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Some of the more expensive rice cookers advertise that they use pressure in combination with induction to cook rice. On one Japanese website that sells rice cookers, they showed some diagrams that I couldn't follow since they were in Japanese, however, the images seemed to indicate that the water is changed in some way (maybe taste) because of the pressure cooker.

The rice cookers that include a pressure cooker cooking method are also more expensive. So, what exactly is the purpose of this pressure cooker method?

Thanks!

O.O
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1 Answers1

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The usual purpose of pressure in pressure cookers is that they can heat water to >100°C without it starting to boil, thereby reducing cooking time.

adebaumann
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  • Mine takes 50 minutes for white rice and it is brand new. How much will it reduce cooking time? A lot, a little? – O.O Mar 15 '11 at 16:06
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    I'd say that depends on several factors, mostly on what rice you use and what pressure the cooker generates. A quick websearch has pointed me to http://missvickie.com/howto/grains/rice-cooking.htm, it seems the reduction can be quite drastic... 4-8 minutes for white rice! – adebaumann Mar 15 '11 at 16:15
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    I think the 4-8 minute time is more likely for rice that has been processed to cook normally in the 10-20 minute range; pressure cookers don't typically reduce cooking times by more than a factor of two, or three at most. So I would expect that you could cook your white rice that takes 50 minutes now, in 20-30 minutes in a pressure cooker. – Erik P. Mar 15 '11 at 16:29
  • @Erik, my rice cooker is of the pressure cooker variety :) – O.O Mar 15 '11 at 17:11
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    @subt13: 50 minutes for white rice? It takes 15-20 minutes on the stove. Are you referring to brown rice, which normally takes about 50 mins? – Martha F. Mar 15 '11 at 18:04
  • 50 minutes for white rice?! My very very very cheap electric countertop rice cooker does it in about 15 minutes. If you were mainly interested in the pressure cooker-version because it could reduce cooking time, I'd suggest reviewing the expected cooking times of other rice cookers as well. – KimbaF Mar 15 '11 at 18:48
  • @Martha, KimbaFYa, the cheap rice cookers usually take about 15 minutes as you say, but the nicer ones are designed to produce better quality/tasting rice. It says in the manual from 50 to an hour for regular white rice. It shocked me at first too, but my gf from Japan says that is normal. Good rice is worth the wait.. – O.O Mar 19 '11 at 02:53
  • @adebaumann, can you expand on the importance of why it is important that the water doesn't boil? – O.O Mar 19 '11 at 02:54
  • Sorry about the delay... your question was hiding. – adebaumann Apr 11 '11 at 11:51
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    The main effect of the pressure is not to prevent the water from boiling, but to raise the temperature at which it boils. – adebaumann Apr 11 '11 at 12:20