Tiger Rice Cooker Instructions: Menus, Water Ratios, and Tacook, by Model Line

Updated October 1, 2026 | Byline: The Fuzzy Logic Review Team

Tiger cookers ship with a card, not a manual feel. The card shows a cup, two lines, and four buttons, and the actual manual is a PDF on a corporate site that assumes you already know what Plain versus Mixed means. This page is the missing layer: what each menu actually does, how the water lines differ across Tiger’s three main lines, and how the two synchronized-cooking systems work — because Tiger sells two of them and they are not the same thing.

This is a research desk guide built from Tiger’s published manuals and documentation (tiger-corporation.com), the menu behavior our reviews document across the line, and the conventions shared by Japanese-standard cookers. We did not run a test kitchen. The buying side of the brand is in our Tiger brand guide; specific models in the JAX-T10U review, the JBV review, the JBV-A10U micom, and the JPW-H10U pressure model.

The cup and the lines (same convention, worth 30 seconds)

Tiger follows the Japanese standard: the included cup is 180 ml, water lines inside the pan are numbered in those cups, and every ratio in the manual assumes that measuring. Substitute a US 240 ml cup and you add a third more rice than the machine’s math expects. The full conversion table and the why is in our rice cooker cup sizes explained guide — the short version: use the Tiger cup, or weigh 150 g of dry rice per cup on a scale.

Menus decoded: what each button does

The JAX and JBV micom lines share a core menu set, and the names are more literal than they sound:

Menu	What it actually does	When to use
Plain	Full soak-then-cook cycle	Standard white rice, best texture
Quick	Skips most of the soak	Weeknights; slightly less even
Mixed	Extra water and firm stir-in design	Takikomi gohan, rice with mixed ingredients
Sweet	Lower, longer finish	Sticky or sweet rice dishes
Brown	Extended soak and cook	Brown rice and GABA-style grains
Porridge	High water, gentle cycle	Congee and okayu
Steam (JBV)	Timed steam with basket	Side dishes during or instead of rice

The honest hierarchy: Plain, Brown, and Porridge do real distinct work; Quick trades quality for speed; Mixed and Sweet exist for Japanese dishes many owners never cook — but when a recipe calls for them, they are the difference between the dish working and not.

Tacook and the JBV basket: two systems, one idea

Tiger’s signature is synchronized cooking, and it comes in two forms:

Tacook (JAX line) is a plate that sits above the rice. The same cycle that cooks the rice steams whatever is on the plate — the manual’s own recipes assume both finish together. Our JAX-T10U review covers the practical version: a full side dish done with zero timing, provided the dish is steam-friendly. Dense proteins and big cuts need their own cycle.

The steam basket (JBV line) is the simpler sibling: a basket over the rice for the last stretch of the cook, or its own Steam cycle with the timer. Same finish-together idea, less integrated design, more flexibility.

Both systems share one rule: liquids and sauces stay in their own vessel. Rice absorbs steam, not flavor, from above — the plate and basket keep it that way on purpose.

Water ratios by rice and model line

Rice	Water per 1 cup (180 ml) rice	Menu	Notes
White, long grain	Line 1:1 baseline, up to 1.2	Plain	Jasmine slightly under the line
Japanese short grain	To the Soft line or 1.1	Plain	The cookers’ native target
Brown	Brown line or ~2	Brown	The soak in the cycle matters as much as the ratio
Mixed rice dishes	1.1 with ingredients stirred in	Mixed	Firm vegetables on top, not stirred
Sweet rice	0.9 (firm) to 1.0	Sweet	Soak sweet rice 30 min first
Porridge/congee	5 to 8	Porridge	Watch the first batch for boil-over

The JNP conventional line (the basic one-lever models) has no menu logic: single cycle, Plain behavior. On those, brown rice wants a 30-minute pre-soak and generous water, same as any conventional cooker. Brand-agnostic ratio tables live in our rice to water guide; the Aroma-specific version, including its quirks, in Aroma instructions.

The mistakes Tiger owners report most

• US-cup substitution. Same as every Japanese-standard brand: the 180 ml cup is the unit of everything.
• Skipping the rice rinse. Japanese-style rice especially — surface starch turns the bottom layer to paste. Rinse until the water runs mostly clear.
• Wrong synchronized-cooking expectations. Tacook plates and steam baskets cook steam-friendly food. Fried rice, crispy anything, and saucy dishes are not those.
• Lifting the lid on Brown. The extended cycle’s temperature curve assumes closed steam. Peeking adds minutes and dries the top layer.
• Keeping rice warm past a day. The keep-warm function is a day-scale tool, not a weekend one. The safe window and the why are in our keep-warm explainer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Tiger line should a beginner buy? The JBV gives the most utility per dollar for most households — rice plus a steam basket for one-button sides. The JAX adds Tacook for plated dishes at a mid price. The comparison against the other two big Japanese brands is in Cuckoo vs Tiger and Zojirushi vs Tiger.

Why does my rice stick to a brand-new JNP? Conventional single-cycle cookers with aluminum pans do that, especially without a rinse and a post-cook rest. Ten minutes sealed after the click, and a rinse before cooking, solve most of it.

Can I cook quinoa or oats in a Tiger? Yes — quinoa at 1:1 on Plain, oats on Porridge with plenty of water and an eye on the first batch. The manuals leave it to you; the cookers handle it fine.

Where is Tiger’s manual library? tiger-corporation.com hosts model PDFs under support. US-model documents live there; the Japanese-language pages cover domestic models Tiger does not sell in North America.