Good & bad

**OMG! I cannot believe that these reviews haven't been done! I am so sorry they are so late!!!**

I really enjoyed the recipes and thought they had enough varying degrees of difficulty that I didn't feel like my hand was being held and I didn't feel like it was impossible to achieve what the page was telling me.

Anyone who owns the bestselling Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger which was published in 2012, knows a lot about good cooking in the rice cooker. However, with the Instant Pot and other modern appliances that have recently come out, Hensperger has updated her information in a new cookbook, The Best of the Best Rice Cooker Cookbook: 100 No-Fail Recipes for All Kinds of Things That Can Be Made from Start to Finish in Your Rice Cooker so that everyone can make perfect rice with their newer (and older) appliances.

The first chapter explains many different types of rice and how to cook them. Now that there are dozens of varieties available in mainline grocery stores all over the country, this is very helpful and will temp cooks to try different types that will improve their dishes. The chapter also explains the different types of rice cookers and whether to rinse, soak, or otherwise prep rice before cooking.

This book features flavored rice such as Lemon Rice, and Greek Lemon and Dill Rice with Feta, as well as several easy rice pilafs. The Asparagus and Mushroom Risotto is one that will be made over and over, not only because it is easy, but also because it is delicious. Another bonus is that there are recipes for other grains besides rice, such as barley, quinoa, bulgur, wild rice, millet, buckwheat groats, and others. With the emphasis on healthy grains, this cookbook is extremely timely. There are even recipes for polenta, grits, and hominy. The section on cereals is excellent, and there is another good section on vegetables, beans, and legumes.

As with Hensperger’s previous cookbooks, the recipes are easy-to-follow, concise, and mostly contain easy-to-find ingredients. One drawback (probably the only one), which is inexcusable in this modern day, is that there are only a limited number of photographs. The photos that are included are excellent, but there needs to be more. Most cooks like to see what their finished dishes will look like.

All told, this cookbook belongs on everyone’s cookbook shelf. Anyone who likes rice as an accompaniment to favorite dishes, or wants to branch out and try new grains, cereals, or beans and legumes will appreciate this excellent cookbook.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

The Best of the Best Rice Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger offers 100 recipes for your rice cooker. I found several recipes that would help me better utilize my rice cooker. The best recipes to me were the basic ones for cooking different types of rice. I was not certain that some of the hot cereal recipes would work in my specific rice cooker. The author gave thorough and clear instructions for each of the recipes and will be a useful addition to my kitchen.

While I'm not sure it's the best rice cooker cookbook it is very good with a variety of recipes for all cooking skill levels

I was hoping for a little more from this book, specifically some recipes for dishes I could make in my rice cooker like how to make my own wild rice mix in the rice cooker or rice casseroles, along with foods besides rice that I could make and just basic easy-to-look-up charts and recipes for things like brown rice, millet, sorghum, etc. There are some of those types of recipes (like black beans) but not most of the ones I was looking for and I generally found that it seemed easier to do those the way I already am, like with my Instant Pot or on the stove. In some cases, it seems like the rice cooker is used as a bit of a stretch, like cook this in the rice cooker for one cycle and then check it and then add some more water and try it for another cycle, when it just makes sense to do it on the stove or in a slow cooker or Instant Pot. If you only own a rice cooker and not any of those other appliances, then this would be a fantastic book to use it.

The book gives excellent information on how rice cookers work, what the different kinds are, and what all the different types of rice are (seriously, there's 35 pages on how rice cookers work and how to cook various plain rice varieties). In a way, it was almost too much for me. There's just an overwhelming amount of information and it makes rice cooker cooking seem harder than I ever thought it was. Our 16 y/o son usually makes rice in our rice cooker about every other day so we have cooked rice for meals at the time and to use later. He just rinses it, adds water, pushes the button down and lets it go (I add a dash of salt or seasoning and some oil but am almost that cavalier myself). This book says he should be soaking it for an hour first and using this or that precise measurement, let it cook and then sit 15-20 minutes, stir, recover, etc. It also says that leftover rice is practically inedible but you can carefully reheat it a certain way in the rice cooker one time if you must. I use leftover rice all the time for fried rice, casseroles, soups, etc. and find it works great.

The book also provides a variety of recipes, although they didn't do a lot for me. Many were pretty basic (the impressive sounding Riz au Beurre is just white rice, butter, salt, pepper and soy sauce) and others seemed like they were trying too hard. Mexican rice and beans is such a classic staple but do we really need to add ingredients like capers? There is a chapter on puddings, custards and fruit desserts, but these can only be cooked in rice cookers with a porridge cycle.

