Mumsnet users review the Tefal Cook4Me Connect

[JustineBMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the 30 Mumsnetters who have been testing the Tefal one-pot digital cooker Cook4Me Connect (RRP £319.99).

Here’s what Tefal have to say about the product: “You don’t need to be a masterchef to achieve delicious meals in no time! Tefal have innovated again, and now give you Cook4Me.

Cook4Me is a one-pot digital cooker, ideal for parents looking to make fast and fresh meals:
- It is easy to use and intuitive: Cook4Me comes with 50 built-in recipes, and features a digital screen with guided cooking steps.
- Cook4Me cooks under pressure, which means you will save a lot of time. For example, after browning and pre-heating, it cooks a Chicken Tikka Masala in 3 minutes, a Thai Green Chicken curry in 4 minutes and a Risotto in 9 minutes (and no need to stir!)…
- It is the ideal all-in-one cooker, with up to 6 cooking manual modes: not only does it pressure cook, but it also steams, browns, simmers, gentle-cooks and automatically keeps your food warm. Its dishwasher-safe bowl can feed 6 people, perfect for the whole family or for batch-cooking.

Cook4Me comes in a standard version, with 50 built-in recipes (RRP is £269.99), and in a Connected version, that works with My Cook4Me app, giving access to over 100 recipes (RRP is £319.99).”

Testers, please ensure that you’ve tested the digital cooker using both the recipes and the manual/ingredients modes and then give your feedback by answering the following questions as well as completing the survey we will email to you.

1. How easy or difficult did you find Cook4Me Connect to use?
2. Which recipes did you try? What did you think of them?
3. What were your thoughts on the cooking results of the Cook4Me Connect?
4. Would you recommend the Cook4Me Connect?

All who give their required feedback will be entered into a prize draw where one tester will win a £100 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

Non-testers, please answer the below question. All non-testers who answer the below question will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £200 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

• Is there a recipe you’ve never dared to cook and would really like to be able to make in the Cook4Me?

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

1. How easy or difficult did you find Cook4Me Connect to use?

Very easy indeed. Step by step instructions were foolproof. However, it was a bit problematic if you had to deviate from the recipe for any reason and then it ended up being guesswork.

1. Which recipes did you try? What did you think of them?

Tried the pesto risotto, the chilli, bolognese and some soups. Restricted slightly by what my children will eat but everything I cooked was well received.

1. What were your thoughts on the cooking results of the Cook4Me Connect?

Surprisingly good. I’m not a natural cook and have always been a bit wary of pressure cookers but quickly learnt to have faith in it even when some things seemed a little odd or that they wouldn’t work because mostly they did!

1. Would you recommend the Cook4Me Connect?

It’s expensive but yes, it’s made my cooking more adventurous and there’s tons less washing up and faffing around and the results are good. Were going self catering next month and it’s coming with us!

Ive got lots more things to try with it and am enjoying it. Thank you do much for the chance to do this.

I tried the mustard pot roast beef this afternoon and it was really tasty! It was a bit more well done than I'd have liked, and in hindsight I should have browned the beef for a little while longer, but it was delicious anyway.

Product tester here!
We love the cook4me. One of the reasons we applied for the test was because we are crazy busy - DH and I work and the dc have lots of extra-curricular clubs and I was fed up of relying on convenience food as didn't have time or know how to cook anything properly. The cook4me has made things so much easier. We just followed the instructions and good healthier food was ready in minutes.

We've tried most of the risottos (the pesto chicken is a new favourite in our house), the curry, the chocolate croissant pudding, and the spinach and ricotta tortillini. All have been easy to make as you just follow the instructions although occasionally we have had problems downloading the recipe from the app but not a huge issue as it does work eventually. The results have been great. One benefit for us has been that because you can adjust the serving size we can cater for our fussy non-onion eating dc more easily by just make two batches as it's so quick to cook.
I would and have been recommending it to everyone! The only negatives for me are that I think it's slightly too expensive and it is huge - we are fortunate to have a largish kitchen but would struggle to store or use it in a smaller space but on the other hand for both negatives the amount of use it gets makes it worthwhile.

