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I have been using pressure cookers since I got married back in 1970, have had basically every brand and model out there with the exception of Kuhn Rikon until now. I even have several of the newer digital models and have been pleased with all the performances of all these cookers over the years. With that being said, since I recieved this cooker I am blown away by its superior performance and now understand that there is a vast difference in these cookers. This pressure cooker is milled to such tight specs that you don't even hear it when it is up to pressure and doing its job! And it does its job even better than any of the others I currently own. I am so sorry I never invested in a Kuhn Rikon before. I love chicken and dumplings and so chose that as my test to do in my new cooker. I used a 7 pound hen and put it in the pot with a few seasonings and some water, closed the top and brought it up to low pressure. I couldn't hear it when it indicated it was up to pressure so I made hubby mute the sound on the TV, I still couldn't hear anything and yet the indicator said it was at pressure so I made hubby come out to the kitchen and see if he heard anything, he said he could only hear a faint hiss if he strained to hear it. I thought the pot was defective, but 45 minutes later I shut off the stove and let the pressure reduce naturally and then opened the cooker, low and behold a falling apart old hen with bright yellow broth, I removed the hen to cool and then added choped carrots, celery, onions and a few other seasonings and closed the lid again, brought it back up to pressure for 5 minutes then did a quick release, the veggies were done perfectly. I added the chicken meat back to the pot and brought it back up to a simmer and then added the dumplings, I covered the pot but did not bring it back up to pressure for the dumplings to steam and in an hour from starting the dish it was ready, with very tender chicken meat and perfectly done veggies. I have tried this dish with the same brand hen in every pressure cooker I own and always get tough meat no matter how short or long a time I let it cook, this time the meat was wonderfully tender, was it a result of this brand cooker? I think it is, I think this cooker is the absolute best you can get on the market. This cooker will be passed on to one of my children in the will.........just one more thing for them to fight over.
Here it is almost a month later and I am even more happy with this pressure cookers performance if that is even possible. I have made amazing short ribs for a crowd, thirty stuffed cabbage rolls in one go instead of the usual three pots it takes me to make that many, some really amazing turkey stock with our Thanksgiving turkey carcass, ten pounds of potatoes for mashing on Thanksgiving day. I can only imagine what else I will be making in this cooker in the future and I will definitely be investing in some of their other sized cookers for when I don't need big amounts.
UPDATE: Here it is almost one year later and I am still amazed and blown away by how well this cooker performs. It holds up to about 30 stuffed cabbage rolls, large pieces of roast and enough soup to feed an army. Does a few pounds of dried beans at once and I can't tell you how many gallons of stocks I have made in the past year. All in all it has helped me make our food a bit healthier during the past year and hubby has lost over 100 pounds in the process, I think because I am cooking more "real" food instead of using many processed products, with this cooker it takes no time to cook beans and such from scratch.
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I just received my 12 quart Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker a week ago and I've used it three times already. I was replacing my 30 year old 6 quart Presto cooker mainly because I wanted a larger utensil. I wasn't dissatisfied with my Presto, but until I tried this Kuhn Rikon, I didn't realize that such a gap existed in terms of quality.I am so glad I chose this Kuhn Rikon 12 quart model. It is a very well built, heavy gauge stainless steel cooker with a nice heavy bottom to help heat it evenly. The handles are sturdy don't get hot while cooking on my gas range. The lid attaches and twists into place very easily with no awkwardness or sticking. The lid gasket is thick and heavy duty. There is no jiggler weight to get lost.
The unit is very quiet. It is so quiet that I almost didn't notice when it had come up to pressure the first time I used it. You have to visually monitor it until you reach your cooking pressure and adjust your heat source to maintain it. There is no escaping rush of steam or hissing jiggler to alert you. But this is in no way a drawback. The cooker comes up to pressure quickly, and thanks to the red lines on the pop up pressure indicator, it is easy to adjust your heat to maintain the desired pressure. The faintest wisp of steam escapes from under the top steam deflector during cooking.
If you want to release pressure quickly, you can push down on the central pressure valve with your bare finger without getting burned. It gets a little warm, but does not get hot. All of the steam is deflected by the round deflector on top. You can also push the pressure stem down with a spoon if you prefer.
