I received mine a week later than most other people so I'm still testing it, but here are the answers so far. I'll keep updating the thread as trying lots of new ones this week.
- How easy or difficult did you find Cook4Me Connect to use?
It was unfamiliar at first, but the instructions were clearly set out for removing the lid & all the bits, I really liked the paper manual so I didn't have to keep referring to my phone for instructions. I've always been a bit terrified of pressure cookers ever since I saw a pic on Buzzfeed where a pressure cooker had exploded & sunk into the oven & the lid of it was embedded into the roof & I had this in my mind when I used the Cook4Me for the first time
but after the first time I was fine, it feels safe & solid & the step by step by instructions were reassuring. If you do something wrong like try to close the lid to brown, it will tell you & it would be difficult to make a mistake with it, its well thought out.
I liked the notes section on the app where previous people can add notes on what worked for them, I used the notes before I cooked & acted on some of them, like adding peas to improve the end result.
The non stick bowl is actually non stick, its fab.
I like the display on the pot & its user friendly, for such a modern interface I found the retro OK button a strange choice though, its not really a retro style & doesn't fit with the rest of it. I liked the black/purple, equally I'd also like more colourways in the future.
The audio sounds are fine, not annoying at all they are reassuring as is the screen.
- Which recipes did you try? What did you think of them?
Spaghetti bolognese & chilli - could not get these to work, tried it twice each & both times got an error 24 or error 21 & in the end I tipped it into a pan on the hob every time. But I'm used to making these with much less water so even though I followed the recipes I don't think there was enough liquid. Maybe I'll have to do these on manual mode as I also added the whole 500g of mince, not 450g.
Chicken & rice - absolutely beautiful, really yummy & made a good lot of it in 6 mins, this is going to be one of my weekday staples from now on, it was lovely. I did microwave some frozen peas & add them at the end though.
Pesto chicken risotto - again this was lovely, it was the first time I'd made a risotto as I get home after 6pm, have to immediately cook for 4 people & can't faff about with ladling for 45 minutes. This was a game changer for me, a beautiful risotto done quickly.
Light chocolate cream - left a review on the app for this one, the texture is seriously weird! I made 4, 2 of them were set lightly but the other 2 were liquidy & had bits of skin in them a bit like rice pudding but offputting. Once you get past the odd texture the taste was very nice, will probably try chilling them a bit longer next time.
This week I'm trying: tacos, rogan josh, fish with coconut, pea & mint risotto for my vegan sister & maybe the chocolate puds if I remember to measure my ramekins. Will update on these later.
I'd like to make an observation on the amounts in some recipes though, for example given that the most common amounts of beef mince to buy are 250g/500g/750g some recipes called for 450g so what do you do when you have a pack of 500g, do you chuck the whole lot in like I did (see comments on spag bol & chilli above) or do you measure it exactly & waste 50g of perfectly good food? Same with the 2tbsp of coconut milk in the fish with coconut recipe I've just shopped for, coconut milk comes in 400g tins so what I'll do is take 2tbsp & freeze the rest but this has the capacity to become really wasteful until you're a creative & confident cook withe left over components.
- What were your thoughts on the cooking results of the Cook4Me Connect?
I LOVED the browning function, I didn't realise I'd been browning stuff wrong my entire life until I saw how this browns. Usually I just brown until it changes colour but this did that & carried on so it became lovely & separated & the taste was so much better.
I was confident that it would cook the food properly & well, the first couple of times I cut open the chicken etc so make sure it had cooked but there's no need, now I just trust it.
I found that the best results were with recipes that were new to me, so I had no subconscious ideas of how much liquid to use. I was blown away by things I'd never tried before that just seemed so easy.
- Would you recommend the Cook4Me Connect?
Yes, my dad has already asked to borrow it for his holiday this year & if he likes it he will buy one! I'm taking it on our family holiday to the seaside as the speed is so incredible & will be useful for hungry children. I'd recommend the connect one, I like that you can follow the instructions either on the app or on the pot screen so if you're wifi is dodgy you can still use it provided its downloaded already. I'd totally recommend it.