Nesco 8 Qt Nesco PC8-25 Pressure Cooker, 8 Quart, Black

Yes, this product/company is based in Wisconsin, something that means a lot to me now, the fact that it's lower priced AND better than the competition makes it even better!I have been using a stove top pressure cooker for more than 15 years. Unlike a lot of other reviewers, my Mom never owned/used one, and I don't remember my Grandma's using them either, except for canning. When I was raving to my Mom about it, she scoffed, until she watched me prepare and serve beef stew in well under 30 minutes (one of her "go to" recipes, used to cook it all day), which was tender and tasted like it had simmered all day long, same with the chicken (20 minutes) and cream of potato soup (10 minutes), she couldn't believe it. Even cheap cuts of meat can come out butter tender and flavorful in a short while rather than needing hours of marinating or cooking. Food stays moist and the flavors blend, the flavor you usually get from cooking it for hours.While I've never had a fear of an exploding pressure cooker (evidently something that was semi-common perhaps half a century ago-but have never heard of anything recently-modern pressure cookers of any kind are completely built to avoid accidents), I did dislike the noise. Plus, my current 8 qt stove top pressure cooker (I paid almost $60 for) was only brushed aluminum, a pain to clean and really too big for meals I cook for my family of 3.I didn't even realize there were electric pressure cookers until recently, then I immediately started researching and comparing prices and models. I like the fact that Nesco (well known for it's huge potluck sized roasters)is still based in the U.S. and to be honest, I've reached a point where I'd pay MORE to buy American produced/manufactured products, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I could buy an American made product,save money and it was the best!This arrived quickly in a HUGE box (overkill by far-the company could probably save a ton of money by reducing their packaging-this was like almost a 30" sq box, and the appliance is only about 1'x 1')I couldn't wait to try it out. Here is the link to the actual owners manual that comes with it, which should help answer a lot of questions about usage, times, and recipes.[...]BIG NOTE!! This unit sucks a LOT of power so you MUST run it on (I think?) a 120 v outlet without operating other appliances on the same circuit at the same time.Compared to my old hissing/rocking stovetop pressure cooker (which I think is what freaks most people out), this unit hardly makes any noise at all.The fact that this has a built in "brown" feature is HUGE in that most meat recipes require browning of the meat prior to cooking-then transferring it to the pressure cooker (I used to skip that thinking it was irrelevant and contradicted the time-saving factor, and created more dishes, but it makes a HUGE difference in taste). And, as the owner manual states, you should add the oil THEN turn on the unit (too many cooking shows using cast iron cookware advise you to get the pan hot, then add the oil-this is a big no-no to non-stick/teflon coated cookware as I've also just recently discovered).Very easy to program and at the end of the cycle you can easily do either a fast release or natural release (recipes for pressure cookers are very specific about this). The benefit to this model is that it will automatically switch to "warm mode" when the cycle is done, perfect for recipes not requiring "quick release" (would be cool if the unit could automatically do a quick release then switch to "warm").I wouldn't recommend this for canning as the jars would likely scratch the teflon, unless there is some kind of rack available to keep the jars away from the teflon?Steaming? Perfectly cooked fish or vegetables in a few minutes (not dried out or spottily cooked as in a microwave). I think this would also work well for say making rice which you'd put in a bakeware bowl covered, inside of the pressure cooker.People probably don't understand how kinda stressful it is to come home after working a full day and be expected to serve a decent dinner. (This also works as a slow cooker by the way-2 handy appliances, only needing storage for one)and, while I also have a half-time convection/microwave which works great, it doesn't work to create a quick stew or fall apart ribs or chicken (or soups and chili) in less than 30 minutes like this does, with easy one-pot clean up. Once you try it, you'll realize it's as indispensable as a microwave for convenience with better quality in flavor.I am really looking forward to trying making spaghetti sauce from scratch in this (a long time ago in my teens I made a really awesome sauce from scratch, but I had to watch it and let it simmer all day long, I'm hoping this overcomes that)I've also seen a lot of recipes that involve placing the items in a bakeware type bowl, covering them with foil, outside of the liquid, therefore utilizing the moist pressure cooking without "stewing" the items, I will try that as well.The non-stick coating/dishwasher safe cooking insert makes cleanup a breeze.All in all, if you've never tried pressure cooking or have been afraid, this item will make you a quick convert. There's NOTHING like the speed, flavor and moistness you will get, and with this item, you throw everything in, set the timer and walk away until dinner's ready.

