prep time just
> > doesn't exist around dinner time. *Rather than cook the rice early, it
> > would be nice to have it set up so that I could just plug it in. but
> > that might mean putting the rice and water into the rice cooker at 2 PM
> > then turning it on at 5 or 6 PM.
>
> Cooking brown rice is entirely different from white rice. *White rice
> needs significantly less water and less cooking time.

I'd have to take your word for it, but it makes sense. I used to cook
Basmati rice years ago but don't remember how long it took to cook it.
Basically the same "recipe" but I think you're correct: less cooking
time than the brown rice I make now.

John Kuthe...

On Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:41:27 -0500, "Steve Freides" >
wrote:

>We have a rice cooker, bought for us as a present by Chinese friends of
>ours. Panasonic SR-TE10N. It makes great rice. The only downside
>we've noticed is that the "keep warm after cooking" doesn't really
>work - when it's done, we just unplug it.
>
>Would it be better, worse, or no different to put the rice and water in
>it a few hours before actually starting it? Or is there something
>else - soak the rice then rinse it then use less water, or something - I
>should be doing? It's white rice, nothing special, don't have the bag
>any more but if the kind of rice makes a difference, please let me know.
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>-S-
>
Actually, the kind of rice does make a difference.

I keep 4 in house: TexMati (Texas Grown Basmati), General purpose
medium grain, Kokuho Rose (medium grain, for sushi and oriental boiled
rice sides, and Arborio (for risotto).

I think your Q is a bit unclear. You say that the keep warm feature
doesn't work, but I am unclear on what that means. Does the machine go
cold? Does the rice gum up?

If the rice gums up, it may be that there is rice flour and/or talc on
your rice. While the use of talc is not well known, I guess there are
reasons for it, like the cornstarch in confectioners' sugar.

Easily cured. Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Low
cost/budget rice, is usually medium grain and a mix of cracks/broken
grains of long grain. Not bad and inexpensive, but does get gummy from
the rice flour included. Rinse. Great for puddings (do NOT rinse) as
the flour promotes thickening.

I use a Sanyo rice cooker, and it makes allowance for rinsed/not
rinsed, long grain/other/brown and firm rice/sushi rice and so on.

I think this argues that there *are* differences in rice.

I buy my rice at an oriental market, and talc-free rice is so
labelled. You can find (there) sweet rice, sticky rice, LG rice from
India, some speciality Colored rices (red? Black?) which I have never
used, and some things I totally do not understand. Yes there are
differences.

FWIW: When I make LG, I always rinse. Rice generates flour/powder just
by being handled, and this gets in the way of grain separation of the
cooked rice. rinsing removes the problem.

ALso, boiled rice and steamed rice are not the same. For more info,
see Tess Mallos on Iranian rice cooking. They are experts in ways of
cooking rice you will probably not find in Chinese or other oriental
cookbooks, because of the nature of "traditional" methods.

I wish you good luck using your Panasonic. I am not familiar with that
machine, but I would guess the problem is not with the machine unless
it simply goes cold when the "keep warm" phase begins.

HTH

Alex

Chemiker wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:41:27 -0500, "Steve Freides" >
> wrote:
>
>> We have a rice cooker, bought for us as a present by Chinese friends
>> of ours. Panasonic SR-TE10N. It makes great rice. The only
>> downside we've noticed is that the "keep warm after cooking" doesn't
>> really
>> work - when it's done, we just unplug it.
>>
>> Would it be better, worse, or no different to put the rice and water
>> in it a few hours before actually starting it? Or is there something
>> else - soak the rice then rinse it then use less water, or something
>> - I should be doing? It's white rice, nothing special, don't have
>> the bag any more but if the kind of rice makes a difference, please
>> let me know.
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> -S-
>>
> Actually, the kind of rice does make a difference.
>
> I keep 4 in house: TexMati (Texas Grown Basmati), General purpose
> medium grain, Kokuho Rose (medium grain, for sushi and oriental boiled
> rice sides, and Arborio (for risotto).
>
> I think your Q is a bit unclear. You say that the keep warm feature
> doesn't work, but I am unclear on what that means. Does the machine go
> cold? Does the rice gum up?

