Cooking Disaster: Rice Cooker + Brown Rice = Disaster!

[ChefBeckyD]

So - I rarely have cooking disasters...but tonight - Wowwie!

I don't believe I've ever used the Rice Cooker to make rice before - I just do it on the stovetop, because I am usually adding a bunch of stuff to it when I cook it. But for dinner tonight, I just wanted to make plain brown rice, so I decided to give it a whirl. I followed the directions just as they are written for the microwave on the back of the package of brown rice....and I now have a smoking, stinky black mass on my front porch. You can't tell really where the rice cooker ends and the rice begins. The stench is almost unbearable in the house!

I'm now cooking plain white rice on the stove, because it will only delay dinner by 20 minutes, instead of 40 to do more brown rice.

 

[AnnieBee]

Yikes!

I hope the rice cooker is salvagable...

I am cooking rice right now too! But I always do mine on the stove top. I'm afraid I'm a white rice junkie though... .

If you really want to save time, you can do it the way I do, it takes only 12 mins.

Measure rice out, put into pot with a VERY little oil, enough that each grain gets coated. Maybe 1/2 tsp for 1 cup rice.

Heat while stirring occasioanlly until some or all of the grains of rice have turned white. Then add boiling water to the pan, double the volume of the rice used. Be careful as it will "sizzle" majorly! Stir once, put the lid on and let it simmer gently for 12 mins. Turn of the heat, leave for 1 - 10 mins (or until the rest of dinner is ready!), then fluff with a fork. It comes out perfectly fluffy and "dry", not sticky every time.

Good luck with dinner tonight!

 

[babywings76]

For brown rice, I like to buy the Success Rice boil in a bag. Easy, I don't have to measure, and it won't scorch. But now that I have a rice cooker, I almost always use it. But I haven't tried it w/ brown rice yet.

 

[BlessedWifeMommy]

Becky, what were the directions?

 

[chefann]

I had a very similar experience with my cooker about a month ago, Becky. I think the microwave didn't actually go down to medium when I turned it down. For brown rice, cook on high for 5 minutes, then 40 on medium.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I had a very similar experience with my cooker about a month ago, Becky. I think the microwave didn't actually go down to medium when I turned it down.

For brown rice, cook on high for 5 minutes, then 40 on medium.

This is exactly what I did...and at 35 minutes, I smelled something, and went into the kitchen and saw black smoke billowing out of the exhaust of my microwave!

It's the first time I've used my micro at 50% power...maybe it doesn't work?

 

[raebates]

I've never had trouble with brown rice in the Rice Cooker. Maybe it is your microwave.

 

[gailz2]

Becky, so sorry this happened to you. The funny thing is I was going to post a note here asking for quick directions using the micro rice cooker plus -- directions for cooking rice, that is. I've only used mine for making lava cakes and don't have a clue as to the timing for rice.I can only imagine the smell -- I burned choc. chips at a show once in the microwave and set off the alarms and smoked up the entire apartment.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I'm going to stick with making my rice on the stove. It's really no big deal for me, and I've got it down pat!

Plus, now, I don't have a rice cooker anyway!

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

Is it still under warranty?

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Is it still under warranty?

I don't think so...I earned it when it first came out - how long ago was that?

 

[chefann]

It's a couple years old. I had to buy a new one when mine melted, too.I do think that my issue was with the microwave. It's over 30 years old, and has a slider for the power. Sometimes, even with it pushed over to half power, it doesn't register. And I've used microwaves at hosts' houses that are hard to tell when programming what the power is.

 

[pampchefsarah]

Ok, so I've been wondering if it's worth it to buy the Rice Cooker - because cooking rice on the stove is not a big deal. Even with Uncle Ben's Brown Rice, I just add a little more water than twice the volume of rice, and it cooks in pretty much the same amount of time, and comes out perfect. If using the microwave isn't going to save me time, and might actually cause problems, I guess I don't need the Rice Cooker after all, right?

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Mine gets used for cakes and reheating leftovers.I've never tried to make rice with mine and I'm sure not going to now!

 

[chezshelly]

I do brown rice in mine all the time and it's always great. It's 5 minutes on high power and 20 minutes on medium power. I would definitely say it's your microwave!

