NO BRAKE!! Of Rice Cookers and Failure
Alton Brown fails when it comes to rice cookers. Sure, he may have researched everything there is to know about most kitchen hardware, and he may know just about everything that can be looked up on rice of all variety, but he does NOT KNOW RICE COOKERS.
Y'see, Alton Brown feels that certain types of kitchen hardware are... "uni-taskers". That is, they are only useful for one task in any kitchen, and are thusly wastes of time, money, and precious kitchen space. The only uni-tasker he'll ever allow in a kitchen is the Fire Extinguisher, which is VERY useful in the one task that it is meant to accomplish... and which no cook/chef/wannabe ever hopes to use.
However, in his Sushi episode, Alton Brown was discussing the preparation of short-grain rice... and labelled the rice cooker as a uni-tasker. Only good for cooking rice, and wastes of a LOT of money and kitchen space.
Then he proceeded to toss a rice cooker out the window.
To say the least, I was shocked. Rice cookers have been a part of my home dining experience for as long as I can remember, and the same goes for my parents. Furthermore, my experience with "Yakitate!! Japan" proves that Rice cookers are, at the very least, good for making bread. My dad even used a smaller model to cook ramen when he was in college. A rice cooker is good for a LOT of things. In fact, if you really think about it, a rice cooker can do anything a lidded pot can do... and doesn't even require a stovetop to use!
Alton Brown was WRONG. Dead wrong.
And I've just found the proof.
Y'see, Alton Brown feels that certain types of kitchen hardware are... "uni-taskers". That is, they are only useful for one task in any kitchen, and are thusly wastes of time, money, and precious kitchen space. The only uni-tasker he'll ever allow in a kitchen is the Fire Extinguisher, which is VERY useful in the one task that it is meant to accomplish... and which no cook/chef/wannabe ever hopes to use.
However, in his Sushi episode, Alton Brown was discussing the preparation of short-grain rice... and labelled the rice cooker as a uni-tasker. Only good for cooking rice, and wastes of a LOT of money and kitchen space.
Then he proceeded to toss a rice cooker out the window.
To say the least, I was shocked. Rice cookers have been a part of my home dining experience for as long as I can remember, and the same goes for my parents. Furthermore, my experience with "Yakitate!! Japan" proves that Rice cookers are, at the very least, good for making bread. My dad even used a smaller model to cook ramen when he was in college. A rice cooker is good for a LOT of things. In fact, if you really think about it, a rice cooker can do anything a lidded pot can do... and doesn't even require a stovetop to use!
Alton Brown was WRONG. Dead wrong.
And I've just found the proof.