It gets dried out - seems like it cooks more, even though it just says
it's keeping it warm. We get better results by making the rice early,
turning off the machine rather than letting it keep warm, then reheating
if necessary (often isn't, e.g., if we're making fried rice).

Thanks to you and to everyone for the info - I will play around a bit.
The rice cooker we have, at least as I've been told to use it, doesn't
allow premeasuring. My wife tells me to add whatever rice I want by the
cup, then fill with water until up to a line the corresponds to the
number of cups of rice I put it. Yes, of course, I could figure it out,
but I haven't. And I don't think it's a measuring cup, rather just a
cup of some size that work in combination with the line on the machine.
Time to measure for myself, I guess ... I don't think we read any
instructions, just got them verbally from our Chinese friends who have a
similar machine. We should have the manual around here somewhere, but
following their instructions has, so far, always produced good rice.
"Good" here is defined as my wife likes it, I like it, and the kids like
it. We are not after more than that right now.

-S-

> If the rice gums up, it may be that there is rice flour and/or talc on
> your rice. While the use of talc is not well known, I guess there are
> reasons for it, like the cornstarch in confectioners' sugar.
>
> Easily cured. Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Low
> cost/budget rice, is usually medium grain and a mix of cracks/broken
> grains of long grain. Not bad and inexpensive, but does get gummy from
> the rice flour included. Rinse. Great for puddings (do NOT rinse) as
> the flour promotes thickening.
>
> I use a Sanyo rice cooker, and it makes allowance for rinsed/not
> rinsed, long grain/other/brown and firm rice/sushi rice and so on.
>
> I think this argues that there *are* differences in rice.
>
> I buy my rice at an oriental market, and talc-free rice is so
> labelled. You can find (there) sweet rice, sticky rice, LG rice from
> India, some speciality Colored rices (red? Black?) which I have never
> used, and some things I totally do not understand. Yes there are
> differences.
>
> FWIW: When I make LG, I always rinse. Rice generates flour/powder just
> by being handled, and this gets in the way of grain separation of the
> cooked rice. rinsing removes the problem.
>
> ALso, boiled rice and steamed rice are not the same. For more info,
> see Tess Mallos on Iranian rice cooking. They are experts in ways of
> cooking rice you will probably not find in Chinese or other oriental
> cookbooks, because of the nature of "traditional" methods.
>
> I wish you good luck using your Panasonic. I am not familiar with that
> machine, but I would guess the problem is not with the machine unless
> it simply goes cold when the "keep warm" phase begins.
>
> HTH
>
> Alex

On Mon, 10 Jan 2011 10:42:38 -0800, sf > wrote:

>On Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:38:59 -0500, "Steve Freides" >
>wrote:
>
>> Without telling you my entire life's
>> story, I give music lessons at home, and sometimes dinner prep time just
>> doesn't exist around dinner time. Rather than cook the rice early, it
>> would be nice to have it set up so that I could just plug it in. but
>> that might mean putting the rice and water into the rice cooker at 2 PM
>> then turning it on at 5 or 6 PM.
>
>Rice isn't hard to make... maybe 30 seconds when you don't measure.
>
>How about putting the rice and salt into the rice cooker and keeping
>water in a measuring cup next to it to pour in when you want to start
>it? Personally, my rice cooker is near the sink. I pour in the rice,
>swivel, stick the pot under running water (eyeball when to stop),
>swivel back, replace it in the rice cooker, a couple shakes of salt,
>put the lid on and click "cook". Like I said, it takes maybe 30
>seconds... or a full minute if I did everything in slow motion and
>measured.

