On Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:30:09 -0500, "Joe Cilinceon"
> wrote:

>EJ Willson wrote:
>> I'd like to buy a rice maker. It would great if it could also double
>> as a vegetable steamer and/or slow cooker.

Don't most rice cookers come with a steamer insert (not fancy, just a
perforated disk that sits 1/2 inch or so off the bottom of the bowl)?
If not, you could use one of these.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.jpg

>> I would like it to have a
>> capacity of about ten cups(8 oz). Normally I'd just go to several
>> websites, look at features and price and buy one, however, the
>> write-ups I have found are so poor that I cannot figure out what I am
>> buying. For example the ad will say "cooks rice to perfection", well
>> duh would you expect it to say 'occasionally does an OK job on rice
>> and turns vegetables to mush"?.

I think how long the rice cooker stays on depends on how much liquid
is in the bottom. The appliance has a thermostat that detects when
the temperature rises above 212 degrees F on the bottom of the
container and it turns itself off. My point is that if your
vegetables turned to mush, you put too much water in the rice cooker.
Experiment with amounts. I only ask my rice cooker to cook rice and
sometimes to reheat it. I cook vegetables on the stovetop in a
steamer basket like I showed you above. Guess that makes me old
school.

Can't help you with slow cooking. I do that on the stovetop or in the
oven.


--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.