Rice cooker inner pot question

[Talal]

Good Evening Gents,

My trusty oster rice cooker has been going strong for about 10 years or so.. however the inner pot, despite me never using any metal utensils, seems to be a little scratched with some of the color looking brown / rust like. i took a steel wool to a small area to see if it is Rust but it didnt budge. Rust usually goes off quick with steel wool in my experience, so im not sure what it is . Im not sure what they coat these rice pots with, so im a little nervous to be honest.

Anyway my concern is the pot itself. Is it still safe to use / cook n despite the coating bieng heavily scratched at the bottom with some brown like discoloration? i tried looking for a new pot but they dont make them anymore and i would have to shell out for a new cooker which i really dont want to as , i feel this thing can go for a long time its just the pot. too bad its not a stainless steel pot

Thank you for your advice... and time..

PS: if pictures of the pot will help id be happy to take some i figured someone here as some experience with this!


Talal

 

[ChefJohnBoy-ardee]

If it doesn't stick to the pot, smell bad, taste bad- keep using it IMO.

 

[Mack The Knife]

My Wife does not use an electric rice cooker any more, she found a microwave rice cooker, that does a much better job.
She says he family buys a new electric cooker every two years.

 

[dpm802]

10 years is a long enough life-span for a small kitchen appliance.

Buy a new one to make rice, and turn your old one into an electric scuttle/lather bowl.

 

[Legion]

My rice cooker has an aluminium inner pot, coated in some non stick material (which is gradually wearing away). If yours has rust don't worry about it. Ingesting iron oxide is probably better for you than ingesting aluminium and synthetic non stick materials.

 

[Mick]

I have used the same zojirushi 3 cup rice cooker for over a decade. The teflon coating has dulled but no scratches in it. It's still non stick and working fine.

You can scratch the coating even using a hard rubber spoon so I only use a soft rubber (rubbermaid) spatula and remove all of the rice to a bowl rather than serving it directly out of the cooker with a spoon.

I guess this is what has kept it working and looking like new all these years. I should say that I use it 2 or 3 times a week as we eat a lot of rice.

 

[mdarnton]

We've had a rice cooker for about five years and the teflon or whatever the blackish stuff over the aluminum is, has started chipping. My wife got alarmed, so I went on the web searching for teflon dangers. It appears that there are. . . . none, from ingestion, anyway. You definitely don't want to smoke the stuff.

So I've put off worrying about that one thing in my life. I did look for a new pot/liner and discovered that there are a few things that can happen to rice cookers that would be easy to fix or replace. . . . and that the manufacturers only make it possible for you to buy a new one, not fix the one you have. Everyone's looking for replacement pots; no one ever finds them. The one place that lists them never actually has any in stock.

So your choice appears to be 1/ eat teflon or 2/ buy a new cooker.

 

[Talal]

We've had a rice cooker for about five years and the teflon or whatever the blackish stuff over the aluminum is, has started chipping. My wife got alarmed, so I went on the web searching for teflon dangers. It appears that there are. . . . none, from ingestion, anyway. You definitely don't want to smoke the stuff.

So I've put off worrying about that one thing in my life. I did look for a new pot/liner and discovered that there are a few things that can happen to rice cookers that would be easy to fix or replace. . . . and that the manufacturers only make it possible for you to buy a new one, not fix the one you have. Everyone's looking for replacement pots; no one ever finds them. The one place that lists them never actually has any in stock.

So your choice appears to be 1/ eat teflon or 2/ buy a new cooker.

yea you are right. plus my pot seems to be aluminum too...


ive found a few rice cookers online after doing some research where the Cooking pot is made completely of surgical-grade 304 stainless steel. Seems to be a better longer lasting option and they seem very affordable.. Im not a big fan of teflon myself

This is the one i was looking at ..

just gotta use some oil at the bottom to prevent sticking i assume which i have no issue with

 

[mdarnton]

That's cool, and I like that idea a lot.
If you put in a link, it doesn't show. Anyway, if it's SS, I bet it's $$$.

