We all have this experience of returning home late after a long office day and being too exhausted to cook. Rice cooker is a relief in this situation.
Cooking rice in a rice cooker is pretty much simple and easy. All you need to do is to measure water and rice into the basin, close the container and turn the cooker on and bingo! All set.
In due time, the cooker will prepare rice for you. You probably thanked science multiple times for making life so easy by inventing such a magical cooking pot.
But, have you ever wondered how does a rice cooker actually work?
You will be surprised to know that, rice cooker has a thermal sensor which prevents rice from burning. So, you don’t need to worry about overcooking or keep track of time. When the cooking is done, the rice cooker will stop cooking automatically.
Pretty cool, isn’t it?
In this article, we will elaborate on how a rice cooker works.
What Makes A Rice Cooker?
Rice cooker is basically a kitchen appliance which comes with a cooking bowl or pot, a thermal sensor, and an electric heating device. The cooking bowl is the inner container which is removable while the thermal sensor and heating device is attached with the outer container.
How To Cook With A Rice Cooker?
Cooking in a rice cooker is so easy that even a 5-year-old can cook with it (although I don’t recommend that). In order to cook, just mix rice and water in appropriate proportion in the cooking bowl.
The measurement is often illustrated inside the inner bowl or written in the user manual. After mixing water and rice, close the container and turn on the heating device by turning the switch on.
After a few moments, you will hear a beep which indicates your rice is cooked. Besides rice, you can also cook spaghetti, boiled eggs, pancakes, oatmeal, and many other dishes.
How Does A Rice Cooker Work?
To this point, you are probably wondering how a rice cooker works, why it is so easy to cook on rice cooker and why you will never have burnt rice.
To cook rice, a rice cooker needs water and lots of heat. The rice-water mixture is heated at full power. The water temperature reaches 100 °C (212 °F). This is the highest point to which a cooker boils water. If water is heated with a higher temperature, it will vaporize.
The thermal sensor makes sure that the water cannot get hotter than this level. The water absorbs the heat. This is the reason why you will never have burnt rice in a rice cooker.
After all the water is absorbed, the cooking is done. Since there is no water to absorb heat, the pot starts getting hotter. The thermal sensor then instantly shuts the switch off and thus putting an end to the cooking process.
Additional Note
Sometimes, we keep rice in the rice cooker for hours after the cooking is done. But, rice shouldn’t be kept in the cooker for more than half an hour.
Many modern rice cookers are equipped with an automatic heating system which keeps the heat to a much lower level for hours even after the cooking is complete. It keeps bacteria and other germs from infecting your precious food.
If you want to keep your food warm for longer hours, you should look for this feature the next time you buy a rice cooker. Also, don’t forget to learn about the types of rice cooker.