Cuisinart CSC-650 6.5-Quart Slow Cooker Review

Modern American life leaves those with families precious little time to function like the families of yesteryear.  Between the job commutes, working out, kids, chores, and other pressures, there is little time to cook a decent dinner.  I do the majority of cooking in our household and it is something I enjoy, but it is increasingly hard to accomplish because of my ever demanding schedule. 

I had two slow cookers; one small 2 quart model and a larger 4 quart multiple setting unit.  But all too often my slow cook meals turn out bland and tasteless and despite numerous attempts to spice things up so to speak, I have met with little success.  Part of that has to do with overcooking the meal, or cooking it on too high a setting. 

So I had a two pronged problem; time and blandness, both of which I hoped to solve with the 6-1/2-quart brushed stainless steel finish Cuisinart CSC-650 6.5-Quart Slow Cooker.  The Cuisinart CSC-650 comes with a feature that was lacking on my other two slow cookers: a timer. The slow cooker has a low and high cooking setting with a zero-to-eight hour timer (that can be set at half-hour intervals) that automatically shifts to a "Warm" setting when cook time ends. 

My Viewpoint

Well the beef ribs and stew turned out perfect, while the chili was a little bland; one again the problem of overcooking reared its ugly head.  Even on the low setting care must be taken not to overcook the meal.  But I am afraid blandness is something that I will have to combat no matter what slow cooker I use. 

Nonetheless I like the Cuisinart CSC-650; it's large enough to handle any meal I would want to prepare, but be careful because the outside of the unit does get hot to the touch.  And on the "High" setting foods can stick to the ceramic pot, so it is recommended you spray the inside with a non-stick spray like Pam.  However, even when I use a non-stick spray, food will stick to the sides, so I usually soak it for a few hours afterwards in warm soapy water, after which the food usually comes right off without too much elbow grease.  The ceramic pot is a little large for my dishwasher even on the bottom rack, so hand washing is my only option at this point. 

Concluding Viewpoint

The Cuisinart CSC-650 stainless steel slow cooker is a keeper.  The combination of large size and timed cooking I have found another hand the help me get decent nutritional meals on the dinner table for my family.