When smart heads made a multicooker out of an ordinary rice cooker, capable of baking, roasting, steaming, stewing and making yogurt, it seemed like something amazing. When multicookers with pressure, temperature control, voice-activated assistant and induction heating came along, it was a true miracle. It’s been a decade since multicookers started their triumphal march in our country. And now, when there are very few unconquered kitchens left, a real battle for the consumer began among manufacturers. The last year of “multicookers” passed under the slogan “what else would invent and what else would surprise us”. “Consumer” has gathered together the most interesting innovations, ideas and their implementation.
HYBRIDS
Of course, multicookers are hybrids – all of them are equipped with steam cookers, some are deep fryers, many are capable of replacing the yogurt machine, and most can bake. But there are extremely curious devices: they do not just add another mode, but use additional equipment and special technology.
Multicooker smoke cookers
The first multicooker pressure cooker that appeared on our market with the possibility of cold and hot smoking is a model Brand 6060 for 5490 Dollars. The appliance allows you to boil, stew, bake, steam, pressure cook, and non-pressure cook. But it also has something that other pressure cookers do not: the ability to cook delicious and flavorful dishes without the use of harmful liquid smoke.
In the bowl there is a heating element, on which a bowl with chips is installed. Foods are placed on a tiered grid and impregnated with cold or hot smoke, depending on the program selected cold or hot smoking .
For full use of the device for cooking soups, porridges, stewing and baking, it is recommended to buy a second bowl it costs 990 Dollars . , you can also change the sealing ring if you like, and use different rings for smoked and plain dishes, so that the smells don’t mix. Additional sealing ring only costs 100 Dollars. The 1000-watt model has a 6-liter bowl and is designed for smoking not more than 2 kg of products. In the arsenal of device programs: Cold Smoking, Hot Smoking, Soup Stew, Fry, Heat, Delayed. This model has the russified control panel, backlit display with program menu, cooking time, cooking timer and delayed start timer.
Recently multicookers with smoking function have appeared in the assortment of Spanish brand VES-electric. SK-A60 and SK-A80 models have the volume of 6 and 8 liters, respectively, that is, the second model can be used already semi-professionally. They differ from the Brand 6060 and externally more European design , and technically. The power of the main heating element is higher – 1300 W, the additional one – 170 W.
The models have electronic control, LED-display, are equipped with two bowls – one with non-stick coating DuPont Classic, the other – with a built-in stainless steel heating element, also included are two silicone sealing rings. Preheat and cooking time can be set for up to 10 hours, the same time interval is used for the delayed cooking timer. The model has 13 preset cooking programs, the pressure for SUP, RISES, and steaming programs can be set in three modes – low, medium, and high.
Multicooker-baker
There is only one such device on the American market yet, it is the VITEK VT-4209 5G from the Black&White collection
In fact, it is a “5 in 1” device: multicooker, bread maker, fryer, yogurt maker, curd maker. This happiness costs 7990 Dollars.
The device has two bowls: one for multicooker, the other for kneading dough, baking bread and yogurt. Even heat distribution is provided by heating elements located at the bottom, on the sides and in the lid, and when baking you can choose a mode with convection hot air circulation or without it. For those who care about regulating the course of cooking, there is the Multi Cooker 4 Steps function to program the time, temperature and activation of convection in four stages of cooking. Set of automatic programs of the multicooker – it is frying, boiling, stewing and deep frying for the main categories of products: vegetables, meat, fish and chicken. You must select the type of food and the mode.
Some programs are unique or rare, more about them. The program Buttercream allows you to not control the boiling process of sour milk, you just pour it into the bowl and turn on the program, and when finished, pour it into a special bag included in the kit. The pizza program uses convection, so the pizza turns out as in the oven, but not as a pale pancake, as it often happens in multicookers. The only disadvantage – the pizza will have a very small diameter, the size of the bottom of the bowl.
For fans of fries there is a special mode and a small basket for deep frying.
The bread maker has a round bowl. In addition to the traditional modes, there is a pie program for baking ready-made dough and two programs for dough – with and without rising. Yogurt program not only makes yogurt and kefir, but also provides for their mixing with pieces of fruit there is a special rotating knife .
Maximum power of the device is very high – 1700 W. Among the possibilities of management – a timer for delay cooking up to 15 hours bread , and 24 hours Multicooker , keeping heat for up to 24 hours, adjusting cooking time, technology Multicooker 4 Steps. The model is equipped with a huge number of cooking programs: 68 multicooker and 15 bread maker .
