Cuisinart CPC-600 1000-Watt 6-Quart Electric Pressure Cooker, Brushed Stainless and Matte Black
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Cuisinart CPC-600 1000-Watt 6-Quart Electric Pressure Cooker, Brushed Stainless and Matte Black
Customer Review: Great multi use cooker too!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been using this pressure cooker for over a year now and I LOVE it. I've used the old pressure cookers...presto..mirro...canners and 4-6 qt cookers for 50 years...but I LOVE this new Cuisinart. Main reason I love it...it is pretty fool proof so far as accidentally walking off and forgetting your cooking and scorching things. This auto kicks into a warm mode at end of programmed cooking time so that problem is solved! It is also less scarey to the younger folk that heard about NaNa's pot of beans blowing up. LOL. Seriously, I've personally never had a OLD or new pressure cooker blow up in 50 years. This electric pressure cooker just can't accidently get too hot and blow because of the safty features.
It is VERY easy to learn how to use the electric control settings. It gives you many options such as saute, brown or use it basically as a slow cooker (you do have to do a bit of experimenting to use it as a slow cooker). This baby came into it's own last holiday. I was too tired to mess with pressuring the turkey carcass after dinner for soup then having to figure out how to find room for the broth, etc overnight. I cut carcass in half..stuffed into pressure cooker...set it to pressure at low for a short time period...let it auto kick into warm/simmer mode and went to bed. Got up to a "slow cooker" full of broth and just went to making a hearty stew for the young-uns lunch. Worked GREAT. Only issue I have is that I doubt this cooker will last as long as the traditional stovetop cookers have simply because of the design, electronics and inside non-stick pot. Despite this issue...I think it is a great choice for folks new and old to have in their kitchen if you have the space. Needs less water added to cooker since this baby does not evaporate liquid like the older cookers do. I don't understand why there is a lag of 1-3 months for Amazon to ship this item...I'd have bought another one for a X-mas gift for a son TODAY if I knew I would get it before XMAS. The one I have I got with my credit card reward points SOOOO I didn't mind a short wait to get it. I still plan to buy one for my son...just not going to plan for a Xmas arrival. LOL! I certainly would not recommend giving away your old stove top cooker since ya just can't expect this electric one to last 20-30 years like the old ones will...but it hopefully will last many years.
Customer Review: The Power of Amazon Reviews.....
Summary: 5 Stars
First, I was a pressure cooker nut from before. I used my mother's 1930/40's Presto's until I couldn't get seals for them. When I saw this digital pressure cooker I bought it instantly. I loved it so much that I gave one to my daughter, my sis and my sis-in-law, (we're all foodies). I was cooking stuff I hadn't made in years. We ate like kings! All of a sudden, caput. I get online and search and right there on Amazon, Bobby Mac "Micronaut101" describes my very own problem! So no more trying to make the bloody thing work! I call the Cuisinart 800 number prepared to go the distance according to the reviews I've read and I describe my problem, how much I love the machine, how I've seen the problem reported on Amazon and therefore it's a known quality issue and I want a new machine. OK, she says, what's your address? No "did you send in a warranty" or anything else. Bingo, 7 - 10 days I'll have a new pressure cooker. How cool is that? Oh, and "We're sorry for the inconvenience. Have a great day." Yehaa! Let's hear it for Amazon and reviews!
[[editing review as of 6/4/09: pressure sensor wouldn't set pressure and pressure cooking wouldn't start. Cooker would get to boiling but pressure wouldn't lock the cooker and begin cooking. Little red button wouldn't come up to close opening. I would wiggle the button with a skewer or knife point to get it to pop up to close pressure hole. Hope this helps.]]
And I'm writing this so that others who may get one of those recalcitrant pressure cookers that slipped through the quality assurance check can know that they will get a new pressure cooker with the press of the number buttons. Cuisinart has decided to stand behind this one product, at least.
BTW, all of us are previous users of pressure cookers so we really appreciated the ability to sear the meat in the cooker. My family has used the Cuisinart cookbook for the pasta e Fagioli, Cuban Black Bean Soup, Chicken with Herb Dumplings and the "outstanding" Creamy Rice Pudding" And, in fact, the Rice pudding cooked so quickly that my sis didn't think it was done when the timer went off and over cooked it! Her second batch was superb. We also like Lorna Sass's "Cooking Under Pressure" and "Pressure Perfect"
Customer Review: There's a reason Pressure Cookers have endured for Generations
Summary: 4 Stars
We are buying a second one of these and putting on our storage shelves for the day our current model breaks down. Ever taste a fresh beet or artichoke cooked with just water from a pressure cooker? Once you do, you never want to go back. Put away Mom's Presto stove top aluminum cooker and get something that has some great built in safety mechanisms & works well for busy modern lives. Pressure cookers seal in the flavor of whatever is in the pot - the result of cooking on its own steam is the actual, unadulterated flavor of the vegetable itself - no need to heap on large amounts of unhealthy fats, salts, or sweetners when you have the option of bringing out the true flavor of the veggies so can use less flavor "enhancements." This electric Cuisinart unit is great. We too had a problem with our first unit after several months of use; once we navigated the roadblocks of Cuisinart's complex Customer Service system, they agreed to replace it IMMEDIATELY and unit 2 going strong for 3 years.
