How Cook Rice

While it is sometimes unclear whether I should consider myself half Pacific Islander or half Asian, one thing is crystal clear: I love rice. And not any sort of fancy, gussied up, ready for the ball type of rice either. I like it plain and simple, white and steamed. Now while it’s clear my DNA pre-disposed me for a great appreciation of rice, there is no room for a nature vs nurture debate here because I was raised primarily by my plain white, white-rice loving mother. I mention this because it is our (my mother and I) co-dependence on rice that required us to have the best tasting, perfect every time in the easiest way possible kind of white rice. This sort of night-after-night of deliciousness can only be made possible by the venerable conventional rice cooker.

Before I go on, let me interject this short story. There are a lot of things that you know are going to change when you get married, especially if you don’t live together before the union becomes official. Never in a million years did I think one of the changes I’d have to consider would be getting rid of my rice cooker. Then I come to find out that Beth is anti-specialized kitchen appliances (like quesadilla makers, waffle makers, bread ma— well not bread makers apparently because she has one of those) and suddenly I’m trying to think of how I can cook hot pockets or grilled cheese sandwiches in the rice cooker. I remember being in college and seeing Dan pour rice into a pot on the stove and thinking, “What the heck are you doing? You don’t cook rice on a stove?” How in the world was I ever going to enjoy steamed rice again without my trusty rice cooker? In the end, the rice cooker got to stay in what can only be described as God’s amazing grace.

Ok so where did I leave us? Oh yes, the venerable conventional rice cooker! Well one of the things I’ve always wondered but never really explored was how the rice cooker works. I mean how does it steam rice so perfectly? I’m somewhat curious, but not really mechanically or electronic circuitly inclined so poking around the apparatus has yielded somewhat shaky results. Because the heating element has a sort of coily, springy action to it I thought maybe there was some weight factor involve but I never could resolve the physics of that. I’ve heard some suggest that it is a simple timing mechanism, but that seems to breakdown in my mind when different volumes of rice are possible. Well as it turns out, the mechanics are fairly simple (though they can be “fuzzy“). The heating element also includes a temperature sensor. When the sensor reaches a certain temperature, the rice is done! (follow the links for the explanation).

Who knew something so great could be so simple?

(hat tip to cigamerisedi for leading me down this path)