Tefal Cook4Me+ CY8518 (Black)

My Gas Stove and Oven isn't working, so I have been using this Telfal Cook4Me and it's attachment steam basket, but it has recipe's on it and easy to use and best all in one cooking ever... YOU CAN COOK A 3 COURSE MEAL, STARTER, MAIN & DESSER.. Show details ·  2

Tefal Cook4Me is 100% a Faulty Product – I have only used my tefal cook4me for roughly 3 months and maybe 2 or 3x every 2 weeks. It is already now leaking from sides although I never put too much water. Also, when you don't put lots of water, machine keeps making sounds asking you to put water. Very annoying tbh. I tried to bring it to local maintenance repairer and turns out after… Read more

driving 30 mins, the shop, called "All Appliances", at Fairfield, VIC, told me that they can't repair pressure cooker. I took it to different other appliances shop, and none of them wanna repair pressure cooker. This is a very faulty bad item. I will never ever buy tefal appliances anymore in my life.

4Y Old COOKFORME+ Liquid Explosion – We have had the Tefal pressure cooker for just over four years now and so far its operation has been reasonably reliable with only the replacement of the pot twice due to the nonstick surface, letting go. It also has some bubbling around its chrome parts but for the amount of use would’ve expected a little bit better. Tonight, my wife made a… Read more

pressure cook soup inside the cookforme+ and while cooking the liquid came out of the vent hole and all over the bench and inside the machine. At first I thought we must’ve just overfilled it, but this was not the case as upon inspection the pot was less than 1/3 full. This has never happened before. I’m suspecting the seal on the inner lid must be U/S but some further testing is required after the device has dried out. My biggest gripe is where the inner lid fits into the outer lid, the cavity is full of soup and there doesn’t seem to be any online resources on how to take this apart or clean from the manufacturer.

Style over substance – I've had this one for a few years now. The searing brazing function isn't that great, you have to turn it to high to get anywhere and then is seems very intermittent in the bursts of heat. The rubber foot at the front of the pot comes off and you have to remove covers to replace it. The menu system is convoluted, way to many steps just to turn it… Read more

off let alone do anything complicated. The bowl loses it's coating too easily, handle ends came off ( just as well the handles leak and get grungy inside!) . It routinely complains about low fluid level when it is in fact OK. Finally it is now losing far too much moisture during cooking (1.5l in less than an hour), the seals seem OK, the inner lid has been cleaned and checked but the problem continues. It works OK but really I think you can do better. I am replacing it with the Phillips or the Breville. I will not be purchasing again and frankly I will be down rating Tefal in general due to this experience.

Love my Tefal Cook4Me – I have had my Cook4Me for more than 6 years now and I love it. It is mainly used for corn beef, stews, soup and of course the great desserts that can be made in it. All the settings and controls work really well, with 'touch wood' no problems to date, so far I have been happy with almost everything that has been cooked in my cook4me, I use the… Read more

cooker on an average of twice a week. The reason I only give the cook4me a four star rating is that I have found after using garlic (and I use a lot of garlic) in the cooker the smell is retained for a good twenty four hours. The other niggle I have is cleaning can be a pain at times. The tiny little holes under the lid clog up so it is important to ensure you clean this area well each time it is used, otherwise you will issues with cooking and retaining the pressure as well as getting those error messages. Most of the programmed recipes are good especially the desserts, I have no problems recommending the Tefal Cook4Me.

This was perfect until it wasn't – I was very excited to get started with the Tefal Cook4Me, although a little apprehensive about using a pressure cooker for the first time. My mind was soon put at ease after the first use. To say it cooked perfectly was an understatement! so fast and delicious easy to use after reading the manual. The clean up is fairly fast too, and really… Read more

didn't leave an after smell of cooked food. The controls were fairly easy to master after a quick tutorial online. Unfortunately for some reason it stopped working properly and I tried to contact Tefal a number of times without success to get some help with it. Which is disappointing because I really loved the product and would use again in the future.

Cook4Me is great – I was gifted this for Christmas 2020 and have used it a couple of days a week since. I’m no cook, I am in fact a self confessed loser in the kitchen but the Cook4Me certainly helps. We’ve cooked mostly traditional style comfort food and 70% of the time have been impressed by the food. The other times the flavor had been underwhelming and we… Read more

wished we’d used a slow cooker instead to enjoy more flavor.

