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I can't believe I never noticed this before but tonight I realized that different types of rice require different cooking times. For example, long grain brown rice takes 35-40 minutes to cook while basmati white rice only takes 20 minutes. In our case both are organic products so no pre-processing has taken place which might skew the cooking times.

Simmering a pot of liquid on a stove burner requires a large handful of energy, and halving the cooking time nearly halves that energy requirement.

One may think, "This won't make a big difference.", but it certainly does. The month we started cooking at home more and making enough to have leftovers for lunches and such our combined power bill went up by $40. Almost all of that was on the stove top as we baked little at that time.

Let's also remember that Natural Gas, like oil, is a finite resource so conservation is essential.

Also, as far as energy requirements go, microwave~NG. Electric stovetops=$$$.

Hi Brian:

___In the winter, could it not be said that the stove top also heats the home as a secondary benefit? A burning gas from the stovetop is heat released entirely into the kitchen vs. a gas furnace with its less than 100% efficiency?

___In the summer, the short cook time rice sounds like the exact ticket and yet another one of your own “thinking outside the box” moments!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

People like me who keep a pot of water going on their woodstove all winter don't notice much energy use difference from throwing a little rice in it. I'm guessing that the net winter power costs of cooking at home are quite small once you count the benefit of the "waste" heat. That's why I mainly brew beer in the winter.:Banane35:

So how does the cook time vary with the actual nutritional value of the rice? Does it take less time for rice with less calories? Could you get away with less amount of one type of rice to get the same nutritional value and lower the energy use to cook.

That might keep you busy while I eat a hamburger. ;)

Hi Rex:

___After the GHG Cheeseburger emissions thread today, you suck :D :D :D

___Good Luck

___Wayne

That's why I mainly brew beer in the winter
You brew indoors, too? I have one of the few gas stoves I've ever seen capable of 6 gal full boils.

It's not just the input, but the benefit received that counts too. Don't discount which rice may provide the greater nutrition and satisfaction. The white rice may cook faster but just give you a short term glycemic boost where the brown rice may take longer to digest, have more nutrients and fiber, and you won't get hungry again as quick.

I'm with Tarabell on this one. I normally give preference to whole grain foods, including rice, bread, and pasta. If it takes longer to cook, so be it.

Wayne's point about seasonal cooking seems valid, and I do try to reduce stove-top and oven cooking in the summer.

Don't forget to factor times meals are prepared at home versus previous month times meals were eaten at home. Dollars spent eating out per week/month compared to total spent at home for food/energy.

White rice for me just results in an empty feeling within the hour due to the lack of real nutrition. (Sure there's calories, but it takes more than that to keep a body going.) Then I'm compelled to eat more, which is both bad for me and requires more energy, anyway. I respond much better to long grain/brown rice. Sometimes I'll just have some of that mixed in with a decent serving of vegetables, maybe a little something to season it. That lunch will keep me going all afternoon, no snacks needed. I'll gladly let the pot spend an extra 15 minutes on the stove for that.

If you're really concerned about that energy, you could cook more at once if you are eventually going to eat it anyay. You also might consider looking into a magnetic induction cooking element, which is a great deal more efficient than any other electric range since the heat is actually generated within the cookware. I have a single 1kW magnetic induction element that does most of the work these days. That thing will get water to a boil faster than even the largest electric resistance element on my range. If I need more than one pot, I'll give that one the most energy-intensive task.

If you're really concerned about that energy, you could cook more at once if you are eventually going to eat it anyay.

Just remember not to keep it overnight. (I found that out the hard way)

I use a pressure rice steamer like they use in restaurants, the long/whole grains only take 25% longer than the white rices. I don't know what the electric draw is, but there aren't as much heat losses with the insulated and pressurized appliance and it takes half the time as on the stove.

I just eat out, keeps me from having to worry about energy use from my stove. My kitchen is just there to look good, and help the value of my home come sale time.

I just eat out, keeps me from having to worry about energy use from my stove. My kitchen is just there to look good, and help the value of my home come sale time.

LOL!

That's as bad as my response.... :p

Anyone have an old c-band dish? Install some mirrors.
I canned 24 quarts of tomatoes with the sun last fall:
1500 watts of free cooking energy.
Only problem, is that you can only cook on sunny days.;)
http://www.99mpg.com/resources/articlesandblogs/pluggingintothesun/
;)

Holy crap, Mike! That makes my fold-up cardboard solar cooker look truly ghetto. :D

I have to say I'm also a fan of the nutritional qualities of brown rice over white. I haven't Kill-A-Watted the rice cooker to see what the draw is, but 30 minutes in that little enclosed space can't be a huge draw (vs say an electric stove).

I strongly second the pressure cooker. The new ones are safe, nearly foolproof and fast.

