Product of the Month –
Micom Rice Cooker & Warmer (NL-BAC05)

Hello and happy February Zojirushi fans!  We are so excited to announce that our Product of the Month is the Micom Rice Cooker & Warmer (NL-BAC05)!

Why?  Because it is such an all-around versatile rice cooker!

This rice cooker and warmer works best for individuals, as well as small families because of its compact cooking capacity.  It can make as little as a half cup of uncooked rice or other grains, which is great for an individual serving, and as much as three cups for multiple portions.  The Micom Rice Cooker & Warmer ensures perfectly cooked rice and grains every time.  How?  It comes with a rice measuring cup and an inner cooking pan with water level markings which make it easy to measure out the correct amount of ingredients.  Long gone are the days of inconsistent measuring and guessing; we made is simple, so you can have the best meal.

This rice cooker and warmer is also intelligently designed.  It comes with a black, nonstick inner cooking pan that is 2.5 mm thick, allowing for even heat distribution for better cooking.

It also features a triple heater with extra-large heating elements that heats the food from the bottom, side, and top.  In order to prevent messy overflows during high temperature cooking, the rice cooker also includes a removable Steam Vent Cap.  Lastly, another notable feature is its removable Inner Lid to aid in cooking an an easy-to-use LCD Control Panel from which you can program the rice cooker and warmer.

With all these useful features, its no wonder that this rice cooker and warmer is able to prepare more than just rice.  As we mentioned previously, this rice cooker has dedicated menu settings for rice and other grains.  When cooking rice, the settings for White/Sushi, Quick, Brown, and Long Grain White allows you to cook short, medium, and long-grain white rice, short and medium brown rice, as well as white rice with the germ, germinated brown rice and semi-brown rice.  The menu settings for Quinoa and Steel Cut Oatmeal lets you prepare white, black and red quinoa, steel cut oats, as well as rice mixed with barley.  And the rice cooker’s microcomputer uses advanced fuzzy logic technology to ensure perfect results every time by making fine adjustments to cooking time and temperature.

We love how our Quinoa and Chicken Super Salad (pictured below) and Thai Oatmeal Salad with Eggplant turn out in this rice cooker, along with how the long-grain white rice for Jambalaya is made.  Check out other recipes on our website for more inspiration!

Oh, and did we mention that it makes cake?!  The “Cake” menu setting lets you make various types of cakes such as sponge-type cakes and cheesecakes, by pouring in the prepared batter, selecting the “Cake” menu setting, and programming in the cooking time.  How simple is that?

Cooking is just one of the rice cooker’s function.  This rice cooker can automatically keep cooked food warm with the “Keep Warm” setting and can do that for an extended period of time with the “Extended Keep Warm” setting, which maintains a low temperature so the food doesn’t dry out.  The Timer function lets you set when you’d like cooked rice, quinoa, or steel cut oats to be finished cooking.  Two timers can be preset, which is great if you know you will need rice ready for dinner or oats ready for breakfast.  And you’ll know when your food is ready because the rice cooker’s melody or beep will play.

As with our other products, the retractable power cord and sturdy handle makes this machine simple to store, and all surfaces that come in contact with food are BPA-free.  Accessories include a spatula and a measuring cup.

We hope you love this awesome rice cooker and warmer as much as we do.  Make sure to share all your delicious recipes with us and don’t forget to tag your photos with #ZOJIRUSHI on Instagram!

Product of the Month –
Gourmet d’Expert® Electric Skillet (EP-PBC10)

Happy New Year, Zojirushi fans!  We hope that this new decade helps bring you success and happiness!

What are some of your goals for 2020?

We are excited to start this year by introducing you to one of our favorite products and our Product of the Month– the Gourmet d’Expert®  Electric Skillet (EP-PBC10)!

This Electric Skillet is not like any other– this versatile product is packed with so many ingenious features that we’re sure you’ll love.

Let’s start with the basics– how it works.  This skillet is composed of a main body with heating surface, a cooking pan, a lid and a power cord.  Once out of the box, you just simply wash the cooking pan and lid before the first use, place the cooking pan in the main body, attach the removable power cord and you’re ready…how simple is that?!

The cooking pan is 2 1/4 inches deep with a diameter of 10 1/2 inches, and it features a titanium and ceramic nonstick coating.  The size of the cooking pan, as well as the nonstick coating makes it ideal for sauteing ingredients, braising vegetables, simmering stews, cooking risottos, grilling meat or gyoza, and even for making fondue and pasta!  It’s the perfect addition for family nights and for impressing your guests at any potluck event.

Once the cooking pan is set in the main body, which houses the heating element, dishes can be prepared on various temperatures, ranging from 280°F to 430°F.  The skillet can also be set to Keep Warm.  This Electric Skillet can also be used on a gas stovetop burner to help precook ingredients for stews or other dishes simmered in liquids.

Along with the cooking pan, the tempered glass lid is a cook’s best friend.  Not only does this lid let you safely monitor cooking, and of course, prevent splatters, but it helps foods and liquids cook faster.

