Customer Reviews

Fissler 021 644 12 002 Blue Point Schnellkochtopf Set

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Fissler Blue Point pressure cooker is one of the best pressure cookers out there. Having used this cooker in cooking class with Lars Liebisch, this is not just your mother's old pressure cooker. It has superb features, for example the blue dot lets you know how much pressure is in the pot, the handle locks in place so it cannot be opened at pressure, and the release valve mixes air with the hot steam so that it doesn't burn. Cleaning this pot is a breeze, even old burned in char can be removed quickly with a little stainless steel polish, making the pot look like new all over again.

The Set provides the cook with two invaluable pots, the skillet and the large cooker. The skillet has an extraordinary versatility of use, from frying or steaming veggies to pressure cooking a casserole, combined with the pot, its hands down the best value out there for a lifetime investment.

I got kind of caught up in thinking a cheap pressure cooker would do. Been there, wished I hadn't done that with other stuff. But anyway purchased this set, and at the price I considered the product needed to be premium. It actually comes also with a steamer basket and stand for the steamer basket that's not mentioned. For me it's turned out to be the perfect ensemble, giving both skillet for curries and one person meals, as well as a larger stock pot for stocks and larger meals. So it's really a six piece set, 2 more than the 4 pieces shown.

In the performance category it heats up very nicely and when I brown before pressurizing it cooks evenly. It's a great fit for small burners. Once heated up, it takes very little heat to keep it pressurized. On my induction range, the skillet will stay pressurized at a setting of 2.4 of 10 (on electric dial). The larger pot will stay fully pressurized from 3.0 to 4.5 depending on what it's cooking. When cooking lentils I like to cook them so they are thick when done, rather than soupy. In a pan with a flimsy bottom they can burn quite easily. But the dal comes out nice in the skillet and it's easy to tell the heat is being evenly diffused, no hot spots. But also, because it will stay pressurized at such a low heat, there is even less likelihood of scorching.

There is a stainless steel covered aluminum disk on the bottom so it does work well with induction. But also, pan has some heft and seems to insulate well so I can use the lower heat settings as already mentioned.

In terms of making stocks, I frequently make both chicken and beef stocks, and had been using an 8 qt dutch oven that I'd keep at around 5.5 out of 10 and let run for hours (up to 8). Now for chicken in 40 minutes and beef stock with roasted bones around 80 minutes. The chicken stock in particular has a very nice yellow hue that I'd never been able to obtain with the dutch oven. The beef stock gets much more gelatin than I'd ever gotten out of the bones with the dutch oven. Both stocks are the tastiest I've made when using the dutch oven (a heavy cast iron pot). So in terms of pressure cookers for stocks, this is a big winner. But I assume any pressure cooker will make a good stock. I've made several of the recipes in the included recipe book as well as recipes from another book and just cooked various curries and spicy lentils with no particular recipe.

The instructions are written in clear English and there are two booklets included. One of them has about 30 recipes including a couple put together just for this set of cookware.

I frequently will use both at once, cooking the faster dish in the skillet, then transferring the lid and covering the skillet with the glass lid and storing in a warmer drawer until the larger pot finishes. This has been a very efficient method to cook several dishes quickly.

The blue with white ring pop up is very nice and convenient way to see the pressure level. In particular with an induction (or a gas range I'm sure), it's quite simple to get it to a pressure you like or to keep it fully pressurized with just a little blow over. Very satisfied with that. The pop us is clearly marked so you can really set it at any pressure you want through adjusting heat level. Again, on an induction range this is very simple to do.

This pressure cooker is absolutely silent when you adjust the heat right to just let it have the slightest bit of blowoff, which comes out practically silently.

Cleanup. What can I say except absolutely simple and fast. Nothing to disassemble, you just clean it. The silicon gasket pops right out and back in with no fuss or muss. The nice stainless steel surface is holding up well (I've had the set about a month now and used it almost daily). No handles to remove and reassemble.

The set comes packed very well. No worries about damage in shipping. The knob on the glass lid needs reversed (easier to pack with knob in the convex side of the glass lid), but that takes all of one minute. The box is surprisingly sturdy. I'm keeping it to use for storage.

