Most helpful client reviews
292 of 299 persons found the following review helpful.
The Power of Amazon Reviews…..
By Ms. Margaret J. Sinclair
First, I was a pressure cooker nut from before. I applied my mother’s 1930/40′s Presto’s until I couldn’t get seals for them. When I saw this digital pressure cooker I purchased 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 attempting 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 hence 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 listen 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 get started 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 may recognise that they will get a new pressure cooker with the press of the number buttons. Cuisinart has decisive to stand behind this one product, at least.
BTW, all of us are former users of pressure cookers so we actually cherished the capacity to sear the meat in the cooker. My family has employed 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 speedily 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”
85 of 86 humans found the following review helpful.
I WANT to love the Cuisinart Pressure Cooker!
By Robin Currier
I’ve never applied a pressure cooker before, and I was so excessively affected emotionally to get my Cuisinart CPC-600 pressure cooker! At basi it worked just great and I was delighted to turn out fantasti stews in 20 minutes and even meatloaf in 25 minutes. But after with regards to a week it stopped coming up to pressure and steam poured out of the red float valve. After reading another reviewer’s comments, I started tapping on the red float through the plastic cover and jarred it loose; at that point it would rise and seal the unit so it would come up to pressure. Kind of a pain that I have to do that each time.
Except for that detail, it has worked very well.
Another reviewer asked what PSI the unit works at. Very odd that they do not include this selective information in their user manual or web internet site since you need the info to adjust cooking times when using other pressure cookers’ recipes, but I emailed their tech aid to ask and received this answer:
low pressure – 6 PSI
high pressure – 10 PSI
322 of 343 persons found the following review helpful.
Lousy manual and troubles in operation
By Steamchef
Admittedly, there’s a learning curve with pressure cookers, and I have not applied one before. But this one comes with at least one portion (hello, “condensation collector”) whose packaging–a scrap of bubble wrap–is altogether unlabeled (I closely threw it away with the rest of the packing material) and is also misrepresented in the microscopic, inadequate product illustrations. As for the operating instructions, they are unclear, badly organized, and insufficient in too numerous other ways to enumerate here, and I say this as a technical writer with more than thirty years’ professional experience. I’m not sure the “float” in the handle works–what is it supposed to look like when it “rises completely”?–and everything I’ve cooked so far has come out caramelized (though I have to confess that this unplanned effect didn’t hurt the flavor, but that’s my taste). In short, I don’t recognise whether this contraption is malfunctioning or I’m not using it correctly–maybe a lot of combining of both. Other reviews posted here suggest that the number provided for client service will not lead to anything but more frustration. It’s a handsome and potentially utile appliance, and I’d like to get it working properly.
P.S. I’m amending this review. I in the end figured out how to work this thing, and now I’m giving it 5 stars. There was one very simple but primary piece of selective information that was missing from the instruction manual, which is without doubt lousy. Here’s what you need to know: when you place the pressure release valve on the lid, be sure that the little projecting arm on the valve is precisely parallel to the lid’s handle. If you do that, the cooker will get up to pressure, and the digital display clock will count down, just as it’s supposed to do. That’s it. Enjoy!
See all 264 client reviews…
