Rapid Review: Philips Premium Collection All-in-One Multi Cooker

In a post-Masterchef world, everyone and their dog wants to get creative in the kitchen. Unfortunately, there’s only so much your boring old pots and pans can do. This is where the Philips Premium Collection All-in-One Multi Cooker aims to lend a helping hand – it allows you to slow cook, pressure cook and multi-cook all in the one device. While certainly versatile, does it offer enough to justify the $349 price tag? Let’s get cooking to find out!

What Is It?

The Philips Premium Collection All-in-One Multi Cooker is an updated version of the original Philips All-In-One Cooker. While it retains a similar design and the same 6L capacity, the new model boasts an overhauled dual-control cooking system for higher temperature accuracy along with 20 Pre-set menus. According to Philips, it is capable of cooking meals up to six times faster than conventional methods. (Plus, you obviously don’t have to stand over a stove the whole time. Hurrah!)

Other highlights include a non-stick inner pot for easy cleaning, Saute/Sear modes, 12-hour keep warm and reheat functions, a robust child safety lock and a comprehensive on-screen menu to ensure you don’t screw anything up. Crucially, it also has an “add ingredient” feature which allows you to gradually build flavours without interrupting the cooking cycle.

Here are the chief specifications:

[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2017/09/11-things-you-should-never-make-in-a-slow-cooker/” thumb=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/09/Slow-Cooker-410×231.jpg” title=”11 Things You Should Never Make In A Slow Cooker” excerpt=”Sometimes nothing hits the spot like a nice warm meal. While some meals are perfect to make in a slow cooker, you should stick to making certain meals in an oven or stove top.

Here are 11 things you should never make in a slow cooker.”]

What’s Good?

Over the past week, I’ve used the Philips Premium Collection All-in-One Multi Cooker (with the assistance of my lovely wife) to whip up a variety of dinners; ranging from slow-cooked pork with roast vegetables to a hearty Spanish stew. To date, it has not disappointed once, with each meal worthy of plating up at a dinner party.

The included cookbook is also pretty cool – especially if you’re new to multi cookers. It contains 50 recipes ranging from roast chicken to yoghurt. Naturally, you can find a bunch of additional recipes online. All in all, there’s not a whole lot that this product can’t do – spaghetti, pulled pork, roast dinners, steamed wontons, desserts and pastries, you name it!

But really, the chief plus here is its set-and-forget convenience, plus the notably faster cooking times. If you’re time poor or don’t particularly enjoy hands-on cooking, the Multi Cooker is a worthy investment.

What’s Bad?

Philips is spruiking the Multi Cooker’s all-in-one credentials above all else (it’s right there in the product name.) However, if you already own one or more of these products, it becomes a lot less compelling. There’s only so much kitchen real estate you can give over to slow cookers, pressure cookers, rice cookers and whatnot.

The included instructions could be more user-friendly, but that’s hardly unusual for an electric appliance. Just be aware that you’ll probably need to assist older relatives if you buy this as a gift as the manual won’t provide them with much joy.

Should You Buy It?

If you need a new pressure cooker in your life and like the idea of having extra versatility in the kitchen, the Philips Premium Collection All-in-One Multi Cooker is definitely worth checking out. It is capable of cooking delicious meals regardless of your cooking abilities and will get the job done quickly under minimal supervision.

You can find out more about the Philips Premium Collection All-in-One Multi Cooker on Philips’ website.

[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/01/make-cheesecake-for-two-in-record-time-with-your-instant-pot/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/ykdfdtb7f1yarspqporz.jpg” title=”Make Cheesecake For Two In Record Time With Your Multi-Cooker” excerpt=”Photos by Claire Lower (Not pictured. The other cheesecake, because I ate it at 1 am, Wednesday morning.)

Cheesecake is one of my favourite sweet things on this earth but, as a household of one with an occasional lactose-intolerant visitor, I’m not in the habit of making whole cheesecakes for the home. There is, however, a way to make just enough cheesecake for two (or one, twice) in a Multi-Cooker, and it takes about half an hour.”]