Recommend a Rice Cooker

[DaMadFiddler]

My mother's birthday is later this month, and while she's an excellent baker, she has always struggled a bit with rice. Now that my parents are getting older, they're eating a lot more rice instead of breads and pasta. I'd like to order her a rice cooker for her birthday, since I know she'd enjoy the convenience of it, and I don't think it's something she would ever think to get herself.

But, since I do all my cooking with pots and pans on a stovetop, I'm not really sure what a good one is or what to look for. I'd like to keep it $40 or less, and it needs to make enough rice to serve 2-4 (ideally 2-6) people. One other note: my parents *hate* Teflon, so I am looking for one that does not have a non-stick coating.

Any suggestions?

[Jeeba Jabba]

Why do they hate teflon?

[Specially Cork]

What a bizarre thing to hate. A rice cooker without a non-stick coating would be a total bitch to clean. I'd be very surprised if there were many good options available in that category, considering the absence of a non-stick coating would be the sign of something cheaply produced.

Anyway, if you can get around that problem I'd definitely recommend buying one. Even the simpler machines still reduce the difficulty of rice cooking to a single button press.

[DaMadFiddler]

teflon scratches easily, and once there is a chip or scratch in it, it starts breaking down into your food. This wouldn't be appealing under any circumstances, but Teflon is also toxic.

[Ex-Cyber]

IIRC, Teflon is only toxic if it depolymerizes (which, admittedly, is not hard to do if you e.g. leave an empty pot/pan on a hot stove), and even then it's not toxic enough to be especially nasty unless you're a bird.

[SuperMegatron]

Richard Simmons food steamer.

[I.M. Weasel]

Aroma Rice Cooker - Endorsed by 'Yan(g) can Cook'. I have one and I love it. Im not sure if its teflon coated, I hope not; but you'll have to check on the web to see whether it is or not. I would highly recommend it.

[Specially Cork]

teflon scratches easily, and once there is a chip or scratch in it, it starts breaking down into your food. This wouldn't be appealing under any circumstances, but Teflon is also toxic.

And that's why all those people got sick from ingesting it and now it's banned?

[AgentGreen]

Aroma Rice Cooker - Endorsed by 'Yan(g) can Cook'. I have one and I love it. Im not sure if its teflon coated, I hope not; but you'll have to check on the web to see whether it is or not. I would highly recommend it.

Yeah I've got one. It might even be the same exact one since it's endorsed by Martin Yan.

It has a non-stick coating, so the teflon-hating parental units from mars might hate it. But it also has its own solid plastic utensils so there should be no worry of scratching it as long as it's handwashed and nobody tries to scour it.

http://www.target.com/Aroma-8-Cup-Cool- ... oma&page=1

This one is smaller than mine, I have a big 10-cup cooker. But it looks the same and is made by the same company so I can't assume it's much different.

[Zealous zerotype]

Just get a crock pot. Those can make rice super easy and a shit ton of other things.

[Calavera]

Is there any way to mod the Dreamcast to be able to cook rice?

[DaMadFiddler]

Is there any way to mod the Dreamcast to be able to cook rice?

Yes, but it's very hard on the GD-ROM drive. The DCRice app is a better solution than a hardware mod, but it requires use of the BBA.

On a more serious note, though: I need to get this thing ordered. I'm thinking of getting this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-SR-G10G ... 918&sr=8-9

because it's big and cheap enough and doesn't have Teflon, but I don't know if Panasonic is a good brand for this sort of thing. I don't normally think of them as a kitchen appliances company. Does the brand/design matter much, or do they all pretty much work the same?

[Quzar]

Make sure it's nickle-free too (so no stainless), as that is also bad for you. I had an uncle who was all into the insane conspiracy health stuff. Apparently the only really safe stuff is cast iron, because that's fine to eat at most any amounts.

[DaMadFiddler]

Make sure it's nickle-free too (so no stainless), as that is also bad for you. I had an uncle who was all into the insane conspiracy health stuff. Apparently the only really safe stuff is cast iron, because that's fine to eat at most any amounts.

Most of my cookware is actually cast iron, just because I like the way it cooks better. However, I doubt I'm going to find a cast iron (or even porcelain) rice cooker ;p

[not just souLLy now]

ITT Americans worried about the trace toxin levels in their cooking utensils.

Fig a. The meal that is in all likelihood going to be prepared using them

[Specially Cork]

I think America's health fears could be solved by getting the government to create some sort of agency that regulates food and drugs. You could staff the agency with experts who know more about these things than the shitpipe that your mom's forwarded emails come from.

[DaMadFiddler]

Well, thank you to the one or two of you who actually tried to help, rather than just ranting about the Teflon preference

The point is, REGARDLESS of reason, my mom doesn't like Teflon and wouldn't want it if it was Teflon-coated. Since it's a gift for her, there's no point in arguing the merits of it. I was just looking for a little advice in terms of brands/models/features to look for, since I'm not really familiar with rice cookers.

[BlackAura]

The no-Teflon requirement pretty much removes everything from consideration. There are very few rice cookers that don't use Teflon.

Rice cookers basically work by heating water in a metal bowl. The only differences are the capacity of the bowl, and the capabilities of the electronic control system. Mine just has an on/off switch, but more advanced ones have timers, different operating modes, and so on. If you just want to cook rice, you probably don't need any of that.

That one actually looks a lot like mine, but a different make. I think mine's either Breville (an Australian one) or Tefal (French, I think). It's OK, but it's only marginally easier to use than a pot on the stove, and still a bit of a bugger to clean. That's assuming you've got the hang of cooking rice on a stove - if you haven't got the hang of it, even a simple rice cooker like that is good. I used to use it a lot more before I got the hang of cooking it on the stove.