The Sage Risotto Plus Multi Cooker, Brushed Stainless Steel, BRC600UK

Product Information

Stirring while cooking is important for those two dishes, and this is where a bread maker’s jam program comes in handy. Just remember to set a timer – a jam program tends to be at least 1hr 30mins; you’re likely to need less time to make pudding or risotto. Risotto rice has a short grain and is high in amylopectin starch. It's this starch, which is released by stirring, that produces the distinctive creamy texture. Long-grain rice varieties, like basmati , are lower in amylopectin, which gives them a fluffy and light texture. You can cook long-grain rice like a risotto, but it will never be the same. For me, some of the above – such as making delicious jam by the touch of a few buttons and preparing rice pudding with minimal fuss – were genuine revelations. Others, such as meatloaf, cake and scrambled eggs, felt a little superfluous; they could have easily been prepared the traditional way in the oven – or in the latter case – on the stove. A more unconventional way to make use of your “Bake” or “Cake” program is to bake a meatloaf. As with cake, you’re simply using your bread maker as an oven, so remember to remove the kneading blade. I used the following recipe, which originally comes from a Zojirushi bread maker manual. Slow Cook (low and high temperature) – for long slow cooking of casseroles and stews and tenderising tougher cuts of meat

When the rice is creamy but retains a little bite, turn off the heat and stir in the remaining butter and Parmesan and cover with a tea towel for 1 minute. The risotto should have a flowing texture, not stodgy and stiff. Pay attention to any maximum capacity warnings and baking advice in your breadmaker’s manual. It’s sometimes recommended that you line your tin with baking paper and/or grease it before pouring in the cake batter – as you would when baking a cake in a normal tin in the oven. Cheaper rice cookers turn off this element once it detects that boiling point has been maintained for a set period. More expensive models will have a number of ‘fuzzy-logic’ settings. These automatically adjust the cooking time and temperature depending on the contents. Add the rice and turn up the heat – the rice will now begin to lightly fry, so keep stirring it. After 1 minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the vermouth or wine and keep stirring — it will smell fantastic. Any harsh alcohol flavours will evaporate and leave the rice with a tasty essence. Cake is probably the most common item besides bread that you can prepare in a bread maker. The program will usually be named “Bake”, “Bake only”, or just “Cake”. In this mode you remove the kneading blade and use your bread maker simply as an oven. Mix the ingredients before popping them into the bread maker and you’ll usually need to add baking powder or another raising agent – besides yeast – to the mixture to ensure your cake rises.One of the most delicious risotto recipes is sausage risotto. Make it sautéing a knob of butter with chopped shallot. Add the sausage in pieces (casings removed), and brown, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the rice and toast it for a few minutes. Add red wine. Cook the rice, adding hot broth as it is absorbed. Once cooked, remove from heat and stir in more butter and parmesan cheese.

If you’re cooking for just one or two, then the former might be more useful. Countertop machines are generally made to cook at least two portions, with some bigger models producing up to 10 portions. What features should I look for? The resulting jam was less sweet than many of its shop-bought counterparts, and goes well with pancakes. Store any homemade jam in a clean jar in the fridge and eat within a month. This premium one-pot cooker saves on time and washing up. Superb, if you don’t mind the hefty price tag. Cooking times vary according to the type of rice, but generally, it will take at least 15-18 minutes. Once ready, the rice should be removed from the heat and stirred with a knob of cold butter and parmesan cheese. This is considered the ‘ mantecatura’ phase, an Italian word referring to the process of ‘ creaming’ butter and cheese with the risotto in this case. How to prepare risotto ahead of time If you’re cooking rice or steaming, however, the cooker will switch over to keep warm mode once it’s cooked. (This common rice cooker feature might seem like magic, but it’s quite simple: a temperature sensor detects the fact that your food is getting hotter because all the cooking water has been absorbed.)Baking in a loaf tin, the fat has nowhere to go, so it simply sits on top of the meatloaf. Once out of the bread maker, I’d recommend that you pour out the fat – but be careful not to lose all of the glaze! Even the simplest of microwave rice cookers will cook grains such as quinoa and sometimes pasta as well as rice. In electric models, look out for extra cooking settings. These may include ones for specialist rice, including risotto, brown and wild, porridge, pasta, yoghurt and even cake! Rice cookers that are essentially multi-cookers will have all this. Plus 'slow' and 'fast' cook functions. The no-stir risotto was impressive. Firstly, because the sauté/sear mode meant there was no need to use a second pan. Secondly, because the results were almost as deliciously creamy as if the risotto had been stirred constantly for half an hour. And thirdly because it sensed when the dish was cooked and automatically switched to keep warm mode.

Notable features are the sauté/sear and risotto modes. The former offers a high heat for searing meat or sautéing base ingredients such as onions, garlic and spices. Interestingly the instructions suggest it’s safe to use from age 8, making it a safer alternative to the hob for budding chefs.Not really, no. Microwave cookers and some less feature-led models will give you well-cooked rice in about the same time as pan cooking. Some fancier models might even take a little longer. This is because they have separate stages to deliver the rice at the optimum texture. The beauty of these machines is not necessarily the speed of the cooking. It's more the fact that you can walk away, safe in the knowledge that the machine is doing the hard work for you. Can I put a rice cooker in the dishwasher? Perfect for cooking meals for the whole family, or a big batch of something for the freezer, the Risotto Plus multi and slow cooker from Sage is a slow cooker, rice cooker and steamer all in one compact machine. That said, we used the traditional one cup of rice to one cup of water method and that produced good results for both basmati and long grain rice. Brown rice needs more water – about a cup and a half to every cup of rice. We did have to try it a couple of times to get it right. There’s a 'keep warm' function but the manufacturers recommend not keeping that on for more than four hours.

I baked the meatloaf for 1hr 10mins. Half an hour before the end of the program, I added the following glaze. The pre-set cooking settings installed on the Sage the Risotto Plus multi and slow cooker make everything from fluffy rice, to nutritious steamed veg and fish, and tender, slow-cooked casseroles easy. It even makes creamy risotto without having to stir. The smart functions integrated into the machine ensure you have optimum conditions for whatever you’re cooking. Simply add your ingredients and press the corresponding button on the base of the machine to get started. Keep Warm: for keeping food warm for up to five hours (30 minutes for risotto) if you’re not ready to serveSome bread makers, such as the Morphy Richards Homebake, include a program for making yoghurt. Since yoghurt-making programs tend to be at least five or six hours long, it’s unlikely any other setting on your breadmaker would be a suitable alternative. It has 25 programmes, including baking, frying pressure cooking and steaming plus a keep warm button does exactly what it says. It also comes with a steaming basket, trivet and recipe book featuring dishes as varied beef curry, apple and yoghurt cake and risotto.