And that is how this great skillet works!  Even better, this skillet is built with safety in mind, just like our other products.  First, the power cord easily detaches in case it’s accidentally tugged.  Second, the handles on the cooking pan stay cool, preventing burns when transferring the pan.

And of course, each component of the skillet is easy to maintain.  Simply wipe the main body and heating element with a damp cloth, wash the pan and lid with warm water and mild dish detergent and let everything dry thoroughly.

Ok, now that we’re done talking about the awesome features, we really need to get to the food!

WHAT. DOES. THIS. SKILLET. COOK?

Well, we love the traditional Japanese dishes that we make in this skillet.  Everything from Japanese-Style Teriyaki Chicken and Chanko-Nabe to Sukiyaki and Salmon Kobumaki Kelp Rolls, served during the New Year festivities!  We also love the Western savories that cook up beautifully in this skillet, like like Fava Bean Risotto and Chicken Breast Cacciatore.  But we really go for the unexpected dishes that we make in this skillet like Chocolate Crème Brulee and Thick Style Matcha Hotcakes

Chocolate Creme Brulee

Chocolate Crème Brulee

You’ve got to try all of the recipes on our website (and don’t forget to tag your photos with #zojirushi on Instagram)!

Don’t forget to follow us on our blog and Instagram to keep up on all of our delicious Japanese and Western recipes and how to cook them with all of our amazing products!

 

Product Inspirations –
Home Bakery Maestro® Breadmaker (BB-SSC10)

Our Home Bakery Maestro® Breadmaker has so much to love – it’s a small powerhouse that makes hugely satisfying breads, doughs, cakes, and jams!

This breadmaker is compact and comes in a modern white design. It has a small footprint, about the size of a letter-sized paper, taking up minimal counter space, and makes 1-pound loaves, perfect for smaller families. The Maestro features a wide selection of 15 course settings, which control the kneading, rising, and baking functions based on the type of bread, dough, cake, or jam to be made.

Ten of the fifteen course settings are for baking bread, including traditional loaves like White, Whole Wheat, and European, as well as settings for Quick White and Quick Whole Wheat. Along with the traditional course settings, the Maestro offers healthy settings for Multigrain, Gluten Free, Salt Free, Sugar Free, and Vegan breads.

The Maestro comes with special course settings for doughs, cake, and jam too. The Bread/Pizza Dough setting is great for producing things like Whole Wheat Pizza Dough and Naan bread, while the Pasta Dough course setting lets you make homemade pastas like Spinach Pasta. Quick cake breads like our scrumptious Lemon Loaf are easy with the Cake setting and our unique Jam setting lets you make fruit preserves without constant stirring over the stove.

While these course settings are all amazing, we really, truly love our Homemade setting! This course setting allows you to store up to three custom programs, so you can control the knead, rise, and bake times per recipe! We’ve even come up with a recipe that we had to call our Meatloaf Miracle, because it was made in the breadmaker using a Homemade course. (Check it out in the recipe booklet that comes with the breadmaker!)

Our Home Bakery Maestro® Breadmaker can make all of these recipes because of its smart features. It uses a removable, nonstick coated Baking Pan to hold the ingredients, and mixes them with a single Kneading Blade, which is secured into the Baking Pan on a sturdy, rotating shaft. It also utilizes double heaters built into the bottom of the breadmaker to rapidly heat the interior of the Baking Pan so that breads are springy, light, airy, and have gorgeous crusts. It also has a new, distinctive feature – the Auto-Add Dispenser. Instead of requiring you to keep track of when to add ingredients such as dried fruit, nuts, and seeds during the knead cycle, the Auto Add Dispenser holds these ingredients and works with the breadmaker’s intelligent microcomputer to add them to the dough at the right time during making. The easy-to-read LCD control panel accesses the brains of the machine and lets you choose the course setting as well as select the crust color. It also allows you to set an optional 13-hour delay timer.

In true Zojirushi tradition, the pan, along with all surfaces that come into contact with food, are BPA-free and cleaning is simple. The Baking Pan, Kneading Blade, and Auto-Add Dispenser pieces are all removable and hand-washable.

Accessories include a full color recipe booklet with 50 delicious recipes, liquid measuring cup, and measuring spoon.

The recipe booklet has amazing recipes, and you can find more on the special website we’ve dedicated to this amazing little bread maker. Check out recipes like Party Bread and Matcha Swirl Bread. Best of all, we’ve loaded eight how-to videos to help you perfect your bread and dough making skills!

If you’re already an owner of the Home Bakery Maestro® Breadmaker, share your favorite creations with us below. And if not…get one now!


Product Inspirations – Micom Rice Cooker & Warmer (NL-AAC10/18)

At Zojirushi, we’re inspired by everyday cooking, at home, in any kind of kitchen, and for large and small families. We design our small appliances to meet your day-to-day needs, and our Micom Rice Cooker & Warmer (NL-AAC10/18) is one of the best examples of the effortless practicality and stylish functionality that guides our product design.

