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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 205 responses total. |
edina
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response 167 of 205:
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May 12 20:56 UTC 2008 |
I seriously could count on one hand how many times this year I've used
my rice cooker, so it's not too much an issue. We just don't eat that
much rice.
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tod
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response 168 of 205:
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May 12 22:25 UTC 2008 |
re #166
Do you have an objection to using less energy to cook with?
You mean do I object to eating only twigs and leaves like a Giraffe? Yes.
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keesan
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response 169 of 205:
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May 12 23:39 UTC 2008 |
Cooked rice does not grow on trees.
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tod
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response 170 of 205:
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May 13 00:07 UTC 2008 |
Neither do spastic colons.
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keesan
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response 171 of 205:
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May 13 00:35 UTC 2008 |
Do nonspastic colons?
Pressure cooked rice gets very thoroughly cooked. With brown rice we add 1.3
cups water per cup of rice. White rice would probably be less. If you cook
with more water, the rest of it goes into the air along with wasted heat.
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tod
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response 172 of 205:
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May 13 02:21 UTC 2008 |
re #171
How long does that take? Do you use a pressure cooker pot on a stove?
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keesan
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response 173 of 205:
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May 13 02:38 UTC 2008 |
Maybe 5 minutes to come to pressure, then 5 to come down? I never timed it.
It is does before the rest of the meal. Yes pressure cooker on stove. We
also have one large electric pressure cooker which is more efficient but too
large (nuisance to clean). We have at least 10 pressure cookers of various
sizes and designs, and take a small one bike camping with us. I wonder if
we could cook oatmeal in it (dont' let the pressure come up too far).
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void
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response 174 of 205:
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May 13 05:32 UTC 2008 |
What the hell kind of rice cooker causes steam to condense on windows,
puddle on sills, and rot the house frame???
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jadecat
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response 175 of 205:
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May 13 13:59 UTC 2008 |
I dunno, but I do know that in the winter, when the air is very dry in
our apartment- a little steam only does good things. We tend to use the
'pot on the stove' method of rice making though- not a specific rice
steamer...
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keesan
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response 176 of 205:
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May 13 15:54 UTC 2008 |
Our house is well sealed, and adding steam to the air causes problems.
Our highest January heating bill was $60 (electric). DO the rest of you not
believe in global warming or just not personally want to do anything about
it? Some friends put in a geothermal heating system at great expense but
never insulated or weatherstripped and they now pay $180 in January for heat.
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edina
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response 177 of 205:
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May 13 16:25 UTC 2008 |
WTF Sindi? The occasional use of a rice cooker is going to top the
balance?
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tod
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response 178 of 205:
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May 13 16:45 UTC 2008 |
re #176
My electric bill in Jan was about $60, too. I do my part for low carbon
footprint but I also have to do my part for low mildew in rainforest climate.
I'm betting the cooking we do at home(rice rarely) is way more efficient
time, money, energy than restaurant or frozen microwavable.
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keesan
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response 179 of 205:
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May 13 18:56 UTC 2008 |
I am pointing out that there are multiple reasons to cook efficiently.
Seattle does not typically go to -10F in January. Tod, do you cook things
in tightly sealed pots? I agree that taking a car to a restaurant wastes far
more fuel that even boiling a lot of water off rice into the air.
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jadecat
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response 180 of 205:
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May 13 19:10 UTC 2008 |
My electric bill in the winter was about $30.
Our gas bill was higher, but that's divided up between all the units in
the building.
Sindi- some of us also live in apartments that are run by corporations
that REALLY frown on tenants making their own changes to the apartments.
So we do what we can.
And for goodness sake, we're not talking about THAT much steam! It's a
rice cooker, not a steam engine.
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remmers
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response 181 of 205:
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May 13 19:26 UTC 2008 |
Um, we got a console model rice cooker that sits on the floor, is about
4 feet high and 3 feet across, and weighs 200 pounds. Whenever we use
it, all the windows fog up, the walls get wet, and the neighborhood
experiences brownouts from the electricity consumption. If we run it
with the windows open, the weather bureau issues a local dense fog
warning.
None of these wimpy table model rice cookers for us!
Oops, almost forgot: :)
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edina
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response 182 of 205:
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May 13 19:39 UTC 2008 |
John Remmers, kicking it hard core.
