Vent: my $40 rice cooker broke in 8 weeks so I went back to a $12 pot
Everyone kept telling me a rice cooker was the one gadget that pays for itself, so I grabbed a $40 one from Target on a Tuesday and it died before October. The hinge on the lid snapped and the nonstick came off in flakes. My grandma's old $12 aluminum pot on the stove has made rice for 20 years without a single problem, and I get better results once I figure out the water line with my finger. Does anyone here actually cook rice in a pot still, or am I the last one doing it the hard way?
That line about the nonstick coming off in flakes got me, been there with a $50 Zojirushi clone that started peeling around week six. Here's the thing nobody tells you, those cheap nonstick cookers have a coating that dies fast if you so much as look at it with a metal spoon, and the hinge is always the first thing to go on the flip top lids. My move now is a plain stainless pot with a glass lid, no coating to flake, and I just do the finger trick same as you. One knuckle of water above the rice line, bring it to a boil, lid on, lowest flame for 18 minutes, then kill the heat and let it sit 10 more. The sitting part is what people skip and its the whole secret, the steam finishes the job while you do something else.