Owning your own home

Any recommendations on bespoke shelving/cupboard carpenters in East London?

Or any guidance on costs? Last time we had building work done I asked for a quote on some basic mdf shelves in a couple of alcoves and £700 seemed expensive, but maybe that’s what I need to budget for.

It would be to fill two alcoves either side of where a wall was removed with shelves, a large wardrobe/shelving in one room and some shelves/wall cupboard in another. Maybe some built-in cupboards around the chimney breast in a loft extension too.

Avoid anything with a glass lid. You want one that's basically a pressure cooker.

The traditional ones are single purpose, you add the rice and water then press the one button, like this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B014JCYL22/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_6JNMHY2CGRS2RACT444J
But the better ones have a rice setting as well as loads of other stuff
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B086N3BW9Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_T71ND28P0QYC64ZWE7MX
That one is actually shockingly cheap, most are multiple hundreds of £.

And then at the very top end is the Instant Pot. It's a full on pressure cooker with settings for everything, easy to use when you know how but intimidating at first. It'll do rice in 15 mins but won't auto turn off when done like the cheap single button machines will, but then its so much more versitile, I used one for making pulled pork in 45 mins.

Life without rice cooker is not life worth living. Hong Kong fiancées family genuinely put more thought into buying their last rice cooker than their last car.

It's a bit like saying you don't need a kettle because you can boil water in a pot and then ladle it into your mug for a cup of tea but who would?

This one is very decent and not too spendy.

So any recommendations for a cheap rice cooker? We get through rice quite a bit here

Buy anything from here:
https://www.yumasia.co.uk/conventional-rice-cookers/

If you want to go premium buy a Japanese rice cooker, Zojirushi being an excellent brand.

I love how this thread is basically a random Q&A for anything that goes on inside a house one owns. Favourite thread.

Didn't know I wanted a rice cooker.

Didn't know I wanted a rice cooker.

This. Why the fuck am I shopping for one.

Wire it to the mains, more security

Nonsense. It's not as nice as if done in a pan, but it's not far off. You just do it in a glass bowl, open the door and stir it every 20 seconds or so once it's hot. It is useful when doing a fry-up and you have run out of hob space. Washing the glass bowl is also easier than scraping egg off a metal pan.

Your mind will be blown when I tell you that the best way to cook bacon is between two steel trays in an oven.

That bacon just sounds messy - bung it in the oven but significantly overlap the rashers so they don’t go biscuity.

Scrambled eggs in the microwave is an absolute abomination.

100% agree. terrible texture and am so glad i haven't had to witness this in our office kitchen for almost a year now

A colleague and I used to do this at work. We are both able to produce exceptional results that would make MPW cry into his bain marie.

I wouldn't do it at home though as I find the constant opening, closing, and holding an eggy fork a hassle. That said the work microwave is counter height and the home is head height so that might be a factor. Also at home I'm usually timing it with other stuff which is harder to do in the microwave.

The rice chat is fascinating. Although I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the single best thing about rice cookers...

... that close to burnt sticky bit on the bottom.

Although I assume all of the fancy ones linked here can't do that. Which seems like a tragedy and indicative of how far people have strayed from the true path bound up by all the marketing hype and faux-USPs.

Rice cookers are the bomb.

Have used one for 14 years, will always own one now.

Brown rice and jasmine rice only though... agree with the previous comment about basmati.

If you like that, you should get into cooking rice in a cast iron Le Creuset (other brands are available) pot in the oven for 45 minutes. Swap half the water for coconut milk if you are real swag.

Didn't know I wanted a rice cooker.

Pretty sure amey actually started this forum as a long term AstroTurfing and influencing project.

untaggable @Arvy. has been lobbying me to get one for months, I think its time. Kid loves rice too.

Scorchio

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Will try this. I guess it's a bit like biruani or bibimibap(sp?).

I got some nice saucepans for my birthday and can now get close to it though, and that's much faster.

Got to say I'm baffled by the basmati hate.

Mouth feel and flavour is far behind other rice grains.

Definitely not bibimbap. Bibimbap you need a nice mound of perfectly cooked white rice, with toppings, egg and sauce layered on top, so that you can mix at the point of eating.

On the kitchen accessories topic, any recommendations on a steamer?
(of the electric variety)

basmati hate

too fluffy, not enough starch

Sound like pros to me.

Different rice for different courses.

like a dolsot bibimbap in the sense of the crispy bottom though?

Sort of but not really.

We were gifted a massive Morphy Richards thing. https://www.morphyrichards.co.uk/product-reviews/cooking-and-baking/steamers/48755-3-Tier-Stainless-Steel-Steamer.html

It was great for when our first was starting to eat and we were making epic batches of puree veg to freeze in ice cubes. However, outside that niche use the only other time its worth it is big family roasts when you need extra cooking space.

Personally I'd get those little bamboo baskets that go on top of pans. Easier to store and can be used for other things if needed.

Biryani I would say is different technique in terms of cooking

The closer to what @Señor_Bear describe is rice and peas from the Caribbean (cooking with coconut milk) or jellof rice where that’s cooked in a strong tomato sauce. Don’t use basmati for that.

Jasmine rice goes with pretty much any rice dish that you’d want to make.

Basmati is just weird with East Asian cuisine. Also impossible to eat with chopsticks.