Customer Reviews

Black & Decker RC6438 38-Cup Commercial Rice Cooker and Steamer, White

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I acquired this cooker in the course of putting together a home system for sous vide cooking.

It works quite well with the PID temperature controllers available from Auber Instruments and Sous Vide Magic, and it is considerably less expensive than other rice cookers of comparable size.

I only give it 4 stars because I haven't tried using it for its stated purpose: cooking rice and vegetables. I suspect that it would perform quite well in that capacity, but it would be a bit large for most home cooks. The minimum quantity of rice that you can cook is a bit over 3 cups, precooked, yielding 7 to 10 cups of cooked rice.

Like the previous reviewer, I bought this rice cooker to use with a PID for sous vide cooking. I find that it works brilliantly and greatly appreciate the enormous size of the thing. I upgraded from a 5-cup cooker to this 38-cup and am extremely satisfied. The heating coil is very large and can heat water at about 1 degree per second once it gets going. I brought 38 cups of water from room temp to 150 degrees in about 15-20 minutes.

If you're looking for a large capacity rice cooker to use for sous vide cooking, this is an excellent option that won't break the bank.

We have many customers using this cooker with our SousVideMagic controller. The biggest complaint: they all wish the cooker's pot is made larger like a commercial rice cooker!
In sous vide cooking, temperature matters and also size matters too.

I also use this with the Auber Instruments PID controller. At first I tried to use a crock pot but the temperature swung back and forth several degrees because of the slow response of the crock pot both using standard PID settings and after self-tuning.

This cooker works much better and quickly stabilizes.

In addition to Sous Vide, I also use the cooker for:
- Proofing bread using the Auber controller.
- Making stock. Simmer the meat in water (no plastic bag) using the Auber controller. Remove the controller and boil down to concentrate the stock.

I plan to use this cooker with the controller any time I need to simmer anything for more than a few minutes. The combination gives me precise control over the heat and can even be used as a double boiler using a metal bowl.

I wish the Auber controller could be used with one of the burners on my stove top.

1-MONTH OLD AND ALREADY IT IS MALFUNCTIONING - THE SPRING LOADED MECHANISM IN THE BOTTOM OF THE UNIT IS NOT RESETTING SO YOU CANNOT COOK RICE - I,LL HAVE TO PACK & SHIP IT BACK - I DON,T WANT ANOTHER - NOT A SATISFIED CUSTOMER

I was excited about using my new rice cooker but was very disappoined about the results afterwards. I followed the directions explicitly but the rice was undercooked and burnt. I wish I can return it but I opened it a few weeks after I received it.