Rice Cooker
A rice cooker or rice steamer is a container or kitchen appliance dedicated to cooking rice. The pressure-cooking models can raise the water's boiling point higher, e.g., from 100 °C at 1.0 atm up to about 110 °C at 1.4 atm, which speeds cooking. They are also suitable for cooking brown rice (which contains oils and bran fiber that cook differently from pure white rice starch). The pressure-cooking models can also be used in high altitude areas.
The majority of modern electric rice cookers are equipped with a stay-warm or keep-warm feature, which keeps the rice at an optimal temperature for serving without over-cooking it. Some gas cookers also have electric stay-warm mechanism.
In Japan, it is popular to cook soups, stews or sponge cakes in electric rice cookers.