Tester adding an extra review.

I've made my first ever risotto and everyone ate it!!!!
Pesto risotto was easy to make even for a rubbish cook like me!
Planning on trying the chocolate pudding tomorrow.

Another success today. Really busy day in and out and I've now got used to the C4M so set it to start heating whilst prepping veg, put everything in and cooked for 10 minutes and that was the base for lasagne all done.

Once we were home it was just a quick prep and heat in the oven whilst garlic bread cooked. Brilliant!

bear we had the mustard beef last week and it was lovely, everyone loved the gravy instead of my usual bistro version

1. How easy or difficult did you find Cook4Me Connect to use?

I found it really easy. Both following recipes and using manually is straightforward. I only had a problem with guessing the amount of water when I used it manually. I'm sure that'll be fine after a couple of attempts.

1. Which recipes did you try? What did you think of them?

I tried the chicken tikka masala, Dahl, Thai chicken and houmous from the recipe sections. They were all good. Family was happy with the results. I also tried some things in manual mode including cooking kidney beans from dry for a veg chilli, rice pudding, chicken curry and a fruit cobbler. Apart from the fruit cobbler which didn't work, the rest were good. I left things on the keep warm mode too which is so handy.

1. What were your thoughts on the cooking results of the Cook4Me Connect?

The results were good. I hate the results of slow cookers and would love to have been able to use it more often when we have busy days but the cook4me is a great alternative. Speedy and tasty. Good consistency too.

1. Would you recommend the Cook4Me Connect?

I have been recommending it already but it is quite expensive for some. It's definitely a gadget I'm going to be using regularly. I'm looking forward to making skme of the other recipes and my kids are quite keen to start cooking for us in it ! It's Easy to use, easy to clean. I love it.

Spag Bol was delicious. Really, really tasty.

non tester - would love to make proper home made curry but have never had a go!
Love the idea of this cooker, we have so many activities in the week that we often end up with toasties or similar for tea as the children are starving.

I'm making the lentil and bacon soup again for lunch as DD loves it. There's only about 10 mins to go so will have the results soon. I've made a batch of 6 and will freeze the rest. I've also done some meal planning for the next few days and I'm going to make my own tomato sauce for things likes the bolognaise and Italian soup, so this will get me to try out the manual mode.

I'm also making the Thai green curry as well.

The recipe list were useful for taking to the shops but as PP said it would be more so if it could combine them all. Also make it copy to notes or something or give an option to print out.

I've taken the instruction book out too as I'm clearly having issues using the app as I can't make it sync properly to see how a meal is progressing.

Non tester- I would absolutely love to be able to make a proper traditional Indian Dahl. A lot of the recipes use a pressure cooker because a pan doesn't give the same yummy consistency so this would really be perfect for me to start some Dahl days at home!

1. How easy or difficult did you find Cook4Me Connect to use?
Once I got over my initial technophobia I found it very easy to use. It explains itself as you go along!
2. Which recipes did you try? What did you think of them? First off we tried the Sweet Potato tagine which was super easy, but didn't have an awful lot of flavour. Then we did the salmon with the broadbeans which was delicious. Really tasty, and again very quick and easy to prepare. We liked it so much that we made it again using trout the following week when we had some friends around. I thought it was even tastier with the trout. We've also made the chilli con carne which was delicious, and much easier than any other chilli con carne recipe. We've also made the dhal. That was Ok but would have preferred it if we didn't have to use a ready made paste. I've used it to cook rice and vegetables as stand alone items too - not as part of a recipe.

3. What were your thoughts on the cooking results of the Cook4Me Connect? Everything is cooked perfectly. Sometimes there isn't an awful lot of flavour but I think that's due to the simplicity of the recipes. As I get more familiar with it I'll try and change them and make them more to my taste.