My rice cooker is just an ordinary pot but still I often place the
rice into the pot and have the water along side way in advance... most
folks who know how to cook even a little bit pre-prep as much as
possible in advance regsardless what they're cooking. That said
placing the rice into water too far in advance (more than an hour) is
not a very cood practice, after like a couple three hours the surface
of the rice grains rice will become gummy and the rice will cook into
a gelatinous glob. Basmati rice needs to be washed very well and will
cook up best if soaked for about twenty minutes, but that water needs
to be dumped because it will be dirty too and the rice cooked in fresh
clean water. All imported rice needs to be washed but rice grown and
packaged in the US is clean... and you don't want to wash enriched
white rice or you'll wash away the added nutrition. I really see no
benefit to those rice cookers.

On Mon, 10 Jan 2011 10:51:00 -0800, sf > wrote:

>On Mon, 10 Jan 2011 10:09:13 -0800 (PST), aem >
>wrote:
>
>> Leaving aside your timing needs, good results can also be had by
>> soaking first for 30 minutes, then draining for 30 minutes, then
>> cooking. This gives nice tender rice that is less sticky than when
>> you don't drain it.
>
>Firm (not crunchy) and sticky rice is a goal for me; I don't like it
>fluffy or soft.

All women say that.

On Mon, 10 Jan 2011 13:24:41 -0600, Chemiker
> wrote:

> I think your Q is a bit unclear. You say that the keep warm feature
> doesn't work, but I am unclear on what that means. Does the machine go
> cold? Does the rice gum up?

I wondered too and then decided that it crusted up on the bottom.
>
> If the rice gums up, it may be that there is rice flour and/or talc on
> your rice. While the use of talc is not well known, I guess there are
> reasons for it, like the cornstarch in confectioners' sugar.

Too much water can gum it up too.

--

Never trust a dog to watch your food.

"Steve Freides" > wrote in message
...
> We have a rice cooker, bought for us as a present by Chinese friends of
> ours. Panasonic SR-TE10N. It makes great rice. The only downside we've
> noticed is that the "keep warm after cooking" doesn't really work - when
> it's done, we just unplug it.
>
> Would it be better, worse, or no different to put the rice and water in it
> a few hours before actually starting it? Or is there something else -
> soak the rice then rinse it then use less water, or something - I should
> be doing? It's white rice, nothing special, don't have the bag any more
> but if the kind of rice makes a difference, please let me know.
>
Keep in mind that most rice cookers turn themselves off when all the water
has been absorbed (i.e. when the temperature rises above 212º F), so soaking
the rice may result in a longer cooking time.

In article >, says...
>
> Chemiker wrote:
> > On Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:41:27 -0500, "Steve Freides" >
> > wrote:
> >
> >> We have a rice cooker, bought for us as a present by Chinese friends
> >> of ours. Panasonic SR-TE10N. It makes great rice. The only
> >> downside we've noticed is that the "keep warm after cooking" doesn't
> >> really
> >> work - when it's done, we just unplug it.
> >>
> >> Would it be better, worse, or no different to put the rice and water
> >> in it a few hours before actually starting it? Or is there something
> >> else - soak the rice then rinse it then use less water, or something
> >> - I should be doing? It's white rice, nothing special, don't have
> >> the bag any more but if the kind of rice makes a difference, please
> >> let me know.
> >>
> >> Thanks in advance.
> >>
> >> -S-
> >>
> > Actually, the kind of rice does make a difference.
> >
> > I keep 4 in house: TexMati (Texas Grown Basmati), General purpose
> > medium grain, Kokuho Rose (medium grain, for sushi and oriental boiled
> > rice sides, and Arborio (for risotto).
> >
> > I think your Q is a bit unclear. You say that the keep warm feature
> > doesn't work, but I am unclear on what that means. Does the machine go
> > cold? Does the rice gum up?
>
> It gets dried out - seems like it cooks more, even though it just says
> it's keeping it warm. We get better results by making the rice early,
> turning off the machine rather than letting it keep warm, then reheating
> if necessary (often isn't, e.g., if we're making fried rice).
>
> Thanks to you and to everyone for the info - I will play around a bit.
> The rice cooker we have, at least as I've been told to use it, doesn't
> allow premeasuring. My wife tells me to add whatever rice I want by the
> cup, then fill with water until up to a line the corresponds to the
> number of cups of rice I put it. Yes, of course, I could figure it out,
> but I haven't. And I don't think it's a measuring cup, rather just a
> cup of some size that work in combination with the line on the machine.
> Time to measure for myself, I guess ...