This is made in Japan and comes in 5.5 and 10 cup capacities. It’s also smartly multifunctional. At its core, it cooks rice and rice mixed with grains, such as barley and adzuki beans. But this rice cooker also features a Steam function, which allows you to cook vegetables, fish, scallops, prawns, chicken, meat-filled potstickers, or dumplings.

Rice is cooked using one of six pre-programmed settings: White/Sushi Rice, Mixed Rice, Porridge, Sweet Rice, Brown Rice, and Quick Cooking. Each of these settings, along with the one for Steaming, are accessed on the easy-to-read LCD control panel. Once the desired setting is selected, the rice cooker uses fuzzy logic technology – which cleverly directs the appliance’s microcomputer to make fine adjustments to cooking time and temperature – to make perfect rice every time.

White Rice and Brown Rice are easy to make; simply select the White/Sushi or Brown Rice setting. But this rice cooker also allows you to make mixed rice, such as rice with barley or Shiitake-Gohan (Shiitake Mushroom Rice), by adding stock, seasonings and vegetables directly into the rice cooker along with the rice. The instruction manual that comes with the rice cooker has smart tips on how to get the best results for all kinds of dishes, including the correct proportion of rice to other grains, how to rinse rice for the best results, and how to season rice for cooking.

 

The black inner pan is ideal for helping you with assembling and cooking your dish. Markings on the inside of the pan serve as a guide for how much water to use and the heating element evenly heats the ingredients. Once the dishes are cooked, the rice cooker will either make a beeping sound or play a melody, and will keep the food warm using the Automatic Keep Warm setting or the Extended Keep Warm setting. We use this feature along with the Delay Timer, which allows you to program when you would like the rice to be finished cooking. We often fill the inner cooking pan with rinsed rice and water in the morning, set the timer for the evening, and leave for the day to come home to cooked, fresh rice. The rice cooker will automatically keep it warm, and when we come home, we simply open the lid to eat or add ingredients for dishes like Green Tea Rice.

The Steaming function is another ideal feature in this rice cooker. To steam your favorite foods, fill the inner cooking pan with the appropriate amount of water, insert the steaming basket securely into the inner cooking pan, then place your foods into the basket. Select the Steam setting from the LCD panel and set the cooking time. Before you know it, your food will be prepared and ready to eat!

A rice measuring cup, rice spatula, and the steaming basket accessories come with the rice cooker.

Maintaining this rice cooker is also simple and practical. The inner lid, which covers the cooking pan, is detachable and washable, as are the removable inner cooking pan, steamer basket, and spatula. Simply wipe the inner and outer surfaces of the machine to clean them. And when storing the rice cooker, remove the detachable power cord and fold it up neatly next to the machine.

We hope you try out the great recipes found on pages 18-21 of the instruction manual, and try out some of our favorites from Zojirushi.com. As always, be sure to share your favorite dishes with us!

Product Inspirations – Toaster Oven (ET-WMC22)

We’ve got it! We’ve designed a brand new, stylish Toaster Oven – and it’s just as practical and packed with features as all of our other great small appliances.

Our Toaster Oven (ET-WMC22) is a compact machine, able to toast two large slices of bread, making it ideal for individuals and small families. It fits beautifully on any counter top and comes in a sleek and glossy black finish.

The Toaster Oven lets you cook and reheat various foods effortlessly, along with toasting bread and mochi. The cooking settings are controlled by two dials on the Toaster Oven – one that sets the cooking temperature and one that sets the cooking time. The temperature dial adjusts the cooking temperature from 175°F to 450°F, perfect for cooking or reheating various foods like cookies, pizza, and mochi rice cakes. The timer dial can be set up to 30 minutes. Cooking guidelines for foods commonly cooked in a toaster oven are imprinted on the door and indicate the appropriate dial settings for these foods…super easy when you want to make something quickly!

Food is placed on a mesh rack which helps foods cook more evenly while also reducing grill marks on foods. The mesh rack is especially useful when cooking mochi rice cakes, as it minimizes dripping through the rack. Foods can also be put on the Baking Tray accessory, which is great for roasting vegetables. Both the rack and tray are pulled out automatically when the glass door of the Toaster Oven is opened.

Whenever the Toaster Oven is on, a bright light indicates that it is in operation, and an audible bell signals when the course is completed.

One of the great features of this Toaster Oven is Zojirushi’s commitment to Safe Design. All surfaces that come into contact with food are BPA free. The heater guard at the top of the Toaster Oven prevents accidental contact, while a guard on the bottom directs fallen foods away from the heater. The auto pull-out rack reduces the risk of burns when removing foods.

And as with our other appliances, the Toaster Oven is easy to maintain. The glass door, mesh rack, and crumb tray can all be removed and washed for thorough cleaning.

Our Toaster Oven comes with an instruction manual that has some delicious and simple recipes including Roasted Vegetables and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Keep checking back on our website for more recipes and definitely checkout the beautiful Toaster Oven (ET-WMC22) in our product video.