4. Would you recommend the Cook4Me Connect? I would recommend it to people who are scared of cooking or who don't have much time. My husband was doing zero cooking until we got this as he finds cooking frustrating and time-consuming. He has loved the step by step instructions on this and how it beeps when it's time for the next stage. It really is idiot husband proof. I'm quite a confident cook and am not excited by too many of the recipes. They're all very simple. I'm guessing more will come out with time though. BUT, when I've hardly got any time to get a meal together and I'm dealing with the dds hassling me then it's perfect. It's not gourmet food but it's homemade, quick and healthy. I also love the rice cooker option on it. Especially the fact that you can use it for brown rice unlike the rice cooker I had which has just died. So, in summary I would recommend it, but I would point out the above.

I've just made the bolognese sauce but rather using a jar I added celery, and carrots at the browning stage followed by half a jar of passata, a tin of choppped tomatoes and a teaspoon of sugar to cook. It was delicious and got 10/10 from the kids and near empty plates. I normally use a jar of sauce for quickness so was pleased that it turned out so well. The sauce was quite loose but I prefer it like this so omitted cornflour.

The cooker is a great combination of instructions, speediness (prep the ingredients during warm up, tidy up while preheating and cooking), and relatively mess free. The results as delicious too.

The non stick pan makes it so easy to clean as well.

I tried the fish in coconut tonight & it depressurised 2 minutes into cooking, had spent so long browning though that it was cooked through so we just ate it anyway. I got an error about there being not enough liquid despite following the instructions 100%

It also wasn't enough for a 2 adults, there was only 50g of potato so I had to sling a pouch of microwaveable rice on & also added some green steamed veg & it was OK. If I'd had fresh herbs to hand I've have added those as well.

If anyone gets the liquid level correct could you please post how much water you used as I'd like to try this one again?

Non-tester. I would love to try the risotto. Mine always go too sticky or dry or just wrong. So would love to have a go and get it right.

Non-tester. I would like to try beef and ale stew. I think you would have to cook it for ages normally to get the meat tender so would like to see how it would be using this

Non tester

I'd love to be able to make a risotto, they're so easy to get wrong and I've never been brave enough to try it but I've heard that Cook4me makes a fantastic risotto.

I would never ever dare make pasta in a similar product but this seems a totally possible and delicious option here!

Tester again- made chilli, own recipe, on manual;). Delicious and quick and easy. Really pleased with it!

Non tester. I would probably like to try baking a cake in this cooker. I can do this in mugs in the microwave but Making a larger cake for a birthday would be cool.

I just made bolognese. I used fresh tomatoes whizzed up and a bit of tomato paste plus herbs instead of a jar.
It was really good and very quick.

Made the green Thai chicken curry after 4 hour round commute and it went really well. Could have done with a couple of more ingredients such as baby corn and mange tout perhaps but very simple and quick. The sauce is very runny but the rice soaks it up. I used micro rice so it took 2 mins same as the pressure cooking element of it.

In all it's taken me 30 mins to do the prep, cooking and washing up the utensils and pot. Perfect for a busy working day.

Non-tester: I've always wanted to make risotto but is always looked like such hard work- adding a ladleful of stock at a time and loads of stirring!

One thing I have only just noticed (being a committed carnivore!) Is that the vegetarian recipes are very limited and poor. There is no option to filter by vegetarian meal type. We've got one of my daughters vegetarian friends coming round tomorrow and the choices are very limited. If Tefal are reading this, please can you add some more?

Had an unexpected bonus with it last night when my nail lady came round at 5pm instead of 6:30! I had a spag bol sauce in the pot & the pasta simmering on the hob. My nails take 45 minutes so if I'd left the pasta in the pan it would have been mush & if I'd have drained it then I'd have to reheat it afterwards, so I waited til cooking had finished then was able to open the lid, throw the pasta in, stir it around then left it for the 45 mins on the keep warm setting. It was fine.

I didn't know it would still keep warm once the lid had been opened & shut, I thought opening the lid would have reset the program....