My almost comprehensive Tatung rice cooker review. All you need to know about this wonder cooker from Taiwan.

I have owned this Tatung rice cooker, model number TAC-11kn(UL), 11 cup multi-functional stainless steel rice cooker for 7 years and still has to show any sign of wear. Well there are minor blemishes but nothing like rust, loose screws or loose wiring.

We are a big Asian family and we eat a lot of rice. It is fair to say that this rice cooker has seen it's fair share of use in those 7 long years.

I don't really know how it has lasted this long or has not even given me any kind of trouble. It has been reliable from day one.

Tatung may not be as widely known as other Rice cooker brands like Tiger, but it is slowly gaining traction in the US market.

TATUNG RICE COOKER ALMOST COST ME MY RELATIONSHIP!

My Taiwanese friend actually told me about this brand, otherwise I would never have known about it. He raved on about it so much that I got sold. The next day I search and search online to find out more about this rice cooker that Taiwanese people love so much.

There wasn't much anything on the internet other than a few Taiwan owners talking about how good it is. No one was selling this in the local stores. I had to source it from Ebay and it had to be delivered from Taiwan. It was $400 including postage from Taiwan.

I remember how much it costed clearly because my girlfriend complained so much that we almost broke up, true story. She literally said if you don't give that back I will break up with you.

She may have over reacted a little bit but I agreed to return it. Thing is, the cost for shipping it back to Taiwan was quite a lot. She decided to keep it and I, too. Phew.

THE TATUNG STORY...

The Tatung, pronounced Da tong, company was started in 1918. Based in Taipei, they are the leading brand in technology and energy saving. They own 6 technology based companies, from power generation to transmission.

The technologies that they create are second to none in Taiwan. The government have partnered with them to power government buildings. Schools, hospitals, residential to military installations are all powered by Tatung technology.

Additional to rice cookers, they also manufacture televisions and air conditioners. The company are not limited to household appliances. Their name extends to laptops, mobile phones and other consumer electronics.

You may not have heard of Tatung, but in Taiwan, they power the whole country.

DESIGN

The design is not something that you would expect in the modern era of technology. There are no buttons to play with. No digital display, no fancy auto lid open/close function. It's a fairly simple, chunky, fat design.

When you look at new rice cookers in this day and age, they are designed to be sleek and sharp. Made more like a sports car than a family wagon, with all the bells and whistles you can count.

There are only 2 functions in the Tatung's front control panel. That is the lever that goes down to start cooking the rice, then pops back up when the rice is cooked.

There is a switch that when toggled to on, it continues to heat the plate in low setting thus keeping the rice warm after it finished cooking.

That is it, easy and simple.

FEATURES

I bought the Tatung TAC-11kn 11 Cups rice cooker mainly because of it's stainless steel inner pot. I have this weird thing about cooking with healthy cookware and stainless steel won't leach anything to your food.

The way it cooks rice is by way of indirect heating. This method uses hot steam to cook the rice instead of just a heating plate. Normally, rice gets cook in a pot, on a stove top. The rice would sit in boiling water and steamed until it is soft.

Rice cookers uses the same principle. Rice cookers has a heating plate at the bottom to heat up the pot and cook the rice. Tatung rice cooker goes another step.

In a Tatung rice cooker, there is a gap between the inner and outer pot. This is so the steam coming from the water at the bottom can rise up to help cook the rice from the top as well as the bottom.

This method cooks the rice from top, sides and bottom indirectly and evenly. In their websites it states that indirect cooking will not reduce the nutritional value of the food. Guys, any form of cooking can destroy the nutrients in every food. Be it directly or indirectly.

WHAT I LIKE

LOOKS

The stainless steel finish is really attractive and very appealing. It just looks luxurious compared to a plain white or red rice cooker. There is just something about a fine, smooth stainless steel finish. It's like looking at an extremely sharp and edgy katana.

HEALTHY
I am very big in using healthy cookware. Aluminium, leaching into food can have detrimental effect to your body in the long run. So I wanted a stainless steel rice cooker. Back then, there were hardly any stainless steel pot rice cookers. They were really hard to come by.

Upon learning that this rice cooker uses a stainless steel pot, I jumped at it. Didn't care about the cost and the result was dramatic, girlfriend situation and all. She wanted to break up with me because it costed more than my Playstation.

I like how my rice is always soft and fluffy every single time. I also cook other rice such as brown rice and basmati. All you have to do is double the amount of water when cooking them.

I know you are suppose to soak them for hours but who has time for that. This thing cooks brown and basmati rice to perfection without soaking it prior to cooking.

MULTIFUNCTIONAL
Not only can you cook rice but you can stew, braise, steam and cook other dishes with this wonder pot.

You can even make rice while steaming buns on top of the rice saving time and serving more for everyone. All you need is their special external steamer set .
You can make all sorts of dishes from congee, steamed eggs, stewed beef with vegetables. The possibilities are endless.

There are endless Tatung rice cooker recipes in Youtube all in Taiwanese. I found these in English on Youtube by TatungUSA link here .

