Customer Reviews

The Pot and How to Use It: The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

This is not your usual cookbook.

First, it lets you know that you really can cook other foods besides rice in the most basic (or fancy) rice cooker.

Second, it's not an extensive recipe book. There are some recipes, yes, but the book encourages you to try your own ideas.

Third, the text is lively, witty, and entertaining. Roger Ebert's voice is not stilled.

Fourth, buy it just to read it as a book, but you'll probably end up also buying a rice cooker or using the one you have for more foods than rice.

Like a new guide on an African Safari this book tells you everything you needed to know, but nothing particularly useful! It is cleverly written but spends entirely to much time telling you why you need to have the pot, and of course why you need to have the pot, not to forget why you need to have the pot. I bought the book knowing I needed the pot, I didn't need to be told why!

After I got half way through I figured I could be my own Safari guide, particularly when I got to the multiple pages of people just like you who had bought the pot and decided they needed to say something... I skipped to the end, I'm sure there was useful information in there but I had already been told why I needed to have the pot. There was around 20 pages of recipes, in a 128 pages of book.

For an entertaining read I'd borrow this one from the library, and buy an actual cook book for the pot.

If you think reading a cookbook isn't fun you haven't looked at the latest by Pulitzer Prize winning film critic Roger Ebert. In what other collection of recipes will you find limericks and directions such as "add a splash of" or "throw in some pineapple chunks"? But then, as Ebert writes, "This is not an instruction book. It is an evocation of the ancient spirit of the Pot." And, of course, what those directions in the form of asides do is encourage you to experiment, create dishes that suit your taste and preference.

However, there is one teaching on which he is quite clear - in fact, it is the heading of Chapter 4 "Get The Pot" And his pot of choice is Zojirushi. A pint sized beauty now resting comfortably on our kitchen counter. One test try with this and we're converts to Ebert's way of thinking - the rice was so much fluffier, actually tastier. We tried his "Salty Rice with Tuna" - completely satisfying with a modicum of saltiness.

Now, we did not follow his directions exactly because he suggested we add "a squirt of that spicy red chili sauce in the bottle with the green lid and the Chinese characters on it." Didn't I tell you THE POT AND HOW TO USE IT was fun? We're still looking for that easily identifiable bottle.

While this book is a breezy, enjoyable read it is also studded with nuggets of information re healthy eating, what is nutritious and what is not. Plus a chapter is devoted to "Your Comments," consisting of readers' responses to Ebert's blog. Here we find discussions of various rice cookers (from those that "spewed water all over the place" to a $12.99 beloved cheapie), as well as favorite recipes that include everything from "Seafood Jambalaya" to "Chicken and the Usual Suspect Vegetables." After a bit you'll be amazed at what you can and what you want to prepare in your rice cooker (yes, you can steam eggs, and yes, you can bake a cake).

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

love Ebert, but I can't support this book...reads more like an extended online blog entry. I wasn't inspired. The recipes, few as they are, range all over the place and are not limited to your standard 3-cup rice cooker. It would be nice if the "recipes" were scaled to accommodate both 3 and 10 cup machines. Then there are the recipes for the stovetop...why? I wanted a book that me gave me many concrete ways to get more flexibility and creativity out my little rice cooker. Not to be found here. I returned my copy to Amazon (sorry Roger!).


P.S. I also personally hate any books that are loaded with filler in the form of cutesy anecdotes and online q&a that read like tweets...and this book is loaded.

I was hesitant to buy the book based on the reviews. I am very glad I went with my gut and ordered it. I feel I should disclose that I am: a. smart b. a middle-aged hip person (not to say "hipster") c. not a very good cook and d. a user experience designer (software) who has soapboxed for years about the beauty of single purpose gadgets - generally using the rice cooker as an exemplary device.

But none of that really matters. If you enjoy reading and have a sense of irony (Ebert cannot eat what he creates, afterall), spend a few bucks to enjoy his dry wit, cool writing style and invitation to *explore*. Oh, and maybe you'll learn a nifty trick or two you can do with a rice cooker. That's just icing on the cake. cake in the pot...? hmmm...

I'm single and not a cook and pre-ordered this thinking it would be right up my alley. Not so. Most of the book is very general narrative about the pot being fun and good and trying things out. The few recipes there are require a giant rice cooker, not the 3 cup version I have at home. I ended up making the split pea soup in a large deep pan on my stove and it's tasty, but it wasn't a one step throw it in the pot deal. I also tried the rice pudding, which lacked any pudding element whatsoever. It came out pretty dry, even before baking. I don't recommend this book for recipes for any level of cook.

I enjoy my rice cooker and like Roger Ebert, but there is nothing in this book that is worth a few dollars. You can get most/all of the info online - including recipes.

If you want a rice cooker cookbook - buy something else.

Not a cook book, per se. Lots of just "try it" kind of advice. Breezily written, and somewhat funny it is ultimately not very informative. Inexpensive in cost which is reflected in the value.
So you know, a rice cooker knows its done because while it is cooking the food it is boiling off water and so the temperature remains constant. When the water boils off, the temperature starts to rise, the rice is cooked and the cooker switches to warm. Not too hard to explain, eh?

I respect Mr. Ebert very much and enjoy his writing and what he is trying to get across in this book. He is basically trying to encourage people to eat healthily, simply, using a 'rice' cooker. He says you can use the 'rice' cooker to cook anything except a soufle!?! He heavily promotes experimentation, but does not talk much about when such experiments go wrong, you're out $20 and the kids are still hungry.

However, the actual information in this book could be contained on a single piece of paper. There is a lot of empty, wasted space in the book. I would suggest saving your money and googling 'Elbert rice cooker' instead.

I love Roger Ebert and his writing. It's his wonderful writing that make this an engaging book. If, however, you are looking for hard core recipes, this is not the book for you. Most of the recipes are supplied by posters on his blog. I would have loved more recipes, but that would have gone against Ebert's philosophy of a little of this and a little bit of that. It's all very loose.