Brown rice

Well I just tried out my brand spanking new rice cooker. With trepidation I
worried if the thing would blow up. Presto, 1 hour later I get a pot full of
ready brown rice. Now I just have to consume it all. It has a funny flavor,
not as pleasant as white basmati rice. However, the lower carb count is
definitely worth it. Anyone else have brown rice experience?

"Manco" wrote in message
news:ynbFg.69751$u05.21441@trnddc01...
Well I just tried out my brand spanking new rice cooker. With trepidation
I worried if the thing would blow up. Presto, 1 hour later I get a pot
full of ready brown rice. Now I just have to consume it all. It has a
funny flavor, not as pleasant as white basmati rice. However, the lower
carb count is definitely worth it. Anyone else have brown rice experience?

We only eat brown or wild rice at home. I can't stand white rice. I cook
mine with low sodium chicken broth, even in the rice cooker.
--
the volleyballchick

Manco wrote:
Well I just tried out my brand spanking new rice cooker. With trepidation I
worried if the thing would blow up. Presto, 1 hour later I get a pot full of
ready brown rice. Now I just have to consume it all. It has a funny flavor,
not as pleasant as white basmati rice. However, the lower carb count is
definitely worth it. Anyone else have brown rice experience?



I love my rice cooker! Brown basmati rice. Yum! :-)

--
jmk in NC

"Manco" wrote in message
news:ynbFg.69751$u05.21441@trnddc01...
Well I just tried out my brand spanking new rice cooker. With trepidation
I
worried if the thing would blow up. Presto, 1 hour later I get a pot full
of
ready brown rice. Now I just have to consume it all. It has a funny
flavor,
not as pleasant as white basmati rice. However, the lower carb count is
definitely worth it. Anyone else have brown rice experience?

I bought a rice cooker a couple of months ago. It sucks. I don't remember
what brand it is, but it's way too big for what I need (my fault for buying
such a large one) and I can not get brown rice to cook properly. I have
tried all the tricks/hints I've seen. Adding extra water, letting the rice
soak in the water for half an hour before starting it. Turning the cooker
off as soon as the rice is done. Nothing works, and I end up with something
like a rice cake on the bottom (solid, dried up skin of rice) with some okay
rice on top. I waste at least half the rice, because the bottom comes out
as a dried pancake every time. I've tried long and short grain brown rice,
same thing.

It does cook sushi rice okay but again, I have to turn it off and not let it
move to the "keep warm" cycle as soon as the rice is done. I love brown
rice for a side dish, casseroles, rice pudding etc but I adore sticky
seasoned white sushi rice with furikake sprinkled on it. It's like candy!
Okay, salty/vinegary candy but very good.

Anyone have recommendations for a small, good rice cooker/steamer? I think
6-8 cup capacity is the most I'd need, not the huge thing currently taking
up space in my small kitchen.


--
Liz
HW/CW/GW
268/147/142-147

Manco wrote:
Well I just tried out my brand spanking new rice cooker. With trepidation I
worried if the thing would blow up. Presto, 1 hour later I get a pot full of
ready brown rice. Now I just have to consume it all.

And clean the stuck rice out of the bottom.
Soaking and a chore-boy type of copper
scouring pad works well. The rice cookers
are somewhat non-stick to begin with, but
that feature doesn't last so be prepared.
The technique I use to ease cleanup is to
increase the water and shut the unit off
before all of the water is gone. That
eases cleanup but the rice cooker is no
longer "automatic." You have to be around
to shut it off at the right time otherwise
it'll just keep going until the extra water
is gone.

It has a funny flavor,
not as pleasant as white basmati rice. However, the lower carb count is
definitely worth it. Anyone else have brown rice experience?

I use brown rice exclusively. I know what you
mean about the taste. And the texture is harder
too no matter how long it's cooked. But you get
used to it. Now that I've gotten used to it I
actually prefer the nuttier flavor and al dente
texture. It's like getting used to nonfat milk.
At first it's weird, but a year later it's what
is preferred.
--

jmk wrote:
I love my rice cooker! Brown basmati rice. Yum! :-)

For something realy exotic, try red or black rice.
I've read that these types of rice have reduced atherosclerosis in
rodents.