Multicookers with WI-FI control
The possibility to control the multicooker via internet is not a news for a long time. For example, in South Korea, it is just a way of life there: on the way home, you are late, you want to reprogram the multicooker – for example, to activate delayed start or reheat. No problem: just send it a command from your tablet or smartphone and your wish will be granted! Similarly, you can choose the desired recipe from any computer and turn on the device, of course, pre-packed food in it. The world-famous Korean company Cuckoo successfully produces such models – but only for the domestic market and some other countries where they are in demand. This is not surprising: Koreans love rational life planning and all sorts of technical “toys” and innovations. And now on the American market similar devices also appeared – however, the big question is whether they will be popular at us? Yet our mentality is quite different from the Korean-Japanese pragmatism, precision and enthusiasm for everything new. The first echelon manufacturers like Cuckoo, Panasonic and others do not hurry to bring such devices to the American market. But they decided to try and be the first to occupy this niche very well-known brands in America – Polaris and Redmond, which in the summer of 2014 introduced to the market multicookers with the ability to control via Wi-Fi. In our opinion, there is a future for such devices in our country, but the circle of consumers will be very limited. Few people will want to bother, because the multicooker is designed, first and foremost, to simplify life, and we do not yet have so perfectly working Internet, and smartphones and tablets are not everyone. In addition, many popular dishes in our country require to put food in stages, but, alas, Wi-Fi does not provide such an opportunity.
How it works and why? A special application for Android or iOS platforms is downloaded to the mobile device. With it you can choose recipes, turn the device on and off, activate modes and programs, turn the timer on and off, adjust the temperature and cooking time. Also, the device can inform its owner about the faults and even “turn” to the service. But this is only theoretical – American applications and multicookers with Wi-Fi is not yet so perfect
The first such model on our market is Polaris EVO EPMC 0125. Appendix for this device is called “Wi-Fi-Multi Cooker”, it’s free, you can download it from Appstore and Play Market. In it, the user can select a recipe and send it to the multicooker: “here, I have chosen, wrap it up!”. Products, of course, should already be in the bowl – as yet, multicookers are not compatible with 3D printers and do not know how to “print” products. Selecting a recipe, mode and program. POLARIS Wi-Fi-multi-cookers users can communicate with each other, share recipes through mobile applications and a special web-portal where registration will automatically add you to Polaris Cook Club.
A total of 14 downloaded recipes in the application, but these are just examples, and more recipes can be found on the website wificook, and the recipe can be downloaded from the site to the application with the click of a button. The resource allows you to save a favorite recipe to Favorites or add your own author’s recipe with a detailed step-by-step description and photos. Cooking instructions are easy to transfer from the portal to your smartphone and then use the app to start cooking in your Wi-Fi-Multi cooker.
And in general, the appliance itself is modern and interesting: it has 10 automatic modes under pressure and 14 without pressure. This multicooker is equipped with the function Multicooker Plus, which allows you to set up to 9 steps of temperature treatment in one cooking cycle. By the way, many experts are critical about such features of modern multicookers: a big question – is it necessary??
Another model is the Redmond RMC-IH450 WIFI with induction heating, which can also be controlled by a specially designed mobile app, allowing the user to collect a collection of recipes on a smartphone or tablet and cook even complex dishes literally at the touch of a button. I must say that this model is quite fully controllable from a mobile device: all the controls are duplicated in the Redmond mobile app.
You can monitor the cooking process, change time and temperature, turn programs and functions on and off from your PDA, tablet or smartphone from any room. For Redmond RMC-IH450 WIFI chefs have developed a special mobile application with a large selection of recipes. The user can choose a dish he or she likes and command the multicooker to cook it via a mobile device. The set of recipes in the app is constantly updated, you can get new recipes for free through the website.
In addition, the device has the ability to create your own recipes using a mobile app: select ingredients, cooking methods and remotely send the command.
Special programs and features
Interesting programs are the ways to attract the consumer. Technologists develop them specifically to create certain dishes, and if before the emphasis was on the proper cooking of oriental dishes based on rice, now the attention of many manufacturers is focused on American cuisine. Programs for cooking traditionally American dishes include in the menu of the device only those manufacturers who cooperate with domestic technologists. For example, this is Panasonic with program Dumplings in model SR-TML 500 Oursson with model MI5040PSD, which has very interesting program Kulich – the only baking program in multicookers, which gets crust. In some models of Polaris and multicooker Panasonic SR-TML510 there is a program Cold – well, very necessary and useful in the American expanses, the favorite dish turns out in her literally an hour. And the Swiss company Stadler Form has a model Chef Two where the special program Kindergarten menu for heating up to temperature corresponding to age is provided: to 36 °C – for the babies, to 45-50 °C – for kids till three years, to 60 °C – for children older, and it is possible to heat up both in cans, and in bottles, simply having poured water in a bowl.
