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I see, thanks for the insight. Well, you're replying to someone who makes her own bread, and her own everything else [1] so I at least understand why I don't ha

I see, thanks for the insight. Well, you're replying to someone who makes her own bread, and her own everything else [1] so I at least understand why I don't have a rice cooker now! I enjoy cooking and I don't think of it as a waste of time, like "hundreds of hours over a few years". Those are hundreds of hours where I get to do something I love and that I find rewarding, physically so. My average time spent on cooking is about an hour, or an hour and a half, depending on the dish, I reckon. But then I'll eat that for a couple of days, so it's an hour for four meals; for two people. My partner also cooks so it's not always me spending that time. Of course for some lunches I'll just make myself a toastie or puff up some noodles and eat them with tuna. Maybe give them a quick fry if I really feel like it. Anyway I guess this thread has helped convince me I don't need a rice cooker in my life. I do have a toaster though :) ______________ [1] Except for beans and chickpeas. Not if I can buy a can of perfectly boiled chickpeas at 0.45 p. The power to cook that on a stove will cost me more and it's probably better for the environment given the people who put the chickpeas in the can boil them in batches of several hundreds of kgs, not 1kg as I'd do.

maxglute 3y ago
I like myself a fresh loaf as well. I think there's more joy/ritual in bread making/baking. There's more types of bread to experiment with. It's a hobby. Some bakers I know spend more money on mixers and cast iron baking pans and other contraptions than a fancy rice cooker. No one makes rice for a hobby or bring plain rice to potluck. Your chickpea comparison is apt. Imagine if your normal staple is just chickpeas. It's a chore made for automation. East Asian rice consumption is pretty boring, people stick with their brand rarely even switch up grain types. Other cultures put stuff in their rice, spice it up, cook it with stuff and have more one pot raw rice recipes. But if your rice diet is 95% white rice consumed the same way, splurging on a "unitool" like a rice cooker to save time brings joy.
adrian_b 3y ago
Lentils, chickpeas or beans can be boiled in a perfectly reproducible way and with minimum energy consumption in a microwave oven. The boiling time depends on the quantity and on the oven, but it is unlikely to exceed 15 minutes (preferably after soaking them for a half day in acidified water, then rinsing them) (by acidified I mean adding a little lemon or lime juice, or vinegar or citric acid; such acid soaking removes much of the phytic acid from seeds or nuts). I even bake my bread or my cakes in a microwave oven, because it is much faster and more reproducible than in a traditional oven. Thus I have stopped cooking for multiple days, because cooking any dish takes much less than a half hour (the wall clock time may be greater, but it includes times when the food is either in the oven or it must rest, but it is unattended and I can do other activities).
- YeGoblynQueenne 3y ago
  That's interesting to know. Unfortunately I don't have a microwave oven. Just a traditional one. I do make lots of dishes that need sauteeing and slow cooking in a French oven. How does that work with a microwave?
  - adrian_b 3y ago
    Slow cooking is very easy in a microwave oven, but only if it is a good oven that has a power control with many steps, which allows the selection of a power much smaller than the maximum. For instance my oven has 6 power steps, the maximum is 1000 W and the minimum is 100 W. This is enough to be able to choose for any food how fast or how slow to be cooked, within a large range. However, even the equivalent of slow cooking is much faster when done in a microwave oven, because the heat is introduced directly inside the food, so it is heated uniformly in all its volume. On the other hand if you like food done by sauteing, a microwave oven is not helpful for that. A microwave oven is optimal for replacing boiling, steaming, roasting or baking for any kind of vegetables or meat (also for dough, cakes, creams, eggs). The vegetables that contain much water, e.g. potatoes, sweet potatoes or quinces, are more tasty if they are not boiled but just baked in a closed glass vessel, without adding anything to them. Meat is also done best by roasting in a closed glass vessel without anything added. A microwave oven is not useful for replacing frying or sauteing. Nevertheless, in my opinion, these are bad habits. As a general rule, it is useful to heat only the parts of food that consist of proteins and carbohydrates. Heating any kind of fat cannot provide any useful effect from a nutritional point of view, it only degrades the fat and it makes it harmful, even if many people are addicted to the taste of burned fat. I have transitioned from cooking with a traditional oven and kitchen stove to using only a microwave oven a few years ago, but I had stopped heating any kind of oil or fat many years earlier. I add to the food the various kinds of oil that I use or any other kind of fat only after the food has been cooked and it has cooled down. Except if the taste of burned oil is desired, there is no need for using oil or fat when cooking in a microwave oven, because when using closed glass vessels it is possible to heat anything of interest without the risk of the food sticking to the vessel or becoming burnt.
    - 3y ago

