Aroma ARC-960SB 10-Cup Cool Touch Digital Programmable Rice Cooker, Stainless Review
One of the best values out there. I've been using it (bought elsewhere) for about a year and a half, and have made all sorts of grains, soups, steam buns, poached fish, cupcakes...really, you name it, I've tried cooking it. That said:br /br /-The white rice and brown rice buttons, so far as I can tell, mainly affect how quickly the heating element works, and I've been happy with their performance. Because brown rice still has the bran and germ in it, it cooks slower, and if it were heated as quickly as white rice you'd end up with half-cooked centers surrounded by mush. Trust me that this is less appetizing than it sounds. If you're working with some other grain than rice, judge by its size and texture which setting will be more appropriate: oatmeal or quinoa, for instance, do much better at the white rice setting, while barley and wild rice require the brown. Don't even get me started on beans.br /br /-The delay timer only works in 1-hour increments, and it's a delay to when cooking begins, not when it's done. Plan accordingly. br /br /-The condensation collector is excellent, but the particle trap beneath the steam vent is not. As other reviewers have said, you do need to clean it by hand, and there's no easy way to get to all the little nooks and crannies in the sealing ring. The problem mostly comes from grains with a lot of loose starch, and can be reduced by rinsing them in cold water before cooking. If you see strange bubbles coming out of the lid, you didn't rinse long enough.br /br /-The steamer tray works well, though there isn't much vertical clearance. If you want to steam large amounts of food I'd suggest getting a few insertable ones to stack in the main pot. br /br /Really, if you're looking for a convenient multi-purpose cooker that can handle food in portions for 2-10 people, this is excellent. You're not going to find the same functionality for a comparable price.
Aroma ARC-960SB 10-Cup Cool Touch Digital Programmable Rice Cooker, Stainless Feature
- Prepares up to 20 cups of rice and keeps it warm and for up to 12 hours
- Steams vegetables and cooks rice simultaneously, makes soups and stews
- Easy-to-use digital control panel with multiple features: White Rice, Brown Rice, Steam/Cook and 15-Hour Delay Timer
- SensorLogic technology self-adjusts for consistent, restaurant-quality results
- Water reservoir channels away excess condensation
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Customer Reviews
Cooked rice never comes out right - AC - Ventura County, CA, United States
I've owned Aroma rice cookers before (different sizes, all with the glass lid) and they were worked out fine. For everyday use, I have a small Tiger rice cooker which is still working great after several years of daily use. br /br /I bought the Aroma ARC-960SB from Costco because I wanted a bigger rice cooker with the hinged lid for occasional parties at my house. My other 10-cup Aroma rice cooker has the glass lid and after a few hours, the rice tends to dry out in the Keep Warm mode, and if I unplug it, the rice cools down pretty fast... not nice for the late guests. br /br /Whenever I use the Aroma ARC-960SB the rice never comes out right. My white rice is always mushy. Recently, we started eating brown rice, and I tried this since it has a brown rice feature. The cooked brown rice at the top was fine, but the rice at the bottom was overcooked, hard, and dry. Now in some cultures, they purposely overcook the bottom of the rice, but that is not what I was aiming for. In contrast, the first time I made brown rice on my small Tiger rice cooker, the result, while not perfect, was acceptable (consistent texture top to bottom).br /br /Now I know that I can experiment and tweak my rice/water ratio. But for me, rice cookers should be no-brainers. I don't want to waste my time and food performing tweaking experiments because the equipment is unforgiving in its recipe requirement. I cooked perfect rice when I first tried my other rice cookers, why does this one have to be different?
burned bottom every time - Cynthia Erickson - California
The most important question when assessing a rice cooker is "Does it do a good job cooking the rice?" Any comments about the other features are moot if the rice turns out poorly. I have had this rice cooker for nearly two years and have never had much luck cooking good rice. There is always a burned film on the bottom of the pan that I have to throw out. Furthermore, the rice is usually dry when it is finished. I have tried washing the rice beforehand, more water, less water, using the warming function, not using the warming function and it is consistently burned. Cleaning the lid is a bit of a hassle, but I wouldn't mind if the rice turned out OK. The steaming option works well, but I can just as easily steam vegetables on the stove-top with easier clean up. My previous rice cooker was a simple one-button cooker that always cooked the rice just right. This rice cooker seemed like a good deal, but now I wish I had saved my money.
Mar 23, 2010 11:20:07
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