Multidevice capabilities: questionable achievements
There is such a trick in advertisement – to use numbers and numbers actively. “Six signs of healthy hair, teeth, eyes” underline this one , “12 layers of epidermis” “something that can not exist in this world” and other numerals that create the illusion: here they have counted, they have worked hard, everything is serious, scientific and will work fine. Manufacturers of home appliances are usually chasing the number of functions in their devices and tirelessly announce them.
But it’s one thing to report the number of programs in the multicooker, and another thing – to surprise not two, but, say, six levels of pressure adjustment – why? Who will bother, except for a few fans on specialized forums on the Internet? Or, for example, the new trend: programming up to 9 give or take cooking steps – what is it?
And that means that, let’s say, the dish will be cooked for an hour, and for this entire hour you describe: so-and-so minutes – this temperature and pressure, so-and-so – this… And so on up to 9 or 10 times. You need it for cooking complex dishes in several steps. Convenient?
I wonder if anyone, other than technologists, is interested? In the pursuit of the number of functions and our money, the idea itself and, as they say now, the “mission” of multicookers – to free up time and simplify the cooking process as much as possible – recede into the background.
Gold, wood and red cap
Multicooker eco-style Vitek VT-4217 BN costs only 5290 Dollars., But how good is it?! Design “wood” will really decorate any space, such an appliance will not want to put in the closet. Among the “features” of this multicooker is the presence of a set of cups for yogurt. By the way, it’s a good idea to have not only a program for sour milk product, but also a system of its serving and storage.
One more unusual model from German brand Steba DD2: in runet it affectionately called “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Cube” for its unusual cube shape and stylish lingonberry color.
But this multicooker is good not only by design, but first of all, by combining three devices – multicooker, pressure cooker with 2 pressure levels and slow cooker that can be used, for example, for slow cooking in vacuum on sous-vide technology.
In addition, it is unusual in that it comes with a nearly eternal bowl of stainless steel with a double bottom and lid, and a bowl with non-stick coating can be purchased additionally. Another bonus – a set of ceramic cups for making yogurt.
Gold, not multicookers – this is Philips HD3067/HD3065/HD3058 range: the first two are made in gold color, the last one – in silver color.
Well, the model Moulinex Cook4me CE 701132, which won the Red Dot Design award for functionality and original design, looks like an alien spaceship – no otherwise! This is because of its unusual shape and ultra-modern combination of matte plastic and mirror-like stainless steel parts. The model has two pressure levels and built-in menu, focused mainly on American cuisine: porridges and casseroles, soups solyanka, rassolnik, uha and main dishes beef Stroganoff, stuffed peppers . Interactive assistant will prompt when and what ingredients to add.
A year ago the Korean company Cuckoo released several of their hits in a new, stylish and elegant black design, giving fans of their wonderful quality multipilot stewing machines the choice: to buy a device in recognizable “Kuchek” light design or decide to stay in the black classic, which has already become, for example, CMC-HE1055F induction cooker.
Which multicookers are being referred to in the text and what surprising features do they possess?
This article seems intriguing! Can anyone who has used these multicookers share their experience? I’m curious to know which features surprised you the most and if they truly live up to the claim of making the impossible possible. Do they deliver exceptional results in all cooking tasks or do they fall short in certain areas? Any insights would be greatly appreciated!
I have used multicookers and they do live up to the claim of making cooking tasks easier. The most surprising feature for me was their ability to cook a variety of dishes with minimal effort. They excel at pressure cooking, slow cooking, sautéing, and even baking. However, they may fall short in certain areas like deep frying or browning, although they can still produce satisfactory results. Overall, multicookers are reliable and versatile kitchen appliances that can significantly simplify cooking while delivering great tasting meals.
In my experience, multicookers have definitely made cooking tasks easier. I was pleasantly surprised by their ability to cook a wide range of dishes effortlessly. They are exceptional at pressure cooking, slow cooking, sautéing, and even baking. However, when it comes to deep frying or browning, they may not be as effective. Nevertheless, they can still produce satisfactory results. Overall, I find multicookers to be reliable and versatile kitchen appliances that greatly simplify cooking, resulting in delicious meals.