4 ms·

FWIW Yun Hai has super amazing offerings. It's been one of my favorite retailers for a couple years now (along with Rancho Gordo, Mila brand frozen xiao long ba

FWIW Yun Hai has super amazing offerings. It's been one of my favorite retailers for a couple years now (along with Rancho Gordo, Mila brand frozen xiao long bao, and Carmina/Meermin shoes+belts). My guess is the author of this piece is also a huge fan of Yun Hai and wanted to support their business with her bully pulpit at Food Network. Yun Hai is a fairly small company with close-knit communal ties to suppliers in Taiwan and a local cultural presence in Brooklyn. It could be a paid piece, but Yun Hai doesn't really fit the profile of larger companies which typically do that sort of thing. It's more of a small family/community-supporting company. It probably turns a decent profit now but felt like a lifestyle business when they were a bit smaller. Yun Hai did put out a LOT of marketing and storytelling about the Tatung steamer they started offering about 12 months ago, and likely the author felt the information provided by Yun Hai would make it super easy to write a unique article. Edit: I have this Tatung steamer and I've not figured out a great use-case for it. I don't often put in the effort to make the types of dishes that would be most appropriate for it, and I prefer the simple wooden basket stovetop steamers for heating up dumplings or steaming Bok Choy / snow-pea leaves. The Tatung steamer has a surprising number of combinatorics that you can arrange the interior pieces into, and it's never very clear what the correct arrangement is for the dish I'm cooking. I think if you grew up in a culture of using this type of appliance you'd know how to use it as second-nature, but as someone who didn't grow up in an East Asian culture or family, I'm often at a loss for how to use it and it mostly sits unused. That said, the foods offered by Yun Hai are fucking outstanding. > And isn't "use your rice cooker to bake a cake" one of those food hack ideas I see endlessly brought up? It's not really a rice cooker to be honest -- I think most people who own this would be more likely to use a Tiger or Zojirushi to cook rice, but I could be wrong. It's really more made for cooking steamed dishes. It would only generally be used to cook "cakes" that are specifically designed to be cooked by steaming, which are fairly common recipes in Dim Sum but I don't think you'd want to try to cook western style cakes in it.

msla 3y ago
And this sounds like spam, too.
- runnerup 3y ago
  Feel free to check my post history for signs of authenticity. And while you're at it, consider re-reading the HN commenting guidelines[0]. I understand that the glowing reccomendation is unusual and out of place. But we're in a world where it's increasingly difficult to find decent retailers and even more difficult to find decent authentic reviews. If there's something that I know is amazing quality, I'm going to tell people because I'd like them to tell me about great retailers and brands that they love. In short, your criticism is useful feedback -- it's nice to know how my comment is received. But in all honestly I knew it sounded like a shill and I didn't really care because I truly believe in what I'm recommending and I think a lot of people here will love them. A more useful comment would tell me how I could change what I wrote to feel to feel more appropriate for HN while still communicating the important information about the brand. That said, I am going to edit it to say that I have the Tatung steamer and I've not been impressed by it because I don't actually know how to use it and I don't often cook the type of foods that are most appropriate for it. I also upvoted the counterpoints from 'boomboomsubban 0: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html ------------------------ Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes. When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3." Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community. Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith. Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents. Omit internet tropes. Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something.
  - msla 3y ago
    And this also sounds like spam, frankly, complete with the regurgitation at the end.
boomboomsubban 3y ago
Don't companies branching out into new markets usually do things like hire firms to control the debut that may do things the original wouldn't? Also, the direct link to the store to buy it is behind at least two seperate ublock origin ad filters. Even if the entire thing wasn't paid for by Yun Hai, they're definitely paying for that link. >It's not really a rice cooker to be honest It's sold as a "Tatung Electric Rice Cooker and Steamer." The also advertised cookbook contains a recipe for a black sugar cake that looks like a fairly standard Western cake.

msla 3y ago

And this sounds like spam, too.

runnerup 3y ago
Feel free to check my post history for signs of authenticity. And while you're at it, consider re-reading the HN commenting guidelines[0]. I understand that the glowing reccomendation is unusual and out of place. But we're in a world where it's increasingly difficult to find decent retailers and even more difficult to find decent authentic reviews. If there's something that I know is amazing quality, I'm going to tell people because I'd like them to tell me about great retailers and brands that they love. In short, your criticism is useful feedback -- it's nice to know how my comment is received. But in all honestly I knew it sounded like a shill and I didn't really care because I truly believe in what I'm recommending and I think a lot of people here will love them. A more useful comment would tell me how I could change what I wrote to feel to feel more appropriate for HN while still communicating the important information about the brand. That said, I am going to edit it to say that I have the Tatung steamer and I've not been impressed by it because I don't actually know how to use it and I don't often cook the type of foods that are most appropriate for it. I also upvoted the counterpoints from 'boomboomsubban 0: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html ------------------------ Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes. When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3." Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community. Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith. Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents. Omit internet tropes. Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something.
- msla 3y ago
  And this also sounds like spam, frankly, complete with the regurgitation at the end.

boomboomsubban 3y ago

Don't companies branching out into new markets usually do things like hire firms to control the debut that may do things the original wouldn't? Also, the direct link to the store to buy it is behind at least two seperate ublock origin ad filters. Even if the entire thing wasn't paid for by Yun Hai, they're definitely paying for that link. >It's not really a rice cooker to be honest It's sold as a "Tatung Electric Rice Cooker and Steamer." The also advertised cookbook contains a recipe for a black sugar cake that looks like a fairly standard Western cake.