The construction of the pans seems top notch. Though the handles are plastic. I can envision that someone will put the skillet on a large burner and scorch the handles, but with an induction range, I don't have that concern. But I can say I use both pans on the smaller burners of my range, not the largest. Induction tends to work better with proper sizing. But because of the way the bottom is tapered, this does free up the larger burner for some other pan that needs more burner.

Overall, I'm happy with this purchase and the product. Given the results I've been getting and the ease of cleanup, the price hasn't bothered me either. Seems like a good value. Can't find anything to complain about, rather I'm quite excited about the new and better outcomes I've been getting with some dishes that I'd thought were already as good as they could be, but are turning out more flavorful and cooked in a fifth the time or faster.

I considered models like Kuhn Rikon, but think Fissler has them beat on ease of cleanup, and also think at best the Kuhn Rikon cooks the same as the Fissler. I have a Kuhn Rikon sauce pan and the bottom plate for heat diffusion is very similar however the Fissler just seems to be thought through a little better (it's ever so slightly curved on purpose so that when it heats up it's perfectly flat). Fissler calls the bottom 'Cook Star' technology, for better and more even heat diffusion. I suspect it would work very nicely with gas. The Kuhn Rikon bottom plate, in comparision is just a flag plate with the company name stamped in the middle (on my sauce pan, I don't have the Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker).

Fissler seems like it's new on the US market but it's clear they didn't just start selling product here with no forethought or business planning (like Mageplus with Spanish instruction manuals). Rather it's clear they've setup a US office and division to serve this market and guarantee at least 10 year part availability from date of purchase. Though I do wish we could buy the European market models that allow higher pressures. Maybe I'll pick up a lid when I'm over there next time. Anyway, even if they do stop selling here in the US for some reason (as in no one buys their product), there's still plenty of time to stock up on gaskets. But being silicon gaskets, they look like they might last for 5 years, even though Fissler recommends replacing after 2 years or 400 pressurizations. I've probably done 50 pressurizations on lid so far, and the gasket looks like new. When well made, silicon seems to last forever.

For me this pressure cooker set has worked out well. I can and do recommend it with no reservations. If motivated, I will update in about two years to give an update.

I recently bought this item and ran my usual tests on it following the manufacturers instructions. First, I should say that I am a 20 year veteran of pressure cookers and up until recently had successfully used the old fashioned jiggle top pressure cooker. I then bought the Kuhn Rikon Duromatic and was impressed at how much improved these wonderful this was over my jiggle top. I ended up giving that one to a friend and after reading a good review of the Fissler in one of my sailing magazines...ordered the Fissler. It falls short in a number of critical areas:
Here's my comparison data...
Minimum water: Fissler-2 cups of water vs. 1/2 cup in the Kuhn - Rikon. More water means more dilution of nutrients and soggier cooking in general.
Time to reach pressure..Fissler -8 minutes vs. 3-4minutes in the K-R.
This is pretty important because while its reaching pressure, steam is escaping...this might be why the Fissler needs 2 Cups of water.
Ability to hold pressure: Fissler- poorvs. Kuhn-Rikon- excellent
This is important too...the flame under the Fissler had to stay quite high to maintain pressure while the Kuhn-Rikon maintains pressure with a very low flame. Most stuff is cooked on high pressure and you want this reached quickly and held with relatively little heat under the pot.
I wish the news were better for Fissler but I sent mine back to Amazon.

They are so excellent! It's a wonderful gift from my mother-in-low while I had the second baby last year. Not only save the money on gas, also save lots of time for me. They help me cooking tastety soup,soft brown rice, jucey meat....,etc. I really love them. Though I had used for one year, they still look like new.

What to say. Wanted to buy pressure cooker for myself, and I didn't have any doubt that I will buy Fissler Blue Point. Reason was simple: my mother still has two that she purchased 20 years ago!!! And they are still working. Spare parts are still available. She broke one handle few years ago and guess what: she was able to find same handle still available at Fissler. Tell me the name of the other pressure cooker brand for which you can find spare parts after 20 years? Fissler is best representative for German quality and product support!!! Yes, of course you can find cheaper brands, nowadays all made in China. But how long they will last? 20 years. No way, maybe 2 if you are lucky. And spare parts? For cheap Chinese product? Forget them. So instead throwing my money every few years, I decided to go with quality that I witnessed...

