The One

This $750 Rice Cooker Will Remember Your Every Grain Preference

Here’s why the Zojirushi induction heating rice cooker and warmer is the best on the market.

The 5.5-cup pressure induction heating rice cooker and warmer from Zojirushi Corp.

Photographer: Amanda Saviñón for Bloomberg Businessweek

Although it takes only two ingredients, there seem to be so many ways to ruin rice on a stovetop. It can turn out undercooked, mushy or burnt—or, on really special days, all three. Enter the rice cooker. For the past century the machines have helped novices simplify the process. And now, the 5.5-cup pressure induction heating rice cooker and warmer ($750) from Japanese manufacturer Zojirushi Corp. goes beyond foolproof into the realm of the ingenious. Its My Rice feature lets you choose, after each batch of white rice, whether the next one should be more or less sticky and more or less firm—49 textures in all—and then it will replicate your favorite. There’s even an extended soak-and-steam umami option, boosting that flavor profile.

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