Cuisinart 3-In-1 4-Quart Multi-Cooker, Silver

Hi. I bought the Cuisinart MSC-400 slow cooker about 3 weeks ago and I simply love it. I am a widow and live by myself and wondered if I would use it enough verses the cost. I cook for myself most of the time with a guest for dinner occasionally or once in a while I will invite some of my family. I bought the 4 quart and so far, it’s been a perfect size. I have cooked chicken and noodles, Swiss steak, spaghetti sauce with meatballs, beans, and beef and noodles. All were delish. I can cook just for myself ( with maybe enough leftover for a second meal). Or, I can cook easily for 4-6 people depending on what I’m cooking. The browning setting is absolutely wonderful. You can sauté your garlic and onions or lightly brown your meats or both…… then, add your liquids, veggies or whatever all in the same pot. The ability to fry/ brown than switch temp over to “ slow cook” with heat choices of low, high, simmer, or warm is so convenient. Also, you have a choice of temps for frying or browning. After your cooker has completed the time you set, it automatically switches to warm. It doesn’t over cook your food. On this setting it just keeps your meal nice and warm for serving. As far as scratches, I use plastic or wooden spoons to stir if I need too. I have had no problem with the inside chipping or scratching. It’s a dream to clean. I use it so much I keep it on my counter. I can’t wait to cook lasagna in it ( I found a great slow cook recipe for it ) and also bread pudding !! This pot is so much more convenient than your run of the mill crock pots…… no comparison !! I’m so glad I decided to buy this cooker. I’m even eating healthier because of it.

I have an older round ceramic 4 qt. slow cooker that i have used for many, many years. If I remember correctly I only paid $10 for it which at that time was considered expensive. I adore it but it was lacking some nice improvements. It is round and deep so it is hard to know how food lower inside is cooking and the lid is a small clear (foggy) plastic that doesn’t allow me to really see how items are cooking.

I saw this oval non-stick slow cooker with glass lid and decided to bite my tongue and spend the money and get what I hoped was going to be a much nicer, more improved slow cooker. I used it yesterday for the first time and I’m in LOVE!!! Oh my, talk about improvements. I only used it for slow cooking this time and was extremely pleased. The large oval glass lid allowed me to watch as the food cooked. The cooker is wider than my old cooker meaning it was not as deep and more food is seen through the lid. Both are 4 qt cookers so the comparison was able to be exact. There was NO comparison. I cooked two large briskets and because the cooker is wider it allowed me to place both so they could both be seen while cooking. The round one needed the meat cut and stacked for cooking. This cooker has a timer that I set (the old cooker did NOT have a timer, I had to watch the clock) and it beeped 5 times when the time was up. It then switched automatically to a warming setting which per the instruction book will beep when it ends. (I didn’t let the warming go through its cycle to hear it.) It also can be set to start later in the day or the next day. I am not sure I would use this because I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving food sitting all day to come on automatically at some specified time. I used a Reynolds liner which I found worked great for my older cooker but it really wasn’t necessary as this cooker is non-stick but it fit perfectly (better than in the round cooker) and still made it nice to not have to do a major clean up. The lit controls are great. It literally counts down when you set the timer so you know how much longer till the meal is ready.

My older cooker is a green ceramic insert that sits in an aluminum cooking pan that has a pretty pattern on it. It matched most of my kitchens over the years. This one is stainless and is an EXTREMELY attractive appliance. My current kitchen is white and stainless so it fits right in but I can assure you the stainless would fit in ANY kitchen.

The unit comes with a steamer rack but I haven’t used that part of the cooker yet. I also didn’t brown the meat in the cooker when I cooked the brisket because I wanted to use the liner. In the near future I’ll make some stew and brown the meat before adding all the other items (not using the liner obviously). This slow cooker can do a LOT more than my old green cooker. I can tell I won’t be using the old cooker any more. This appliance is WELL worth the price. Well made, simple instructions and simple to use.

It came packaged extremely well. I was really surprised at HOW well it was packaged. I seriously doubt it would be delivered to anyone broken (the glass top is the only thing that could break and it is well secured and wrapped in plastic with cardboard securing it in place.

The entire experience from ordering it, to delivery, to unpacking, to setting it up, to using it, was simple. If I could rate this appliance higher than a five believe it or not, I would. This was a perfect purchase. If you are comparing different cookers, this one I highly recommend.

Update: I’ve now used this cooker to make stuffed peppers, meatballs in sauce, and Briskette. I have to say it is awesome! I just purchased a second one that I can’t decide whether to keep it for my own use (to have a second cooker for holiday functions) or give it to someone as a gift. I will probably keep it for myself since I love it so much. Highly recommend this if you are undecided. You will NOT be sorry.

I use it almost every single week. I love using the browning/sautée and going to slow cook right away on the same device, saves a lot of time and makes meal prep easy and fast. It’s huge too!

We’ve owned more than our fair share of slow cookers over the last 50+ years. They’ve come and gone, but this one is definitely a keeper. We actually wore out a couple of them, but many of the predecessors to this one were purchased simply because the offered some new bell or whistle that promised to revolutionize the slow-cooking process. Trouble is, none of them actually delivered any significantly improved (easier, tastier, whatever) food to out table, so each in turn found its way to a thrift shop. As long as this Cuisinart (we got the 4 quart model) continues to perform the way it has so far, it will keep its place in our cookware lineup. The cooker is well made, and has all the usual slow cooker functions, but the thing that sets it apart is its searing performance prior to switching to slow-cook mode. It really does an excellent job. The non-stick aluminum insert conducts heat (up to 400 deg.) very well, and stays hot even after a large roast is placed in the pan to sear. The pan is light in weight but sturdy, and the pan coating makes cleanup easy. Time will tell, but the coating appears to be tougher than the average non-stick, with none of the chip-prone irregularities that some of them have, right out of the box. At this point, I’d give the MSC-400 a solid recommendation.