I just got my Bluepoint set with the 2.7 qt skillet and 6 qt pot. It also came with a steamer pan insert and rack. They look extremely well built; the Cookstar base is MASSIVE and perfectly flat. On the bottom of the pots they say Maximum 1.5 bars. "US" is faintly engraved on the lids. I asked Fissler USA what pressures their cookers achieve and they assured me that the ones sold in the USA use 15-psi for high pressure. Some of the European pressure cookers don't get that hot. Since most recipes are written for 15 psi, it's important to make sure the cooker can reach it.

There's a thumb slide lock in the handle to lock and unlock the lid. In order to put the lid on, you align the dot on the lid with the dot on the handle, move the slide to the open position, then turn the lid to align the handles. Reverse the process to take the lid off. The lids will NOT go on or off unless you do it right. If you do it right, it's super easy.

I just took the small skillet for a test drive. This is the first time I've ever even touched a pressure cooker! I put exactly 2 cups of water in, locked the lid and turned my 1,500-watt portable induction cooktop from the 5 it starts at up to 10.

With the cooktop at set at 10, the 2.7-qt skillet took 3-1/2 minutes to get to low pressure, another 30 seconds to get to high pressure. I love the blue and white striped button indicator!

With induction cooktops, they tell you to reduce the heat to 2 or 3 to hold the pressure. Once at high pressure, I lowered the cooktop to 3. It was too hot. Lowered it to 2. Still too much steam coming out. Lowered it to 1 and it held the pressure perfectly, and no steam came out! The Cookstar base did not emit any high-pitched buzzing sound on the cooktop- all I could hear was the fan.

At 14 minutes (10 min. after reaching full pressure) I turned it off and ran cold water over the pan. It depressurized within seconds.

How much water did it lose? Less than a teaspoon!

Another good feature of Fissler Blue Point is the replacement gaskets are quite inexpensive compared to Khun Rikon.

I can't wait to start cooking with them. These pressure cookers are so beautiful, I might take them to bed with me.

It works well. I have cooked maybe a dozen times with the pressure cooker since I got the set and the results are satisfactory.

Finding a quality pressure cooker in the US is a big problem. Mostly China-made very low quality items are sold at stores. This set was made in Germany. It explains why the price is astronomical.

I am not new to pressure cookers. My mother used to cook with them all the time. What I am new to is the steep price.

If I were able to, I would prefer a made in Turkey pressure cooker (18/10 stainless steel) like Emsan's. The price would be lower than this set's and the quality would be higher.

I purchased this item about a month ago and it hasn't left my stove top since.

I had my Mom's pressure cooker, a Presto, which I remember from my childhood so it was probably purchased in the early 60's. LOVED IT. But I could no longer get parts to fix it. So on a recommendation from a friend, and long time pressure cooker enthusiast, I purchased the Fissler.

I was so good at knowing the the sounds of the Presto and what it means, too high, too low, just right. But with the blue point system it takes out all the guessing if the pressure is too high or too low.

It comes to pressure quite quickly, which surprised and delighted me.

I find I use the skillet a lot as "just" a skillet due to the even heating (electric - flat top)and used it for fried chicken (not on pressure - but as a skillet) and everything was evenly browned and to cook my veggies and rice dishes using it as a pressure cooker.

I did compare to other manufacturer's and decided on the Fissler due to the praise of my friend and I'm glad I listened. I was leaning to stay with Presto since it lasted literally a lifetime and half but I'm very happy with my decision.

It really pays off to somewhat read the manual. It provides useful information how to use the cooker. It really prepares food well, is fast and economic. I would recommend this product if you intend to save money and cook healthy (and clean it thoroughly after usage).

I'm using it to cook rice. Shortly it's wonderful cooker never experienced before.
The smaller one is wonderful Press cooker for 4 member of family. It's quite enough for 4 people.
Also, it's cooking very quickly. (Economic) - it takes around 10 min to finish.

Very well cooking and the big one is good for cooking potatoes. I strongly recommend who is using rice as a main food especially.