Best slow cooker/electric pressure cooker?

[larryphilanddave]

We've always used a standard pressure cooker but had to throw out ours as I couldn't bear to look at it anymore having used it as a sick bucket for 3 horrid days in pregnancy it was past its best.

I'm now confused by all manner of electronic gadgetry on Amazon and I need some direction. I've been swayed from a regular hob pressure cooker and want an electric thing, I need to be able to sear in the dish and also to make rice in it. We had a rice cooker but had to throw it out (not my fault that time, it was simply broken), we have saucepans and we can cook rice but DH likes having a rice cooker due to the sheer amount of rice cooking that we do.

There are electric pressure cookers that apparently do all sorts (searing, rice, pressure, slow cook, porridge...?) but I don't want to get carried away on something all singing all dancing unnecessarily. Plus I have no idea how good these are compared to a regular pressure cooker.

Then I thought, maybe just a slow cooker that allows for searing in the dish would do the job just as well, and apparently you can do rice in a slow cooker. I have no idea how long I would have to slow cook tough meats though (think goat, various types of feet, etc) so the timing worries me as we've only ever used a pressure cooker for these things.

Tips anyone?

AFAIK most slow cookers have a ceramic cooking pot in them not suitable for putting directly on a heat source. You have to sear meat in a frying pan first then transfer it to the slow cooker.

They are very good at gently cooking things you would normally braise or stew. You need to plan ahead with most things you cook in them though. One advantage is that they are relatively cheap to buy.

I always cook rice using the absorption method - in a large casserole you can cook a lot in under 15 mins if using long grain rice. If you are used to using a stainless steel pressure cooker for lots of things, just buy another one as you are likely to find it frustrating not being able to cook things as quickly without it.

Thanks for the ideas. We use the pressure cooker mainly for tough meats, and to make curry, daal, and soups/stews. Still wavering on advance planning, it could be fine as I already batch cook a lot of things, and slow cookers must be safe, right? I thought people leave them on whilst they're at work. Kind of a weird thought for me but that would work too. They don't invalidate insurance, do they?!

There is a slow cooker (Morphy Richards?) that has a steel pot that can be placed on the hob, I think Crock Pot does one as well. We cook the absorption way for rice too, using basmati, but when we had the rice cooker DH discovered that he loved that little gadget hence considering the replacement.

Slow cookers are very economical to use and providing your electrics are okay then it should go off if there's a problem so the fuse in the plug would go or the switch on the fuse board trip to stop you having an electrical fire.

Aldi have a Russell Hobbs pressure cooker in at the moment for £22.99. It's a stove top one.

I think they have a rice cooker too!

Morphy Richards do a sear and stew slow cooker. You can put the pan on the hob to sear the meat then stick it in the cooker. Seems to get good reviews.

No idea on pressure cookers. Do people still use them? My Mum had one. I was always worried it was going to explode when I was a kid!

It depends on your budget. I splashed out on an Instant Pot. Its an elecric 8 in 1. It sautes which is great, pressure cooks, slow cooks and more. I am really pleased with it. The cooking smells are at a minimum too. The latest model also makes yogurt but I decided that is a domestic step too far! I bought it from amazon.

I've got a slow/pressure cooker which does rice and browns too, I got it from qvc, I think it's from their cooks essentials range and was around £40-50, I use it a lot, just put it on the brown setting to sweat the onions off/brown the meat then add the rest of the ingredients and switch to either slow or pressure cook

I was going to ask if anyone still used a pressure cooker. Seen my neighbour with a new one and my parents used to love theirs. No idea what they actually do though.

Bought a great pressure cooker last month and it's def getting more use than the slow cooker (now in the garage). Made marmalade in it today, great curries, stews, and going to do a whole chicken in it for lunch tomorrow (only takes half an hour).

Wow so it cooks faster then. I have a vague memory of my dad doing vegetable of some sort it in.
I may need to do some investigating further.

My experience of slow cookers for what it's worth...

When we moved from France to the UK, I bought a slow cooker out of curiosity - as to my knowledge we don't have electric slow cookers in France (I had never seen one, anyway).

It was a Morphy Richards, and apparently a good model, but I quickly realised I didn't enjoy using it and didn't find it very practical (cooked too quickly to leave it on all day, too slowly in the evening, and was a real pain to clean). So I ended up giving it away to a charity.

Now I stick to my faithful cast iron casserole from Le Creuset, that my mom gave me 10 years ago. I realise it's more expensive than a slow cooker at first, but I do get a lot of use out of it, and it should last me a lifetime if I take reasonnable care of it.

Le Creuset

Got sidetracked but thanks for all of the input! ghost I splashed out too... Playing with my new toy now!

We have used a pressure cooker for years because DH grew up with them for things like curry, I didn't really know about them until we met. However they're brilliant for making soups, stews, curries etc and being able to use things like bones and tough meats in a very short space of time - I made chicken bone broth in about half an hour, did a huge pork stew in 40mins, braising beef in about 30mins... works very well.

I prefer the Karmin professional rice cooker :-)