Customer Reviews

Panasonic SR-DE102 Fuzzy-Logic 5-Cup Electronic Rice Cooker/Warmer,White

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

My first inclination when my fiance said he wanted a nice rice cooker with fuzzy logic like this was to ask, "what the heck does anyone need with a $90 rice cooker?!"
Well, having this has really changed my mind. The rice is perfect. Every time. Got some stuff to add in to the rice? Fine, dump it in at the beginning. The cooker still cooks it perfectly. Spanish rice? No problem. Just put a can of V8, some salsa, and some butter in, fill to the line with water the rest of the way, and press 'start.' Rice to go with Indonesian, Thai, or Indian food? Put in some Turmeric and Coriander and there it is, fragrant and inviting. Brown rice, long grain, jasmine or basmati, it figures out exactly what to do. It also steams vegetables and other things. It does all the thinking for you about how long to cook it.
Oh yes, and cleanup? A snap. If you just cook rice, just rinse out the bowl. It's got a really nice, high-quality teflon bowl so the scraps come out like *that*. Cooked something more complicated? The bowl is also top-shelf dishwasher safe. So easy.
Perfect rice, every time. I love my new rice cooker.

This is my favorite appliance!

Before buying I did a lot of research on rice cookers. I had an awful time trying to choose between the expensive fuzzy logic machines you could do porridge in and steaming. Initially all I read indicated you could have one or the other, not both. Then I found this machine, it was way less expensive than the other fuzzy logic machines, you can steam in it too, AND it has a slow-cook and bake setting. Oh, another thing this machine does that some others don't is brown rice.

It helps me eat healthier and leaner. I didn't think I'd liked steamed chicken. It sounded dull and tasteless. One day, I was cooking some rice and realized I had a chicken breast I had to cook before it went bad. I tossed it in the steamer figuring I'd use it in a casserole or something the next day, and now it's my favorite way to eat chicken. It is easy, moist, tender, and flavorful AND I don't use any fat to cook it.

My favorite things to do in this machine:
* Put steel cut oats, water, dates, and a pinch of salt in it at night, set the timer so it's done in time for my husband's breakfast. He gets his, closes the cooker and it stays hot until I'm ready to eat.
* I love to put brown basmati rice in the bottom, and towards the end of the cooking time put come broccoli on top of the rice and a couple of chicken breasts in the steamer basket.
* Steaming cubed sweet potatoes and/or yams. Especially good with a bit of poppy seed dressing and pecans. They will stain the white steamer basket. Regular potatoes are good steamed as well.
* It makes the most amazing corn bread and quick breads. I put a circle of parchment paper on the bottom when baking to ease in removal; but, I'm not sure it's necessary. Even boxed mixes come out beautifully browned on the bottom and extremely moist and they stay moist longer than oven baked goods.
* A Jiffy cake mix is perfect for a quick easy desert, again, really moist. Even better, mix a Jiffy cake mix with a can of pie filling and use the bake cycle. One night I made this for desert and forgot to cover it. The next morning it was still moist and delicious.
* Rice and tapioca puddings are fast, easy, and excellent. I don't use eggs, just the rice or tapioca, milk, vanilla, (cinnamon for rice pudding) and sweetener on the porridge setting. Arborio rice makes the best rice pudding. If the rice isn't cooked enough, I set it for another cycle; but, am very careful because it must be checked frequently and stirred to avoid a messy boil over. Cleaning it after pudding is a little more work, but, minimal compared to the ease of cooking... unless you have a boil over. After my first boil over I thought I was going to have to throw the machine away. But, it cleaned up beautifully and without too much work.
* I set up my machine to do rice earlier in the day and use the keep warm feature so I don't have to worry about timing while I'm cooking other things.

My only disappointment with this machine is that it doesn't do polenta as easily, or as well, as I had hoped. That said, it still is easier than doing it on the stovetop, or even the oven. I found it best to open the cooker frequently, even on the porridge cycle, to stir in order to keep it from clumping.

I purchased my original machine more than six months ago (from another source) and use it many times a week, frequently multiple times a day. At that time I paid less. It is still priced extremely well for such a useful, easy, time saving, and versatile appliance. I loved it so much; I bought this one for my daughter.

Very good quality product from Panasonic. Price is very good as I compare to a local store here. I have got it for two days and have tried cooking rice and porridges. Very easy to use. You can cook from 1 cup to 5 cup, so good for a small family. Highly recommended.

Not much to say, it's a rice cooker that makes brown rice come out perfect! Not hard like most restaurants and not mushy, just perfect. I use one of Trader Joes two main brown rice's. Fast and easy. The Fuzzy logic is a must have. $Paid $85. from Frys.

UPDATE : I found myself wasting a lot of rice, because this cooker has a minimal of 1 cup. I'm now using a Zojirushi NS-LAC05. It's a better rice cooker, but at an added cost of +$50.

