What we purchased: a rice cooker whose best trick is not truly rice | Engadget

Every month, Engadget options what our editors are at present into, whether or not or not it’s video video games, podcasts or devices. These should not official evaluations; they’re merely our first-hand experiences. This week, Senior Editor Nicole Lee offers her tackle the Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy rice cooker.

A protracted-standing joke amongst my household and buddies over the previous couple of many years is that I’m not a real Asian. Why? Because I didn’t have a rice cooker. Since rice is a staple of the Asian weight loss plan, rice cookers are commonplace in most Asian households. But for years, I refused to get one. That is, till lately, once I lastly gave in and obtained a $195 Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy rice cooker. And mockingly, what I ended up liking most about it isn’t rice in any respect.

The cause I held off was principally that I didn’t assume I wanted it. Since I solely dwell with my husband, I instructed myself I didn’t want a single-purpose equipment. After all, I may already make rice on the range with only a saucepan. I’ve develop into adept at making small parts of rice over time. Plus, it solely takes 18-or-so minutes. A rice cooker, however, can usually take 35 minutes or longer. So although I take pleasure in rice sufficient to make it frequently, I simply couldn’t fairly justify the seeming inconvenience.

This, nonetheless, was challenged over this previous winter break. We had our household over on Christmas Eve, so I ordered takeout from a neighborhood Chinese restaurant. At one level, we ran out of rice, so I set about making extra on the range. I needed to make rice for round 10 individuals, which I’m not used to doing. Long story quick, my calculations had been off, and the rice I made ended up crunchier than I would really like. Of course, my household didn’t complain, however I used to be nonetheless somewhat upset with myself. That’s once I reconsidered getting a devoted rice cooker.

After some analysis, I opted for the Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy rice cooker. Sure it’s costly – you possibly can simply get basic models for less than $50 – however I wished one that may cook dinner all types of rice akin to short-grain and medium-grain white rice, long-grain jasmine rice, candy (or sticky) rice, brown rice and extra. More importantly, I wished a cooker with “fuzzy logic” (sure, that’s an business time period), which primarily implies that the gadget has a pc chip. This offers it the smarts to regulate temperature and cook dinner time to accommodate different variables, akin to human error (like what I skilled over Christmas), to make sure completely cooked rice each time.

I’ve now had it for a number of weeks, and I like it. It actually does make cooking rice a lot simpler. Instead of getting to fuss over the range, I can simply rinse the rice, add water, push a button and stroll away. It additionally has a “Keep Warm” operate that lasts over 5 hours, giving me loads of time to organize dinner because the rice cooks. It additionally comes with a helpful information that tells you the right rice and water ratio for all of the totally different sorts of rice. On prime of that, it has a timer so you possibly can have the rice prepared everytime you need it.

But I’d argue the killer operate of the Neuro Fuzzy isn’t rice in any respect. I’ve found that it truly makes wonderful oatmeal from steel-cut oats. I discovered about this from an NYT Cooking recipe for “Rice Cooker Steel-Cut Oats,” (hyperlink requires subscription) and it’s actually such a recreation changer for me. Steel-cut oatmeal often takes 20 or so minutes to make, and I don’t often have time for it within the mornings. But with the rice cooker, I simply dump in a single cup of oats adopted by 4 cups of water and a teaspoon of salt earlier than I am going to mattress, set the timer for 8AM, toggle the menu to the Porridge setting, press Cook, and I get to get up to contemporary oatmeal each morning. What’s extra, the ensuing oatmeal is the most effective I’ve ever had. The texture is so creamy and clean, making it the proper automobile for each candy and savory functions. I like mine with spam, spinach and furikake. 

Additionally, and it admittedly sounds foolish to speak a couple of rice cooker this manner, however the Neuro Fuzzy is simply lovely. Its lengthy oval form offers it a rounded, egg-like look that I discover aesthetically pleasing. It additionally performs a tune each time it begins or ends cooking. My favourite design function, nonetheless, is its energy twine: it’s retractable! This method you possibly can retailer it away and not using a nest of cables to take care of.

Perhaps the one actual draw back of the Neuro Fuzzy rice cooker is that it’s fairly sluggish. White rice takes round 40 or so minutes to cook dinner, whereas brown rice can take 90 minutes or longer (stovetop timing however, ranges from 18 minutes for white rice to 45 minutes or so for brown rice). Still, that’s a small worth to pay for completely cooked rice, creamy morning oatmeal and, hopefully, no extra ruined Christmases.