Yes--its called a sauce pan or pot more usually. I use one to make my rice & its has multiple other uses. Not just another "one use" item. The rice, by the way, comes out beautifully.

I just use a pot on the range.

However, since we now have a Trader Joe's, I've found that their frozen organic brown rice and their frozen Chimichurri Peruvian Rice come out perfectly with their microwave instructions. I still make basmati, jasmine and risotto on the range.

Cameron

We just had a thread on Rice Cookers right before Christmas and I will link it below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rice Cookers

I agree with leel. I bought a cheapie Rival 6 cup rice cooker and it spits water out the vent hole of the lid. By the time it's finished, it's setting in a puddle on the counter. I've gone back to the sauce pan. :)

Whether it's worth it depends on how much rice you eat and how much you hate to make it in a saucepan. I know HOW to cook rice, I juse always screw it up anyway (get distracted usually). We eat a LOT of rice, so I consider my Zojirushi worth every dime. I also use it for polenta, risotto, oatmeal, grits, etc. Definitely not "single use" for me. I use it more than I do any other small appliance.

The $20 Rival (which I had before the Zo) didn't used to make a mess. We used one to death in the early 90s and it was fine. When it died, we went through two others in less than a year -- both died quickly and both made a mess. Whatever they changed about the design was not a good chnage.

There appear to be two major types of rice cooker. One is the simple on/off cooker that is available in most oriental groceries in the $20 to $50 range. Then at the opposite end of the spectrum are the 'fuzzy logic' programmable jobs which can handle different types of rice and grains ($100-250).

I have a large simple Zojirushi on/off model. At the time I bought it, these fancy-schmancy fuzzy logic models weren't available. I generally only use it when I'm cooking large quantities of rice for company. For just me and the DW, I use a saucepan.

Whatever model you get, IMHO it's worth getting one with a nonstick pot.

If you do a LOT of rice and grains these new ones are probably worth it for the convenience alone. You don't have to pay attention to it once you load the ingredients.

FWIW, here's my foolproof and simple way to cook American long grain rice. All you need is a saucepan with a steamer insert. (You know, the pot with holes in the bottom that fits snugly into the saucepan like the one in the link.) This will produce fluffy and separate grains, not sticky sushi-type rice.

Whatever volume of rice you're gonna cook, bring to a boil 3 to 4 times that volume of water. I generally cook 1 1/2 cups of rice at a time, so that means 6 cups of water. You can add salt and some butter to the water if you want. Once boiling, add the rice, stirring to keep it from clumping. Once it returns to the boil, lower the heat to a slow boil and cook for about 9 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then drain the partially cooked rice into the steamer insert and rinse the rice with hot tap water till the water draining out the bottom has cleared somewhat. Rinse the bottom saucepan out and put about an inch of hot tap water back in the bottom of the pot. Put the saucepan on the stove, the steamer insert containing the rice on top of the saucepan, and cover. Bring back to a boil, then reduce the heat to a low boil and set your timer for 10 minutes. When done, the rice will be fluffy and not at all sticky.

Basic formula: boil for 9 minutes, rinse, steam for 10.

The link is to a picture of the type of steamer insert I mean. It's not one of those collapsible jobs. By the way, there's no reason to spend good money on a pot to cook rice by this technique--all you're doing is boiling water, so using an All Clad pot is overkill. For many years I made perfect rice with a cheapo Revere ware pot.

Here is a link that might be useful: steamer insert

Pyrex bowl and microwave.

I'd have to buy bottled water to make rice because my water is so hard. I've already ruined one rice cooker using hard water. It was convenient when all four kids were at home, but now that it's just two the microwave is fine.

We usually only eat basmati.

Deanna

Very interesting, it seems most people either love them are don't bother with them.
As for the rice, I really like rice like you get in an Oriental restaurant but the minute rice just doesn't cut it.
I think I will try some of those different types of rice you guys have been talking about in the sauce pan and see how much I like them before I spend a lot on a quality cooker.

Thanks to all for the excellent advice and links.
Changeling

I ran across this recipe the other day, but haven't tried it yet. The following is just how I copied it from the source where I found it:

Foolproof Rice
You'll never again have to deal with anything other than perfect rice when you make it like this in your crockpot.

1 cup regular raw, white rice
1 cup Water
2 tsp. Salt
1 Tbsp. Butter

Place all ingredients together in crockpot. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.

This Foolproof Rice recipe really does work, even with the small amount of water required. Covering the crockpot and setting it on Low effectively turns your crockpot into a rice steamer. The rice will have the consistency of steamed rice and will not be the kind of "sticky rice" that you would get from cooking it in a pot on the stove top.

I wonder if that crock pot rice will really work. I think I'll try it, did it specifiy a size crock?

I'm going to have to break down and try the boiling method for larger batches. Both Ann T's and Arley's. Personally non-sticky rice reminds me a bit of the cafeteria, but I have unreliable results with the traditional method when cooking more than about a cup of (uncooked) rice. A cup or less I never have a problem with.

I wonder if the crockpot version can have the portions multiplied or if it needs adjustment for bigger batches. I'd be interested in trying that for entertaining a bigger crowd, but it seems a little overkill for a simple family dinner. (Plus my crockpot is likely way too big for that amount.)

I learned a new way to make rice this weekend. We were at a friends house for dinner and she made rice in almost the same way as arley, except she doesn't steam it in the final stages. She makes rice like she makes pasta. Brings water to a boil, adds the amount of rice she wants, continues boiling it uncovered, checking it after 15 minutes. Keep checking every 2 minutes or so after that until it's cooked, straines it in a colander/sieve, and voila! It came out great! Who knew?