To think rice manufacturers should tell the truth

This is so true! I know it's slightly different as the more you cook the longer it seems to take - but honestly....!! I don't buy 'fat' oven chips (use a deep fat fryer.....😊) but we do sometimes eat french fries. It really does take at least twice as long to cook as it says on the packaging.

Rice - though - 10 mins in boiling water. Easy......

I have Chinese family, they bought me a rice cooker, I’ve never looked back I love it.

That's very similar to what I have @Porridgeislife Saves kitchen top space, easier to pull out and use than an appliance & no electronics that can fail.

You can use it for more than rice too. I use mine for quinoa, which I struggled to get right in a saucepan. I eat rice regularly alongside batch cooked curries and other stuff. I love doing the rice, followed by reheating spares on busy days, without having to pot watch or leap into action when an alarm goes off 🙏

I've gota microwave steamer thing. I put rice in there well covered with hot water. Takes about 12 minutes.

I get what you mean, OP. I’m Asian so have cooked hundreds of pilau/basmati rice dishes. I now do low carbing so don’t buy much rice.

I tried those boil in the bag rice bags for others and the fuckers take twice as long to cook as the packet says.

They probably eat rice at least once a day, though. Some have it for every meal. My Chinese Singaporean SiL used to make ‘rice porridge’ (savoury) for her young children’s breakfast.
A waitress at our hotel in Bali told us that before coming to work every morning, she’d cook IIRC 2 kg! of rice for her (presumably extended) family’s meals that day.

That would need a whopper of a rice cooker, but I never asked how she did it!

As an alternative to a rice cooker, Joseph Joseph do a brilliant microwave cooker. They give you very exact rice/water quantities for all types of rice and we’ve never had any turn out less than perfect.

https://www.josephjoseph.com/products/m-cuisine-rice-cooker-white

I never understand the fuss about cooking rice. Whichever kind it is, I just sling it into boiling salted water, stir, bring back to a simmer, cook until done, drain in a sieve.
Microwave rice is so expensive by comparison.
Rice cookers are all very well if you use rice very often and have plenty of worktop space.

The only time I ever wanted to use one was while staying at a BiL’s huge holiday home in France, when it was my turn to cook - for 18!

There was a rice cooker, but it only did 10 portions.
So for the first time in my life I bought Uncle Ben’s and followed the instructions exactly - and they worked.

I promise these methods will work every time
https://www.recipetineats.com/how-to-cook-rice/

Use the absorption method

My issue with rice cookers, which I used to love, is the Teflon pot. I would need a new one every couple of years when the gadget itself was fine, but the Teflon was flaking.

I got an instant pot specifically for the steel inner with no Teflon. But use the microwave anyway!

White rice takes 5 mins

Brown rice takes much longer

Yep I got one because I can cook it just fine in a pan, but Dh manages to get it to stick to the bottom of the pan every time even when he uses my directions, so Rice cooker is heaven.

As its just myself and my kid, I just buy Veetee microwave steam rice (and the Aldi version), comes out exactly like home cooked rice, but only takes 1 and a half minutes to cook. I find the sacget/pouch rice is much drier and harder.

I always do mine in the microwave in an old plastic salad spinner sans the spinner bit...wash the rice, salt then cover with boiling water about 1cm above the rice, put lid on and microwave on high for 8-10 mins depending on whether its basmati or long grain. Works everytime, in fact have just cooked some 😋

Very true. The same people who think you can soften onions in 5-10 minutes.

🙄Happy to identify with a “gendered” insult, being of female gender ( and perfectly proud of it) and given I was not referring directly to anyone else.

And yes, rice is a staple in many countries and has been for centuries. Staple foods are a direct reflection of what grows well in that climate and what was available before we could pop seeds on an aeroplane. It’s an intrinsic part of the cuisine and culture of many countries of which they are often extremely proud and somehow twisting that fact into an insult is perverse.

Do you have deep-seated prejudices surrounding females or rice that you feel so twitchy?

Ah yeah sorry. I feel the same about Greg wallace

"Hysterical" is a gendered insult

"rice has been a staple food for many countries" - patronising.

Buy a rice cooker: life-changing.

1.5 billion Asian people can't be wrong...

I’m not sure why you felt it was patronising to say it’s nothing to get hysterical about when, as you say, no one here had been ( and when it isn’t anything to get hysterical about, as it turns out).

I, however, felt faintly hysterical when first told as I was feeding it to my baby at the time ( and had done so off and on for some months) when someone very bluntly said it was a bad idea as it was “ full of carcinogenic arsenic.” I didn’t want to give someone else that shock. Arsenic in the right dose is a poison in and of itself, quite apart from any carcinogenic properties. So without the full facts I was highly alarmed. My first foray into the subject immediately returned the information that it was around 20 times the level in other foods. It took time for me to dig further.

That said, while a manageable risk, it is a risk and I couldn’t simply qualify the assertion by saying it isn’t a concern.

Interestingly your article accorded very closely with what I had posted ( only they suggested a five to one cooking water ratio in lieu of six to one) save that they in fact go further and recommend a full overnight soak, rather than a pre rinse.

I’m not sure I would manage that, given it’s not a staple for us, but if we ate it more frequently it might be something worth thinking about .

The precautions needed will depend really on how often it is eaten.

I've got a Panda rice cooker. It's really good. Does white and brown rice ry well.

I always forget to wash the rice so just run some extra boiling water over the top when it’s in the colander after cooking. Also takes an age to boil but I use brown rice (about 25 mins). Will wash first next time and see if it affects cooking time (not sure how this would work).

Sainsbury's quick cook. 10 min brown rice works