T-fal RK705851 10-In-1 Rice and Multicooker with 10 Automatic Functions and Delayed Timer, 10-Cup, White Review

If you make rice dishes on any regular basis, you owe it to yourself to get one of these dedicated rice cookers. I say dedicated, because even though you can make numerous other foods in this device, including using it as a steamer or slow cooker alternative, no other device will make your rice (or quinoa or other grains) so hands-off easily and so perfectly textured, and keep it hot and fresh for hours, until you eat it. This T-fal comes with a short cord, an inner pot, a steamer basket, a one-cup plastic measuring scoop, a textured rice paddle, a small ladle, a glossy recipe book and direction manual.

To make rice, you can use the the plastic measuring cup to add up to 10 cups of dry rice (serves 16-18 people) into any fine-sieved colander to rinse off extra starch. Or, you can just add the dry rice to the pot and wash w a few changes of water, pouring out most of the excess each time. Make sure the rinsed rice is in the pot, before adding enough water according to the directions (pic shows the table you can refer to in the manual), to the level shown on the side of the pot (hopefully you can see the pic with the engraved number markings up the side). *btw, some say you should use a colander to rinse your dry rice so you don’t end up scratching up the inside of your pot over time.

In my pics, i used 4 cups of jasmine rice mixed with quinoa, which serves 5-6 people, and added water up to the “4” line (it looks like the water is near the “6” in my picture, but that was a reflection). To cook, press the Menu button until the triangle next to the word Rice is lit, and then press the big Power symbol/ start button. When you press start, you’ll only see a dash “-” on the readout. After the water is boiled, it will beep twice and count down the minutes until your rice is done; about 20 min all together. The Keep Warm function automatically starts after your rice is done, and you see a “b” on the display until you press the Keep Warm/ Cancel button again to turn off that function. The rice/quinoa mix i made turned out perfectly- i fluffed it up after cooking and mixed in a few tablespoons of coconut oil with the included rice paddle for flavor. I have also made all quinoa without rice, and rice with other whole grains such as barley or buckwheat, and it all works great.

If you want to cook foods other than rice, the included recipe book has step-by-step instructions and ingredients for soups and vegis, main dishes like stews and ragout, or even desserts such as spiced cider or pudding. One thing that i’m planning to try that i think would be very useful is the yogurt function. i normally make yogurt in my oven, preheated and then cracked, with a thermometer- it’s a real hassle to get and keep the temperature right. if this T-fal works well, i’ll be making yogurt more often.

This is a great device. it even has a handle for portability so you can make your food and take it to the picnic table! luv it.

I’m not a big rice eater but I could become one after using this terrific T-fal Rice Cooker! I even hesitated to take this appliance, but then I noticed that it can slow cook and also steam vegetables — two ways I do like to cook. I enjoy baking, but not heating up my huge oven in the summer while I’m air conditioning. This can bake. It can also cook oatmeal, rice, and risotto. Yogurt can be made in this.

The first thing I made was rice. Perfect, PERFECT rice. Loved it! I used Texas Best Organic Brown Rice. This is the best rice I’ve ever had at home. One of the reasons I didn’t make rice at home was because it wasn’t at all like Chinese restaurant rice, which I do love. This rice was easily as good as Chinese restaurant rice. (Rice is pictured in photo, below.)

Next I baked a cake from the recipe booklet that comes with this, called “French Apple Batter Pudding.” Not too sweet, but it came out perfectly. Loved it! (See photo below.)

Then I made the “Country Style Stew” from the included recipe booklet (adding parsley and wine and substituting green pepper for red). Again, PERFECT results. (See photo below.) And, incredibly — this took only TWO hours on slow cook. The recipe booklet does have a misprint: “Turn on SLOW COOK mode for 60 minutes.” The settings on this Multicooker do not allow you to SLOW COOK for 60 minutes because the minimum allowed time is 2 hours on SLOW COOK. (The default cooking time on SLOW COOK is 4 hours, adjustable from 2 hours to 9 hours. You adjust by pushing a + / – button — there is no manual way to set this to 60 minutes on SLOW COOK. I was skeptical about 60 minutes, anyway, even if it could have happened. In fact, I was skeptical about 2 hours, since my other slow cooker would take at least 4 hours and probably longer. Therefore, this Multicooker is cooking under some pressure. And there is a LOT of hot steam inside, but it’s not readily apparent that it’s coming out through the vent on the top. Take care to follow directions carefully so that you do not burn yourself!

The instruction book gives detailed information about each function. It has 60 items under “Important Safeguards.” It has tips for BEST RESULTS when cooking rice, a rice chart and trouble-shooting chart. The recipe booklet has 26 recipes from SOUPS & VEGETABLES to MAIN DISHES to DESSERTS and even “Non-alcoholic Spiced Cider.”

When your food is in the bowl, place it in the cooker, close the lid, select the function, set the time and press START. The time begins to count down in red on the digital display readout. At the end of cooking, a buzzer rings several times and the Multicooker enters KEEP WARM status. It’s convenient if you can’t get there right away, or if you’re not quite ready to eat. Extremely convenient if you’re having company and you want a little time to get yourself ready — Multicooker will keep your food warm.

This is very easy to cook with and I expect I will use it several times a week from now on. It cleans up easily, too.

Caveats: First of all, the bowl that came with my Multicooker is not ceramic, but metal and it is coated with a nonstick surface. Second, the gradations inside the bowl show how much water to add when cooking rice. I have to use a flashlight to see the water level indentations because the bowl is dark inside. Third, the plastic cup that measures dry rice is not a full cup, rather it’s about 3/4 cup.

In a house with roommates it’s nice to have reliable stuff that’s affordable. We use this ALL the time. It is not the best but it does work fairly well. Better than stovetop still if you ask me! Some things to know:

Sometimes it will spit and sputter all over your counter so we aim the hole over the sink.

The measuring cup is not a full cup so keep that in mind. Found this out (the hard way) by using the supplied cup for measuring the rice and using a standard measuring cup for the water.

The bottom gets too hot, so I try to rotate the pot a few times while it’s cooking and move the unit a bit to move things around to help with scorching.

For perfect rice I unplug the cooker as soon as it is almost down to no bubbling in the holes in the rice (you will see) – then remove the pot and put on a cool burner on the stove and let sit 5 mins or so to finish cooking.

If you do not unplug it while the rice finishes steaming at the end of the cycle, the heat plate stays too hot so if you did manage not to have scorched rice on the bottom, you will. Then you can plug it back in for the “keep warm” if needed for a short while – but this too will burn the rice on the bottom if you don’t watch.

We avoid the bottom “layer” of rice and the rest is usually perfect.