Brown rice (our preference) still takes about 20 minutes. White rice takes about 3 minutes. Potatoes take about 3 minutes, 5 if you want to mash them (and every other method of cooking potatoes takes a lot longer). Dried beans take 20-30 minutes -- no soaking!

WriConsult have you tried cooking quinoa in your cooker?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa

Its a nutty tasting brown grain from south america.. 1 part quinoa, two parts water.. substitute for rice in any recipe.. especially good with bell peppers.. lots of protein..

Now I'm hungry, hmmm potatoes in the rice cooker? :)

(sorry for off topic, but I'm a member of the association for the promotion of quinoa)

We have quinoa often, usually as a morning hot cereal, sometimes as a savory side dish, but we usually do it by the lazy stovetop method. You're right, we really should use the pressure cooker. Would be quicker and more energy-economical.

Come to think of it, we should do our oatmeal in the pressure cooker too.

Another reason to buy a second one. My wife keeps bugging me about getting another so she can do beans and rice, or soup and another dish, at the same time. A second, smaller one (our current one is 8qt) would be perfect for smaller dishes like that.

Another trick with Rice,
Bring it to a boil and let it sit an hour or more.
Turn the heat back on and finish cooking in very little time.

I used to cook rice on the stove, but now use a rice cooker made by Tiger Corp.

You can find them at walmart now and they are very efficient. They will cook your rice precisely everytime which in turn makes great tasting rice. The first time I went to Japan I saw these types of rice cookers and hot water dispensers everywhere. If you use these 2 appliances properly you can save a lot of energy.

In Texas, it gets stinking hot here in the Summer. In the summer, I only use my regular oven at night, if at all. I also bought a small counter toaster oven from Black and Decker. This particular model is big enough to fit a 9x13 inch pan so I can make meals in there. A whole roast chicken fits in it. I searched all over for this model online and in stores. I tried Target, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and finally Walmart had it. Beware, many ovens claim to be 9x13, but when you put a pan in it, it doesn't fit. What I did was get a 9x13 inch pan from the kitchenware isle and tried to put them in the floor model ovens. 6 slice toaster ovens aren't big enough. I don't have the model number with me, and it looks like walmart.com doesn't carry it anymore.

The toaster over is faster, more efficient, and generates less heat.

I'll second the rice cooker. The better ones are well insulated, so while is still takes the same number of kilocalories to heat up a given amount of water, far less of it is wasted to the air. If you set one of these things on a watt meter, they actually draw fairly little power once the water is initially heated. And, you can set it up before you leave in the morning & have it ready when you get home. If your late, they keep the rice warm & ready for you....getting hungry.

The downside is I always have to add more water for a given amount of rice that what the rice-cooker suggest, otherwise I end up with burnt rice on the bottom.

Brown/white? They both have their places. I love the nutty flavor of brown rice, but its easier to flavor & pair white rice with some dishes. Add enough flavor & I'll sometimes take a simple rice dish over burger & fries...which is saying a lot for me.

I think most people know I'm Asian. Rice cookers are an essential for us, along with the gallon of soy sauce. :D My mom use the rice cooker for many other things like making soups that need to simmer, steaming veggies, steaming dumplings, warming steamed breads, making hard boiled eggs, or cooking Chinese short ribs.

Heh, I was raised to not use the rice cooker. We only use it for special occasions when we have to make a large batch and I'm always hesitant to plug it in...

The downside is I always have to add more water for a given amount of rice that what the rice-cooker suggest, otherwise I end up with burnt rice on the bottom.

I forget what it's called, but there are dishes for which you actually want to burn the rice. Is it possible you have the rice cooker on the wrong setting? if not, maybe it's time for a new cooker. We recently bought a new one and the rice tastes noticeably better and you have much more control over how you cook the rice vs our old cooker which had no options.

Pressure cookers are great -- save lots of energy!!

I have a couple of pressure cookers for rice, dried beans/lentils, etc. The cooking time for many things is much less than regular cooking. I usually use brown rice and it takes way too long with regular cooking. If I'm cooking a stew and I'm in a hurry I'll use the pressure cooker.

There are a number of Indian brands of inexpensive pressure cookers. I really like Hawkins. I have a 1.5 liter aluminum Hawkins pressure cooker that I use all the time, 2 or 3 liter is perhaps more useful for most families. They are also available in stainless steel and hard anodized aluminum. If you haven't used a pressure cooker before I'd recommend a Hawkins 2 liter (1 or 2 person family) or perhaps 3 liter for larger quantities. Bigger is not always better. I have a 5 liter American pressure cooker (Chefs Design) that is good, but I use the small Hawkins more.
http://www.baycityintl.com/shop/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=204
http://www.welectronics.com/COOKERS.SHTML

Another alternative is what used to be called a fireless cooker in the 1920s. It is an insulated cabinet with fitted heavy pots. Bring stuff to a boil and place into the insulated cabinet. The insulation keeps the pot hot and it continues cooking. You can fashion one by rigging a way to insulate a heavy pot. Haven't tried this yet.

