Zojirushi NS-TSC10 5-1/2-Cup (Uncooked) Micom Rice Cooker and Warmer, 1.0-Liter

Reviews

1. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Eric Henson – October 26, 2018

   I’m extremely happy with this rice cooker, and I was very surprised by the difference in quality of the rice. It handily beats both cooking it on the stove top, and cooking it in my Instant Pot. It is not without fault, but I can live with the minor flaws given how good the resulting rice is.For reference, I made rice using standard tap water and Tamanishiki premium short grain white rice. I rinsed and drained the rice six times before cooking, and I am cooking at high altitude (~5,500 feet).Pros:–Rice made in this cooker comes out perfectly cooked every time. It is fluffy and sticky, comes out of the cooker easily, and is great for eating with chopsticks. It is just like high quality rice served at restaurants. When using quality short grain rice, it produces rice that is exactly like what I’ve had in Japan.–The non-stick inner pot is easy to remove and clean. Unlike cooking in the stove-top or in my Instant Pot, I don’t need to soak the cooking vessel before cleaning, as there’s no rice and very little film left after cooking.–The cooker comes with an internal reel that winds up the power cord for easy storage. I missed this in the product description, so it was a very nice surprise.–The inner pot is marked with water levels for various amounts of uncooked rice. This is surprisingly handy.–The clock is battery powered, so it doesn’t lose the time when unplugged. This is a really nice little touch.–Operation of the device is dead simple.–The cooker can hold prepared rice for later use for a surprisingly long time. I’ve tested it as far as 12 hours after preparation, and it was just as good as it was freshly made, complete with a little plume of steam when opened.Cons:–The cooker cannot hold the included scoop, paddle, and steamer basket inside itself all at the same time for storage. It can, however, hold the scoop and the paddle if you store the steamer basket separately. This is a big benefit to the Instant Pot, which can hold its power cord, trivets, ladle, and rice paddle inside itself when stored. (Note that I have the 5.5-cup model. The larger version may be able to do this.)–The manual says that the cooker can make batches as small as 0.5 cups rice, but the internal pot is only marked for water levels for as low as 1.0 cup uncooked rice. If you want to make a small batch, you must do the water measurement yourself (the amounts are given in a provided manual insert). This could have been avoided with extra lines inside the pot, which would have been so easy to add.–When this cooker refers to a “cup” of rice, it means the included scoop, not a standard US cup. This refers to a Japanese standard for a serving of uncooked rice (about 2/3rds US standard cup). This isn’t that much of a drawback, but it is important to keep in mind. Don’t lose that scoop!–The cooking cycle takes about an hour, four times longer than standard rice cooking. This is because the cooking cycle incorporates soaking and steaming time, though, so it is worth it.–The manual says that it is designed for medium and short-grain rice, but does include substitute water measurements for long-grain. Keep in mind that if you want to cook long-grain, you can’t use the marks inside the cooking vessel to measure the water.Conclusion:If you’re considering this device and reading reviews, then you’re probably like me in that you’re wondering if the results are really worth the hype. I think they absolutely are. Now that I have this cooker, there’s no reason at all for me to cook rice any other way. The results simply aren’t in the same league as stove-top or Instant Pot rice cooking. Only you can decide if that’s worth the price of admission, but I can recommend the device wholeheartedly. My only points of dissatisfaction with this device are minor quibbles and nitpicks. It does its job supremely well, and I’m completely satisfied with my purchase.Updates:2020-01-20 – I’ve revisited this review to correct an error I made about accessory storage in the original version. I incorrectly stated that the scoop and paddle couldn’t be stored inside the cooker, even with the steamer basket removed. That was incorrect. In fact, the scoop and paddle can be stored inside with the basket removed, but all three cannot be stored inside at the same time. Since writing this review, this cooker has become one of my favorite appliances. The cons I listed in my review all feel like extremely minor quibbles. now. I wanted to change my score to five stars, since I love this thing so dang much, but I think it is still appropriate to keep it at four for the drawbacks, minor as they are. This cooker is on my short list of appliances that I would replace immediately should they fail.
2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   M. McCann – May 5, 2019

   I can make rice, just not as good as this fella. Just wish I had realized exactly how big of a machine this is. We’ve never had a rice cooker and so receiving it and realizing just HOW MUCH rice it makes was a bit of surprise, since it’s just the two of us since our kids left home. We both started laughing! But go big or go home…right? I was able to make absolutely perfect sushi rice first time out the gate with no worries, and usually if I’m making sushi and prepping fillings and additions I’m hoping the rice will be good. I’ll never have to worry again. It was PERFECT, and I probably did a few things wrong. Now I just need to adopt a few hungry orphans.UPDATE: I am LOVING this rice cooker. It just cooks every kind of rice perfectly. I just rinse the rice, put it in and forget about it until dinner time. In reading some of the negative reviews, I’m seeing that people are expecting the cooker to keep the rice for longer periods of time. According to the manual, I think this particular cooker is only supposed to keep the rice warm for 12 hours? Which isn’t a big deal for the average white American cook, but would probably be a deal breaker for anyone of Asian descent who makes big batches and keeps them for a day or longer. I think the more expensive models propose to keep the rice for a longer period of time.
3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   AK – May 30, 2019

   Don’t bother looking any further because this rice cooker is all you need.I had a minimal rice cooker all through college as a gift from my parents and a promise for the future. It had one setting and the silly tab you push down that pops up when the rice is done. I loved that rice cooker. That clicking sound of the tab popping up helped get me through many final seasons. That rice cooker survived several moves across the city and even one across the country. It was enough for a sad, sad Korean girl crying over her books in the cold winter, but after one year out of college and a move to the big city, my rice cooker died, like a soldier tired from battle.I took this as a sign that I needed to finally invest in the real deal – my first grown-up rice cooker. I found it in Zoji-sama. Is there such a thing as the opposite of buyer’s remorse? That’s what I have.Do you want rice? Fluffy, sweet, delicate, perfectly steamed rice here.Do you want cake? Grease me up, and this’ll pop a fluffy yellow sponge cake out for you with barely a tap on the bottom of the bowl.Porridge at dawn? Throw in some rice and water and set the timer. You’ll wake to the dulcet tones of your Zoji singing to you like a songbird.This thing is not only pretty and sleek (it appeals to my designer aesthetics), but it has every setting you never knew you wanted: white rice, quick rice (if you don’t want to wait), brown rice, porridge, cake, etc. In the manual is a collection of recipes, all of which you can make in this wondrous piece of technology. The other day I made a heaping pile of rice for several hungry Asian friends, and we silently sat around my apartment and wept with happiness over the beautiful glistening white kernels of goodness that had been bequeathed to us by Zoji-sama. We then discovered the yellow sponge cake recipe and proceeded to squeal with delight while making that. An hour later, we pulled the bowl out of the Zoji, tapped the bottom of it, and this immaculate yellow cake slid out without a crumb out of place like the most perfect poop you’ve never had. We ate it with whipped cream and peaches (not cooked in the Zoji). Glorious.Also, the cord is retractable, and the parts come out for easy cleaning. Heck yeah.So thank you, Zojirushi, for this gift to all mankind, and to Amazon Prime for delivering it within 2 days of ordering it. My paycheck did not go to waste.