Customer Reviews

Kuhn Rikon Ecomatic 6 Liter Pressure Cooker

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

 

 

Just got this about 3 days ago, and I love it! It was the cheapest Kuhn Rikon, and I was a little nervous about it, but I love it. So easy to use. It is my first pressure cooker. I don't know how I lived without it. I have made rice pilaf, rice pudding, black bean soup, and cheesecake in it so far. It is made in India. The size is just right in my opinion. I was thrilled to get a Kuhn Rikon in this size for less than $100.

My Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker arrived with a gap between the top of the handle and the cover of the cooker of perhaps a 1/16 of an inch. This gap allows steam to escape and the cooker cannot come to pressure. This model is Kuhn Rikon's bargain model; it is not a bargain if manufacturing defects are not caught. Of course, I have no way of knowing what percentage of these cookers are defective.

My cooker arrived with damage to the handles. Although the damage was only cosmetic it made me wonder if the plastic would durable enough for frequent use. The cooker can be difficult to bring up to pressure and a considerable amount of the liquid used is sometimes lost during the pressurisation process leading to dangerously small amounts of liquid left for cooking. The two manuals that come with the cooker not only contradict each other but one contains information that is contradictory within the one booklet! Pressure levels are inaccurate and one recipe calls for such a small amount of liquid that it is not possible to cook the recipe without burning.
This cooker is not of the quality I would expect from Kuhn Rikon. To be fair it is their economy model that is made in India. Purchase with caution.
Update:
I've learned to live with the idiosyncracies of this cooker and am now more satisfied with it. I'd still believe I should have paid the extra for a Swiss made "authentic" Kuhn Rikon. After a couple of months frequent use I'm no longer so concerned about the damaged handles which are not pretty to look at but are still functional. I've learned how to give the cooker a little shake and twist to get the gasket to seal and thus pressurise the cooker. It has actually been a useful workhorse that I use several times a week; sometimes several times a day.
It does a brilliant job with the following: beans, potatoes, brown rice, beets--these are frequent staples in our meals and to be able to cook brown rice in half an hour and beets in ten minutes is often a culinary lifesaver. I do have to add more liquid than the manuals suggest. Trying to cook in this cooker with the suggested quarter of a cup is asking for trouble. If the manual says a quarter, I use a half and things work out fine.
The manuals still need to be approached with caution, but experience and cross checking with Miss Vicky has taught me what is accurate and what is dangerously inaccurate.
I still can't whole-heartedly endorse this product but I can say it is good value for money if you are reluctant to spend the extra on a top-of-the-line model. If I were purchasing a pressure cooker again, I'd buy a Kuhn Rikon, just not this model.

Oh, if only I'd known how much I'd love and use this device, I'd have gotten one a LONG time ago! I've had it for three weeks and must have made 20 different things. Today is Christmas dinner - it cooked the wild rice in record time, will pressure cook my potatoes very dry, so they soak up the cream and butter, and made these lovely poached pears for our dessert. I am recommending a pressure cooker to ALL my friends. My favorite thing about it is that we buy grass-fed beef and other "organic" meats, which is expensive. The pressure cooker lets me buy the cheaper cuts of meat - leaner and better for us, and with the pressure cooker, so tender and tasty. I will also say I'm glad I read Miss Vicki (a pressure cooker guru)and her recommendation that I buy a stove-top model, rather than electric - I was set to buy the electric, and now am really glad I bought this one. I also recommend one that is made like this one, with stainless steel outside and inside, and an aluminum piece in between, to heat up fast. Buy this! You'll be so glad you did!

The unit was in the box, brand new. It came quickly and we intend to cook in it this weekend. We have a larger unit for canning but this unit is much better for the family dinner.