Rice Cookers Understanding Some of the Global and Societal Differences of Rice Cooking

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Rice CookersUnderstanding Some of the Global
andSocietal Differences of Rice Cooking

• Initially prepared by Kang KangM.S. Student,
  Industrial EngineeringPenn State University
• Spring 2011

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Introduction

• Rice is the seed of the monocot plant Oryza
  sativa
• One of the oldest foods traced to 5000 BC by
  archaeologists
• It is the most important staple food for a large
  part of the worlds human population, especially
  in East and South Asia, the Middle East, Latin
  America, and the West Indies 1
• When rice is harvested, it has a inedible husk
  (hull) that surrounds the kernel, which is
  removed along with the stalk and other foreign
  material using a variety of specialized equipment
  in a rice mill

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Grain Sizes

• Rice is divided into three types based on seed
  size
• As a rule, the shorter the grain, the more tender
  the rice is, and the more it clings together

Long Grain Medium Grain Short Grain
Cooked grains are separate, firm and fluffy Cooked grains are moist, tender and tend to cling together Cooked grains are moister, more tender, and tend to cling together
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Types of Rice

• Forms of Rice
• Brown rice All rice is originally brown. Brown
  rice (as you buy it) is rice from which only the
  hull has been removed. When cooked, it has a
  slightly chewy texture and a nutlike flavor. In
  different countries brown rice has different
  names - Chinese ?? pinyin caomi literally
  "rough rice" Korean ?? hyeonmi Japanese ??
  genmai Thai ????????? Vietnamese g?o l?t. 2
• Regular milled rice (White rice) Has been
  completely milled and polished, removing the bran
  layer.

Brown rice 4
White rice 5
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Types of Rice

• Forms of Rice
• Parboiled rice Most commonly used in European
  and American cooking. The grains do not stick
  together giving it a 'fluffy' texture that
  American/UK cookbooks find desirable. The
  parboiled rice is soaked, steamed, and dried
  before milling. This way nutrients stay within
  the grain, and the surface starch is reduced,
  producing cooked rice that is somewhat more firm
  in texture and separate when cooked.
• Unmilled rice Before polished rice was
  introduced, people ate unmilled rice, which was a
  little bit harder than polished rice. Many people
  still cook and eat unmilled rice.

Parboiled Rice 6
Unmilled rice to milled rice 7 (From right to
left)
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Types of Rice

• Rice Varieties
• There are more than 40,000 different varieties of
  rice worldwide. Two common and popular varieties

• Basmati rice It has the longest grain of all and
  a translucent appearance. It also has a
  distinctive sort of spicy aroma, which matches
  spicy dishes perfectly.
• Jasmine Rice Sometimes known as Thai fragrant
  rice, it is a long-grain variety of rice that has
  a nutty aroma, The grains will cling when cooked,
  though it is less sticky than other rice.

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Jasmine rice 9
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Cultural Differences

• Due to cultural differences, the way people eat,
  prepare and serve rice are
• very different
• Differences in types of rice
• Differences in how rice is cooked
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• Differences in taste and consistency of rice
• Sticky and glutinous 15
  Medium stickiness and non-glutinous 16
  Non-sticky and separate grains
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World Map Of Rice Cultivation
Korea
Japan
India
China
Thailand
Source http//www.ricemap.org/tutorial/
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China

• Traditional Chinese ways of cooking rice
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• Rice varieties in China
• Indica rice is dominant in the south
  (long-grain, medium stickiness), while japonica
  rice is widely planted in the north (short-grain,
  more sticky)

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China

• Different Needs
• Side dish
• Stir fried rice
• Rice porridge/congee

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Map
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Japan

• Japonica Rice or Sushi Rice
• Also called uruchi-mai, it is a medium-grain
  rice, which is used for almost any kind of
  Japanese dish, including sushi and onigiri

