HOUSNAT Programmable 10-in-1 Slow Cooker, 6Qt

I used this cooker yesterday for the first time, and love it so far. My only hesitation in buying this cooker was that reviewers said the slow cook function on low setting didn’t get hot enough. But otherwise, I liked everything else about it. I especially like that the labels on the buttons are big and easy to read, for old eyes. The stainless inner pot is very nice, so smooth it’s slippery, which is great for cooking/searing. I used the sear function to cook onions for the soup I’m making and I added a few other things, then the liquid broth. I think the vent hole in the lid is too big (lets too much heat out), so I twisted up a small piece of foil and stuck it in there. I can remove it to vent the soup, as needed. So if you slow cook on low setting in this pot, try plugging up that vent hole. Maybe that will retain some of the heat so you can successfully “slow cook” on the low setting. I’m not convinced yet that the slow cook high setting is hot enough, either. I’m done adding stuff to the pot now so it will stay closed and hopefully the temp can reach its max and start bubbling. Water boils at 212 degrees, but this hasn’t bubbled or boiled yet. As far as the included manual and recipe book: manual is minimally helpful. Recipes look interesting, but prepare to see lots of typos.

Next Day Update: A Google search will tell you that typically the Slow Cook LOW setting is about 200 deg. F and the HIGH setting is around 300 deg. F. So, using that info, I was looking through the manual and, based on which functions allow you to adjust the temperatures, I will use the Sear, Roast, or Bake functions for slow cook HIGH because I can adjust the temp. to 300 deg., give or take a few. For slow cook LOW I will use the Stew function and I can set the temp to 200 deg., give or take a few. My first time using the cooker yesterday, I had a full pot of densely packed soup and after a couple hours it wasn’t hot. I took the temp and it ranged from 191 to 194, clearly not high enough to bubble. So I switched it back to Sear/Saute to get it going and it finally was ready in less than an hour. But this entire soup process on the Slow Cook function went on for over 3 hours, and still didn’t get hot!! The Slow Cook function is faulty by design and the max temperatures need to be adjusted upwards. I don’t know if this cooker heats just from the bottom or from the bottom and sides, but you have to get some heat going in this thing–by some means–to get the food cooked.

26 August update: Making chicken taco soup. Can’t get this thing to “simmer,” can’t adjust the temperature to anything between 210 and 248 degrees. None of the functions will let you adjust to a temp within that range. This is really annoying. The Steam function is 212 but it is an aggressive boil, not a simmer. So all afternoon I’ve been going between agressive boiling on Stew or Sear and it doing nothing on Slow Cook high (those default temperatures are not high enough to simmer). Both Slow Cook High and Low have automatic temperatures, so you can’t adjust them. I hope the folks at Housnat read these reviews and will fix the Slow Cook temperatures and make all the functions’ temperatures fully adjustable. It’s such a nice looking cooker, but this inability to get a simmer is really annoying. How do you cook anything that needs to simmer or slow cook?

This slow cooker works great. Used it to make a number of things since I got it a week ago. Did slow cooked ham shanks and pinto beans, on low, without opening the lid, and they were perfectly done in 4 hours. I checked the temp on it with an instant read and all areas of the pot were within one or 2 degrees, which I consider to be equal temperatures. I made a beef and badmati rice dish. Turned out perfect. Used it to make German Ham Hocks and Ham Shanks in a braising liquid. Also perfect. So, the pot functions very well, very responsive when changing modes and temperatures. I love this slow cooker for how well it works.

It has a small footprint, so, I use it inside a shallow stainless steel square pan that covers 2 of my gas stove burners. It’s quite save, because you can’t accidentally turn on the burners.

The rim of the inner, stainless steel cooking vessel is easy to wipe clean when you open the lid to check things, when you are not slow cooking, before putting the lid back on.

Incidentally, I like how big the vent hole is. That allows you to NOT open the lid, but, instead, stick your instant read temperature probe through the vent hole and into your food. Great idea there.

Those were the pros of this slow cooker.

Now, for the “with caution” cons of the slow cooker.

Look at the picture of the lid, at the screws. See that bit “of white” there? It is paper towel that ripped off the piece of Brawny paper towel I was drying the lid with. I repeated the action a number of times Each time the paper towel went over the screws, there was paper towel ripped off and in the screws. Finally, I gently brushed my fingertips over the screws. They ARE jagged and sharp. Clearly enough to injury your skin if you accidently rubbed across it with skin instead of the wash sponge or drying towel. I am super dissatisfied with that. ALSO, on the inside, underneath, rim of the cooking vessel, at each handle, are the twp screws holding on each handle. When pushing my paper towel around that channel, the 4 screws are also rough and could cause injury if caught just right.

For most people, neither the rough screws in the lid nor the rough screws at each handle would be a problem. BUT, for older people whose skin has become more thin or fragile, and, for those on Blood Thinners, a scrape against those rough screws can be a real problem.

Quite frankly, for a sliw cooker costing well over $100.00, I fully EXPECT all parts to be free of rough screws, sharp burrs, or any other negligent craftsmanship.

The stainless steel cooking vessel IS thinner than it should be. I think that is why it has bluish and hazy looking discoloration marks in the curve of the bottom where it becomes the side of the vessel. It is easy to clean FOOD and grease off when you wash the vessel. BUT, it us quite impossible to remove those blueish and hazy white discolorations. Which means that the beautiful stainless steel is NO LONGER beautiful, shiny, stainless steel after cooking in it only 3 times.

Again, at over $100.00 for this item, I expect better craftsmanship.

I would recommend this slow cooker but recommend CAUTION when handling the lid or under the rim at the handles when cleaning to prevent injury.

Terrible warranty