How to make rice?

[noisyturtle]

I got this fancy new rice maker, and my rice keeps coming out mushy and gross. I am trying to get that fluffy nice rice and this is becoming frustrating.

Tried less water, tried more water, tried cooking for less time, tried adding milk. I generally make 2 cups at a time, but each time my rice is still mushy(not watery) and seemingly overcooked.
WTF am I doing wrong? The entire point of this rice maker is it's supposed to make perfect rice, but it's worse than my $20 rice maker that would always burn everything.

Right now I am doing the standard 1 pt rice 2 pt water, and tried 1/2 cup variations of less and more. Using just regular calrose rice in a Zojirushi rice cooker.
Any advice?

[tp4tissue]

read tp4's rice hydration guide in the sig.

but the rice cooker itself may have specific instructions,  it should give you some ratios in the manual.

[fohat.digs]

I have had a couple of official rice cookers and they sucked.

These B&D steamers are the way to go - cheap, easy, fool-proof, and they can be used for steaming many other food items just as well.

Over the past 30 years I have gone through at least half a dozen of them - with strong regular use (ie multiple times per week) they usually peter out after 3-5 years, proportionally longer or shorter depending on use. $100 new or $10 at a 2nd hand shop, you decide.

Personally, after the 1st one, I have always bought the same model, used, so that I have spare parts, and I know exactly how to operate it.

I use about 20%-30% more water than rice (with an optional pinch of salt and splash of oil) and steam it for about 45 minutes. Done

[pixelpusher]

I got this fancy new rice maker, and my rice keeps coming out mushy and gross. I am trying to get that fluffy nice rice and this is becoming frustrating.

Tried less water, tried more water, tried cooking for less time, tried adding milk. I generally make 2 cups at a time, but each time my rice is still mushy(not watery) and seemingly overcooked.
WTF am I doing wrong? The entire point of this rice maker is it's supposed to make perfect rice, but it's worse than my $20 rice maker that would always burn everything.

Right now I am doing the standard 1 pt rice 2 pt water, and tried 1/2 cup variations of less and more. Using just regular calrose rice in a Zojirushi rice cooker.
Any advice?

How long does it cook white rice?  If it's going much more than 15 minutes it could be overcooked.  Otherwise mushy is usually too much water.

[noisyturtle]

The regular setting takes about 40 minutes. There is a quick setting, but I feel like I need to perfect regular mode first.

This time I soaked the rice for 1 hr as per tp's soaking guide (did not soak b4,) rinsed very thoroughly, and did a 1-1.5 rice to water ratio since this is short grain polished rice.

We shall see how this batch turns out. Either way, it's gonna become curry tonight.
Trying to get the rice perfect so I can do Koko Alaisa, because I'd hate to waste the koko Samoa

[pixelpusher]

The regular setting takes about 40 minutes. There is a quick setting, but I feel like I need to perfect regular mode first.

This time I soaked the rice for 1 hr as per tp's soaking guide (did not soak b4,) rinsed very thoroughly, and did a 1-1.5 rice to water ratio since this is short grain polished rice.

We shall see how this batch turns out. Either way, it's gonna become curry tonight.
Trying to get the rice perfect so I can do Koko Alaisa, because I'd hate to waste the koko Samoa

If it's cooking white rice for 40 min then it's likely soaking it for before it starts the cook cycle

Brown or sprouted rice do take about an hour to cook

[noisyturtle]

Yup, turned out to be a horrible mushy mess once again. Maybe it is the type of rice, but this cooker is designed for sticky rice.

There is almost no individual grains in this batch, just one congealed white mash.

This is what a $200 rice cooker does? Not impressed.

[tp4tissue]

Yup, turned out to be a horrible mushy mess once again. Maybe it is the type of rice, but this cooker is designed for sticky rice.

There is almost no individual grains in this batch, just one congealed white mash.

