The Pot and How to Use It

The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker

by Roger Ebert

Price: $14.99
ISBN-13: 9780740791420
ISBN-10: 0740791427
Format: Paperback
Size: 7 1/2 x 9 in.
Page Count: 160 pages

“[The book]  is a fabulous pep talk for intuitive, convenient cooking. Ebert may be obsessed with rice cookers (Zojirushis in particular), but it’s less about the device than the idea that we can and should cook real meals at home, space and time limitations be damned.” –Dad Wagon http://bit.ly/bFJScn

“”The Pot” is culled from one of Ebert’s entries to his popular blog, “Roger Ebert’s Journal,” on the Chicago Sun Times website. While he mostly discusses films and filmmaking, one entry in November 2008 centered on his love affair with the rice cooker. As a result, “The Pot” isn’t a traditional cookbook. Much of what’s inside comes in narrative form, with short-bite chapters discussing soups, sauces, herbs and spices and even nutrition. Ebert offers lots of advice to folks unfamiliar with purchasing or using a rice cooker.” ––The Honolulu Star-Advertiser http://bit.ly/dtiVwJ

“The Pot and How to Use It is a funny kind of cookbook made up of Ebert’s philosophies about cooking and health, his blog entries, and recipes generated in the comments section of his blog. It’s a slim volume designed to get you acclimated to using your rice cooker for more than just rice, along with plenty of Ebert’s prose to keep you thoroughly entertained while you cook in The Pot.” ––Serious Eats http://bit.ly/c36dXA

“The Pot knows. This is one of Ebert’s truths. So are these: He can’t speak. He can’t eat. He can’t smell. He can cook. Ebert, 68, has not been able to speak, eat or smell since 2006. Cancer, and surgeries to try and help matters, were the culprit. But food and cooking — the love of it, the memories of it, the physicality and process of it — are still very much with him. He cooks for dinner parties and makes rice-cooker oatmeal, his favorite, in the morning for anyone who’s game.” ––Chicago Sun-Times http://bit.ly/aGt5HD

“Ebert’s devotion to food (what’s healthy, what works, what’s good) is inarguable. He still cooks and writes about food on his well-followed blog, Roger Ebert’s Journal. It was, in fact, a 2008 blog post about rice cookers, a tool he’d fallen for years ago, that spurred The Pot and How to Use It in the first place.” ––TheStar.com http://bit.ly/9BEFXy

“The Pot and How to Use It is aimed at culinary-challenged adults, but the simple recipes in it scream “feed me to your 2-year-old!” They’re heavy on simple grains — oatmeal, lentils, and rice, of course — and fresh fruits and vegetables, slow cooked until they’re sweet, mild and kid-friendly.” ––The Stir, a Cafe Mom blog http://bit.ly/aTxSj0

“No one has to lie and say that Roger Ebert comfortable not being able to eat. It’s a fact his life is more difficult now than it was before the cancer ordeal. However, it’s apparent Ebert has not allowed his setbacks to stop him from following his dreams and writing a cookbook.” ––Celebs.Gather.com http://bit.ly/chY90e

“Nominally, this is a book about how to cook with a rice pot, but it is really a book about cooking and really a conversation about cooking. Ebert kicks off the talking with his own culinary peccadilloes, starting with a sharp little chapter on, of all things, oatmeal, and confessing to a favorite dish of canned tomato soup sparked with frozen peas. He talks about attending the Sundance Film Festival, where it’s not about celebrity sighting, but seeing as many movies as you can and surviving on something besides popcorn and Milk Duds. Hence the rice cooker in the hotel room. Then his readers chime in via internet with comments to Ebert on how to use the pot, ideas for recipes, and tips—how much rice, how much water, cooking at high altitudes, avoiding scorching, grits and other grains, stories of Japanese dorm rooms, and the ongoing mystery of how the pot knows when the rice—whether minute rice or brown rice—is perfectly cooked.” ––Appetit for Books http://bit.ly/d6nb3V

“Ebert, who lost his lower jaw to cancer several years ago, can no longer eat or talk and requires a feeding tube, recently wrote a cookbook called The Pot and How to Use It. Who knew the famous movie critic was also a rice-cooker expert? ” ––Keeping It Real Food http://bit.ly/aZMhdd

“In 2008, Ebert wrote about the seemingly retro rice cooker in his Chicago Sun-Times column. That two-year-old topic has evolved into a cookbook of the same name. On Sept. 21, 2010, Ebert will add the word “chef” to his resume when The Pot and How to Use It hits bookshelves.” ––Tonic http://bit.ly/cirygI