Some color photos are given, but most recipes do not have photos. There is also lots of use of animal products, so vegans and vegetarians will need to substitute heavily. Almost all of the recipes are well suited for gluten free folks.

In all, it's a good read and provides lots of great information about rice cookers. If you have a Fuzzy Logic machine and are looking for ways to justify your purchase, this is likely to be a fun read. It will also be very helpful for folks who want to learn a lot more about types of rices and how to use their rice cooker for more than white rice.

My rating system:
1 = disliked it
2 = it was okay
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = love it, plan to purchase or would buy it again if it was lost

I read a temporary digital ARC of the book for the purpose of review.

Harvard Common Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Best of the Best Rice Cooker Cookbook: 100 No-Fail Recipes for All Kinds of Things That Can Be Made from Start to Finish in Your Rice Cooker. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

This cookbook was compiled from the author's previous works, The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook and its expanded edition, but was updated with new photographs and a new design format. Readers who only use this appliance to make rice will have their eyes opened to some new possibilities. I do wish that there were more varied recipes, as many of the pages are taken up with how to cook different grains plainly and simply.

Rice cookers can be used for more than just rice and are often used daily in cultures outside of the United States. This cookbook includes information on how to buy the appropriate rice cooker for your personal needs and also describes how to get the most out of your appliance.

The first section is devoted to explaining the different types of rice, from the classic American long-grain White to Black rice. There are useful charts detailing how much rice to make for your number of people, a handy reference that I would refer to time and time again. The most useful tip in this section is regarding the reheating of leftover rice in the rice cooker, a trick that took me by surprise.

The remaining sections are: Simple Rices and Small Meals; Pilaf; Risottos; Sushi; Whole Grain Cooking; Polenta, Grits, and Hominy; Hot Cereals; Beans, Legumes, and Vegetables; Whole-Meal Steaming; and Puddings, Custards, and Fruit Desserts. There are some outstanding recipes in many of these categories, including the classic Spanish dish Arroz con Pollo, Asparagus and Mushroom Risotto. Israeli Couscous with Orange, Shrimp and Grits, Maple-Cinnamon Rice Pudding, Spaghetti Squash Alfredo, Salmon Steaks with Pineapple Salsa, and Tres Leches Rice Pudding.

Main dish recipes are few and far between, which was a disappointment to me. I was hoping to find more ways of using my rice cooker for a one pot meal. Overall, the author does a good job of showing off the many attributes of the appliance. I look forward to using this cookbook for many years to come and I recommend it to readers who desire to learn more about rice cookers.

Thank you Quarto Publishing for an e-galley of The Best of the Best Rice Cooker Cookbook.
I never considered ever using my rice cooker for anything but rice. The recipes in this book are foolproof and will save me lots of time. I love that the authors took the time at the start of the book to explain how rice cookers work and what the difference is between the two different types. It really makes me feel safe in the knowledge of what is going on inside the machine so I can trust a meal inside of it without timers or monitoring.
Plenty of good ideas and would be perfect for new cooks or college students with limited choices.

I have made three recipes from the book thus far : Riz au Buerre, which was fantastic, and Lemon Rice and Mexican Rice, which were good. It would have been nice if there were more pictures so I could see what the recipes should look like and I really wish that all the breakfasts and half of the desserts did not call for fuzzy logic machines only. The recipes were easy to follow and I really like the design of the recipes. I have a 4 cup rice cooker and found many of the 6 cup recipes worked just fine without modifying amounts. I am happy to try more and plan to make Rice Pilaf with Fresh Peas and steamed shrimp and Jasmine Rice next.

The Best of the Best Rice Cooker Cookbook: 100 No-Fail Recipes for All Kinds of Things, That Can Be Made from Start to Finish in Your Rice Cooker by Beth Hensperger, and a great addition to my cookbooks. I have had a rice maker for a couple of years, but I have only made rice in it, so I was excited to read this book. I have tried several recipes, and they turned out great. This book explains all about the different grains that can be cooked in a rice maker, and recipes you can make. I will be using my rice maker for a lot of things now. I recommend this cookbook to all Rice lovers, you will enjoy it.

I reviewed a digital arc provided by NetGalley and the publisher. Thank you.

Great explanations and many appealing recipes. I was really excited to see this book, having already bought a new rice cooker. I found this book inspiring with it's presentation of easy recipes, as well as great explanation of different types of rice cookers and grains. I would have preferred a few more photos, and a few more classic recipe adaptations for the rice cooker, but overall I'm pretty impressed. I'm looking forward to trying out some recipes asap.