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Japan

• Sushi
• Traditional sushi rice is made from
  short-grained, white rice (preferably Japanese
  rice), and it is mixed with salt, sugar, sake and
  vinegar to make the rice fluffy and sticky
  (though there are many ways to make sushi rice)

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Map
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Korea

• Korean Rice
• Korean rice is short grain rice like sushi rice
  and has a lot more starch than long grain rice
  because it is highly glutinous
• Unlike rice from Southeast Asia or North America,
  Korean rice is moist and sticks together rather
  than falling apart
• This makes it easy to eat with chopsticks

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Korea

• Different Needs

Bibimbap 29
Beany rice 31
Purple Rice 30
Map
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Thailand
Thai Fried Rice In Thailand, fried rice is often
served with cucumber and a wedge of lime. The
unique taste of the Thai rice comes from a mix of
fish sauce, soy sauce, chili peppers and lime.
The rice is decorated with cilantro and a dusting
of freshly ground pepper. When you make fried
rice it is good to use a little dry rice
(normally Jasmine Rice) so that the rice does not
stick this is an important requirement of fried
rice
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Map
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India

• Rice Varieties
• Rice is the staple food of all Indians.
  Different regions of India eat different
  varieties of rice and cooking methods.

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India

• Different cooking methods and taste preference
• The preferred consistency is non-sticky and
  separate grains, which is very different from
  Chinese/Korean rice. There are several ways to
  prevent the rice from sticking (e.g., adding
  extra oil or ghee, or draining the rice and
  pouring room temperature water on top of the
  grains after they are cooked through to flush and
  drain any remaining starch). Spices can also be
  added before cooking the rice or after steaming
  it.

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Other Countries

• Middle East
• Rice is a common side dish
• Many dishes are served over rice
• Normally, rice is fried first and should be
  non-sticky
• Brazil
• Overwhelming majority of the population eats
  rice and beans every day of their lives - core
  of Brazilian cuisine and of Brazilian nutrition
• Rice and beans play a large part in the cuisines
  of many other parts of Latin America (Cuba,
  Venezuela, Mexico), but rice cookers are not
  often used in those regions

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United States

• Instant Rice
• Pre-cooked rice that is dehydrated and
  repackaged
• Dehydration removes a lot of its flavor

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How to Cook Rice

• Cook rice in the pot
• Typically rinse rice first, then put two cups of
  water to one cup of rice in the pot, boil water,
  heat and stir during the process
• Different rice types and amounts require
  different amounts of water
• Can easily be over-cooked or unevenly cooked
  need to monitor while cooking

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Poorly Cooked Rice

• Over-cooked/burned rice
• Too much water added

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How to Cook Rice

• Cook rice in the pot
• Typically rinse rice first, then put two cups of
  water to one cup of rice in the pot, boil water,
  heat and stir during the process
• Different rice types and amounts require
  different amounts of water
• Can easily be over-cooked or unevenly cooked
  need to monitor while cooking
• Use a rice cooker
• Much easier, one-bottom, and different functions
  to choose
• No need to stir/monitor during cooking
• No concern of over-cooking

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General Operation

• How does a rice cooker know the rice is ready?
• A heating device inside the container begins to
  heat up the water to its boiling point, which is
  212 F (100 C).
• As the water boils, the rice absorbs the steam,
  and some of the steam escapes through the lid.
• When the water is nearly all gone, the
  temperature of the food will begin to rise above
  212 F (about 105 C).
• This change in temperature is monitored by a
  sensor hidden in the bottom of the rice cooker,
  which triggers a switch to turn the cooker off or
  lower the temperature to keep rice warm

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Rice Cooker Design

• Structure
• Pot style
• Separate pots
• Cool touch
• Operation System
• Mechanical
• Electronic
• Micro-computer control
• Cooking principle
• Pressure cook
• Heating

Aroma ARC-883TC
Aroma ARC-773-1G
Panasonic SR-G06FG
Aroma ARC-914SBB
Panasonic HD4761
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Rice Cooker Features

