Hamilton Beach Set 'n Forget Programmable Slow Cooker With Temperature Probe, 6-Quart (33967)

I purchased this cooker to replace a Kenmore I had that cooked everything way too hot. I hesitated on buying this one, though, because a couple of reviews said it takes too long to reach a safe temperature. I decided to buy it anyway and do some of my own tests. I figured that if the reviews were correct, I could always start cooking on high and then turn down after the first couple of hours. Since I was replacing a cooker that cooks too hot, I didn't want to end up buying another cooker with the same problem.As some other reviewers have said, this cooker is advertised as a six-quart model, but really can only comfortably hold five quarts. I suppose you could squeeze an extra quart into it but you'd probably end up with a mess afterward. In all fairness, though, my older cooker (also advertised as a six quart model) also really only holds five quarts unless you push it. I'm sure all manufacturers overestimate the capacity of their cookers in pretty much the same way.I did a lot of research on slow cooker safety when I got this product. Some sources are a lot stricter about temperature than others. At the most extreme, experts say a slow cooker should get to 160 degrees in less than two hours (160 degrees is the temperature necessary to kill Salmonella). At the other extreme, experts say a slow cooker needs to get to 125 degrees in less than three hours (125 degrees is the temperature needed to kill Staphylococcus). This is probably a good place to note that Salmonella can't cause illness if it's dead, so as long as you cook to 160 degrees you won't get sick even if Salmonella is present. Staphylococcus, on the other hand, produces a toxin as it multiplies, and that toxin isn't destroyed with cooking--so if Staphylococcus is present and is given enough time to grow, you'll get sick no matter how hot or how long you cook your food. Ideally, you want your cooker to reach a temperature that destroys Staphylococcus as quickly as possible.As soon as I got this cooker I did some tests as recommended by some of these slow cooker safety websites.The first site told me to put two quarts of water in the cooker and see how long it takes to reach 160 degrees. With just two quarts of room temperature water, the cooker reached 160 in well under two hours. With five quarts, however (maximum capacity), it took two hours and 45 minutes. Now, I have no idea why this website said to use two quarts instead of, say, three. Does that mean that this cooker isn't safe to use with more than two quarts of liquid? At any rate, it did pass the test and the website in question was one of the stricter in terms of how fast a cooker should heat up. On high it took 1 hour and 45 minutes for five quarts to reach 160, so if you are particularly concerned you can always cook on high for the first two hours, then reduce to low.Two quarts of room temperature liquid got to 125 degrees, at the other end of the spectrum, in less than an hour. So this cooker passes that test, too. Five quarts took slightly less than two hours, still well within the recommended three hour range.Interesting to note that these same websites also say not to cook roasts or whole chickens in any slow cooker, regardless of how fast it heats up ... which is news to me. Isn't cooking a pot roast nine tenths of the reason why most people buy a slow cooker?I hope this is enough information for shoppers to make an informed decision on whether or not they feel this cooker is safe to use. In my opinion, if people were getting sick from this product it probably would have been pulled off the market by now, but that's just one person's feeling on the subject. Please also note that I am not a food safety expert, and you should in no way take anything I've said in this review as my personal endorsement that this cooker is safe, because I could be completely wrong. This is only my own, uneducated opinion.As far as effectiveness of the cooker goes, like I said, I bought mine to replace a Kenmore that burned everything if I left it on low for more than four hours. The first thing I tried to cook in this Hamilton Beach was a pot roast (against safety advice apparently). At 8am I set it up to with the temperature probe, and when I got home at 1pm it was already on warm. I could have turned off the pot and put the roast in the fridge to reheat later, but I wanted to see how it would do if I left it all day. So I left it on warm, and when I took it out (nine hours after it went in) it still looked pretty good. My old cooker blackened everything and turned it into jerky when left that long (even on warm), but this roast still looked totally edible. When I cut into it it did seem a bit dry, but it was definitely tender and wasn't even falling to pieces, which is what meat left in a crockpot for a long time will often do. So while this is far from a perfect result, it's a huge improvement over my old cooker. If I'd taken the roast out a lot earlier I think it would have been close to perfect. I feel like I can pretty confidently give this cooker four stars; I'd like to have something that can run all day and still produce a juicy roast, but the modern obsession with cooking everything really hot in order to kill bacteria makes it pretty unlikely that these days you could find a cooker that would do that.I haven't had this model long enough to know if it will suffer from some of the shut-off problems other reviewers have complained about. I did make sure to mail in my warranty card, just in case. If I do experience this problem, I'll post an update.UPDATE: May 3, 2012 - I've had this cooker for about a year and a half now. I use it once a week and still haven't experienced any trouble with mine, though it looks like some people continue to have the random shut-off issue with theirs. I'm guessing it's a common problem with a small percentage of these cookers, but since I've never had the problem I can still recommend this machine--just make sure to send in your warranty card in case you get one of the lemons.SECOND UPDATE: August 20, 2014 - I've still got my pot, and I'm now using it two times a week. I've never had it randomly shut off and I've owned it for nearly four years. At this point, I would actually be OK with it failing because I feel like I've got more than my money's worth out of it--tons of great food, nothing really gets overcooked and it still works exactly as well as it did when I got it.