--Walter
P.S. Many things that foam such as lentils can be cooked in a pressure cooker if you're really careful -- boil lentils for a bit and skim off the foam before applying pressure. Do NOT cook steel cut oats in a pressure cooker. A trick that works for steel cut oats and probably other grains is to bring to a boil the night before, turn off the burner, let it sit overnight and reheat in the morning.

A lot of people hate electric stoves because they can't instantly
control heat delivery -- the electric element has a certain
"flywheel" effect that they are apparently incapable of accounting
for. I've cooked with people and had them go all weird when
I turn off an electric burner a little before the food is done
and say "okay, this can coast down now" ... it's just like
hypermiling, really, predicting the remaining amount of heat
something needs and letting the already-hot burner and pot
supply it without any more energy input. But some evidently
only understand the instant start/stop of a gas stove.
.
_H*

One of the stores I'm working at now is near an Indian bazaar so I've been prowling the aisles for cheap spices and unusual (to me) foods. Last night I had Paneer Tikka Masala with rice. After reading this thread I guess I'll go and ask Raul the friendly Indian proprietor how they commonly cook rice.

Mine always seems to be less than perfect when used with Asian dishes. Rice and sausage gravy no problem, Sushi rice...not so good.

I always use a stove top and practice the coast down method if time permits for boiled eggs, ramen noodles, potatoes etc.

I've thought about getting a rice cooker but didn't know what to look for in a good one. Questions about: Brand, size, features, materials and price.

- Dale (Like I need to eat more starch, 202lbs and holding)

For every gallon of cooked rice, use about 1/3 stick of butter and three heaped teaspoons of salt. Good stuff, even just by itself. Jamaican cuisine is how I learnt my skills :)

I run from salt. Or chemical substitutes. 90% of the time. I use it sparingly for seafood dishes and always for boiling pasta, where it gets rinsed off. If it goes in something for flavoring I'll use sea salt and never Iodized.

Salt content is my deciding factor when choosing natural or organic frozen foods. Below 500mg per 10 oz is hard to find, under 400mg nearly impossible. I don't even consider processed "food like" ingredients or preservative based foods. Unless I'm a guest at someone's house. I eat what is served. Salted pretzels, salted popcorn whatever.

:D - Dale

An energy saver for those of you that cook out using charcoal...

After you have cooked your meal, put something else on those coals that you will have later.

We used to cook burgers, and we would use just a few more coals so we could put a TURKEY out there and let it cook overnight.

That's just about the best turkey I have ever had. Slow roasted over charcoal. And first thing in the morning, that turkey is still warm enough for open-faced sandwiches.

I'm thinkin a ham would be another really good one especially since you can have it first thing for breakfast.

I run from salt. Or chemical substitutes. 90% of the time. I use it sparingly for seafood dishes and always for boiling pasta, where it gets rinsed off. If it goes in something for flavoring I'll use sea salt and never Iodized.

Salt content is my deciding factor when choosing natural or organic frozen foods. Below 500mg per 10 oz is hard to find, under 400mg nearly impossible. I don't even consider processed "food like" ingredients or preservative based foods. Unless I'm a guest at someone's house. I eat what is served. Salted pretzels, salted popcorn whatever.

:D - Dale

eh, wuss :D

For every gallon of cooked rice, use about 1/3 stick of butter and three heaped teaspoons of salt. Good stuff, even just by itself. Jamaican cuisine is how I learnt my skills :)


I run from salt. Or chemical substitutes. 90% of the time. I use it sparingly for seafood dishes and always for boiling pasta, where it gets rinsed off. If it goes in something for flavoring I'll use sea salt and never Iodized.

Salt content is my deciding factor when choosing natural or organic frozen foods. Below 500mg per 10 oz is hard to find, under 400mg nearly impossible. I don't even consider processed "food like" ingredients or preservative based foods. Unless I'm a guest at someone's house. I eat what is served. Salted pretzels, salted popcorn whatever.

:D - Dale

Amend that recipe to 1/3 stick of unsalted butter (you might even be able to find organic. It's common enough around here with all the farmer's markets) and 3 heaped teaspoons of sea salt.

Still sounds pretty good to me.

I heard that soaking rice can reduce cooking time = reducing energy. I know this works with beans, but has anyone else tried this with rice??

Also, as far as energy requirements go, microwave~NG. Electric stovetops=$$$.

While microwave ovens aren't vg for cooking rice or beans, they're much more efficient for cooking darn near everything else, compared to an electric range.