We use ours mostly for cooking veggies - it takes less than 10 minutes for 4-5 artichokes to cook, although there is about 15-20 minutes needed for the unit to build up the steam and cool down. If you want to cook dried beans but forgot to soak them, this will do that in less than hour with no detectable difference in flavor. We've cooked soups, stews, and rice dishes in it although we agree the flavor is better when meats are pre-seared.
The only feature about the unit we think is really poor is how the lid features a handle across the very top that looks like its brushed metal when its really some kind of thin metallic paper with clear adhesive tape; this now has now bubbled like crazy from the cooking steam heading in its direction; affecting the overall appearance of a well cared for appliance. BOO to Cuisinart on that. And it does have a little bit of learning curve to use properly but the booklet provided is good. Bought one for Mom and recommend to you if you love how veggies truly taste and have a kitchen environment where toddlers or children won't be able to pull down a hot appliance from the counter. Nonetheless, we stocked up because its a wonderful appliance and Cuisinart does back it up.
Customer Review: this is perfect!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
this is perfect for me!!! I am graduate student at school, working super hard and come back at home no earlier than 7pm everyday. hungry but still have to cook everyday my self. This pressure cooker is just perfect for me. Everytime I come back from school, I could just throw whatever I plan to eat tonight (with seasoning) into the pressure cooker, seal it, set up timing, then just leave it there. Then I take a nice warm shower and it is done after I come out!!
for example, I use it to cook stew beef. So what I would do regularly is to mix the beef chunk (bought from grocery store like walmart or whatever store), big vegetables such as carrot & celery, and a small package of seasoning just for stew beef (got from grocery store easily too). Then throw everything into the pressure cooker, set up low/high pressure depending how soft I want the meat to be, 30 minutes, hit "start" button. Afterwards, the pressure cooker will start to build up the pressure, at this moment, I just leave it alone, do whatever I want such as taking a shower -- the pressure cooker takes good care of it self! It is not like, say pan cooking that you have to always keep an eye on it. After 30 minutes (the timing I set), it will just to tell you that it is done. At this moment, I regularly just immediately release the pressure to get my nice, warm stew beef~~the meat is soft enough to beat whatever you could get from a slow cooker which regularly consume a whole day's "slow" cooking (well, definitely, you will be able to control how soft you want the meat to be through the timing and function control). The taste of seasoning just melt into the meat and vegetable. And none of the meat and vegetable loose the liquid it contains as during the cooking, the pressure cooker is completely sealed!!!
Above all, I love love love my pressure cooker. I think it is very suitable for people like me, busy in the day time and have to take care of yourself after a whole day's work. The pressure cooker only ask you to get the material ready, and then it is your cook cooking for you~
Customer Review: Not worth the hassle
Summary: 2 Stars
I got this because of the "simplicity" of electric vs. stove top. Well, that was an error. The problem is that the pressure valve is not a spring type valve as far as I can tell, which means it is not top of the line. When I was able to get it to seal (a big IF), it would pressurize, then go directly to warm mode. The manual is written by somebody who either 1) never used the product 2) gets paid a lot for very little work or 3) is entirely clueless about how a manual is to be written. Essentially, it was worthless. Cuisinart has a great name, but it is very poor at customer support. This is my second (and last) product from them, as I experienced apathy in my other product from them (a food processor which failed at three months).
I don't think mine was defective. Rather, I think it is just poorly designed and not intended for extensive use. The one meal I did manage to prepare (small pot roast) turned out to be cooked unevenly, and was disappointing at best.
Maybe it's just me, but I thought the idea of an electric PC would mean "set it and forget it" as Ron Popeil loves to say about his Showtime Rotisserie (a great product, btw). But with this product, it's SET IT AND START CURSING LIKE MAD. This is not what I bargained for.
I think I'll try the Kuhn Rincon, which is generally regarded as the top of the line stovetop PC, and from all I've read, even on Amazon, performs like a champ. While it's over twice the price, I just want a quality product that will last 10 years. With the stove top model, there are no circuit boards to go bad, no electronic do-hickies to fail, and they are much less complicated.
If you DO get this model, be prepared to figure it out on your own (if you're lucky) because the manual stinks and customer service is not far behind. When about 15-20% of reviews are 1 or 2 stars, that should be a warning to prospective buyers.
The only reason it got 2 stars was that it is nice looking, otherwise it is 1 star. Good luck no matter which PC you buy, because there is a learning curve with all of them.