Having had to make do with the old school on/off rice cookers during college, I was getting fed-up with the burnt rice and difficulty cleaning the pot (because of said burnt rice). Also I was looking for a slow cooker and steamer, and this rice cooker pretty much came with everything i asked for!

pros:
1. cheapest reputable (i.e. japanese/korean) brand fuzzy logic rice cooker on the market. Sanyo had a slightly cheaper one going at $65, but I was dubious about the complaints regarding lead on the power cord. Also i believe the sanyo didn't have the slow cooker function.
2. makes excellent rice! this is fuzzy logic, so it takes twice the time (around an hour), but with the timer, I'm more than happy to set it and go do other things, and come back to excellent rice. I cook mainly japanese short grain, and this does an excellent job. I recently tried cooking rice with vegetables in the cooker, and that came out beautifully too. Pretty much the usual fuzzy logic standard of rice you're used to if you're asian like I am =)
3. has a timer, slow cooker, and steamer function. Also does brown rice.
4. good size for a one person apartment.
5. heaven to clean - the non stick pot and perfect rice make it really really easy to clean that pot.

cons:
1. the manual states that when steaming food you're not supposed to be cooking other things. I think it might be possible to cook a little plain rice and steam a small piece of fish on top, but have yet to try it.
2. no actual clock function, just a timer, but still better than nothing.
3. slightly more items to clean - i.e. there's the pot, and the little inner lid thing you'll have to wash. But like i mentioned earlier, the fact that it's non-stick and that it doesn't burn the rice means it's really just a matter of rinsing in soapy water.

Overall, i recommend this if you're looking for a fuzzy logic cooker, but not willing to break the bank for a zojirushi (i love those, just dammit, why so expensive?!).

My family eats a lot of rice. Asian food constitutes about two-thirds of our menu - mostly Chinese & Indian. I've used a little 3 cup Panasonic rice cooker for years, but cooked mainly short-grain white rice. We prefer short-grain (in our way of thinking - Japanese) rice over long-grain (in our way of thinking - Chinese). Cooking long-grain rice was not a sure thing in the little Panasonic plug and click. We had to adjust the water just right and it wasn't consistent. Grandpa (me) and grandma invited our daughter and her family (the two grand kids) to move in with us. Now we are a family of six and so we counted on our old Zojirushi plug & click 5 cup. Basically, we did the same thing as the 3 cup Panasonic when it came to long-grained rice. Hit or miss (mostly hit, cause remember we eat rice often).

I've been admiring the new Fuzzy-logic rice cookers since they hit the market, but never made the jump because of the price. I did a lot of research and the Panasonic SR-DE102 Fuzzy-Logic 5-Cup rice cooker caught my attention. It had good reviews and though not cheap, you don't have to sell the family jewels to afford one. Plus, I wanted to experiment with brown rice - especially with the Indian dishes. I would never attempt brown rice in a plug and click.

The new Fuzzy Logic has been a no-brainer. I measure the rice, rinse a few times and fill with water up to the required line. I lower the top and press start. I plan on 1 hour or a bit more and the rice has been perfect every time. If I'm in a real hurry I use the quick cook feature, but the rice is not quite as good as the longer cycle. For brown rice, I do exactly the same thing as the white except on the menu I click twice to choose the brown rice setting. In about an hour we have perfect rice every time. I have found that 3 cups of brown gives you much more rice than 3 cups of white. Oh, and I cook the short-grain exactly like the long-grain with no adjustment in water level and both come out perfect.

I like the warmer. The rice is hot (and not dry) until the last person takes a scoop. Clean-up is easy. I haven't tried the timer feature, but I wish you could set an exact time rather than hours ahead. I haven't done any steaming or oatmeal or other stuff. To me a rice cooker is a rice cooker and I use other devices/utensils for steaming and such. I didn't give this appliance 5 stars because I'm a realist and 5 stars to me is something that's sooooo good that you divorce the wife and marry the Panasonic!

BTW - I think the extra 30 min of cook time is not too much to ask for better rice. With a plug & click it's about 15 min to cook and 15 min to set for 30 min of total time.

My latest "kick" is rice cookers. I love "bowl food" and I learned I can cook one pot, delicious, interesting, and even healthy meals using rice cookers. You can pay lots more for a fuzzy logic rice cooker but this little baby works perfectly. I'm also making steel cut oats Porridge in it so it isn't just for rice. The very tasty Rice Select (Texmati varieties) come out perfectly in it too. Fuzzy Logic to me means it's basically very hard to make a bad meal. Only negative I can see is this rice cooker is a 5.5 cup capacity. If you have a large large family you might need one with a higher capacity but this one makes lots of rice. I also bought an 8-cup On/Off/Warm Aroma ricer maker from Amazon and am very happy with that brand too. There's a Cajun rice cook book on Amazon whose recipes work best in the On/Off/Warm rice cooker.

I haven't used all the functions yet but I can say that it has cooked perfect white rice without scorching the bottom, like previous cooker, even when on warm for a long time. Lid closes tightly and opens with a gentle touch to the release. Love that feature! This cooker isn't 'tiny', despite the description of the small footprint. OTOH, it doesn't stand tall so height, when storing, isn't a problem.

This is very easy to use, very easy to clean, and since I need reading glasses, I can happily say the buttons are easy to see w/o having to find my glasses!

I am so glad I spent a little more money for this cooker and this is all the rice I need to cook for a family of three for two days worth of rice. (5-cup)

In europe they call them multycooker- because it can be used almost for everything. I almost stoped using my range and oven. It cooks, bakes, fries, steams. I fried fish and meat in it, bake cakes, cook soups, stews. Make jam. Anything!

Rice is a staple in our household. This is a great rice cooker. The quick setting is awesome. I add a little more water and put it on quick and you get rice in 15-20 minutes! The nonstick pot should be cleaned with a soft sponge because it scratches easily.