And Warthog made a statement about not reusing rice that puzzles me. Why not? A girlfriend taught me how good it is if you reheat it by pouring hot water over it.

Let's also remember that Natural Gas, like oil, is a finite resource so conservation is essential.

that's not true! oil and gas are produced naturally, deep in the mantle of the earth. the oil companies don't want you to know this. they've been telling us that we're on the verge of running out of oil for 30+ years so that they can keep us addicted and ripped off. it's a gigantic scam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck01KhuQYmE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHD4U2q_p4c&feature=related

I strongly second the pressure cooker. The new ones are safe, nearly foolproof and fast.

Brown rice (our preference) still takes about 20 minutes. White rice takes about 3 minutes. Potatoes take about 3 minutes, 5 if you want to mash them (and every other method of cooking potatoes takes a lot longer). Dried beans take 20-30 minutes -- no soaking!


Where in the heck do you buy a pressure cooker at anyway? I've only seen one at walmart once and it was tiny. Other places that sell pots and pans like target didn't seem to have them.

Where in the heck do you buy a pressure cooker at anyway? I've only seen one at walmart once and it was tiny. Other places that sell pots and pans like target didn't seem to have them.

Williams Sonoma or another high-end cooking supply store will have general pressure cookers. Also, rice cookers are available online or at any asian grocery.

Then there is also the factor of how far the rice was shipped to get to you. How many people know where the grains (and other foods) they eat were grown and processed? The energy required to ship rice across the country (or half around the world) dwarfs the difference in energy required to cook the different types of rice. The rice I eat is exclusively Carolina Gold and Ambrosia rice raised here in South Carolina.

How many people know where the grains (and other foods) they eat were grown and processed? The energy required to ship rice across the country (or half around the world) dwarfs the difference in energy required to cook the different types of rice. .

Call me skeptical.

FWIW the US is a big rice exporter with about half its crop produced in Arkansas.

Where in the heck do you buy a pressure cooker at anyway? I've only seen one at walmart once and it was tiny. Other places that sell pots and pans like target didn't seem to have them.Target, etc., won't have them, just like you won't find decent stainless, anodized or cast iron cookware there either. Any kitchenware store will have them, and I don't necessarily mean big-bucks stores like Bill Sonoma and Sur La Table. We have a local midpriced housewares chain that carries them, as do our department stores (now named Macy's -- isn't everybody's now?)

For about $30 you can get one of the old fashioned ones with the steel jiggle-top check valve. You'll spend more for the safer, modern type, but last I looked at Macy's they had one for under $100. We spent more than that (15 years ago, plus about $30 in replacement parts the last couple years) but it has paid for itself many times over. A few weeks ago I stunned some guests by serving up mashed potatoes: from raw potatoes in the bag to served at the table in less than 20 minutes.

We go through a lot of rice milk, but we're starting to think about making our own for a variety of reasons. The recipes I've seen call for cooking the rice for 3-4 hours. I'm guessing with a pressure cooker we can do it in half an hour. I'll report back to this thread after I've gotten around to trying it.

(FWIW we generally buy Lundberg rice, which is grown about 500 miles from here).

Call me skeptical.

FWIW the US is a big rice exporter with about half its crop produced in Arkansas.


Skeptical? It takes a lot less energy to ship rice the 120miles from rice paddies in the nearby South Carolina low country here to my home in the South Carolina piedmont than it does to ship it 650 miles from a rice paddy in Arkansas to here (this distance is likely to be even greater since the rice would be making detours to processing plants and distribution centers in other parts of the country en-route to my local grocery store). California grown rice would have to travel a minimum of 2200 miles, assuming it didn't make any detours en route. The amount of energy required to ship rice hundreds to thousands of miles dwarfs that required to cook it at its destination. The only way I could reduce this energy expenditure for my own rice use would be to build my own rice paddy so I could grow and process rice right here on my farm.

Rinsing rice is barbaric and old fashioned!, you lose a lot of nutrients. Try not rinsing it next time and see if you can spot any differences.

So far no one has mentioned the water consumed when growing rice. When it's grown in inappropriately dry places, like California, it takes immense amounts of water, which in turn requires large amounts of energy to pump. Water is a scarce resource in California, and it is hugely subsidized for agricultural users, leading to very inefficient uses like growing rice. For this reason, I won't buy Californian rice.

What energy are we talking about here? It does not take much either to cook it or transport it. Are you guys boiling rice at high heat in open pots?

I'd forgotten about this thread.

Here's a Swedish study of life cycle energy use of different food staples. The rice section starts on page 17.

http://www.infra.kth.se/fms/pdf/Report160.pdf


The study shows that depending on how you cook rice that the energy to cook it may exceed the energy it takes to import it from overseas to Europe.

They also found that electric hotplates that have a good setting for simmering are more efficient than microwave ovens.