• Inner Pan
• Essential for cooking, should be non-sticky and
  evenly conducting heat
• Good
• Single coat of non-sticky material
• Better
• Several layers of coding non-sticky layer,
  aluminum alloy, hard anodic oxidation coating
• Best
• Vacuum insulated pan to ensure even heating
• Innovative coating materials such as
  copper-coded, morion-coded (crystal-coded), whole
  casserole material (argil material)

Panasonic HD4761
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Rice Cooker Features

• Cooking options

Single touch Single option Keeps rice warm auto-matically
Menu with indicator light Various rice options brown rice, white rice Delay timer
LED menu Various rice and cooking options porridge, soup, cake, slow cook Reheating element keeps rice warm for a long time
Panasonic SR-G06FG
Aroma ARC-150SB
Toshiba RC-10MY
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Cooking Control Technologies

• Control Technologies
• Variable Pressure Control
• Computerized temperature control
• Fuzzy Logic (Sensor Logic or Smart Logic)
• Adjusts the amount of heat based on the amount of
  water, and the amount of heat absorbed by the
  food
• Rectifies any mistakes in water measurements or
  other human errors by adjusting the cooking time
  and temperature to cook rice to perfection
• Induction Heating 3
• Rather than heating the inner pot in a
  traditional manner, induction-heating uses
  electromagnetic energy to heat a separate
  copper-coated inner pot
• The heat and moisture penetrate deeply and evenly
  into individual rice grains to produce sweet and
  fluffy rice
• Technology widely used in Japanese rice cookers
  and is usually powered by a micro-computerized
  control and combined with pressure control
  technology

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Low-End vs. High-End Cookers

• San Jiao Rice Cooker
• Features
• Automatically keep warm
• Price 9
• Zojirushi NP-LS
• Features
• Multi-functional
• IH technology
• LCD controller
• A mini pump that pumps outside air into the
  cooker to add pressure
• Programmable melody or beep on/off indicator
• Price 1000

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References

• 1 http//toddyhotpants.com/blog/2009/02/23/motor
  bike-trip-ha-n?i-sai-gon/
• 2 http//news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/05/
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• 3 http//www.buzzle.com/articles/types-of-rice.h
  tml
• 4 http//www.healthcaretipsandguides.com/some-he
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• 5 http//mycoloredlinks.com/goodBlogs/archives/5
  83
• 6 http//www.sakayanyc.com/about_classification.
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• 7 http//www.marcotec.com/onepass.htm
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• 11 http//www.cafenilson.com/2009/11/daring-cook
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• 18 http//www.flickr.com/photos/fennifer1390/350
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References

• 26 http//www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/articles/h
  ow-to-make-sushi
• 27 http//exurbanpedestrian.wordpress.com/2010/0
  1/10/ahhhh-sushi/
• 28 http//www.wonderfulworldofdave.com/2010/05/k
  orean-tofu-house-cerritos-ca.html
• 29 http//www.dineouthere.com/restaurants/catego
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• 30 http//foreignerjoy.blogspot.com/2010/08/fore
  ign-rice-hunting-and-tasting-taco.html
• 31 http//foreignerjoy.blogspot.com/2010/08/fore
  ign-rice-hunting-and-tasting-taco.html
• 32 http//islam4parents.com/2009/01/thai-fried-r
  ice/
• 33 http//www.nelmani.com/indian-rice.htm
• 34 http//beyondwonderful.com/recipes/sidedishes
  /beansgrains/basmati_rice.htm
• 35 http//www.texasoysters.org/ricerecipe.html
• 36 http//www.wizardrecipes.com/blog/rice-cookin
  g-techniques.html
• 37 http//www.ifood.tv/network/middle_east_rice
• 38 http//simplyrecipes.com/recipes/red_beans_an
  d_rice/
• 39 http//www.theteacherscorner.net/forums/showt
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• 40 http//www.mare.ee/indrek/sushi/
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