Sage - The Risotto Plus Multi-Cooker, 3.7L, 6-in-1 Risotto, Rice & Steam

I read a newspaper article about this appliance (and several others in the same range) and after some deliberating,decided to give it a go. £99 is quite a lump of money to me,but I do quite a bit of rice based cooking,and use a slow cooker at least weekly,albeit mainly in the autumn/winter months. First off was basic straight forward boiled rice, that was fine and fluffy as it should be. Secondly I tried a mushroom risotto from Heston's recipes. Now,I make a lot of risotto,always using the same organic Arborio rice, and I consider that my efforts are quite good. I have to say that this machine put even my best efforts in the shade. Quite astonishing,the texture of the rice was superb. Really amazed that this could be produced using ingredients that I regularly use. Next, I decided to "go for broke" and went for a Lamb Biryani. I used one of my own recipes for this,and adapted it to suit the functions on my new Multi-cooker. The result exceeded even the previously mentioned Risotto Absolutely Outstanding. I marinaded the Lamb overnight in yoghurt and spices. Next evening I began by choosing the "sear" setting and put in more spices for 3/4 minutes,next,the onoins,followed by the Lamb and marinade mixture.When the meat was nicely browned,I put some lamb stock into the pot and switched the "slow cooking setting" on high. After a couple of hours, I put the rice into the mix,and switched to "rice" setting. Approximately 20 minutes later,the beeping told me it was ready. My oh my. This was a restaurant quality Biryani,and easily surpassed a good many restaurant meals. If you are considering whether or not to purchase one of these,then I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending the Multi-cooker. Please understand that I am not given to over-enthusing about about things, and not given to buying "boys toys" for the sake of it. This is a machine that will be well used over the foreseeable future,and I am quite excited at the prospect of adapting my existing recipes for a whole range of meals. It's worth the money just to get that amount of enthusiasm. Love it.

This is my second Sage Risotto. It is very flexible and useful for all the different modes. I’ve had excellent, tasty results. Searing, slow-cooking, rice, steaming and risotto; all are great. Quiet all the time and cooking quickly for some modes. I have loved the ease and results. It would be nice to have a few sample recipes in the instruction book.

I have used the traditional slow cookers for about 20 years and am delighted to have purchased this item. In the Winter it is used about 4 days a week as I have a very long commute to and from work and my daughter can come home to a hot meal. I mainly use it for stews, roasts, pulled pork, chicken and soup. However the reason I gave it five stars is because of the excellent way it cooks quinoa which I love but have always found to be very frustrating to cook. I have never made risotto in it as I am one of those weird people who enjoys 40 minutes of me time at the weekend stirring (calms me down after all my commuting!) Thoroughly pleased with the non stick which looked quite thin but has held up incredibly well. It is different from a standard slow cooker so for pulled pork the cycle time is not long enough but I just get my daughter to re-start when she comes in. So it will not be for everyone as it is quite small and comes with pre-set times but for me it is just perfect.

I waited until I had used all the functions before commenting. Pretty pleased with all aspects - apart from not being able to do rice pudding with milk and also rice does catch if you use the sear button to brown other ingredients first, slightly dispointed with this. The risotto setting works well, although I have yet to get the setting right for one portion. The fast and slow cooker works really well, so far I have done lamb shank, braised beef and chicken curry - all great. My biggest success has been the steam function, salmon, asparagus and sweet potato all done to perfection It also looks good and is easy to wash and store. So why only 4 stars - well the rice issue, plus the bowl does seem a bit flimsy. It's an expensive piece of kit, but it does a lot

After 8 years of almost weekly use this risotto maker still works like a dream. Great risotto effortlessly. Not so good a a rice cooker but slow cook and fry functions are great. My fave kitchen appliance - and I have many!