Best rice i've had at home in a while
Pros:
Consistent, quality results
Easy to clean
Quiet
Cons:
Price
The Bottom Line:
If you're happy with minute rice, this may be overkill. Otherwise, take the plunge, and you won't regret it - it's worth every penny.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
After finally getting sick of accidentally screwing up rice made on the stovetop, I decided to purchase the Zojirushi NS-ZCC10 rice cooker a couple weeks ago - so far i've made a few batches of white rice with it, and they were worlds better than what i've managed on my own....I eat a lot of Chinese and Thai food, and the rice this thing produces easily matches up to restaurant product, although maybe not better.
At first glance, the myriad of buttons on the front look complicated, but everything is printed clearly, and the manual has fairly detailed explanations of everything, up to and including little illustrations of the various rice types. As expected, the cooker is clearly labled both on itself and on the box as being made in Japan.
Operation was simple: just dump in the rice, fill the water to the right line, close and start it up after selecting the rice type/consistency. Aside from steam coming out the vent and the little start/end tune, you wouldn't even know it was on. So far the rice (regular white rice) has always come out perfect - not crunchy or soggy but nicely steamed.
As you can see from the manual and various comments around the net, this cooker is not fast - my latest batch of 4 cups of rice took approx. 50 minutes. However, considering that during all of this time I could work on making the rest of dinner and relaxing instead of keeping an eye on a simmering pot, it's well worth it. And of course there's the timer function where I can fill it in the morning, leave for the workday, and have it cooked and ready for dinner when I get home.
Cleanup was also very easy, as the non-stick pot displayed non-stickiness as advertised, I think it took 2 or 3 minutes of extremely light wiping and it was again spotless. The inner lid does seem to accumulate gunk during the cooking process, and unfortunately is not non-stick, but is still easily cleaned in a few minutes.
All in all, while it took me a long time to finally justify spending the money on this cooker (approx $160), it has been well worth it so far. Looking forward to trying the other functions for brown rice, porridge/oatmeal and such.
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