Cuisin Art
Pros:
flexibility in settings, capacity, retractable cord
Cons:
requires experimentation to get timing/temp correct, industrial look, price
The Bottom Line:
I would recommend this product for larger families and those willing to experiment. It does a good job and the flexibility of time and temperature settings is excellent.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
Most of my slow cooker experience has been with Rival. I have always been satisfied in the past, but my latest Rival Smart Pot did not cook food to my satisfaction. Before purchasing the Cuisinart CSC-650, I researched many other slow cookers. There are now several companies that have introduced a programmable unit. However, I could only find certain models available in stores and I did not want to pay shipping to order over the Internet. I then went to Fry's and found this model.
The reasons that I decided to purchase the Cuisinart were because of (1) company reputation; (2) temperature and time settings with more flexibility; (3) the ability to manually turn the unit to warm, and (4) the 6.5 qt capacity.
Some of my cons that I thought about at purchase time were: (1) the unit is not very attractive (IMHO) and looks more industrial; (2) the price ($89.00); and (3) stainless steel (fingerprints!).
Now that I have purchased the Cuisinart and started using it, here are my comments:
The flexibility of the temperature and time settings is a bonus. With my previous Rival Smart Pot I had to select from 4, 6, or 8 hours. With this unit, the knob can be set anywhere from 1 to 8 hours. There are also three temperatures: low, high, and warm.
The black ceramic insert is heavy and large, but is as easy to wash as nonstick. The lid is glass, but not heavy. There is a retractable cord and gripper feet on the bottom of the unit.
The cons that I mentioned when I was making my decision still hold true. I am not a chef, so the industrial look is not my thing...but if it gets the job done and the unit is normally stored away, who cares. The stainless steel is more difficult to keep looking nice than the other slow cookers that I have had before. I didn't mind paying the extra money if the capacity and programmable features were useful.
The unit does get hot, so beware of this for yourself and children.
Also, with all of the flexibility of temperature and time settings, I am still playing with getting the cooking times correct. So far I have only made recipes that I have frequently made in the slow cooker before: chili and beef vegetable soup. The chili and soup cooked faster than I expected. With the soup, I put it on 8 hours at low and my husband had to turn it off when he came home because it was still bubbling and hot, even on warm. Soup tasted fine however. I lessened the time with the chili to 6 hours at low and this seemed to be better.
The unit comes with a cookbook, although I would like some more mundane recipes that are children friendly than what is offered in the book. I will have to find one of the recipes to test out for temperature and timing experimentation. I think that the willingness to experiment is key to this appliance.
Overall, a great product.