There are no negatives with this cooker from a usability perspective. I believe it is the best pressure cooker on the market. The only thing stopping this cooker from completely cornering the market is the hefty price. If it were priced 50% lower, it would easily take over market share from other contenders.
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I'm an avid cook who is a sucker for a high-end gadget. Years ago, when I read rave reviews of the Kuhn-Rikon pressure cookers, I had to try them and, after owning a small unit for several, years, eventually got this giant "hotel" model as a gift. (I found the small cooker interesting, but not very useful, since I find the pressure cooker preferable for things usually done in large batches like stock, soup, beans or pot roast.)And, for the most part, I really liked the cooker and it still works. I replaced the rubber gasket after about 7 years of use and probably used it 4-6 times per year though, due to some limitations, I've actually used it a lot less of late, in favor of other methods like sous vide (this was my Christmas gift last year: Sous Vide SVK-00001 Supreme Water Oven and it works best for many of the same kinds of food that benefit from pressure cooking) and a plain old Le Creuset Signature Enameled Cast-Iron 9-Quart Round French Oven in a low oven.
It's not that this unit doesn't work, and can't produce some great results (meltingly tender pot roast and perfectly cooked beans), it's just that, in the end, the cons, for me, have kind of out-weighed the pros.
First, with both electric flat-top in our previous kitchen, and for the last six years, a "professional-style" gas range in our current one, I've found it very hard to get this larger unit up to pressure without burning the bottom layer of food in the pot. At very low temps, I could leave it on an hour or more and NEVER achieve pressure, yet even at med-low temps and careful watching, I frequently found ruined meals with burned bottoms by the time pressure was reached. I could mitigate this somewhat by using the included steaming disc as a sort of raised plate inside the cooker for all foods, but it was an imperfect stopgap fix and, frankly, I just found that my unit heated unevenly in general. This was also evident when I would try and brown ingredients before pressure cooking them.
It also, even when successful, I found it took a long time to get to pressure (usually 45-minutes-plus) and the time it took to come down and be open-able, was at LEAST 30 minutes, sometimes more, unless you did the cold-water/manual valve release, which was messy and cumbersome. In short, the long prep and then wait seemed to eliminate a lot of the "time savings" element of pressure cooking, so I usually just went for the reliable results of a low, slow cook in the oven instead.
Lastly, and most minor, I also found the noise of the hiss and rattle of the unit once it reaches pressure, while by no means super loud, a bit annoying in a our open great room. Not a deal breaker, by any means, but less than ideal, though I admit that without the scorching issues and slow heat rise and decrease, this wouldn't really bother me much. But, all together, it means that this very expensive product spends more time in the cabinet, than on my stove.
But I recently received a Fissler Vitaquick Pressure Cooker, 10.6qt (this year's Christmas gift) and, at least at first, found it superior in just about every way. The heating was MUCH more even, both for browning and general use. It got up to pressure very quickly, and came down very fast as well, and had zero issues with scorching. It was also dead silent.
Until, that is, it failed after just three uses. Developing a crack in the handle that didn't allow it to get to pressure, even when it appeared to lock in cleanly and showed, via its large green indicator, that it was sealed. (It wasn't.) So the three-use life span kind of negates any benefits (sarcasm, intended) and at least the Kuhn has the advantage of being an absolute workhorse that's still working, even if not perfectly, after at least a dozen years.
But what the Fissler debacle did remind me was how great pressure cooking can be (the most meltingly tender pot roast with veggies ever). Since it's possible that my Kuhn is simply slight defective and/or just showing its age, I think I'll look more seriously into sending it back to Kuhn-Rikon for repair. I've already tried replacing the gasket and adjusting the pressure valve, per Kuhn-Rikon customer service instructions, which seems to have helped a little (it's much quieter now), but may try returning it for repair and see if it comes back new and improved. Kuhn-Rikon offered that option if I return at my own expense, with no guarantee of how long it will take, but did respond VERY promptly to my email request for help, which is greatly appreciated. A company that stands behind its product, even so long after purchase, is rare and admirable.