This is what a $200 rice cooker does? Not impressed.

might not be the right setting.

but it might be the rice as well, calrose is not a good rice.  go to the korean store, describe what you want, and their guy will sort you out.

which rice cooker is this the model, or just post the manual.

[noisyturtle]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00007J5U7?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Followed the manual that is thick enough to be for a new car and still messed it up.
I do think it is **** rice though, this stuff was almost falling apart after an hr of soaking. Super bleached and over-polished to little nubs.

[tp4tissue]

with this cooker, you don't need to soak.

take the white rice, use their cup, not the green one, the other cup,

then just wash and add water up to the white rice line for the number of cup used.

then select white rice,  also select the hard setting.   if it's still mushy, it's the rice.

you can also use the sushi rice line, that should make it slightly harder.

[fohat.digs]

You guys make the simplest easiest things into colossal and fussy productions.

There is no reason to buy automated machines to try to help prevent your brain from having to function.

Any good cook will tell you that cooking is both an art and a science. Learn both aspects.

[alvrnicu]

Grab a Korean/Japanese rice cooker, scoop two cups of rice using the cup it comes with, wash the rice till the water runs mostly clear and then pour the rice into the rice cooker's bowl, stick your index finger straight down into it and add water till the the water reaches your index's first joint, close lid and lock, then press the Cook button (you'll have to figure out which one it is if you don't read Korean/Japanese).

Been using Cuckoo and Zojirushi cookers all my life and this is how my parents taught me.

[tp4tissue]

take some photos nt, of how much water covers the rice when you put it in

[Sniping]

Kind of sounds like there's too much water and/or maybe too much starch from not washing. I assume you're also washing the rice around 5 times or more until the water in the bowl is clear, and washing it with cold water? After the timer goes off, I also let the rice sit another 10 minutes or longer after it finishes. This is the rice I usually have: https://www.sunlee.com/rice/buddha-thai-hom-mali-rice/

[Darthbaggins]

seeing all of this makes me feel like a caveman using a standard cooking pot to make my rice, but in the end my rice comes out perfectly as I want it.

[PlayBox]

seeing all of this makes me feel like a caveman using a standard cooking pot to make my rice, but in the end my rice comes out perfectly as I want it.

cooking pot is the best ain't it. ialso make my rice in a cooking pot, never washing my rice either

[tp4tissue]

NT, where are the rice updates,

we demands rice updates.

[noisyturtle]

NT, where are the rice updates,

we demands rice updates.

Show Image

Too sad from all the failure, gonna try again when I have a chance to get some better rice. Plus I still have a little congealed glutenous mass left from last time.
Thinking 3 Ladies, or Kokuho rice this weekend

[tp4tissue]

Rice update NT,  where are we ?

when you're at the rice store, get some asian pickled vegetables as well. they go great with h0t rice

[korrelate]

Probably amounts to the same thing, but you could be making one of two mistakes:
A. using the wrong cup (the green one is for white rice, I think - the one we have is green) - this would lead you, perhaps to using too little rice for the same amount water. Basically the same as saying "too much water" but you got there a different way.
B. Too much water: i.e. you're not using the correct fill line on the inside of the bowl.

Kind of weird that it came out as a gooey blob. Maybe you're using pre-cooked/instant rice. Don't want that. TBH before I got married I had never seen uncooked "real" rice before. This may be your issue.

1. Zojirushi is top shelf for rice cookers. Good pick.
2. I'm inclined to agree that it's probably the rice. "Uncle Ben's" or any other kind of "instant" rice is not going to work well in this cooker.
3. We've used Kokuho Rose rice and loved it. I think you can actually get it at Costco. Works very well in "real" rice cookers.
4. If you have Asian grocery stores in your area (many korean and vietnamese restaurants have a small grocery store attached to the restuarant) buy it there. If they have a reasonable amount of store traffic the rice won't spend much time sitting on the shelf.
5. Pay attention to cups: the included cup is NOT a standard US "cup."
6. Watch the fill line on the inside of the bowl: there's a different line for different types of rice. You want to be sure that you're using the "White Rice" fill line: 1 green zojirushi cup corresponds to the number 1 on the fill line. 2 green zojirushi cups corresponds to 2, etc.

