Kitchen Furniture and Appliances

Rice cookers and steamers are among the most versatile small appliances you can purchase. These little appliances are not just another fad tool that will end up in your appliance graveyard. They are very useful and can be used cooking many other foods than just rice. They can also steam vegetables and can be used to cook soups or stews. A small rice cooker makes the perfect gift for a starving college student.

Rice cookers were initially designed to cook rice and they do it perfectly every time. The rice cooker is equipped with a thermostat in the bottom of the cooker that senses when the rice is perfectly cooked. This thermostat causes a switch to turn the pot from high heat to warm at exactly the correct time to give perfect rice without burning or scorching your food. You can have real rice ready to serve your family almost as fast as you could have served them instant rice with its inferior flavor and texture.

Rice is a nutritious food that is a staple around much of the world. If you are a meat and potato family, try substituting rice for the potatoes on occasion. There is no pealing, washing, or dicing required to cook rice. Measure the desired amount into the cooker, add water to the correct mark and press the button for perfect rice.

In addition to cooking rice, rice cookers can also make a great steamer. Vegetables can even be steamed at the same time you are cooking rice. This allows you to save both time and electricity. You can also steam the vegetables without cooking rice if it is not on your menu for the evening. Hot dogs can also be steamed just like those at the ballpark. Fish cooks to perfection in the steam basket.

If you have one family member that refuses to eat rice, dice up a potato in the steamer basket for him to cook while you fix nutritious rice for the rest of the family.

Someone has described the rice cooker as the perfect tool for cooking anything that needs to boil like crazy. Thus, while it does not work well for cream soups, if you are cooking a soup that is broth based, it can be cooked in the rice cooker. Thus it makes the a great way to cook many of the Asian soups such as hot sour soup or egg drop soup. It also makes a great pasta cooker.

Rice cookers that have nonstick pans are the easiest to clean. With this pan you will be able to empty the rice into a serving dish with nothing sticking to the pan. Since it is not recommended that you stir rice when it is cooking, there is no danger of scratching the nonstick surface. Clean by rinsing and you are ready for your next batch.

The best rice cookers and steamers are the ones that are manufactured in Japan. These cookers will have the longest life and do the best job at cooking rice. Many of the cookers manufactured in other countries will do an inferior job cooking and have a shorter lifespan.