THIS RICE COOKER is probably smarter than this writer.
Chef Jonas Ng, a brand ambassador of the Tefal small domestic appliances division in the Philippines, recalled a moment when the Tefal Optimal Rice Cooker figured out that a user was lying, when a friend of his placed ingredients not meant for steaming inside the pot and pressing the steam button. The machine’s AI (artificial intelligence) shook its figurative head “no” and rejected the order.
During a demo earlier this week the rice was evenly cooked and may have felt slightly fluffier. Good rice is a luxury these days, and getting rice of that consistency is a must: after all, it did come from a machine that cost P10,995.
The inside is shaped like a claypot (as in, our traditional palayok), which enables more even cooking. It has 3D heating; not just at the bottom, as in traditional rice cookers. The pot is nonstick, as expected from Tefal, and has 35 cooking programs. Julie Lim, Vice-President for Business Development of Collins International Trading Corp. (which distributes the Small Domestic Appliances by Tefal), said that her helper uses the rice cooker for slow cooking. The 35 programs include various settings for rice variety (brown, white, glutinous are just some), texture (soft, normal, hard, crispy), and even settings for soup, and dessert. The machine’s AI enables it to discern what ingredients are in the pot, and figure out the appropriate setting. BusinessWorld made a moist chocolate cake with it, while Mr. Ng said that he has tried cooking beef shanks in it, and during a cooking demo, made a one-pot dish with brown rice, mushrooms, and tofu.
According to Ms. Lim, it also helps make the food more nutritious. Vitamins and minerals aren’t lost in the fog of steam, as it stays inside the machine, and the non-stick pan really helps in cutting down fat consumption.
“Cooking now becomes very convenient and versatile,” she said. I think that’s the thrust of Tefal… always multifunctional.” — JLG