Zoji's Neuro-Fuzzy are pretty damn good, don't get me wrong, but the next step up is the bomb: Zoji's pressure-coking rice cookers:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088FZXZHY/ref=sbl_dpx_kitchen-electric-cookware_B00007J5U7_0

These make the best damn rice I've ever had. Going out to eat is damn near always a step down from this.

[noisyturtle]

Do yall usually use sticky polished, jasmine long-grain, what type of rice for standard every day rice?
I made some jasmine which turned out much better, so it's the sticky rice I'm having issues with. This batch of jasmine was fluffy, a little more watery/mushy than I'd like, but not burned at all. I could actually identify individual grains of rice.
It's that sticky white rice that messes up. It simply turns to mush every time, even with way less water, exact correct ratios, or like someone said, more water than needed. Every time my sticky rice is one big glutenous hunk.

I feel like the machine is overcooking the sticky rice, but everyone swears by it making perfect rice and the timer is automatic. WHY IS IT MUSH EVERY TIME THEN??

It also seems worse when I rinse the rice, which so many say is necessary. Every time I rinse and dry the rice it is even worse consistency, like a pudding after cooking.

[tp4tissue]

Take some pictures. you might just have different expectations.


Rice with more amylose will be more gelatinous,

Rice with more amylopectin will come out stiffer, harder, chalkier


All rice have a proportion of the 2 starches, going from one side to the other on a spectrum of texture.

Jasmine is a stiff rice, it's good fresh cooked, first meal, but leftover jasmine is chalky,

Whereas a more glutinous rice, will remain softer and palatable second/third meal through reheating.

[Darthbaggins]

I lean towards using Jasmine or other long grain, and tend to only cook 1 to 2 cups depending on the meal and if I want there to be leftovers - I use sprinkles of water and a damp paper towel over top to re-heat to avoid the chalkiness TP mentioned.  But remember I cook my rice in a pot and not in a fancy rice cooker (even though I really want to get one, love the one my uncle has as the rice comes out fluffy/perfect).

[korrelate]

Do yall usually use sticky polished, jasmine long-grain, what type of rice for standard every day rice?
I made some jasmine which turned out much better, so it's the sticky rice I'm having issues with. This batch of jasmine was fluffy, a little more watery/mushy than I'd like, but not burned at all. I could actually identify individual grains of rice.
It's that sticky white rice that messes up. It simply turns to mush every time, even with way less water, exact correct ratios, or like someone said, more water than needed. Every time my sticky rice is one big glutenous hunk.

I feel like the machine is overcooking the sticky rice, but everyone swears by it making perfect rice and the timer is automatic. WHY IS IT MUSH EVERY TIME THEN??

It also seems worse when I rinse the rice, which so many say is necessary. Every time I rinse and dry the rice it is even worse consistency, like a pudding after cooking.

I'm with tp4 on this... pictures would really help. Here's what I'd want to see:

1. Picture of the bag of rice you're using.
2. Picture of the metal bowl, filled with rice and water just before you close the lid and start cooking.
3. Picture of the setting you're using to cook the rice (i.e. of the LCD screen while the pot is cooking the rice).
and while you're at it... the model number of the cooker / link to user manual for you cooker.
We actually bought ours in japan on a trip and none of the controls are English... my wife just taught me what i have to press to make white rice.

If it's turning out mushy for you all the time you might be using the wrong setting. I remember when we first brought ours home I was reading all the sh*t it could do (there was a similar, but larger capacity, US model available with an English manual)... oatmeals, sticky rice (that's actually a thing.. sticky rice... used for very specific dishes where you want... you guessed it... very sticky rice, and blah blah blah I can't remember because it was always just about white rice for us). Different settings could be wildly different outcomes.

