Sanyo ECJ-HC55S Product reviews

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Category: Kitchen
Brand: Sanyo
Model: ECJ-HC55S
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Sanyo ECJ-HC55S Product reviews

Sanyo ECJ-HC55S Review by AK (USA)

Sanyo ECJ-HC55S 5-1/2-Cup Micro-Computerized Rice Cooker and Slow Cooker, White

I have now used the Sanyo ECJ-HC55S about 50+ times since I bought it from Amazon. Hopefully, my review will help prospective buyers make an informed decision.

As of 2009, Sanyo is offering 3 types of 5-cup Sanyo rice cookers in this price range ($100 to $135). There's the D55S, F50S, and HC55s. It was definitely a chore to sort through the marketing lingo and specs sheets. The final conclusions are as such: The D55s is at the low end of the spectrum, with fewer features and a thinner bowl. Both the F50S and HC55S occupy the slot above it. Between these two, the HC55S is the newer model. Features unique to it include: the tofu maker, the option to fine-tune rice texture (soft, regular, firm), and a dedicated slow cooker bowl. The HC55S also has low/hi mode for the slow cooking process. However, the older F50S retains one big advantage: Its rice cooker bowl is actually thicker (3.5mm vs 3.0mm). Thicker bowls are theoretically better at heat distribution. The thicker bowl explains why the F50S has a slightly smaller cooking capacity than the HC55S (5.0 cups vs 5.5 cups)

I decided to go with the HC55S, and it definitely exceeds my expectations. There are plenty of great things about this product, but it's not perfect. I only have two complaints, and I will go over those first:

1. Non-stick bowl is only non-stick for white rice. I've cooked various white rice in this unit (Sticky Rice, Jasmine White) and the non-stick feature works as advertised. Very easy to clean. But brown rice is a different matter. I rinse my brown rice throughly 3-4 times, soak them for a few hours, before cooking. And every single time, there are little deposits that get encrusted to the bowl. I've used two types of brown rice (Thai Jasmine Brown, and Mahatma Brown) with the same results. And the hardened crust is DIFFICULT to clean up with a soft sponge! Soaking the bowl overnight doesn't help either. I have had to resort to using the "rough" side of my sponge to lightly scrub the crusts off. This method quickly takes the crusts off... but I worry about the long term impact of lightly scrubbing the non-stick bowl.

2. My only other complaint? The unit is not designed to cook rice & steam vegetables simultaneously. It's technically possible --- there's enough room in the bowl for the steamer and about 1.5 cups of rice. But the steamer tray doesn't hang off the lid of the bowl. Instead, the plastic tray needs to sit on top of the rice. Making things more icky is the tray has 4 rubber feet on it --- presumably to prevent scratching on the bowl. I am definitely not comfortable with the idea of having the plastic tray, the rubber feet, and my rice all submerged together in boiling water for the duration of the cooking process.

Those two are the only complaints I have with this unit. Everything else about the Sanyo ECJ-HC55s is fantastic. Rice comes out perfect --- individual grains retain their consistency, and don't come out as clumpy as they did with ordinary rice cookers. The unit is also highly efficient at retaining heat. Other than the little steam vent, there's virtually no place for heat to escape the rice cooker. It is sealed extremely well --- heat and moisture are perfectly contained. I don't even bother using the "keep warm" function of the rice cooker. Even with the warmer function turned off, rice that was cooked at noon will remain perfectly moist and somewhat lukewarm at 6pm. This is a far cry from ordinary rice cookers I had been using for the past 30 years.

Computerized rice cookers are notorious for their sloooow cooking times, and the Sanyo ECJ HC55S is no exception. 1.5 cups of white rice takes about 45 minutes to cook, and brown rice needs about 90 minutes. When I bought this unit, I was definitely apprehensive about the long cooking times. But it turns out that it was no inconvenience at all. All I needed to do was adapt my routines to the new features offered by the HC55S. As a life-long rice eater, I had the habit of preparing rice about 30 minutes before lunch/dinner time. Given the long cooking times of these new rice cookers, I needed to alter my routine. I now use the timer function almost exclusively. Every night, I put the rice & water into the rice cooker at my leisure, and enter my approximate schedule into the panel (i.e. 11:30 AM tomorrow). And the next morning --- like magic --- I would find my rice freshly cooked at exactly 11:30 AM. Definitely very convenient. A precise schedule isn't necessary though, since the unit is great at keeping the rice fresh for many hours after it's cooked.

Overall, I highly recommend the Sanyo ECJ-HC55S. I would've given it 4.5 stars, but Amazon's rating system doesn't allow for 1/2 stars...

Sanyo ECJ-HC55S Review by Saunders C. Hsu

My old, standard, one-button rice cooker seems so primitive compared to this device. I've used it to cook white and brown rice, slow cook, and steam. The rice comes out properly cooked, and truly tastes better than with my older cooker. I presume the other space age rice cookers (e.g. made by Tiger, Zori) make great rice as well, but I've never compared.

Two bowls are provided; they are heavy and high quality, and zero rice sticks them, making clean up super easy. Steaming is also a snap (although everything has to fit in the unit, so size might be a limitation).

For some reason, on two occasions, the rice cooker malfunctioned-- didn't heat up to temperature and rice stayed uncooked. The past few times it has worked fine. So, the verdict is still out if this is as reliable as the trusty one-button cooker.

Sanyo ECJ-HC55S Review by Tommy J (Surprise, AZ United States)

great rice cooker. The instructions are a bit vague but, you can figure them out. There should be a chart relating American rice types to the Asian types. But, a little trial and error figures it out..

The features are poorly explained in the instructions. For example, the timers. One neat feature I discovered is that you use the markings in the rice pot to load it (use the cup that came with the unit to measure rice), select rice type, then push the start button and forget it.

The fuzzy logic will cook the rice properly, shut off and turns on warmer. This is really neat. The rice is always just right never over/under done.

I live on fried rices, Basmati and Jasmine are my favorites. Basmati is brown, follow brown rice directions. Jasmine is white follow white rice directions.

Cal Rose rice (sticky rice) is good but needs special handling or it will clump in a hard ball... (wash when done to remove sticky, then spread out to dry, before cooking fried rice. Very tasty..

The steamer is great for veggies. The rest I haven't used yet...

This is a 5 cup unit. The best overall size. I use three cups for the fried rices.

This is quality unit. The parts are well made and unit is very easy to clean. The rice paddle is very handy. Don't skimp on a cheapy unit. You get what you pay for...

Note: The measuring cup seems to compensate for final cooked rice volume, don't use standard measuring cups.

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