The Black and Decker 16 cup Rice Cooker: Adequate But not the Best!
Pros:
Price, cooks rice, multifunction.
Cons:
Glass lid, power settings, could be better.
The Bottom Line:
If you want a good rice cooker that is inexpensive, this one will work for you.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
The Black and Decker 16 cup Rice Cooker: Adequate But not the Best!
By
James P. Zaworski
Cooking rice is more art than science. I have always had hit and miss luck with making ‘the perfect rice’, and always wondered how others can get it coming out perfect every time. Then, about two years ago, I learned that there existed such a device known as a rice cooker. I began to notice their availability when I was teaching English in Taiwan, but never actually took the plunge to purchase one.
Since moving back to the USA, I have been frequenting a Chinese grocery store in Westmont, Illinois. There, one can purchase lots of goodies that one cannot buy in typical American stores. They have a nice variety of rice cookers there, but they are all very pricey, the lowest being about $50 and they go on up in price to $175.
It was suggested to me that I pay $20 to pick one up from Wal-mart. I ended up picking up the Black and Decker 16 cup Rice Cooker for that price, and this is my experience with this cooker so far.
What I like about the Black and Decker 16 cup Rice Cooker.
1. Price.
At $19.99 plus tax, this was the least expensive rice cooker that I could find. Reasonably economical, price was a factor in my decision for purchase. However, sometimes you do get what you pay for, as quality can be reflected in how much money you pay for an item.
2. Capability.
Well, it’s a rice cooker. It cooks rice. But it is not limited to cooking rice, you can make soups in it, use it as a crock pot and make stew, boil ham or beef all day in it, etc.
3. Settings.
This rice cooker has two settings, warm and boil. Warm will give it a crock pot like quality and boil will cook the rice. When the rice is cooked, it automatically goes to the warm setting so you don’t burn what you are cooking. The warm setting can cook soup, stews, etc.
4. Cleanup and Non-stick Pan.
The rice cooker itself has a nonstick coating, making cleanup a breeze. It is always easy to cleanup after cooking rice in the nonstick pan, but not always the glass lid.
What I do not like about the Black and Decker Rice Cooker.
1. Glass lid.
While the glass lid has a hole in it to allow steam to escape, the lid is glass. It can break. I have had a few close calls with mine, and if you break the lid, the rice cooker won’t work. Another thing about the lid is that the carbohydrate residue that builds up around the steam vent tends to get a bit gunky, and it is an impediment in terms of cleanup.
2. The unit doesn’t automatically power off.
If you do forget the rice cooker is on, it stays on warm, forever. It has no off setting or no auto off setting for safety. Presumably you won’t forget that you are cooking rice, as an essential part of dinner, but if you dish it out and forget to turn it off, the rice will congeal and most likely eventually dry out and then burn. Of course, I have not let it go this far, but have to unplug the unit when I’m done cooking in it.
However, all in all, the Black and Decker Rice Cooker does a very fine job making nice rice. My favorite rice is Jasmine Rice from Thailand, and this rice cooker cooks that rice extremely well. I have not yet tried Basmati Rice in it, but presumably it does it justice as well. While this is not a top of the line rice cooker, and has its drawbacks, it is an effective and efficient and inexpensively priced rice cooker that does a fine job cooking rice, soups, and stews.