I will admit that I own a rice cooker and up until I read this book, I very rarely used it. I knew from the box that it could do some amazing things. However, it wasn't the easiest appliance to use, so I only used it for cooking rice since it was the only thing that I had mastered. The Best of the Best Rice Cooker Cookbook written by Beth Hensperger was the answer that I needed to move to more experimentation. I have been having a lot of fun with this cookbook, and I have been learning just how much this appliance can do!

Cooking Rice
I started small to build up my confidence. There is a recipe for Lemon Rice which is just incredible. Simple ingredients, simple to make and it has an amazing taste. I've been using this rice for a lot of recipes to brighten things up. Next I moved up to a recipe that used wild rice. Wild Rice with Fennel and Dried Cranberries was an easy to understand recipe and I'm going to think about adding this to a Thanksgiving menu because it was so good.

Breakfast
Did you know that you can make oatmeal in your rice cooker?!? I found a recipe for Creamy Breakfast Oatmeal in this book that was so simple to make. And a bonus was that you could keep in on warm in the machine for up to an hour. So if you make it on the weekend and not everybody is ready for breakfast at the same time, they can help themselves when they get up. Hot Apple Granola was on the same page in this cookbook and personally I liked that even better than the oatmeal!

Full Meals
I love pineapple, so when I saw a recipe for Steamed Salmon Steaks with Pineapple Salsa I was intrigued to see how this could be done in a rice cooker. Picture this, you line the steamer basket with a single layer of chard or cabbage leaves, and then you put the marinated salmon fillets on top of the leaves and you steam them. Want to add steamed vegetables to your meal, just place them around the salmon. Easy as can be. It was so much fun, and such a great tasting meal.

The Best of the Best Rice Cooker Cookbook teaches you to cook; rice, rice and vegetables, rice and beans, pilafs, paella, risottos, barley, couscous, polenta, grits, hominy, rice pudding, porridge and yes even sushi! There are so many options in this cookbook, you will have a hard time choosing what to try next. I am saving the recipe for English Pudding with Cranberries and Walnuts for the holiday season. By that time I think I will be ready to graduate up to being able to make this steamed dish using my rice cooker. My poor rice cooker that had been neglected for so long. I know that you are going to love this cookbook, and all the possibilities it presents for making wonderful meals. I highly recommend this book!

Speaking as someone who recently got a rice cooker, I didn't realise there was more to it other than adding rice and water. Hensperger goes into a great deal of detail regarding the different types of rice available, as well as the cookers themselves which is rather illuminating.

The recipes themselves are varied and very easy to follow. They are also extremely accessible for someone who may either be a novice chef or doesn't like to go to a great deal of effort when cooking.

Wish I'd had this book when I'd first bought my own rice cooker. Probably would have made more use of it.

Recommended.

Easy to follow recipes that actually turn out as good as they look. I found myself utilizing this book more than once when planning menus for the week.

Wow, I had no idea there were so many types of rice. But I know now thanks to this gem of a cookbook. It is a treasure trove of rice information to be sure. But it also includes recipes for other foods such as grits, hominy, lentils... Maybe it’s because I read through this on an empty stomach but all the recipes sounded delicious, especially the desserts. I say sounded delicious instead if looked delicious because there is not a photo of each recipe, only a few in each chapter. If there was something I would change about the book, it would be more photos. I am no authority on other rice cooker cookbooks but it seems to me that this lives up to its title of “Best of the Best”.

Bursting with mouth-watering inspiration from all corners of the Earth and encyclopedic in its breadth of information on all things rice-related, this book will revolutionise the way you use your humble rice cooker. From perfect plain rice of any variety, through to all-in-one meals, breakfasts and desserts, Hensperger does an impeccable job of arming her readers with the knowledge and techniques necessary to make the most of the piece of kitchen equipment so many of us underestimate and underutilise. Reading through tasty recipe after tasty recipe, one feels quite blown away by the culinary avenues that suddenly open before you - risotto, paella, tea-scented rice, hummus, brûléed pudding, to name but a few unconventional meals you can create in your rice cooker, as the book touts, from start to finish. Perhaps the definitive book on working with rice cookers, the Best Rice Cooker Cook Book is worth its weight in gold!