If you empty it into a US measuring cup you'll likely find that it's
close enough to 3/4 cup as to make no never mind. Most likely it's a
Japanese rice cup, which is about 6.1 US ounces (and different from an
official Japanese measuring cup).

> I don't think we read any
> instructions, just got them verbally from our Chinese friends who have a
> similar machine. We should have the manual around here somewhere, but
> following their instructions has, so far, always produced good rice.
> "Good" here is defined as my wife likes it, I like it, and the kids like
> it. We are not after more than that right now.
>
> -S-
>
> > If the rice gums up, it may be that there is rice flour and/or talc on
> > your rice. While the use of talc is not well known, I guess there are
> > reasons for it, like the cornstarch in confectioners' sugar.
> >
> > Easily cured. Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Low
> > cost/budget rice, is usually medium grain and a mix of cracks/broken
> > grains of long grain. Not bad and inexpensive, but does get gummy from
> > the rice flour included. Rinse. Great for puddings (do NOT rinse) as
> > the flour promotes thickening.
> >
> > I use a Sanyo rice cooker, and it makes allowance for rinsed/not
> > rinsed, long grain/other/brown and firm rice/sushi rice and so on.
> >
> > I think this argues that there *are* differences in rice.
> >
> > I buy my rice at an oriental market, and talc-free rice is so
> > labelled. You can find (there) sweet rice, sticky rice, LG rice from
> > India, some speciality Colored rices (red? Black?) which I have never
> > used, and some things I totally do not understand. Yes there are
> > differences.
> >
> > FWIW: When I make LG, I always rinse. Rice generates flour/powder just
> > by being handled, and this gets in the way of grain separation of the
> > cooked rice. rinsing removes the problem.
> >
> > ALso, boiled rice and steamed rice are not the same. For more info,
> > see Tess Mallos on Iranian rice cooking. They are experts in ways of
> > cooking rice you will probably not find in Chinese or other oriental
> > cookbooks, because of the nature of "traditional" methods.
> >
> > I wish you good luck using your Panasonic. I am not familiar with that
> > machine, but I would guess the problem is not with the machine unless
> > it simply goes cold when the "keep warm" phase begins.
> >
> > HTH
> >
> > Alex