Slow cookers never really interested me. I guess everyone I have known who used one was a bad cook, so I kind of felt slow cookers were for people who can't cook. Also, it seems to me like most people who use slow cookers use it as a lazy cook tool, with pre-packaged products and just throwing everything together, which to me makes the food extremely unattractive. Recently, though, I have been making lots of soups and stews, so I thought maybe it was time to consider getting a slow cooker.After lots of research, which included reading some slow cooking books and lots of reviews both on books and cookers, I decided to get this one. Of course, I was a little concerned about the issues mentioned on reviews, that the cooker shuts itself off, but I really liked the probe feature. So I made the purchase and hoped for the best. When the box arrived, it was big! I immediately thought I might not want to keep something so huge in my kitchen. Fortunately, there were actually two boxes, plus the original box it comes in, so the actual cooker wasn't as gigantic as I first thought, which was nice.Since I had read some recipes, including the ones that came in the manual, I decided to just try putting something together with what I had at home. Here's what I made:Pork Loin with Vegetables and Marsala1 1/2 lb boneless pork loin roast1 lb baby red potatoes1 lb baby carrots1 lb brussels sprouts1/2 lb red pearl onions5 garlic cloves3 slices of bacon, chopped2 tbs extra virgin olive oil2 bay leavescumincurrypowdered thymeLawry's garlic saltblack pepper1 teaspoon full of "Better Than Boullion" - beef1 cup of Marsala wine- Pat the roast dry and season it with the seasonings to taste, leave the bay leaves aside- Slice the garlic and, on a large skillet, brown the slices in the olive oil- Remove the garlic slices with a slotted spoon and reserve- Add the bacon to the skillet and fry the pieces until they're crunchy and all the fat has melted from the pieces, remove all the bacon with a slotted spoon and reserve- Make sure the oil is hot and bring the roast to the skillet, browing all sides, but being careful so the seasonings don't get burned on the bottom of the pan (mine did)- Place the carrots on the bottom of the pot of the slow cooker, add the bay leaves, and place the browned roast on top- Lower the heat and add the peeled pearl onions to the skillet, rolling them on the pan from time to time, for about 2 to 3 minutes- Add the wine and stir, scrapping the "burnt" areas with a wooden spoon to incorporate that to the wine- Add the beef concentrate (Better Than Boullion)- Stir the contents until the concentrate has been dissolved into the liquids- Place the potatoes around the roast in the slow cooker, then pour the contents of the skillet on top of it- Sprinkle the garlic and bacon on top of everything- Turn on the slow cooker, add the lid, place the probe into the meat, making sure it sits right in the middle of it, plug the probe into the cooker, set the temperature to 160 degrees and the cooking temperature to low.- Open the cooker after about 3 to 4 hours, lift the roast and stir everything else on the bottom of the pan, then place the roast back on top, add the brussels sprouts around the roast, replace the lid and probe, and allow the cooker to finish its cycleI was pleasantly surprised with the texture of the vegetables, as well as how moist the meet was. My thought was that things would turn out more like what I get when I cook using a pressure cooker, but that is not so. The carrots didn't fall apart and had a nice, firm, texture. So did the potatoes. The brussels sprouts were a tad overcooked for me, but I like them very firm and had added them after only 2 hours of cooking, so with the adjusted time it shouldn't be an issue, and they weren't mushy.Next time, I will marinade the pork for 24 hours using all the seasonings and lemon juice prior to browning it and make sure there is no seasoning on it when I do so, this should make it look nicer. A photo of this first meal made in the cooker is being posted.It was also very nice to find out that the cooker didn't turn itself off during the cooking process. I'll keep an eye and add updates here if it starts doing that, but this first time it worked really well and I was impressed with the results. I already have a beef roast in the freezer that is the next in line to try my new toy out with. At some point, I may try to brown the meat in the grill instead of on the stove, to see if it makes a difference in flavor. I'll probably also try that using the smoker, or charcoal grill to see what happens. So many possibilities, how exciting!Regarding other things I read about the cooker, I really think that the person who had trouble closing the lid was probably doing something wrong. Some people wrote about the lid, or insert, breaking. They seem pretty sturdy to me. Of course, anything that's made out of glass or ceramic will break if you hit it hard, or if it falls from a good distance onto a hard surface. I don't really believe they will break if handled properly and with proper care. If I remember, I'll take a picture and post it here.All things considered, me like! :)Enjoy!

I would have given it 5 stars, but the lid clips are very hard to put on. I also would have liked to be have the ability to set an On time.

Got tired of having to cook only those recipes that fit in a 3-4qt cooker. This beauty came on time and is easy to use, easy to clean and works as advertised. Love the "stay warm" feature.

Je voulais avoir la même que j'ai déja mais le couvert n'était pas le même sinon pour les premiers acheteur c'est vraiment la meilleure mijoteuse

Best investment I'm made in a long time. Only useded it a couple times so far, but I'm really appreciating how this slow cooker has freed up so much of my time, and the quality of the meals you can cook.

Well built, sturdy. Large enough for a family of 4. Mechanism to lock lid takes some getting use to.