What is the Synchro Cooking Feature in Rice Cookers?
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Rice cookers nowadays have various built-in menu options and features that make cooking food fuss-free. From inner pots with a non-stick coating, an automatic function to keep rice warm, a slow cook feature, and even pressure cooking, rice cookers are slowly making themselves an indispensable kitchen appliance for most households.
Synchro Cooking, which is a feature that allows you to cook rice and meals at the same time, is one of these useful innovations. Tiger Corporation, in particular, makes rice cookers with the “Tacook” function, making it easier for you to prepare and eat a delicious dinner without having to worry about additional dishes to wash.
What is Synchro Cooking?
Synchronized cooking is a straightforward function and doesn’t require any additional clicks on the menu options of your rice cooker. The cooking plate, which usually comes with your rice cooker after purchasing, lets you cook grains and any other food at the same time. Because there is no need for a stove or oven to cook your other recipe, it is both safe, energy-efficient, and time-saving. The plate itself is usually made with BPA-free materials, so there’s no risk of your food being contaminated with chemicals.
The cooking plate functions with any cooking settings like slow cook, however, some rice cooker models may have specific menu settings made for synchro cooking.
What is Tiger Synchro Cooking?
Tiger Corporation has some of the best rice cookers in the market, and their models all have various menu settings that can make excellent plain rice and enhance the flavor of your cooked dishes. Some of their rice cooker units have synchronized cooking, which they call the “Tacook” function. These units come with a specially made Tiger Tacook plate that fits inside your inner pot with the lid firmly closed, which evenly cooks your main dish and plain rice.
The Tiger cooking plate cooks the dishes by using the heat from steam. While it’s efficient to cook other food along with plain rice, you can also use the Tiger Tacook plate or bowl while making other recipes inside the inner pot. For example, you can make delicious soup on the pot and steam dumplings using the Tiger Tacook plate at the same time.
This Tiger cooking plate or bowl is specially made to ensure your recipe doesn’t taint the flavor of plain rice. However, since it does take up space, you’ll have to cook less rice. For example, if your cooker has a 5.5 measuring cup capacity like the Tiger JBV-A10U 5.5-Cup rice cooker, you’ll need to subtract at least one measuring cup from your brown rice or white rice to make way for the dishes or recipes you’ll make. This is so that you don’t fill every space inside the inner pot when the rice expands, which may leave you with grains sticking under your cooking plate.
Remember that one cup of raw rice can make two cups of rice, so adjust the amount of white rice or brown rice if you plan to cook another food or recipe with it. This applies to any other foods or recipes aside from white rice or brown rice, like stews, porridge, or rice recipes.
How Do You Cook With Synchro Cooking?
Using Synchro cook, there are plenty of possibilities for you to make an easy but delicious meal. Some units offer cookbooks that can help you make the best use of your unit’s features, such as slow cook, induction heating, and even the keep warm function.
You can cook your brown rice or jasmine rice in the non-stick inner pot and use the separate bowl or Tacook plate to make other recipes. To Synchro cook:
- Measure grains with the measuring cup that came with the rice cooker. Wash rice using a rice washer under cold running water. Place grans in the inner pot of your rice cooker and add the appropriate amount of water for brown rice or white rice. You can use your rice cooker’s measuring cup for this.
- Place the inner pot inside the rice cooker. Add ingredients of the side dish to the cooking plate, ensuring that they aren’t overflowing. It’s best that the food doesn’t touch the lid to make it easier to wash later.
- Close the lid and press the appropriate menu options for plain white rice, brown rice, or if your unit has it, Synchro Cook. Wait until done.
- If you’re steaming veggies or other food prone to overcooking, you can open the lid even before the grains are done to take the Tiger Tacook plate out.
- Once cooked, remove the inner pot from the rice cooker and serve along with the other recipe or food.
How Long Does a Synchro Cooking Rice Cooker Take to Cook?
Synchro-Cooking has an approximate cooking time of 41-48 minutes, which is plenty of time to prepare most food without overcooking them. However, this cooking time may vary depending on how many cups of grains you put in the inner pot and how much food you place. It can also vary depending on what type of rice you’re cooking. Brown rice will cook longer than white rice, and wild rice will cook longer than brown rice. Keep this in mind if you’re planning on synchro-cooking a recipe that has a shorter or longer cooking time than the rice.
You can always remove the food from the cooking plate earlier as you cook rice, but not the other way around. Therefore, if you’re planning on making a recipe that may take more than 20 minutes to cook, it’s best to cook it along with brown or wild rice since they tend to have longer cooking times.
Final Note
Rice cookers with Synchro-cooking technology are versatile, extremely efficient, and time-saving, making them ideal for busy individuals that barely have enough time to eat or taste homemade meals. They can help you upgrade your lifestyle by letting you enjoy a healthy cooking experience without the hassle that comes with it.
For other Asian rice cooker brands that can cook rice perfectly, keep your rice warm, and has multifunctional features, you can check out our site. You can also browse through rice cooker reviews and guides to see which is the right cooker for your household.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What is a Tacook cooking plate?
Tiger’s unique “Tacook” function simultaneously cooks grains and a side dish without interfering with the taste of the rice itself. The steam created by the rice cooking rises to the cooking plate inserted above and cooks both foods simultaneously.
The Tiger Tacook plate is made from BPA-free materials and is usually made to fit inside the cooker with its lid on. However, since a Tiger Tacook plate takes up space, the amount of rice you can have inside the cooker may be less than the actual capacity of the rice cooker. An 8-cup rice cooker will only be able to use the 7 to cook rice since at least 1 cup will be designated to the Tacook cooking plate. Of course, this may vary depending on the model.
What is Fuzzy Logic cooking?
Fuzzy logic is the capability of a rice cooker to react, adjusting the cooking time and temperature precisely depending on the program selected. This may feature several keep-warm and quick-cook cycles to ensure proper cooking of rice varieties such as sushi rice, porridge, plain rice, mixed rice, white rice, sweet rice, and brown rice. Due to this, a fuzzy logic rice cooker makes cook a cup of rice that is better tasting and has greater texture than a cup of rice made in a normal cooker.
Is Tiger brand a good rice cooker?
Yes, Tiger is a great rice cooker brand since it provides a large choice of cookers that are both economical, simple to use, and durable. Tiger is also known for their great customer service. They have something for every household, from a basic Tiger rice cooker that can cook simple rice or a more complex model that can pressure cook. In addition, Tiger has relatively competitive pricing in comparison to other brands.
Is Tiger rice cooker a Japanese brand?
Tiger Corporation is based in Osaka, Japan, hence Tiger is a Japanese brand
Which is the best brand for rice cooker?
There are plenty of brands and models available in the market that can suit your specific needs aside from Tiger. To know which cooker fits your household best, you can check out our guide for the best rice cookers.
How long does rice cooking take in a Tiger Rice Cooker?
While Tiger rice cookers more or less cook rice with the same duration, some models may cook faster than others due to additional features they have. White rice typically cooks in 20-30 minutes, while brown rice may take up to 40-50 minutes.
