Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

While I love this cookbook, I'm going to tell you about the problems so you can get better results from it. 1. Measuring is a challenge! Depending on your rice cooker, liquids can be measured three ways: using the rice cooker cup, by the marks inside your rice cooker bowl, and by a standard measuring cup [8 fl oz.]. Dry ingredients can be measured by either the rice cooker cup or by a standard dry ingredients measuring cup. Before beginning any recipe, make sure you know what measures are being used, and do not make any recipe for the first time when company is coming over, in case you need to adjust it. Based on numerous recipe failures, I think the writers sometimes mixed up the measurements. They definitely could have made the information clearer in each recipe. How about a revised edition? ;) 2. Some recipes, polenta for example, have overly long cooking times, such as two porridge cycles back to back, or 90 minutes. Polenta cooks on the stovetop in 20 minutes; even a single porridge cycle is too long. Feel free to cut cooking times short. 3. When cooking oatmeal, polenta, grits, etc. with the porridge cycle, open the cover up, and leave it up, once the contents reach a simmer. If you don't, starchy lava will flow out of the vent and make a horrible mess, hot liquid may shoot out, and the recipe may be ruined as a result. If your rice cooker starts to spit, use extreme caution when you open the lid, as the hot contents may splash and burn you. 4. If a recipe says you can skip pre-soaking for tapioca, beans, etc., don't. Your final results will be much better using a traditional overnight soak in cold water. 5. When making risotto, don't perform the first step, briefly sautéing the rice in oil, in the rice cooker. Because rice cooker bowls are narrow and deep, the rice will be steamed, and your risotto will be mush. Instead, sauté the rice as usual in a large flat frying pan, then transfer the contents to the rice cooker bowl. Also, use the variety of Arborio called Carnaroli, as it holds up the best. 6. Use an easy to clean rice cooker; mine is the Panasonic from Williams Sonoma. You can avoid lingering odors--even from cinnamon and curry--if you can take the top completely apart and wash it each time. Soak the parts in cool water, not hot, and they should clean up easily. If odors remain, put two or three cups of cold water in the rice cooker and run it through the regular cycle, taking care that it doesn't cook dry. By cups, I mean 8 fluid ounces. ;) Then let it cool, take it apart as much as you can, and let the pieces dry completely in a dish rack. 7. No recipe is foolproof! Variances in rice crops, local water, and rice cookers will affect the outcome. If it doesn't work the first time, make adjustments and try again.