Breville BPR600XL Fast-Slow Cooker Review

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List Price: $249.99
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I am not sure what happened with the other reviewer butI love this appliance. I have used it multiple times since it's arrival-even though I am new to pressure cooking. I cook all of our meals due to living in a very remote area. And, as I was getting tired of the crockpot (using it 3 to 4 times a week), I decided to give this a whirl after a friend bought a similar product off of a shopping network and raved about it. I feel the one star review is not justified. This machine pressure cooks well and safelyI have used the pressure cooking to make pasta, roasted chicken and a beef roast as well as a steamer for steamed veggies. I plan on trying the rice pressure cooking soon. I have used it as a slow cooker for 2 dishes, with the same success I have with my regular crockpot. I look at the 6 hours a a 'high' setting and 8 as more of a low,even though there is no heat adjustment.

PROS:

Excellent results with pressure cooking

Love that I can sear or brown ground beef in this and then not dirty yet another pan and have the mess on the stove

Also love that you can remove the meat and reduce the sauce right in the unit

It is very VERY easy to clean

It has a steamer basket and rack insert (to keep meat from being submerged in liquid if you want to dry roast a cut of meat

Flexibility of cooking quickly (my pasta dish was done in FIVE minutes) or using a slow cooker method

Timer on pressure cooker does not start until proper pressure is reachedeliminating the worry of timing

If food is not donesimply close the lid and pressure cook a bit more

CONS:

I cook apple butter and spaghetti sauce in my crock and most likely won't be able to do this in this pressure cooker.

Maybe the price, but this seems to be the 'going rate' for these products.

I HIGHLY recommend this appliance to busy household without hesitation!

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I have used Pressure Cookers over the years, but never tried an electric model such as this. I have discovered that with this cooker you can cook ANY slow cooker recipe in a fraction of the time (besides conventional Pressure Cooker recipes). Although it only draws 2kW, in the Saute mode there is so much heat delivered to the cooking insert you have to be attentive to avoid burninglike a frying pan on high heat! The safety of this unit is unmatched, and the controls and other features extremely well thought out. I'll probably buy a couple more of these to offer is presents to my grown kids.

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We live at 8,500 ft above sea level. Beans normally take 1.5 days or more in a crock or longer on the stove and they cook uneven here, making the beans a bit toothy/hard in spots. This Breville is amazing in that it takes 15 minutes to cook thicker beans like kidneys. If you are a beginner to pressure cookers, I'm offering a tip. Remember that the 15 minutes they specify is for "pressure cooking". That means, the pressure has to reach the amount required to start cooking. Total time (minus soaking, which I do overnight) is 45 minutes to 1 hour. At first try, I thought something was wrong with our Breville's timer/count down because I set it to our kitchen timer and count down took a while to start. For higher altitude, the times allotted in the book are right on the money. No additional cooking time is necessary. I highly recommend this product but be aware that the timer doesn't start until the correct amount of pressure is reached.

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I'm expecting my first kid in just a few short weeks. So are some other ladies I know. I've been getting tired of seeing "my perfect pregnancy" status updates for some lucky ones who have a mom nearby who will bring them food for weeks after birth, or who will fill their freezer with months of pre-cooked meals. I guess it's good planning, but it also sounded like something else B-O-R-I-N-G. I love to cook and I know time will be limited for oh, say, the next 18 years. So I bought this instead of resigning myself to re-heated lasagna forever. It's the best of both worlds I'm still allowed some choice when it comes to meal planning, and yet I still won't have to... well, "babysit" dinner prep.

The Breville fast/slow cooker is awesome. I have used all of the settings and features except for the high setting for the pressure cooker. I think the medium is more than adequate for now. I made ropa vieja this weekend and the sear function worked perfectly! Two minutes on each side and the juice and flavors were sealed right in. I used the slow cooker function that day to make that dish. Delicious! I've used the pressure cooker to make corned beef and tonight I made a pork roast that turned out moist, juicy and very very tasty. Prep time? 10 minutes. Dinner was on the table in just over an hour, of which only 15 minutes (including the prep time) were spent working in the kitchen.

I really had no idea how to use a pressure cooker, but the learning curve on this is pretty much nonexistent, if you have a little bit of spidey-sense in the kitchen. I used one recipe and the rest I've been eyeballing and so far so good. Now I've been wondering where this has been all my life.

Yes, some have said there are fewer available settings for the slow cooker. I've actually replaced my much more advanced slow cooker with this one already. So far I haven't noticed any loss of function. I can handle turning off the cooker at 7 hours if I just can't stand to choose between 6 and 8. Its just that so far everything I've put into it on slow cooker function has come out delicious. So, in my mind, there has been absolutely no loss of function.

I did take off one star because it can be a bit tough to clean off if you slop anything over the edge of the cooking bowl. Also, the non-stick bowl seems appealing but I'm worried I may have to replace it relatively soon because of how thin it feels. However, if it remains an essential part of my meal making in a few months, I'm sure I'll be back to update this review and put the 5th star on there.

This is the third Breville product we've purchased in as many years. We own a juicer, the food processor (another amazing appliance), and now this lovely gadget.

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This cooker has opened up new meal options for our household. The ability to determine at 5 pm that we would like to serve tacos made with fresh refried beans rather than planning that the night before is liberating! No more overnight bean-soaking! Lentils and quinoa in a couple of minutes? No problem. We are trying to avoid eating anything that comes from a can, and this machine has enabled us to completely give up canned beans. We have become addicted to a healthy, 30-min black bean soup that I make by tossing a chopped onion and a few cloves of garlic, along with a generous sprinkle of cumin, into the cooker with the beans for 25 min, then puree with a bit of Sriracha and salt/pepper to taste when it's done. Sprinkle with chopped green onion and a crumble of goat cheese, and it's gorgeous and delicious.

The machine is beautiful and looks great on the counter with our other stainless appliances, which is good because we have been using it nearly daily. I'm a little bit accident-prone, and the safety features of this machine give me a very high comfort level. I have had a bit of a learning curve because I've never used a pressure cooker before, and this one cooks much faster than the standard stove-top models, so online time estimates for various foods that refer to standard pots don't apply. The process of learning how to cook in this pot has been minimal, though, and I've only screwed up one food: artichokes, which I've found cook in 3 minutes in this pot. I cooked them for 8 minutes and they turned to mush :) If you cook beans for too long, they are unaffected. For those who end up buying this cooker, I've found that lentils take 8 min, black or pinto beans 22 or so, but I usually do 25 to be safe. I typically let the machine cool and depressurize on its own, but you can release the steam through a valve if you're in a hurry.

I'm so glad we made the investment in this cooker, which I expect to use for many years of healthful cooking I love it!