So, for now, I'm keeping the three-star rating, but I will definitely come back and update if a repair resolves my issues as I'm crossing my fingers it will.
UPDATE: Well, I worked with Kuhn-Rikon and self-replaced my Kuhn Rikon 1565 UL Valve--a little tricky, and I dented the top a bit, but not impossible--and Kuhn Rikon Duromatic 1503 Replacement Gasket (again) and my 13-year-old pressure cooker is now up and working again, though still not perfectly. The issues with reaching pressure have been eliminated. The noise has been dramatically reduced, basically eliminated, as well. Therefore I'm upping my rating to reflect that.
Unfortunately, I'm still having issues with scorching, even when being VERY cautious about heat, though it's not as bad as before. Using the Kuhn-Rikon in the same manner as the Fissler I no longer have, even when I am much more careful with the Kuhn's heat, the Fissler didn't have scorching and the Kuhn did. (But, hey, at least the Kuhn still works!) So, despite all the adjustments and fixes, scorching, and the need to constantly babysit the unit and adjust the heat throughout cooking time to maintain pressure at the proper level, remains the largest drawback for me.
It still takes a little longer than I'd like to come down from pressure, unless you use the release/cold water method (which, by the way, is now a lot easier thanks to the repairs), but that's a small quibble, and probably attributable to this unit's massive size. My only other lasting complaint, scorching aside, is the handles, which are a little loose and can't be tightened, making me wonder if they're going to last, especially now that I'm using it more, since it's working again.
I will add that Kuhn-Rikon customer service was THE BEST. They walked me through each and every issue via email, responded very quickly and went above and beyond to help. I just can't say enough good things about them.
Honestly, even with the other little gripes above, if the scorching was eliminated--and it's possible it has been with newer models--I'd rate this five stars.
UPDATE 2: On the advice of Kuhn-Rikon I did pay to return my unit to them and have it repaired. It came back with another new gasket, a silicone vs rubber replacement gasket (not available anywhere for sale, that I can see, but it definitely seems superior), another new UL valve and tightened handles. I probably should have just sent it back for repair right away, given the cost I incurred replacing things they just replaced again anyway. A tad annoying that, but the good news is it really does seem to be working as good as new now, and totally silent. Had no issues with scorching on my first use since return and it definitely gets up to pressure more quickly.
By the way, the reason they replaced the UL valve is again is because I had attempted to put the metal "button" back on top of mine, since that was on my original. (I thought I was supposed to.) That was the metal bit I talked about "denting" in my earlier update ... Well, I dented it because it wasn't meant to come off the original, discarded valve. Apparently the silicone bit is now supposed to show, unlike the original design that blended into the lid. I didn't know.
I'm pleased with Kuhn-Rikon customer service and at >$100 cost to me (replacement parts + shipping costs for returning the unit), I've essentially got a brand new unit that is still working very well.
Honest reviews on Kuhn Rikon 12-Quart Duromatic Stockpot Pressure Cooker
This is my third PC from Kuhn Rikon. It worths the price. A fine wormanship and awesome performance. It is quiet, simple to use, easy to handle and to clean. It defitely saves. time and energy. I have been using PC for 50 years but this brand is top notch! A well designed kitchen article.Highly recommend it!
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Kuhn Rikon 12-Quart Duromatic Stockpot Pressure CookerBy far this is the best pressure cooker you can buy. The safety features are the best you can find in a pressure cooker. You cannot open the lid when pressurized.Proper use of this unit is to have the valve stem rise to the first ring (15 Psi) or second ring (30 PSI) after that the valve will begin venting and that is not good. Fantastic for making full flavor stocks because you do not have any steam escaping from the cooking vessel unless you go beyond the second ring, therefore there is no loss of aroma and aromatics. If you go past the second ring and do not reduce the heat on your stove, the rubber seal will come out of the grooves and pressure will be released. This unit cannot explode like many others on the market. Having problems with food sticking or burning on the bottom? Do this: Bring the pot to a boil without the lid, stirring to make sure nothing is sticking then close with the lid.
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