PERFECT RICE
Almost every time I make rice with this pot, it never goes wrong. The finished product is always soft and fluffy. It tastes great with every bite. The only time it went wrong was when I cooked brown rice and didn't add enough water so the rice ended up hard, undercooked and not something you would want to eat.

RELIABLE
Like I said I have been using this rice cooker for so long, coming to it's eighth year. Our household have about 9 rice loving Asians in it. Can you imagine how much rice we go through every week?

Fair to say that it has been used quite a lot. Nothing has broken down, works perfectly.

The lid is seem like it can withstand a few drops. I wouldn't recommend dropping the whole rice cooker though. This thing weighs almost 10 lbs.

WHAT I DISLIKE

CLEANING
It's simple enough but it is kind of messy. You add water to the outer pot every time you cook rice. Well that water doesn't evaporate entirely. It stays on the heating plate until it gets cleaned.

So in addition to cleaning the inner pot, you have to pour out the water that is in the outer pot. You can also use a paper towel to soak the water.

NOISY LID
I don't really dislike this so much but just a heads up. You will probably panic when you cook your first rice because of the noise it makes when the steam is trying to escape and shakes the lid.

It is not annoyingly bad, but you can hear it, I think it gives it character. It's like my rice cooker is alive when it is cooking and dead quiet when it's on stand by.

WOULD I RECOMMEND IT?

110% I would tell anyone to buy it. It is so versatile, it's like I have another pot and a stove top to cook other dishes in. You can steam dumplings and eggs, stew beef, steam crabs, cook rice while steaming buns on top of it. The possibilities are quite endless, just got to be creative.

It also lasted this long, cooking for a big Asian family. As you all know, Asians are massive rice eaters, we can't live without rice. You can say that this rice cooker have been overused.

There are also a lot of happy customers that have been using this rice cooker much longer than I have. Just proves how reliable and robust this rice cooker is.

This thing will last me probably another decade or so, I hope. Going by previous owners, it seems like it will.

Time to make tomato rice!

TATUNG RICE COOKER INSTRUCTIONS

Using the measuring cup that came with your Tatung rice cooker, put 6 cups of rice in the inner pot.

Pour water in the pot to wash the rice gently with.
Pour out water.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 three times.
Add water into the pot up to the 6 mark.
Using the measuring cup again, fill it up to the 6 mark and pour it into the outer pot.
Drop in the inner pot into the outer pot.
Close the lid and push lever down to start cooking.
You may want to switch the keep warm button to on if you want the rice to keep warm after it finished cooking.
Once it pops, you can hear it, it's quite audible, that means that the rice has finished cooking.
Optionally, open the lid and stir the rice. This will allow the remaining water to evaporate. Close the lid.
Leaving it another 5 minutes will ensure perfectly soft and fluffy rice.

CLEANING AND MAINTENANCE

To clean the outside pot, use a light detergent on a wet sponge and wipe it clean. Never use abrasive materials to clean. This will damage the finish of the rice cooker.

Never put the entire outer pot in water, it is not water tight and water can seep into the electrical boards causing water damage.

After you had this rice cooker for quite a while. You will find that there are some brown stains on the heat plate. This is quite normal, water contains minerals that when it gets heated it goes through chemical transformation. That is that brown, rust looking spots on your outer pot.

When it comes to properly cleaning my Tatung rice cooker, ie the rust looking gunk on the heat plate. What I do to wash mine is, I unplug the power cable from the outer pot. Take out the inner pot. Then throw out any remaining water from the outer pot into the sink.

I then add 1 part of citric acid and 9 parts water into the outer pot. Plug back the power chord and turn on the rice cooker. Let it cook for 1 hour. When it is done, you can easily scrape off the gunk using a non abrasive sponge.

You can wash the inner pot and lid using traditional methods.

COMMON QUESTIONS ASKED ABOUT TATUNG TAC-11KN RICE COOKER

WHAT IS THE STAINLESS STEEL MADE UP OF?
It is made of double layered 18/8 metal with a 304 food grade.

Basically means strong, durable and safe to use with food. Do you know how many times I have dropped the inner pot? Too many to count. It has been dropped from the waist level onto a tiled floor. There are scratches and bruises from the abuse but there are no big dents and functions fine.

IS EVERYTHING MADE OUT OF STAINLESS STEEL?
Everything is stainless steel with the exception of the handle, knobs and switches. Which are made out of plastic.

Where can I buy a replacement for the measuring cup?

Go to rice cooker shops in your area. They will have what you are looking for. You can also try Asian shops that deal with kitchenware. I know Daiso Japan sells measuring cups for rice cookers. You might want to try Japanese local shops in the area.

WHAT IS THE LIFESPAN OF THIS RICE COOKER?
I have heard people saying how reliable this thing is. Someone even mentioned as long as 40 years and it is still in service. Some have had it for 20 years and the only reason they bought a new one because it kind of looked worn out.

This thing is made to last.