Rice cookers

[zammer]

I'm looking for a good 3.5 cup rice cooker--not fuzzy logic or one of those--that has an audible alert when cooking is done. Otherwise, you have to watch for the lights to change color. Even the $80+ Zojirushi doesn't have this very inexpensive feature. Suggestions, please?

[yorvo]

What kind of audible alert? Mine makes a pretty good clicking sound when the cook button clicks to warm. I can here it from the living room. I paid $20 bucks for it.

[oldschool1982]

Oster makes a decent one. We have it and it's pretty much a multi use steamer with the multiple compartment stacking as well as the dish for rice.

[zammer]

Old school: That's not quite it. I just want it to cook rice, as those seem to do the best job.
Yorva: A beep is the standard sound nowadays; a LOUD click might do it, but on the ones I've been able to try, including that over-priced one I noted, while they apparently do click, it's not audible 15 feet away. (I've never heard the click.) I'm developing an interest in rice, and I fear cheap units won't do for hard use. I owned the Cuisninart 4-cup $50 model (which has no sound alert) and it didn't have versatility and reliability of results, which is why I'm moving up. Fuzzy logics are very slow, 80 minutes for brown rice, an hour for white.
Thanks to both of you. It's a tough thing to find ANY 3.5 cup good cooker, I know.
I'm still open to suggestions.

[yorvo]

Here's the one I have and love. Black & Decker® Appliances - 16-Cup Rice Cooker, RC426 :: Black & Decker®

I paid $19.99 for it at Walmart. I never cook more than two or three cups in it. The bowl and lid detach for easy cleaning. It's very simple. I don't like the fancy ones. Too much crap to break. And I don't like parts I can't easily remove to clean. The spring throws that switch to warm. It's a pretty good click. Can I ask you why you need an alert sound? Do you need it to wake you up off the couch? That's why I bought a rice cooker because it switches to warm when it's finished so I don't need to babysit. That's the beauty of it.

[phatch]

With my Meniere's, I've lost a lot of my hearing now. Once you learn the time sequence for your cooker, I wouldn't rely on lights or sounds. Just check the time. I mean, you're cooking rice for the meal so you've got other things you're timing during that time as well.

I understand the request, but is a sound really the killer feature?

Yours in Hard-of-Hearing,

Phil

[zammer]

Phil-Time varies with type of rice, number of cups,. I cooked rice on the stove, and had to watch for when the steam stopped, generally be there, which is why I prefer cookers. I don't usually have much other cooking when I'm making rice.
Yorvo, too--The main need for an alarm is that the good cookers automatically switch to Warming when the cooking stops. Rice must be kept there for 10, 15 minutes or so to allow for water absorption. If there is no alert, and I haven't been keeping my eye on the time (I'm prbably in another room, on the computer or otherwise doing something), I don't know how long it's been warming. Too little, I can do more; too long and I can try to save the sice be adding some water and going through the cycle all over again.
I want a Snap, and leave the cooking to us! unit. There are many out there. I've looked at some today, including a nice Oster. They're physically too big, even a 5-cup crowds things a bit. The problem is finding a 3.5 cup with an alert.
You use a 16-cup to make 2 or 3 cups? Isn't that like having a school bus in your garage to make a few trips to the market, alone? I'm space-challenged, but still...That's a good-looking unit, B&D probably makes 5 cups (the measures are in dry rice--a 16-cup unit can make enough prepared rice to feed a squadron), surely a 10. I'm not saying you should go smaller, just an observation.
I'm going to try some sites I fouind since my post. Should have done that before I put you to to a bother. Len

[phatch]

It's all good. I wish there was more traffic in rice cookers. I haven't figured out what features of Zojirushi justify the prices they ask. Tiger and Sanyo are right up there in price at the Asian grocery. They don't carry any inexpensive units there. So in all the other kitchen stores it's inexpensive unit after inexpensive unit. Kinda confuses me.

Anyhoo, I have family and friends with Aroma brand and they've been happy with them.

Phil.

[MaryB]

I bought a Zojirushi fuzzy logic after talking to a friend from Japan. She makes rice daily and has killed may of the B&D Sanyo etc. cheap cookers. The Zo is extremely easy to clean, has a timer so you can load it and head to work and come home to rice thats hot and ready. It is a 3 cup model thats just right for one to two people. My only complaint is the manual is written in poorly translated Japanese

[zammer]

I don't see the value in Zojirushi non-fuzzy logic units, either; perhaps it's a "name" thing, like a $500 Hermes tie. The units are now made in China, at least most of those destined for the US market--Japanese demand Japanese-made quality. Preliminary skims of sites leads me to believe Panasonic, Sanyo et al give more for the money than Zori at equivalent price levels. Epinions.com indicates the cheap units are cheaply made, don't hold up.
I think I'll go to the Amazon rice cooker page, close my eyes, and point.
Len

[phatch]

Here's the rice cooker recipe section at Recipezaar. Myabe find something new to try beyond just rice.

Rice Cooker Recipes Cookbook | Recipezaar

[zammer]

Thanks, good site. I have the book recommended, would like to get around to using it someday. That looks like a Sanyo fuzzy logic 5-cup (Panasonic?). In the $130 range on Amazon.

[OregonYeti]

If you have an oriental food store near you, they will have reliable rice cookers that make rice well. From what I've seen they have some lower-priced ones with old-fashioned "dingers".

I have used 5-6 rice cookers, cheap ones, and they all have made really good rice (and I'm picky--I grew up in India). I say go basic.

[zammer]

Good idea. Several in the area. They know rice.

[zammer]

MaryB--I had the use of that Zoji, and it's all you say, BUT over an hour, sometimes well over an hour, is the deal killer. My schedule is that I don't have one, and can't take advantage of the timer as you do. Don't go by the manual, is my experience and others'. The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook by Hensperger is universally recommended (about $12 on Amazon.) I've not had the opportunity to use it for cooking yet, but it is very good in explaining different rices, preparation before cooking, and the like.