And then the other thing, it's a stretch... is where are you at? Run times for High Altitude locations (e.g. Denver) might make a huge difference here.

[korrelate]

The rice we usually use:

Kokuho Rose California Premium Medium Grain Rice.
I don't know of any particular reason that we're using this over any other Kokuho Rose.

https://www.amazon.com/Kokuho-Calrose-Rice-Yellow-Pound/dp/B007OMF56Q/ref=asc_df_B007OMF56Q/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312134199109&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15098760709247662842&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9008470&hvtargid=pla-571115359095&psc=1


Also... when you're making your rice are you:

A. Filling the rice-cooker's bowl with water (to the appropriate fill line) and then adding the rice?
or
B. Dumping the rice in the cooker's bowl and then filling with water to the appropriate water line?

The two answers are NOT the same. A uses a lot more water to cook your rice than B does.

B is the correct answer here. The instructions that Zojirushi provides are not clear on the matter here.

Here's what I usually do (the long-ish version):

1. Measure out 1 green Zojirushi cup of rice.
2. Dump step one above into the Zoji's rice pot.
3. Leaving the rice in the zoji's pot, rinse the rice that I just dumped into the pot a couple times (draining all of the rinse water each time).
on the last rinse I try to get all the rice into the center of the pot.
4. With all of the rinsed rice centered in the bottom of the pot I add enough water to get to the 1 on the "white rice" scale of the inside of the bowl.
5. Cook it.
6. Eat it.


NOTE: By "green Zojirushi cup" I mean specifically that: it's the little green plastic cup that comes with the Zojirushi rice cooker. We've had ours forever. Maybe yours is a different color. The important thing here is that the actual measure of this green zojirushi cup is NOT equal to one standard US "cup".


Another NOTE: I mentioned it above, and TP checked your manual(post below): the color of the cup you should be using is described in your manual. It will make a difference (particularly vs. US cup sizes).


In the video below, note how they are using "Choice B" to cook the rice. They kind of gloss over the fact, but the rice is definitely in the bowl before they start adding water to the fill line.

[tp4tissue]

in NT's manual, it says the green one is for a prewashed rice, the white one is the right one for regular rice.  the difference is slight ~5%  but that is enough to impact the Ultimate texture.

https://www.zojirushi.com/servicesupport/manuals/manual_pdf/ns_zcc10_18.pdf

[korrelate]

in NT's manual, it says the green one is for a prewashed rice, the white one is the right one for regular rice.  the difference is slight ~5%  but that is enough to impact the Ultimate texture.

https://www.zojirushi.com/servicesupport/manuals/manual_pdf/ns_zcc10_18.pdf

Perhaps, perhaps. We've been making it every day for years now though, and I'm sure we've been +/- 5% a hundred times. Probably does impact texture, that slight variation, but it's not the cause of his rice turning into a glob of jelly. My current bet is on the Choice A vs. Choice B dilemma I mentioned above.... I vaguely remember being puzzled by that when I first started: one choice is going to be using almost double the water of the other (> 50% difference, at least).

[tp4tissue]

The other thing Tp remembers is "much older" rice cookers not doing terribly well in making small amounts of rice, if you made 5 cups, it'd come out fine, if you made 2, it'd come out gloopy.

This shouldn't be the case here, but it's a deep seated rice memory tp4 has.

[noisyturtle]

Yeah, I'm honing it in a bit.
It really was a combination of too much water and poor quality rice. Got some Three Ladies Sweet Thai and sticky, Lundberg jasmine, and Kokuho med grain. Three Ladies Sanpatong Sweet Rice is my favorite so far.

I don't know where that 2:1 water to rice ratio came from, but it does not work with any type of rice I've cooked. Sweet, sticky, and jasmine all were WAY too moist with a 2:1. Finding far more success with a 1.25:1 ratio, especially with sticky and sweet rice.
I am still not reaching the fluff levels I want though, and it has a tendency to clump and stick near the bottom, which inevitably leads to mushy rice later.