Elizabeth Blake wrote:
"Manco" wrote in message
news:ynbFg.69751$u05.21441@trnddc01...
Well I just tried out my brand spanking new rice cooker. With trepidation
I
worried if the thing would blow up. Presto, 1 hour later I get a pot full
of
ready brown rice. Now I just have to consume it all. It has a funny
flavor,
not as pleasant as white basmati rice. However, the lower carb count is
definitely worth it. Anyone else have brown rice experience?

I bought a rice cooker a couple of months ago. It sucks. I don't remember
what brand it is, but it's way too big for what I need (my fault for buying
such a large one) and I can not get brown rice to cook properly. I have
tried all the tricks/hints I've seen. Adding extra water, letting the rice
soak in the water for half an hour before starting it. Turning the cooker
off as soon as the rice is done. Nothing works, and I end up with something
like a rice cake on the bottom (solid, dried up skin of rice) with some okay
rice on top. I waste at least half the rice, because the bottom comes out
as a dried pancake every time. I've tried long and short grain brown rice,
same thing.

Maybe you just don't like brown rice that much.
You want a taste and mouth feel that it can't
really deliver. If that's the case, I don't
blame you as I feel the same way. Brown rice
is something of an acquired taste for many people.

My technique is to use extra water and turn the
cooker off while there is still some water
remaining. Also, I remove the insert as soon
as I turn it off so it'll cool down rapidly.
I do this to prevent sticking and over drying--
it doesn't change the flavor or mouth feel.
To improve the flavor
I add flavoring to the water to start with.
The rice absorbs some of the water, and it'll
also absorb some of the the flavoring provided
that the molecules are
small enough. Soy sauce, chicken stock and
bouillon are examples of flavoring that the rice
will partially absorb. One caveat is that not
all of the flavoring is absorbed and the flavoring
medium will worsen the mess in the bottom of the
insert if the cooker is allowed to run to the end
it's normal cooking cycle. Also, the burnt flavoring
will taint the flavor of much of the rice. In a
word, when using flavoring you have to turn the
cooker off while there is still some loose water
and remove the insert so that the residual heat
doesn't continue to cook/dry the rice.
Doing that improves the flavor, but the
mouth feel always seems stiff like al dente pasta.
To help with that I use twice as much water, cook
it longer, and usually finish it off by adding it to
a pan containing some meat that is stewing or braising.
The additional cooking time and a thin coating of
fat improve the mouth feel and texture quite a bit.
In the absence of a pan of meat to finish it off in,
oil or a fat-based flavoring like left over drippings
and pan fond can be added at the beginning. While
not as good as finishing it in another dish, fat
in the rice does help improve the mouth feel and
sticking to a degree. It also lowers the glycemic
index/glycemic load, but that's another subject.
One bonus with the oil is that it can handle a full
automatic cooking cycle without burning and tainting
the flavor. The simple addition of olive oil or
sesame oil to an automatic cycle can make a noticeable
difference in flavor, mouth feel and cleanup.

Of course the best of the above techniques negate
the "automatic"
feature of the specialized rice cookers. The above
techniques work just as well with a saucepan--maybe
even better as you won't be tempted to just let the
rice cooker complete its automatic cycle, dry the
rice out too much
and burn/glue a bunch of it to the bottom of the insert.

It does cook sushi rice okay but again, I have to turn it off and not let it
move to the "keep warm" cycle as soon as the rice is done. I love brown
rice for a side dish, casseroles, rice pudding etc but I adore sticky
seasoned white sushi rice with furikake sprinkled on it. It's like candy!
Okay, salty/vinegary candy but very good.

Anyone have recommendations for a small, good rice cooker/steamer?

A covered non-stick saucepan.

I think
6-8 cup capacity is the most I'd need, not the huge thing currently taking
up space in my small kitchen.