“Cancer left Roger Ebert unable to eat or speak—but it didn’t rob his ability to cook. The beloved film critic, who often reminisces about the foods he misses (root beer, Steak ‘n Shake) on his blog, doesn’t mind sharing a restaurant meal or a kitchen cooking lesson with a reporter. “Food for me is in the present tense,” he tells the New York Times. And to prove it, he’s publishing a cookbook.” ––Newser http://bit.ly/cbOus9

“Would love to flip through this cookbook, if only for Ebert’s witty words, enviable sense of humor and clear passion for food.” ––Fancy Food Magazine http://bit.ly/bn67sy

“…Food — the cooking and sharing part of it — still means so much to [Roger Ebert] that he is publishing a cookbook this month. It’s based entirely on meals to be made in a rice cooker. The title is “The Pot and How to Use It: The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker”. In 2008, long after he accepted that he would never put food in his mouth again, he wrote a blog post presenting his philosophy of The Pot as a way for all the people with not much space and not much time or money to cook for themselves. … The post became the frame for the book.” ––The New York Times http://nyti.ms/damEFa

“Roger Ebert’s surprising new cookbook The Pot and How to Use It: The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker will be available on September 21. He has been battling thyroid and throat cancer for eight years and is now unable to eat without the assistance of a feeding tube. However in his book he shares his love of the rice cooker and teaches how simple it is to slowly whip up healthy inexpensive dishes that go well beyond rice.” ––The Independent http://bit.ly/cOwt3r

“Cancer may have robbed Roger Ebert of the ability to eat, but it won’t stop him from dishing out cooking advice. Four years after cancer surgery left the famed film critic unable to speak or eat, Ebert is publishing a cookbook dedicated to rice cookers, a kitchen appliance he lovingly calls “The Pot” and champions as an answer for those strapped for cash, time and counter space. “To be sure, health problems have prevented me from eating,” Ebert writes in the book. “That did not discourage my cooking. It became an exercise more pure, freed of biological compulsion.” The idea for the book came after a 2008 blog post he wrote about rice cookers prompted hundreds of comments, with many readers including their favorite recipes. “I think I was somewhat frustrated by not being able to eat and I wanted to live vicariously,” the 68-year-old said during an interview at his Chicago home, his laptop computer speaking his typed answers. The book includes many of those comments, as well as more than two dozen recipes for dishes such as chili, risotto, jambalaya and oatmeal — Ebert’s favorite. He took a witty and funny tone when writing it; he says he didn’t want it to sound too specialized or difficult.” ––Salon.com http://bit.ly/bqJsOL

Prep Time: 15 minutes

By Marie Haws
Taken from http://www.sunbeam.com.au/Pages/Recipes/RecipeDetail.aspx?iid=9286, this is a delicious risotto cooked in the rice cooker.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
80g butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 cups uncooked Arborio rice
1 cup dry white wine
1 litre chicken stock, hot
200g Swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
150g button mushrooms, sliced
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
Freshly ground black pepper

Method:
In a large frying pan, heat half the oil and butter; add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is tender. Add the rice and stir through to coat the rice with the onion mixture.

Add the wine and cook, stirring, until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Transfer the mixture to the rice cooker cooking pan. Add the hot chicken stock and stir through. Making sure that the exterior of the pan is dry, place into the heating vessel.

Replace the lid.

Depress the automatic control lever to Cook.

When the cooking is complete, the lever will automatically switch to the Keep Warm mode. Leave the rice in the cooker for 10 minutes at this stage. DO NOT REMOVE THE LID.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil and butter in a frying pan and cook, stirring, until the mushrooms are tender; drain any excess liquid.

After the rice has been in the Keep Warm mode for 10 minutes, open the lid. Stir in the mushrooms, Parmesan, and parsley. Season to taste with black pepper.

Serve immediately.

Originating from a blog entry on Roger’s popular Web site, The Pot and How to Use It is much more than a cookbook. While it contains a concoction of varied recipes, including Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon, Garlic Chicken on Fragrant Rice, and Miss Ina’s Down-Home Rice Pudding, it also includes readers’ comments and recipes alongside Roger’s own discerning insights and observations on why and how we cook.

With a delightful introduction by vegetarian cookbook author Anna Thomas and expert assistance from recipe consultant and nutritionist Yvonne Nienstadt of Rancho La Puerta Fitness Resort and Spa, The Pot and How to Use It is a must-have for fans of healthy cooking and eating, followers of Roger’s superb writing, and anyone looking to incorporate the convenience and versatility of electric rice cookers into a kitchen repertoire.