I'll take some pics over the weekend, but not sure how much they will help. It would so cool to make that perfectly fluffy, individual grain grandma rice someday. Guess grandma had 90 years of practice though.

[fohat.digs]

success with a 1.25:1 ratio

This is what I have said for 30 years.

[Aquarius]

The ratio of water to rice is easy. Simply use your index finger and add water to the first knuckle of your index finger. Regardless of the amount of rice.

[pixelpusher]

The ratio of water to rice is easy. Simply use your index finger and add water to the first knuckle of your index finger. Regardless of the amount of rice.

finger on top of rice or touching bottom of pot?

[tp4tissue]

The ratio of water to rice is easy. Simply use your index finger and add water to the first knuckle of your index finger. Regardless of the amount of rice.

finger on top of rice or touching bottom of pot?

Lololol,  top of the rice.

But you don't have to do this.  Use TP4's rice hydration guide in Signature below, add a little water if it does not clear the rice (pot geometry).

If you use the finger method, POST soaking, the rice will be pretty close to the water line or slightly above it. But it may be less consistent depending on how precise you are with your dip angle and light shadow cast.

[noisyturtle]

Does anyone else put stuff in your ricemaker while cooking?

I've been finding adding a little salt makes the entire thing taste weird, but adding a small pad of butter leads to fluffier rice. Wondering how a little egg white or aquafava would work for creating a smoother texture.

[tp4tissue]

Most things interfere with the absorption of water, and often leads to uneven cooking.

Outside of that, maintaining the rice's texture/ integrity is really just a management of gelatinization temperature and final moisture percentage in each grain.

Put more simply, you want the rice pre-soaked, overnight (if possible for texture), and you want to ensure the cooking cavity is above 60c for at least 25-40 minutes and end up with approximately final total 2.095x the mass of the dry input rice.


For example, Tp4 uses a manual pressure cooker (very low water loss).  Empirically determined water loss is ~ 2.5% at end of process.

Tp4 uses 1.095x the mass of the rice worth of water, + 2.5%

1000g rice + 1122g water

Run full flame until cavity reaches max 15psi pressure (temp), continue 1.5 minutes, low flame 3 minutes, back to max flame last 30 seconds. 

The rice will then sit for another 40 minutes untouched, where the internal temp stays above 60c, as the pressure cooker has pretty good thermal mass.

[noisyturtle]

How many grams in a cup of rice?

If my ****ty math is right (which it probably isn't) you use 1 1/5 cup of water per cup of rice? But that is accounting for low moisture loss.

Has tp ever used a stone pot for rice? That would be super high heat with little moisture loss.

[tp4tissue]

I don't use volume because different rice grain and cup geometries lead to different mass/volume.

Never used a stone pot. Do these work well on modern gas stoves ?

[tp4tissue]

Watched some videos, it seems the stone pots have alot of water loss, this is alot of babysitting like cooking rice in regular pots.

It should be possible to master using it, but repeat-ability is more difficult for sure.

[noisyturtle]

Gas is the preferred method since it's closest to cooking over a fire, but I've used a stone pot for both rice and stir fry on a shortorder style griddle before as well.

[tp4tissue]

Gas is the preferred method since it's closest to cooking over a fire, but I've used a stone pot for both rice and stir fry on a shortorder style griddle before as well.

Tp4 prefers the Squishness-texture of each grain of rice to be a medium-soft jellybean, slightly harder than mochi. This is difficult to achieve in repetition if the method of cooking has a highly variable rate of evaporation.

[chyros]

I had considered buying a rice cooker for a while, but in the end I figured "**** it". You take rice, stick it in a big pot full of water, and boil it until it tastes good. This is not an inconvenience, or difficult, and it's fine. Rice comes out great.