On Jan 18, 9:04*am, "J. Clarke" > wrote:
> In article >, says...
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Chemiker wrote:
> > > On Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:41:27 -0500, "Steve Freides" >
> > > wrote:
>
> > >> We have a rice cooker, bought for us as a present by Chinese friends
> > >> of ours. *Panasonic SR-TE10N. *It makes great rice. *The only
> > >> downside we've noticed is that the "keep warm after cooking" doesn't
> > >> really
> > >> work - when it's done, we just unplug it.
>
> > >> Would it be better, worse, or no different to put the rice and water
> > >> in it a few hours before actually starting it? *Or is there something
> > >> else - soak the rice then rinse it then use less water, or something
> > >> - I should be doing? *It's white rice, nothing special, don't have
> > >> the bag any more but if the kind of rice makes a difference, please
> > >> let me know.
>
> > >> Thanks in advance.
>
> > >> -S-
>
> > > Actually, the kind of rice does make a difference.
>
> > > I keep 4 in house: TexMati (Texas Grown Basmati), General purpose
> > > medium grain, Kokuho Rose (medium grain, for sushi and oriental boiled
> > > rice sides, and Arborio (for risotto).
>
> > > I think your Q is a bit unclear. You say that the keep warm feature
> > > doesn't work, but I am unclear on what that means. Does the machine go
> > > cold? Does the rice gum up?
>
> > It gets dried out - seems like it cooks more, even though it just says
> > it's keeping it warm. *We get better results by making the rice early,
> > turning off the machine rather than letting it keep warm, then reheating
> > if necessary (often isn't, e.g., if we're making fried rice).
>
> > Thanks to you and to everyone for the info - I will play around a bit.
> > The rice cooker we have, at least as I've been told to use it, doesn't
> > allow premeasuring. *My wife tells me to add whatever rice I want by the
> > cup, then fill with water until up to a line the corresponds to the
> > number of cups of rice I put it. *Yes, of course, I could figure it out,
> > but I haven't. *And I don't think it's a measuring cup, rather just a
> > cup of some size that work in combination with the line on the machine.
> > Time to measure for myself, I guess ...
>
> If you empty it into a US measuring cup you'll likely find that it's
> close enough to 3/4 cup as to make no never mind. *Most likely it's a
> Japanese rice cup, which is about 6.1 US ounces (and different from an
> official Japanese measuring cup).
>
>
>
> > I don't think we read any
> > instructions, just got them verbally from our Chinese friends who have a
> > similar machine. *We should have the manual around here somewhere, but
> > following their instructions has, so far, always produced good rice.
> > "Good" here is defined as my wife likes it, I like it, and the kids like
> > it. *We are not after more than that right now.
>
> > -S-
>
> > > If the rice gums up, it may be that there is rice flour and/or talc on
> > > your rice. While the use of talc is not well known, I guess there are
> > > reasons for it, like the cornstarch in confectioners' sugar.
>
> > > Easily cured. Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Low
> > > cost/budget rice, is usually medium grain and a mix of cracks/broken
> > > grains of long grain. Not bad and inexpensive, but does get gummy from
> > > the rice flour included. Rinse. Great for puddings (do NOT rinse) as
> > > the flour promotes thickening.
>
> > > I use a Sanyo rice cooker, and it makes allowance for rinsed/not
> > > rinsed, long grain/other/brown and firm rice/sushi rice and so on.
>
> > > I think this argues that there *are* differences in rice.
>
> > > I buy my rice at an oriental market, and talc-free rice is so
> > > labelled. You can find (there) sweet rice, sticky rice, LG rice from
> > > India, some speciality Colored rices (red? Black?) which I have never
> > > used, and some things I totally do not understand. Yes there are
> > > differences.
>
> > > FWIW: When I make LG, I always rinse. Rice generates flour/powder just
> > > by being handled, and this gets in the way of grain separation of the
> > > cooked rice. rinsing removes the problem.
>
> > > ALso, boiled rice and steamed rice are not the same. For more info,
> > > see Tess *Mallos on Iranian rice cooking. They are experts in ways of
> > > cooking rice you will probably not find in Chinese or other oriental
> > > cookbooks, because of the nature of "traditional" methods.
>
> > > I wish you good luck using your Panasonic. I am not familiar with that
> > > machine, but I would guess the problem is not with the machine unless
> > > it simply goes cold when the "keep warm" phase begins.
>
> > > HTH
>
> > > Alex- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

I have a Wolfgang Puck rice cooker. I also have his rice cooker cook
book I bought from QVC.
It came with a plastic 3/4 measure cup which is like a standard one
measuring cup.
I usually use brown rice and add two cups of water to one cup rice. I
also add a cut up sheet of dry seaweed.
I have a pair of scissors that has about 5 blades, so it doesn't take
long to cut a sheet in short ribbons.
I also add some miso powder that you use to make miso soup. I don't
add salt since I usually use the rice to make fried rice.
I cook the cut up vegetables in a wok and add different oriental
spices including some soy sauce which is salty.
When the vegetables are done the rice is on warm so I then pour the
vegetables into the rice cooker and fold it in not to bread up the
vegetables.

Lucille