Zojirushi NS-ZCC18 10-Cup Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker and Warmer, Premium White

Comment: I recently moved into a new place and bought this rice cooker for convenient eating. The timer option really appealed to me- I wanted to be able to have rice ready when I get home from work and oatmeal ready for me when I wake up in the morning (steel-cut oats, not instant). It works wonders! I could never in a million years make brown rice the way it does- perfect every time. I haven't tried anything other than the brown rice setting and the porradge setting for oatmeal but they both work great. The timer works great, its easy to clean. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for more than just a rice cooker!

Comment: I received the ZCC18 rice cooker as a gift. I'm amazed at how I get perfect rice with no effort. What's more I tried some of the recipes and found I can use it just as easily for other cooking. I tried Israeli couscous and it came out great. I highly recommend the ultimate Rice Cooker cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann for ideas of how to expand the ZCC18 uses.

I wish it came with a steamer attachment. If anyboby knows of one please let me know

Comment: I come from an Asian family and we eat rice, every single day. We had another Zojirushi for almost 20 years (daily use), and then my parents bought this one. And the only reason we got rid of the other one was for aesthetic reasons and minor browning of the bottom layer of rice--we gave it my boyfriend. After having the simple 'push and cook' rice cooker, it took a little bit of adjusting. Our old cooker would let most of the steam out, so that if the rice was left out for 2-3 days in the cooker, it was still fresh and not spoiled. (Some people might think this is gross, but we're from the Philippines, where lots of people don't have refrigerators, and we've never had food poisoning issues) If you're like my family and leave your rice out for a couple of days, it's not really possible to do that with this cooker, because it really traps a lot of moisture and your rice will spoil fast. Most of the time, we leave it out overnight with no issues. The only other thing we had to really adjust to was the song--you'll probably giggle at first because it plays a song when your rice is done.

Other than that, this rice cooker performs just as you would expect a Zojirushi would. The rice always turns out. We don't use the measuring cups that come with it, but the index-finger method to gauge how much water to use. It's worked really well for brown rice, too, though I suggest measuring the amounts for that. My only real complaint is that the nonstick bowl scratches very easily. Other old model had a different type of bowl, and it didn't scratch as easily. Definitely use only a rice paddle to get your rice out to avoid that. We've used regular spoons, and that was enough to contribute to the scratching. Ive never tried the oatmeal option but on the company website, there are recipes for that and other dishes.

If you're looking for a rice cooker, I'd recommend ANY Zojirushi model. Everyone I know who eats rice daily uses one and never has any issues with it breaking down. The price seems high but you get a high value, because their main customer base is expected to use it daily. My siblings have bought another model, which is less expensive but does just what you need it to--cook rice. I think the only real difference between their basic model and their digital ones is the options for cooking different types of rice and oatmeal, and that it alerts you either with beeping or with a song that your rice is now cooked.

Comment: Gotta add one more positive review. I've had a Zojirushi on/off rice cooker for over 12 years, and it was OK. It was at least better than any rice I could make in a pot. But the Neuro Fuzzy....well, this is a whole new ballgame. This thing is easy to use (I'm not electronically inclined) and so versatile! My favorite feature is the timer: just push a couple of buttons, telling the machine when you want your rice/oatmeal/other meal ready, right when you want it! It is a breeze to clean--nothing sticks to the pot, so just swish around your cleaning sponge with some dish soap, do the same for the easy-to-remove aluminum lid, and you're good to go. I highly recommend The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook to show you how useful this little appliance can be. A true 5-star rating!

One more note. This rice cooker cooks a large amount of rice. We are a family of 6, and could probably have made do with the 5.5 cup version (at least while the kids are still preteens).

Comment: If you are worried about whether you will recoup your cost by buying this rice cooker, know that I worried about the same thing. I bought model NS-ZCC 10 more than 4 years ago. I was tired of cheap rice cookers that didn't cook rice. I had a Japanese friend who had one and, to be honest, I had to have the Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy because I loved the song it plays when the rice is done. At that time, you could only find these in Asian grocery stores and prices were $300 to $400. I found mine for less online, but for about $225.

Well, we've been using it 3-5 times a week to make rice and the Neuro Fuzzy has long since earned its keep in our house. It cooks perfectly every time. For those of you worried about the measurements, know that I don't measure the rice and I add water based on my own guess, but the rice cooker seems to figure things out just fine. I rinse Japanese rice several times (the way I was taught), but I was also taught to have the rice soak for 20 minutes before cooking it and I stopped attempting that step after forgetting to turn the cooker on a few too many times. I suppose I could program it... Anyway, the rice is good without soaking it.

We use the rice cooker to cook more than rice. We throw vegetables on top of the rice and they steam up nicely. My husband made pulled pork that we cooked in the rice cooker, using it the same way you would use a crock pot. It makes oatmeal and it's much easier to clean the Zojirushi bowl than our cooktop pots. I just cooked some brown rice and it turned out great. I remember the old days when I would hover when I made rice on the stove, only to get sidetracked and it would burn... and then I spend a lot of time trying to clean the pot.

We use the "quick cooking" button if we're in a hurry. The Zojirushi rice cooker does take more time to cook than the cheap, typical rice cooker. This is perhaps because it's sensing the moisture level in the pot and I may be adding too much water. Also note that when it says there's 10 min. remaining, we've found the rice is cooked (it suits us, anyway).

In my opinion, the average American has been missing out of "real rice" for far too long because we just didn't know that rice could taste so good with the kinds of rice cookers used in Asia. Japan has a couple of companies that make great appliances and Zojirushi is one of them. Happy to see more of them in the U.S.