This unit performed reasonably well for a while. It pressure cooked things as described. However, after maybe 6 uses it lost power in the middle of a cooking cycle. There was no heat and nothing on the LED display. There had been no spillage or any other user error. I tried again later with different quantities of food or water and never got it to turn on at all. Ok, either a faulty or poorly designed unit.Contacted the company to claim a warranty issue. After giving me the runaround they agreed for me to ship it to them on my dime and they would repair it. It's a moderately heavy item but I packed it well and paid to ship it to them. It was a noticeable amount of trouble and expense, but it was cheaper than buying a replacement. Then they had a snarky lady call me up and say that in transit something got dented (which is a little hard to imagine considering the build of the unit and my packing job). Although it's only a cosmetic issue (if it's an issue at all) it technically voids the warranty, so they refused to repair it or take further action, including send it back to me. To this day I'm not actually sure that it even received a dent. I just have to take their word for it. It appears to be a way for them to technically have a warranty without actually honoring it. I suspect they always open packages and then look for any possible way to avoid honoring the warranty.Clearly the company does not care about its customers or reputation, and my experience also indicates that their product is shoddy. I would encourage anyone considering this product to avoid it, and indeed you may wish to avoid Nesco altogether. Buying from them is quite a risk. If it stops working, you lose and don't really have any recourse. If you don't take my advice and it breaks and it hasn't been very long, be sure to return it to Amazon, not the manufacturer. They will treat you poorly, make you pay shipping, and then not repair/replace the unit.===================== UPDATE 18 MONTHS LATER ============================This review has rightly been a blight on Nesco for 18 months now and more than one person has contacted them about it. It's gotten a lot of "helpful" votes because this review illustrates a super-common problem with the item and an egregious problem with Nesco's customer service. If you read the comments to this review you will see some of the saga. In short, Nesco customer service was snippy to the point of unprofessional with me and others and refused to do anything about it or admit fault. Finally an amazon customer bypassed customer service and contacted the head of PR. That person responded that this was an error in policy and he was going to make sure customer service knows the right policy as well as sending me a new pressure cooker. Well, today it arrived. If he did that, there's a decent chance he also changed the way Nesco customer services handles its customers more generally. I hope so. You can make your own judgment about whether they deserve another shot. They made things more-or-less right with me (after 18 months with no pressure cooker) if you ignore shipping costs that I had to pay. The response from the PR guy was posted in a comment but has been deleted by Amazon. I'll let you decide whether that was right/ethical.I do have to point out that the replacement they sent me was double boxed and well-packed, but has a noticeable dent on the side. It's a refurbished unit. I don't mind the dent. I just find it ironic since the reason they wouldn't originally honor my warranty was that mine supposedly had a dent in it. Makes me wonder if they refused to return mine, refurbished it, and sent it to someone else. I shouldn't be so cynical, I guess. For all I know they kept my original pressure cooker this whole time and returned the actual unit I sent them.Whatever the current situation with customer service, this unit has a fatal flaw that anyone buying should know about. It affected me and if you look at the 1 and 2 star reviews you will see that they are all exactly the same situation: There is a thermal fuse down by the power supply. At 128 degrees Celsius it blows and the unit will no longer power on. And it's a one-shot deal. The fuse must be replaced but to do so requires disassembling the bottom of the unit and replacing the fuse, which is inline with the power cord. This is apparently easy but hard enough that it's not considered customer serviceable. By the way the fuse can be purchased on Amazon for just over one dollar. Just search for "128 degree thermal fuse."I can easily imagine that this fuse was forced on Nesco by government regulators, so perhaps Nesco isn't to blame. But it is a fact that in many, many cases this fuse will blow during normal operations and put the user in a tough situation. I fully expect that mine will blow again. When it does, I'm not going to pay to ship it back to Nesco nor deal with their customer service representative. I'm going to take the unit apart and replace the fuse myself. Despite the fact that it eventually kind of worked out for me, the manufacturer warranty isn't worth much. You can decide what to do if/when it happens to you.===================== UPDATE A FEW DAYS AFTER THE REPLACEMENT ARRIVED ============================I was quite relieved to have a replacement for my non-functioning unit. The replacement successfully pressure cooked two artichokes. Well, kind of. It shut off a little before finishing. And then never turned on again. Nothing happens when you plug it in anymore. Same problem as it and other units of this model have had in the past. This device is a lemon if there ever was one--there was plenty but not too much water and everything else was fine too. There's no way I would deal with customer service again and my wife insists that I just throw it out. She just wants her kitchen space back. In her words "that company is dead to me." Well spoken, but I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel until I try replacing the thermal fuse. At this point it's a race to see which happens first: I get around to trying to fix it or she throws it out when I'm not paying attention. I'll let you know if I am able to successfully fix it.In summary, if you want a pressure cooker I'd suggest getting the old-fashioned kind that just work on the stove. The electrical ones are junk, especially this brand/model.

I love this pressure cooker. I have two.

it was a gift