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I do brown rice in mine all the time and it's always great. It's 5 minutes on high power and 20 minutes on medium power. I would definitely say it's your microwave!

the instructions say 5 minutes on high, and 40 minutes on 50%....maybe that's the problem?

That doesn't make sense though - because you cook white rice for that length, and brown rice is supposed to take longer???

 

[pcsharon1]

I haven't made brown rice in mine but I use mine for white rice all the time and it's PERFECT. I love it. But I don't like the way the cakes look when they come out. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? How do you make yours?

 

[DebbieJ]

I've never had trouble with brown rice in the Rice Cooker. Maybe it is your microwave.

Me too. So sorry this happened!

 

[chefann]

the instructions say 5 minutes on high, and 40 minutes on 50%....maybe that's the problem?

That doesn't make sense though - because you cook white rice for that length, and brown rice is supposed to take longer???

Unless you're using a quick brown, it'll be 5 and 40. Trust me. And crunchy rice isn't fun.

 

[NooraK]

I usually use Minute Rice when I do rice, so maybe that makes a difference (they make a brown rice too). I use my RCP to do oatmeal in the microwave. Everything else always boils over and makes a mess.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

My house still stinks!

 

[etteluap70PC]

Sorry Becky!

You are not alone though!!!

I melted mine too, but it was user error (I had the water rice ration waaayyyy wrong). I am still working to perfect my rice. I cannot cook rice on the stove. It NEVER comes out right!

 

[Ginger428]

I use this Royal Blend, comes in a plastic container. It has Texmati White,Brown,Wild & Red. I noticed in the Rice cooker, if I use the amount of water they say the rice comes out too soft. So I tried cutting back on the water & half way through It was a HORRIBLE stink!! Well cooker & all went into the garbage!! :yuck:

 

[ChefBeckyD]

This is the rice I almost always use:

http://www.lundberg.com/products/rice/rice_nf_jubilee.aspx


This is the rice I used last night:

http://www.lundberg.com/products/rice/rice_og_br_long.aspx

 

[chefann]

Did you use the butter? I don't add butter to my rice cooker, since the fat can get hotter than water/broth. That may have contributed to the meltdown. Or... try your microwave on 40% instead of 50%. The reduced power is just to keep it at a simmer after coming to temp with the 5 minutes on full power. If your microwave is calibrated funny, then 40% might be just low enough to prevent melting. The other thing I thought of this morning is that it might make a difference if you have a turntable. I don't, but the timer on my microwave also doesn't go up to 40 minutes either - so I move the cooker after 20 minutes on low, when I set the timer for the remaining 20 minutes. If your cooker was in the hot spot without moving (on a turntable), then that small area would have been hotter than the rest and would have been ground zero for the melt. (Make sense? It does in my head but I don't know if I'm explaining it well.)

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Did you use the butter? I don't add butter to my rice cooker, since the fat can get hotter than water/broth. That may have contributed to the meltdown. Or... try your microwave on 40% instead of 50%. The reduced power is just to keep it at a simmer after coming to temp with the 5 minutes on full power. If your microwave is calibrated funny, then 40% might be just low enough to prevent melting.

The other thing I thought of this morning is that it might make a difference if you have a turntable. I don't, but the timer on my microwave also doesn't go up to 40 minutes either - so I move the cooker after 20 minutes on low, when I set the timer for the remaining 20 minutes. If your cooker was in the hot spot without moving (on a turntable), then that small area would have been hotter than the rest and would have been ground zero for the melt. (Make sense? It does in my head but I don't know if I'm explaining it well.)

No - I didn't use the butter - but I do have turntable...

Oh - and I used some Better Than Bouillon vegetable broth base - but I stirred it into the water until it dissolved before I added the rice.

 

[chefann]

I dunno... it's weird! I LOVE my rice cooker, since I've never been able to get rice to come out well on the stovetop. And my current stove doesn't adjust easily to fine-tune the simmer (it's got push buttons, not knobs, for the burner controls). I had an electric rice cooker, but it always seemed to make a layer of cooked-together rice at the very bottom, which was wasteful. (I think that cooker might still be in the basement... I should sell it on eBay or Craigslist.)

 

[pamperedharriet]

I make (white) minute rice in mine and have never had a problem (except DH doesn't like white rice, LOL). I've never tried the brown rice in it.