Rice Cooker Revival

 

Rice Cooker Revival is a tutorial guide and recipe collection to getting the most out of a rice cooker (or Instant Pot/multi cooker) with recipes developed by Roxanne Wyss and Kathy Moore. Due out 17th Nov 2020 from Simon & Schuster on their Tiller Press imprint, it's 176 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

The authors have 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 thorough treatment of different rices, methods of soaking and cooking, rinsing or not rinsing and other background info. It should be noted that most of the recipes developed for and included in this book are really mostly suited to a multi-function rice cooker (or instant pot or similar cooker) and not for the basic "one button" basic rice cooker. 

The layout is accessible and progresses logically from the introduction. The recipes are grouped roughly thematically: Breakfast & Brunch, Appetizers Snacks & Bites, Vegetarian Dishes & Grains, Fish & Seafood, Meats & Main Dishes, Steaming, Soups & Stews, Rice & Risotto, Side Dishes, and Desserts. The recipe ingredients are listed in a sidebar. Measurements are given in American standard only (with a conversion table in the back of the book for metric). The recipes don't include nutritional information or serving size/yields. Extra tips and variations are provided in a sidebar. The recipe ingredients themselves are (mostly) easily sourced and will be available at well stocked grocery stores. There are a very few ingredients which might be a little more difficult to source, but definitely nothing that is 'way out there'.

The photography is well done but roughly half of the recipes are not illustrated. The photographs which are included are clear and attractive.  I wish there had been more photographs and serving suggestions, but I do understand that extra photography increases the price of book projects very quickly and the lack is not crippling because most of these recipes are fairly simple. My other quibble with the book is that although there are a wide variety of world cuisines represented and they're well written and tasty, a majority of them could be -much- more easily prepared on the stovetop or in the oven, skipping the necessity of a multifunction rice cooker or instant pot altogether. 

Three stars. The recipes themselves are tasty and well written.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.