love my rice cooker. was only 25 bucks, and i also do one pot pasta dishes in it. so easy; i have also done risotto to my complete satisfaction (and im italian by heritage, but not a snob! about preparing it). its fun to use.

No, but I would try a manufacturer's rep as a starting point, or even a rice importer. I doubt you will find the answer to this on the web. You might, but I would doubt it. I am curious as to what your project is (I am assuming that you are looking for this figure for a school report of some sort)?

Anyone know how many rice cooker are sold annually in the UK?

Re: Rice Cookers as gadgets. I felt the same way until I heard on the Food Channel that 2 billion rice cookers are sold annually-not many of them in the US. Hardly a gadget, I thought, and added one to my kitchen. Now, I wonder how I lived without it all these years.

BWAP BWAP TING

japanese rice cookers are awsome...the newest member of our household..never fails. ZOJIRUSHI!

Alicia,

I have to admit that brown rice falls into the same category in my kitchen as whole wheat flour: I only buy it for very special reasons, and if I get too much, it goes bad. It just doesn't stick together right. It does have that nuttiness, though. However, when I want nutty, I usually just stick to wild rice (trout stuffed with wild rice is a great Lenten dish).

love my rice cooker, i'm on my third one now (in 30 years marriage, not bad.
Bethany made vege sushi for dinner saturday night, rice cooker is the way to go for that. Calrose rice all the way. I even buy the brown Calrose for some recipes - it makes a great overnight rice pudding (cooked in the crockpot). The best pseudo-risotto I have had was made in a pressure cooker using the directions found in the wonderful book "Cooking under Pressure". Not as good as Erik's chicken (or duck) risotto, but an acceptable alternative.

At our house, we truly prefer the "ice cream scoop" consistency of rice!

Erik,
Rice can easily be cooked so that it falls apart. Being half Japanese the thought repulses me, but my roomate who was Chinese insisted on eating his rice the non short grain and non sticky way. You just buy a longer grain and cook it with a little less water. Also you have to turn it the minute it gets done with the air getting in between the grains. Once that happens the rice will start to fall apart and be nice and dry.
RAM

"... those who abuse vegetables by steaming, which I find repulsive (vegetables were meant to be parboiled in salted water, shocked in ice water, then sauteed until done). "

REALLY?! Well, now I know! I'll have to give that a try, too!

Terry,

I would say yes, but with this caveat: I like my rice sticky, Japanese style. I do not know if one can cook rice in a rice cooker so that the grains fall apart. Perhaps one can, but I have never tried it, as I hate rice like that. I use Calrose short grain rice, I wash it three times, then put in an equal amount of water plus a little bit. It comes out perfectly every time, and I have to do nothing for it.

I have heard of people making pseudo-risotto in their rice cookers, but that strikes me as grave heresy, and I won't even think about that. But for good, Japanese style rice, it can't be beat. Fancy rice cookers come with steamer attachments for those who abuse vegetables by steaming, which I find repulsive (vegetables were meant to be parboiled in salted water, shocked in ice water, then sauteed until done).

OK, I've considered it, but I am so "anti-gadget" that it's unbelievable. A rice cooker? I can't get up the nerve. Is it really THAT great?

I got a rice cooker for Christmas, and I cannot remember how I ever lived without it. My wife and I have rice or rice-based recipies four or five times a week now.

Mint, eh? I'll try it.

BTW, what a boon our new rice cooker has been! My husband is a gooey rice nut, and we had contorted ourselves 60 different ways in the course of the marriage to get the inside of the kernel cooked.

His penultimate strategy was to let me cook it on the stove according to cookbook instructions (with 1/2 c. extra water)--then cover the covered hot pot completely with damp towels and put it in the oven for an hour at 200.

We were almost at the point of sacrificing our children when a friend told us about his rice cooker.

It's almost embarrassing how easy it is now to get perfect rice!

Recipe does sound good (though I wonder how the family will respond to capers....Nice substitute for spitballs for the 6-year-old :-o).