I have a 3 cup Aroma rice cooker. With brown rice
it works like all the rest; undercooked, overdried
with a significant portion burnt/stuck to the bottom.
I think of it more as an auxiliary, self-heating,
somewhat non-stick, safe in that it'll turn itself off,
saucepan.
In that sense I like it. And being 3 cup (4 if
you have to but it might bubble over) it's compact.
When I bought it I almost bought a bigger one--but
in the long run I'm glad I didn't. Rice is carb
and calorie dense. It's really easy to overdose
on it and end up hungry and craving more carbs 4
hours later. But again that's another subject.
--

Elizabeth Blake wrote:
"Manco" wrote in message
news:ynbFg.69751$u05.21441@trnddc01...
Well I just tried out my brand spanking new rice cooker. With trepidation
I
worried if the thing would blow up. Presto, 1 hour later I get a pot full
of
ready brown rice. Now I just have to consume it all. It has a funny
flavor,
not as pleasant as white basmati rice. However, the lower carb count is
definitely worth it. Anyone else have brown rice experience?

I bought a rice cooker a couple of months ago. It sucks. I don't remember
what brand it is, but it's way too big for what I need (my fault for buying
such a large one) and I can not get brown rice to cook properly. I have
tried all the tricks/hints I've seen. Adding extra water, letting the rice
soak in the water for half an hour before starting it. Turning the cooker
off as soon as the rice is done. Nothing works, and I end up with something
like a rice cake on the bottom (solid, dried up skin of rice) with some okay
rice on top. I waste at least half the rice, because the bottom comes out
as a dried pancake every time. I've tried long and short grain brown rice,
same thing.

It does cook sushi rice okay but again, I have to turn it off and not let it
move to the "keep warm" cycle as soon as the rice is done. I love brown
rice for a side dish, casseroles, rice pudding etc but I adore sticky
seasoned white sushi rice with furikake sprinkled on it. It's like candy!
Okay, salty/vinegary candy but very good.

Anyone have recommendations for a small, good rice cooker/steamer? I think
6-8 cup capacity is the most I'd need, not the huge thing currently taking
up space in my small kitchen.


--
Liz
HW/CW/GW
268/147/142-147



Ah, well, I may not be the one to listen to on this. I went with the
Panasonic/National Fuzzy Logic kind. I think that it's listed as a 5
cup capcity. The fuzzy logic puts it at the high end of the price
range. I typically make two cups of cooked rice at a time.

When I was researching rice cookers a few years ago, Panasonic/National
and Zojirushi were the brands that were most high recommended.

--
jmk in NC

Ok... dumb question here, but I have a rice cooker and never used it (my DH
had it when I moved in) you can use other liquid than water in there?
anything? can you flavor the liquid with herbs n stuff?

I don't know a thing about it..

Could I cook bulgur in it"?
Will~

"Nunya B." wrote in message
...

"Manco" wrote in message
news:ynbFg.69751$u05.21441@trnddc01...
Well I just tried out my brand spanking new rice cooker. With trepidation
I worried if the thing would blow up. Presto, 1 hour later I get a pot
full of ready brown rice. Now I just have to consume it all. It has a
funny flavor, not as pleasant as white basmati rice. However, the lower
carb count is definitely worth it. Anyone else have brown rice
experience?

We only eat brown or wild rice at home. I can't stand white rice. I cook
mine with low sodium chicken broth, even in the rice cooker.
--
the volleyballchick

It's not a silly question at all! Water, broth, canned tomatoes. You
can do one of those Spanish rice mixes in it, etc. Heck, you can make
rice pudding or Irish oatmeal in it too (I think that you'd want a
porridge setting on it though).

Willow Herself wrote:
Ok... dumb question here, but I have a rice cooker and never used it (my DH
had it when I moved in) you can use other liquid than water in there?
anything? can you flavor the liquid with herbs n stuff?

I don't know a thing about it..

Could I cook bulgur in it"?
Will~

"Nunya B." wrote in message
...
"Manco" wrote in message
news:ynbFg.69751$u05.21441@trnddc01...
Well I just tried out my brand spanking new rice cooker. With trepidation
I worried if the thing would blow up. Presto, 1 hour later I get a pot
full of ready brown rice. Now I just have to consume it all. It has a
funny flavor, not as pleasant as white basmati rice. However, the lower
carb count is definitely worth it. Anyone else have brown rice
experience?
We only eat brown or wild rice at home. I can't stand white rice. I cook
mine with low sodium chicken broth, even in the rice cooker.
--
the volleyballchick





--
jmk in NC