The Best of the Best Rice Cooker Cookbook is a tutorial guide for different types of rice cookers along with a selection of recipes for getting the most out of one's own rice cooker at home. Released 19th March 2019 by Quarto on their Harvard Common Press imprint, it's 176 pages and available in ebook and paperback formats. This book is a re-formatting and updating of the earlier volumes by the same authors. This volume contains 100 curated recipes from the earlier works along with new photography and updated content.

Author Beth Hensperger has decades of experience cooking and writing about cooking and it shows. This is a very well organized book with a good introduction of the various machines as well as a truly thorough treatment of different rices, methods of soaking and cooking, rinsing or not rinsing and other background info. In fact the introductory chapter represents about 30% of the page content.

The following chapters include a selection of pilafs, risottos, rice based dishes (of course), polentas, cereals, legumes, steamed dishes, and some desserts.

Many of the ingredients are seasonal, there's some emphasis on locally sourced produce and additions to the rices and grains, but I had no trouble sourcing ingredients for my test recipes.

All three of our tested recipes were delicious and we will be working our way through the cookbook in future.

Baby artichokes and Arborio rice (p. 64) was a hearty side dish. Served with roast chicken and crusty bread, it made a nice simple meal. The texture was very creamy and the tanginess of the grated Parmesan was a good counterpoint. Would make a lovely brunch buffet dish.

Arroz con pollo (p. 85) was probably not a good choice for me for a truly objective trial. I am a complete sucker for southwestern/Mexican recipes which pair chicken and lime. This one was lovely, with a mellow spiciness counterpoint. Next time, however I will try to add more lime, since we could smell a distinct lime note which seemed to be very subtle in the taste. Also beware of the cilantro if your family hates the taste (mine don't mind it, happily).

Butternut squash risotto (p. 89) is a lacto-vegetarian friendly dish which also has a very subtle lime counterpoint. My family called it 'comfort' food and it is.. very warm and filling.

Three good recipes. The ingredients were mostly on hand already (I used frozen artichoke hearts).

Four stars

This book would be best read prior to purchasing a rice cooker. Why? Because Ms. Hensperger walks the reader through what different ones can offer, the pros and cons of each one, and then 100 recipes (as promised by the title) that use this often sidelines appliance. I have been the proud owner of a really basic Black & Decker steamer for a really long time. I am happy to say that I have stepped beyond cooking just rice with it to also steam vegetables. I know that my owner's manual has other recipes, but I have paper clipped the rice and veggie pages and that's as far as I have gone. Ms. Hensperger expands my options with recipes for side dishes, main courses etc, that can all be prepared in my rice cooker. There are also some recipes for full meals that can be prepared, but not in my basic unit. In a time where everyone is head over heels with their pressure cookers, the rice cooker is overlooked and Ms. Hensperger demonstrates why we are all missing out.

My mother and grandmother never used a rice cooker so I was not familiar with the appliance or it's versatility. Traveling with my husband as active duty military, the Asian and Pacific Islander people we served and lived next door to taught me how to correctly cook rice and many, many more great meals in a rice cooker. They assured me that no kitchen should ever be without one and I learned to agree. This cookbook has given me so many more ways to use my cooker and different ways to cook some of the more conventional foods that I had not considered. Adding a rice cooker to your kitchen arsenal will help you give your family quick, nutritious meals, and isn't that what we wanted in the first place? Add the cooker and this well written and illustrated cookbook and you have a win, win.

The author introduces you to the world of rice cookers by informing you of the different types of rice cookers, what they can do and how they work. You are then introduced to the many varieties of rice - white, red, brown, and black, and you are given basic instructions on how to cook each one.
There are recipes such as : Greek Lemon and Dill Rice with Feta, Baby Artichokes and Arborio Rice, (you are given instructions on how to cut the artichokes) and cook the rice and shallots, Mexican Rice and Beans, and Thai Curried Rice with coconut milk and curry powder.
The recipe for Rice Cooker Paella looks delicious with its’ chorizo, shrimp, green beans and clams, and you are given specific instructions on cooking the chicken in a skillet first, then the tomatoes, rice, sausage and calamari, and lastly the shrimp and clams so that everything is cooked at the right temperature.
You will find recipes for Butternut Squash Risotto, Italian Sausage Risotto, and sushi recipes such as California Rolls and Maki Sushi (you will need to set aside a lot of time to prepare the sushi.)
There are breakfast recipes, such as Creamy Breakfast Oatmeal with maple syrup, steel cut oats, dates and milk, Maple Cinnamon Rice Pudding with rice, maple syrup,
and cranberries, which is soaked the night before, and Hot Apple Granola.
Enjoy discovering the many different ways to add rice meals to your weekly menu!