Rice cookers, as the name suggests, are used to cook rice to perfection. Cooking it on the top of the stove can be a mess, unless you stand there and watch it while it is cooking so that it does not boil over. Beside the mess this can create, watching the pot while it is cooking still does not cook the grain perfectly. It can take a while to learn to cook it to perfection on the top of the stove and then you do not always remember what you did the first time the rice came out perfect.
In order to cook perfect rice each time, you need a rice cooker. There are two types of cookers; the cool touch cookers which have an insulated pot in order to keep it cool to the touch; and the pot cooker which uses a pot with water and a vent that lets the steam out while it is cooking.
With a cooker, all you need to do is fill the pot with rice and water and click a button and you are cooking. You do not have to worry about making a burned on mess on the top of your stove. Some rice cookers, like the fuzzy logic cooker, will even adjust itself to the temperature and humidity of the room in which it is cooking in order to get you that perfect pot.
The capacity of each cooker differs. Therefore, it is best that you know how much rice your family may consume in a certain amount of time. You want to get a cooker that will prepare the proper amount of rice for your family, especially since some cookers will keep it fresh and warm for up to three days. Some cookers are designed to do more than just cook. In those appliances, you can steam fish as well as vegetables.
If you like to cook a variety of rice dishes, be sure that the features of the cooker you choose have the ability to cook various types of rice from white rice to wild rice. Most rice cookers are Micom cookers and when the rice is cooked, you just have to stir the rice and let it set a while before service. If you are using the Zojirushi rice cooker, this is a heat induction model and you do not have to stir and wait for it to settle. This is a Japanese cooker and is by far the easiest to use and to understand.
With a rice cooker you have perfectly cooked rice every time.