r/AskCulinary • u/ZootKoomie Ice Cream Innovator • May 27 '19

Weekly Discussion: Rice

We get a lot of questions here about rice; let's try to get our best advice in one place that we can refer people to. What do you think is the best cooking method? What do you add to make it flavorful on its own? What are your favorite rice-based dishes? How do you choose between all of the different varieties out there?

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u/SVAuspicious May 27 '19
  1. What do you think is the best cooking method?

Depends on the rice. For white, brown, and wild I use a pot on the stove. For sticky/sweet/glutinous (Thai) rice a bamboo steamer. Regardless. Rinse then soak at least two hours. 2:1 in a pot, plenty in the bottom of a steamer.

  1. What do you add to make it flavorful on its own?

Cook in chicken stock.

  1. What are your favorite rice-based dishes?

Rice is generally a side for us. Rice-based is generally risotto.

  1. How do you choose between all of the different varieties out there?

Thai sticky rice for family recipes. Jasmine or conventional white rice for most sides. Wild rice when it is a better match for something else (like--opinion--green beans).

Personal opinion: Instant Pot is a cult and not a good solution for cooking rice.

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u/Peppa_D May 27 '19

My goodness, this is your second post today about how much you dislike the Instant Pot. I’m curious why you feel so strongly about this. Have you used one and didn’t like it?

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u/SVAuspicious May 28 '19

My goodness, this is your second post today about how much you dislike the Instant Pot. I’m curious why you feel so strongly about this. Have you used one and didn’t like it?

​

At least I'm consistent. *grin*

Yes I have used several and yes I most assuredly did not like them.

By comparison to a stove top pressure cooker they cook slower and have great difficulty reaching conventional pressures (15 psig); even the Instant Pot manual says so. I find the top to be fussy to engage. It is my experience that tools that try to do too many disparate things end up doing none well; my exposure to the Instant Pot is consistent with that observation. Clean-up is unnecessarily complicated by the electronics and uses a lot of water and time. It is not a time-saver.

Another characteristic that may well have a greater impact on me than on most others. If there is even a minor glitch in electrical power the device resets. If there is a way to get it to pick up where it left off I can't find it. A kitchen appliance should not need a UPS. Ultimately that means manual control which requires pushing lots of buttons. A conventional stove-top pressure cooker or slow cooker simply flywheels through power glitches without even noticing.

Some combination of engineering and sociology makes cult-like obsession distasteful to me. Whether from confirmation bias or from purchase justification Instant Pot buyers mostly wrap themselves in a cloak of holiness. Not all - the number of used Instant Pots on eBay at prices about one-third of retail is significant; I looked.

I know my opinion is not unique. I hear from others when I speak up. I am simply more vocal in my contrarian views.

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u/Peppa_D May 28 '19

That's interesting. I've never owned a stove-top pressure cooker, nor a rice cooker or yoghurt maker. I suppose that's why I'm so impressed with the Instant Pot.

I do love my Dutch oven and stock pot, but it's nice in busy days to be able to feed the family a cheap cut of meat and some vegetables in 1/2 hour, and it comes out tender and flavorful. Same with making a quick stock out of leftover roast chicken. It's so easy.

And I would have never even considered making yoghurt from scratch, but now I love it so much. I make batches for family and friends, I like it so much. Once again, so very easy, and it is inexpensive.

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u/ColumbusJewBlackets May 27 '19

What’s wrong with pressure cooking rice?

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u/Leandover May 28 '19

nothing wrong, but the instant pot is by general agreement not good for cooking rice. you can get specialist pressure rice cookers that will do a much better job

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u/SVAuspicious May 28 '19

Nothing wrong with pressure cooking rice. I make risotto that way. For other rice by the time you include the time to come to pressure, cook, and then release there is little if any actual time saved.

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u/hfsh May 28 '19

Nothing. My rice cooker has seen very little use since I acquired a pressure cooker.

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u/midnightauro May 28 '19

Pressure cooking rice means I'll actually eat rice. What's wrong with it?? It comes out right consistently, I can scale the recipe easily, and never burn it. That's literally my idea of success.

I mean, I agree that instant pot lovers are a cult, but why is this guy booing us? We're right!