Unitasker Wednesday: Rice Cube
All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy!
One of the cool things about making sushi rolls is that the method you use allows you to make numerous pieces of sushi at once. You get six pieces from just one roll. You set down a mat (and this step is even optional), put dried seaweed and rice on it, add your fillings, roll it all up, and then slice the tube into six pieces. [How to.]
When using really good sushi rice, you don’t have to use a mat or seaweed. All you need are your hands to make the sushi into any shape you desire. If you want your sushi to look like something other than a circle, just mold it. A rabbit! An hourglass! A snake! A cube …
… which brings us to today’s unitasker, the Rice Cube:
Seeing as all you have to do is use your hands to form a cube of sushi, I’m not sure why you would need this special rice-constriction device. It only makes one piece of sushi at a time (as opposed to six), and it does exactly what your hands can do (the exact hands you have to use to operate the device). If you’re obsessed with being exact and having all of your cubes look identical, a clean ruler pressed against the sides of a sushi roll before cutting does the exact same thing. And, you likely already own a ruler. (Be sure to use a very sharp knife with a wet blade so your cubes don’t smash down as you apply pressure to slice.)
After years of writing about unitaskers, I’m finding that most kitchen unitaskers aren’t about saving time, but rather about replacing basic skills. In this case, watching a free, eight-minute video on how to make sushi rolls could save you the $25 you might spend on this device.
Thanks go to Jessica for sharing this unitasker with us.
20 comments posted
Posted by Jacki Hollywood Brown - 09/28/2011
I’m sure I saw a set of these in the play-dough set my kids had when they were little. They never used them.
Posted by NoAlias - 09/28/2011
While this does seem a little pointless, how is this different than a hamburger press? (I don’t own one of those either.)
Posted by Quilting Bibliophagist - 09/28/2011
Yes, but a hamburger press is a unitasker too, isn’t it?
Posted by Becky - 09/28/2011
That’s true for many gadgets people try to sell us that turn into clutter – they are replacements for some skill that the gadget-seller wants to convince us is difficult to acquire.
I find this with camping gear all the time – a lot of “must-have” gear attempts to substitute for learning campcraft and safety skills. Because we’re more likely to get ready for a big trip by shopping at REI (not to pick on REI, it’s just an example) than we are to spend time learning outdoorsmanship from friends and mentors.
Posted by Pete - 09/28/2011
Not a unitasker. I conduct an OCD support group, do you have any idea how hard it is to get finger food for these people. Now that I can serve them perfectly cubical food my life is going to be so much easier.
Posted by liv - 09/28/2011
A lot of sushi’s appeal is visual and few westerners have been taught to make sushi by their mothers, so this isn’t really surprising. You can cut out cookies by hand or trace around cardboard, but many cookie cutters are sold.
Honestly making a set of them in ice cube trays works a treat, too.
Posted by Erin Doland - 09/28/2011
@NoAlias — I think a hamburger press is a bit of a unitasker, too, especially since the best tasting patties aren’t pressed (see specifically #8) http://aht.seriouseats.com/arc.....f=obinsite
Posted by Pink Frankenstein - 09/28/2011
This device is basically like a sushi press which I assume has been around for a few hundred years. You can not buy one on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi.....tterer-20/
The particular device you feature in this article is absurd mostly because of it’s design. Sure it is a unitasker, no doubt. But making uniform rice cubes for sushi is not an absurd idea. You CAN’T do it by hand.
The old wooden sushi press that i posted essential has the same end result but makes a huge block of uniform sushi that then gets cut.
An Ice cube tray would not work.
Posted by chacha1 - 09/28/2011
On the plus side, you could use this to make really neat-looking mini rice & marshmallow treats.
KIDDING!
Posted by Tjl - 09/28/2011
Umm, the ruler bit is really bad advice: you should *never* use plastics that are not food safe to do anything with food. The additives used for the plastics can be quite nasty and dissolve into the food easily. There’s a good reason why food plastics are a class of their own.
Posted by Erin Doland - 09/28/2011
@Tjl — First off, the ruler touches the mat not the rice. Second, there are food grade plastic rulers. Third, I own a stainless steel ruler, so it’s not even an issue. Finally, I was joking. No one is so obsessive as to actually use a ruler on a piece of food when serving it to their family. You can easily shape it into a square with your hands — I’ve done it a number of times — regardless of what @Pink claims. A really good quality sushi rice will do about anything you want.
Posted by yvette - 09/29/2011
Since the rice is still rather hot when I must make these rice balls, I put the rice on a piece of wrap film and twist the corner and then I have a perfect ball, ready to be flatened out if I wish, rolled into seaweed. For some playful shapes, just use your cookie cutters, dip these into salted water and the rice will not stick onto them.
Posted by organizingwithe - 09/29/2011
Looks like you could use this as a multi-tasker – to make sushi & as a building block for your child. Still don’t think it’s worth the $25.00………..
Posted by Helen Swallow - 09/29/2011
There is something about Unitasker Wednesday that doesn’t seem to me to fit into the otherwise generous ethos of Unclutterer. It somehow has a self-congratulatory ring to it. I know most of these things are ridiculous, but why waste time searching them out and writing about them? I would much prefer more of your practical and philosophical items on uncluttering, which I love.
While I’m having this gentle and very kindly meant little vent, what is the message of the horrible logo with the man apparently vacuum-cleaning his own mouth? Or have I misinterpreted it completely? Every time I come to the site it gives me a nasty, almost unconscious little jolt. Does anybody else wish it could be changed?
Thanks for all your great articles, and best wishes.
Posted by Erin Doland - 09/29/2011
@Helen — The guy at the top vacuuming his face is officially called “Suck Face Man” and he is one of two Unclutterer mascots. The other is down at the bottom of the page, and he’s hiding from SFM. I love them both. The idea behind SFM is that he is so confused about what he’s doing that he ends up vacuuming his face instead of the floor. It’s exactly how I felt when I decided to embark on my uncluttering journey — lost, confused, overwhelmed. I didn’t know what I was doing. The point of the site is to help people who feel lost, confused, and overwhelmed by the disorganization in their lives. Our mascot is a symbol of our common ground at the start of the journey. Our mascot proclaims: “It’s okay to not be perfect! If you don’t know how to properly use a vacuum, we understand! Join us!”
If you read SimpliFried, you’ll see SFM is there, too. He’s wearing egg on his face because he doesn’t know how to use a pan. Again, this is exactly how I felt when I was first learning to cook.
Posted by Helen Swallow - 09/29/2011
Thanks for the explanation, Erin. I still don’t like him, but at least I now understand him
Helen
Posted by Christina Rodriguez | The Diva's Home - 09/29/2011
Whatever made someone think this was needed? Silly
Posted by jw - 09/29/2011
i love suckfaceman.
Posted by Jessiejack - 09/30/2011
@ Pete – are you serious? I can see how uneven sushi would drive someone nuts
Posted by Bunny - 10/04/2011
To give you a heads up on this weeks: http://www.onlineorganizing.co.....e=ToweLocs
Locks for your towels
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