maxglute 3y ago

I like myself a fresh loaf as well. I think there's more joy/ritual in bread making/baking. There's more types of bread to experiment with. It's a hobby. Some bakers I know spend more money on mixers and cast iron baking pans and other contraptions than a fancy rice cooker. No one makes rice for a hobby or bring plain rice to potluck. Your chickpea comparison is apt. Imagine if your normal staple is just chickpeas. It's a chore made for automation. East Asian rice consumption is pretty boring, people stick with their brand rarely even switch up grain types. Other cultures put stuff in their rice, spice it up, cook it with stuff and have more one pot raw rice recipes. But if your rice diet is 95% white rice consumed the same way, splurging on a "unitool" like a rice cooker to save time brings joy.

adrian_b 3y ago

Lentils, chickpeas or beans can be boiled in a perfectly reproducible way and with minimum energy consumption in a microwave oven. The boiling time depends on the quantity and on the oven, but it is unlikely to exceed 15 minutes (preferably after soaking them for a half day in acidified water, then rinsing them) (by acidified I mean adding a little lemon or lime juice, or vinegar or citric acid; such acid soaking removes much of the phytic acid from seeds or nuts). I even bake my bread or my cakes in a microwave oven, because it is much faster and more reproducible than in a traditional oven. Thus I have stopped cooking for multiple days, because cooking any dish takes much less than a half hour (the wall clock time may be greater, but it includes times when the food is either in the oven or it must rest, but it is unattended and I can do other activities).

YeGoblynQueenne 3y ago
That's interesting to know. Unfortunately I don't have a microwave oven. Just a traditional one. I do make lots of dishes that need sauteeing and slow cooking in a French oven. How does that work with a microwave?
- adrian_b 3y ago
  Slow cooking is very easy in a microwave oven, but only if it is a good oven that has a power control with many steps, which allows the selection of a power much smaller than the maximum. For instance my oven has 6 power steps, the maximum is 1000 W and the minimum is 100 W. This is enough to be able to choose for any food how fast or how slow to be cooked, within a large range. However, even the equivalent of slow cooking is much faster when done in a microwave oven, because the heat is introduced directly inside the food, so it is heated uniformly in all its volume. On the other hand if you like food done by sauteing, a microwave oven is not helpful for that. A microwave oven is optimal for replacing boiling, steaming, roasting or baking for any kind of vegetables or meat (also for dough, cakes, creams, eggs). The vegetables that contain much water, e.g. potatoes, sweet potatoes or quinces, are more tasty if they are not boiled but just baked in a closed glass vessel, without adding anything to them. Meat is also done best by roasting in a closed glass vessel without anything added. A microwave oven is not useful for replacing frying or sauteing. Nevertheless, in my opinion, these are bad habits. As a general rule, it is useful to heat only the parts of food that consist of proteins and carbohydrates. Heating any kind of fat cannot provide any useful effect from a nutritional point of view, it only degrades the fat and it makes it harmful, even if many people are addicted to the taste of burned fat. I have transitioned from cooking with a traditional oven and kitchen stove to using only a microwave oven a few years ago, but I had stopped heating any kind of oil or fat many years earlier. I add to the food the various kinds of oil that I use or any other kind of fat only after the food has been cooked and it has cooled down. Except if the taste of burned oil is desired, there is no need for using oil or fat when cooking in a microwave oven, because when using closed glass vessels it is possible to heat anything of interest without the risk of the food sticking to the vessel or becoming burnt.
  - 3y ago