 

[Talal]

That's cool, and I like that idea a lot.
If you put in a link, it doesn't show. Anyway, if it's SS, I bet it's $$$.

the link works if you click the word "This"

nope.. got a GREAT deal for a 14 cup rice cooker, digital and 304 grade stainless steel inner pot!

Here is what i ended up getting..

im happy

 

[mdarnton]

Whoops. Well anyway, I tracked it down without the link, it being the only SS tank cooker. On Amazon it's the Miracle Exclusives brand, and people seem to really like it. I'm attached to my fuzzy logic machine, but when I showed it to my wife, she's willing to give up logic to lose teflon, so we might get one. A Japanese friend of mine says the hard stuff you scrape off the bottom is the best part in her opinion (that's what the biggest complaint on Amazon is about), so that doesn't worry me.

Talal, that looks like the same cooker in the giant size. Apparently they make different capacities, but no one place carries them that I could find. I also found a guy who wrote a rice cooker cookbook who recommends a different brand I hadn't found, that comes in tiny sizes, too, but is more flimsy according to the reviews. On Amazon it's the "Tatung TAC-3A-SF 3 Cups Indirect Heating Rice Cooker".

 

[dannymayo]

I like that the one you bought has settings for white and brown rice. I'm in the same boat as you, our rice cooker has to be at least 10 years old.

 

[Alacrity59]

.
.
.
.. A Japanese friend of mine says the hard stuff you scrape off the bottom is the best part in her opinion (that's what the biggest complaint on Amazon is about), so that doesn't worry me.

This hard stuff is actually a special dish my wife raves about "Tadig"

 

[Talal]

Whoops. Well anyway, I tracked it down without the link, it being the only SS tank cooker. On Amazon it's the Miracle Exclusives brand, and people seem to really like it. I'm attached to my fuzzy logic machine, but when I showed it to my wife, she's willing to give up logic to lose teflon, so we might get one. A Japanese friend of mine says the hard stuff you scrape off the bottom is the best part in her opinion (that's what the biggest complaint on Amazon is about), so that doesn't worry me.

Talal, that looks like the same cooker in the giant size. Apparently they make different capacities, but no one place carries them that I could find. I also found a guy who wrote a rice cooker cookbook who recommends a different brand I hadn't found, that comes in tiny sizes, too, but is more flimsy according to the reviews. On Amazon it's the "Tatung TAC-3A-SF 3 Cups Indirect Heating Rice Cooker".

The Miracle was the first one i looked at then i found the aroma and aroma nutriware stuff which i liked more. realy fantastic deal im very happy i found it. Thanks for the model advice . and the hard rice you scrape off at the bottom you mean? its nice but i refuse teflon coated aluminum pots moving forward!

I like that the one you bought has settings for white and brown rice. I'm in the same boat as you, our rice cooker has to be at least 10 years old.

yea I only ever cooked brown in my old rice cooker and its 1 setting, im curious how this new setting willl fair out.

 

[Alacrity59]

the link works if you click the word "This"

nope.. got a GREAT deal for a 14 cup rice cooker, digital and 304 grade stainless steel inner pot!

Here is what i ended up getting..

im happy

OK I missed this the first 10 times I read it. I think we (I) need to work on a wiki or something about how to find some of this good stuff here in Canada. Sadly many times it is less expensive to import from outside Canada. I figure some Canadian sources pay retail and mark up.

 

[Talal]

OK I missed this the first 10 times I read it. I think we (I) need to work on a wiki or something about how to find some of this good stuff here in Canada. Sadly many times it is less expensive to import from outside Canada. I figure some Canadian sources pay retail and mark up.

Yes generally the import point you made up is true. i was about to buy one from the USA, but luckily stumbled across this website. fantastic deal..

 

[marzman]

I don't think it rusts, it's probably "kalk", google translate says lime, calcic but those words make no sense to me. I mean the stuff in the water that is good for your bone.

You can remove it with vinegar but I don't know if that can hurt the metal (maybe first try on the outside if the metal is ok with that)