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tod
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response 183 of 205:
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May 13 19:53 UTC 2008 |
re #179
Tod, do you cook things
in tightly sealed pots?
I haven't entertained the idea of a pressure cooker in my house simply for
safety reasons. In the 80's, a friend of mine suffered major burns when
the pressure cooker where he worked (Big Boy's on 9mile in St.Clair Shores)
exploded. The risk doesn't seem equitable to energy savings. Perhaps the
new stovetop pressure cookers are better these days?
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slynne
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response 184 of 205:
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May 13 20:43 UTC 2008 |
One thing I will mention even though it doesnt have much to do with
kitchen gizmos is that people should pay attention to their reactions
regarding Sindi's comments about how cooking inefficiently is
contributing to global warming.
That is why expecting people to change any of their habits out of the
good ness of their heart is never going to work. You have to make policy
that forces them to change their habits. Rice cookers probably dont use
enough energy to really come into play here but I'll bet that if it cost
5 cents to cook rice with a pressure cooker and $5 to cook rice with a
rice cooker, a lot of people would switch to using pressure cookers.
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tod
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response 185 of 205:
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May 13 20:51 UTC 2008 |
I'm intrigued simply because my rice cooker works like crap when it cooks
brown/basmati rice. If I can do it in the same time as white rice by using
a pressure cooker then I'm interested. I would need assurances that a
pressure cooker isn't going to harm someone, though.
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edina
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response 186 of 205:
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May 13 21:25 UTC 2008 |
I love that....I won't make changes out of the goodness of my heart.
Just because I use my rice cooker maybe once a month I am somehow
condemning the earth. Nevermind my avid recyclying/reusing or other
things we have done to our home to make it more energy efficient. Next
you'll be telling my not owning a pressure cooker is me buying into a
patriarchal conspiracy.
I don't use a pressure cooker because A) I don't own one and B) I try to
not own a ton of stuff in my kitchen. I hate being cluttered in my
kitchen. I have considered getting a pressure cooker simply because I
love watching them get used on Iron Chef. But I'm not there yet.
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keesan
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response 187 of 205:
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May 13 21:34 UTC 2008 |
We have been pressure cooking for 30 years or so and never had an accident.
We have pressure cookers from the 50s and later. It is the ones from the 40s
that were not working right. They are by far the easiest (not just the
fastest) way to cook grains and beans (it helps to presoak the beans but it
not necessary). Or even potatoes. We use the special weights that show
pressure (5 10 15 lb) and potatoes need 5 lb, brown rice and beans 15 lb.
Brown rice takes much longer to cook than white rice. Probably the rice
steamers assume white rice, you add the amount of water that corresponds to
the 20 min it takes to cook rice (it takes 20 min to boil off then the cooker
senses that the temperature has gone up and turns of). YOu could try adding
twice the water for brown rice.
Pressure cookers do not burn things because they cook mainly with steam, not
just with bottom heat. My mother used hers for potroasts.
We tried a microwave rice cooker which took much longer than pressure cookers.
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tod
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response 188 of 205:
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May 13 21:55 UTC 2008 |
Where can I find pressure cookers which use weights? Or is it better to use
the electronic ones with auto shutoff?
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slynne
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response 189 of 205:
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May 14 01:19 UTC 2008 |
resp:186 That is my point. *everyone* thinks what they are doing is
reasonable. I know I sure think that I am doing my part. And no...using
a rice cooker is not especially harmful to the environment. And fwiw, I
use the stove top method which is probably the least efficient. Anyways,
I seriously doubt that even the highest energy taxes in the land would
deter someone using a rice cooker since they just dont use that much
energy. But think about how you feel when someone suggests to you that
you should give up the rice cooker. That is how some folks feel about
their SUVs. Guilt will not get them to stop buying them just like no
amount of guilt will stop anyone in this conversation from cooking rice
in the way that works best for them.
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tod
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response 190 of 205:
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May 14 07:57 UTC 2008 |
We made a big pot of rice last night in the rice cooker and I was sure to
towel off the windows and sills while wearing hipwaders. ;)
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mary
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response 191 of 205:
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May 14 12:41 UTC 2008 |
http://tinyurl.com/6gr9b3
You want my rice cooker? You're going to have to pry that baby from my
cold dead hands.
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