It does sometimes glitch with the amount of water in the pot which cane be incredibly frustrating.

18mths and time for the tip – The plus model has been nothing but a nightmare nothing but error messages just after it turned 12 months old. Gone back to our original model that still works. Use to recommend Tefal, will not be so any more, only support was to take it to a recommended repairer at my cost.  Show details

I have returned 2 – I Purchased this cook for me love the way you cooked it worked twice and than had error code 30 I could not open it at all so I returned it and got another one as I loved the way it Cooked4me only to happen all again but this time burned my hand when I did open it my question to you is was their a faulty batch as I would love to buy another one number 3 but am worried it will be the same problem thank you sonia Show details

Error 21 – I bought the Cook4Me+ with such high hopes after watching several demonstrations. As soon as we could, I plugged it in and started cooking one of the inbuilt recipes. Followed it to a T and it came up with error code 21 (could not good up pressure). The next night I tried another recipe on manual mode, again error 21. Tired night, yet another… Read more

recipe, again error 21. I added more liquid than required. It booked water wonderfully. It seems I purchased a $330 kettle. It's being returned tomorrow.

Great machine, however recipes and software need work – The machine runs well and heats up quite quickly. parts are easy to clean, and can all be put into the dishwasher. The lid and locking mechanism are sturdy, and locks you out from being able to open when under pressure. from a few uses the pressure relief valve is reliable and does not vent too quickly, so is safe to have around the kitchen… Read more ·  1

without constant monitoring.

The only criticism is the "recipes' functions. The first recipe we tried was a "beef stew with beer". the recipe was incomplete in the machine, and only instructed you to put in 2 of the ingredients before sealing up and cooking. It also instructed to brown all the meat at once, which I found ended up being too much and stewing the beef, rather than browning it. After working around it and cooking how we expected, it turned out delicious and clean up was easy.

Very good for quick, tasty weeknight meals, and my partner who is less confident cooking in the kitchen.

Tefal Cook4Me+ – Since receiving my Tefal Cook4Me I have tried recipies from the preset menu, like the lamb shanks, macaroni etc. I have also cooked some of my own recipies without the preset menu including risotto, beef rendang, beef stroganoff, pulled pork etc. I love how you can get some assistance by adding the type of protein to get an estimated time from for… Read more

the cook too. All the menu items come in handy and it's good to have these options. It's a versatile and handy machine to make tasty home made meals in a short period of time. As long as you clean the bowl after use it does not retain any smells, it can easily go into the dishwasher too. Making it really easy to clean. The Tefal Cook4Me+ has been a lifesaver in my busy working household.

Handy Tool and Can Be Useful – I have been using this mulitcooker for the last 3 weeks and have done most of my meals in it. I have enjoyed using it. Out of the box I did like the look of this item. It looks modern and suited my kitchen well. I love that the lid is hinged onto the mulitcooker so when I open it I'm not looking for somewhere to sit the lid - this was really… Read more

useful. I also like that the inner bowl has handles, so I could easily lift the bowl out and take it to the bench to serve without needing oven mitts or burning myself. The lid also comes apart easily for extra cleaning when required as well - it is well designed with these features. It also feel well made and not flimsy and feels it will last.

I didn't find the lid retained any smells from previous meals. The steam release is automatic in the lid which I loved as I didn't have to stress about trying to open a valve and burning myself, it did it all itself. It also had a loud beep for when it was complete which I could easily hear from anywhere in my house meaning I never missed when it was done.

The bowl is non stick and I found after constant use over 3 weeks it still has no marks which impressed me as other non stick items I have used tend to start showing wear marks on the coating even after 2 weeks so I feel this will be a coating that will stay as long as you don't use metal. However I did note the steamer basket included is stainless steel and I did worry it would scratch the bottom of the non stick coating. This didn't happen but I do get nervous when I use it as I don't want to scratch the coating.

I found the menu to use on the LCD screen was easy to scroll around. My only downside is I'm a little OCD about things being around the right way and it would annoy me seeing the 'OK' button upside down as that is where it was sitting to press ok to that setting. My husband mentioned the same one night when he saw it was upside down but if he moved it around it would change the menu out of where I wanted to be. However after cooking you can easily turn the button back around the right way. However this wouldn't affect me purchasing this item.

The mutlicooker comes with a book of all the programmed recipes it can make, it is basic with just the item and a list of ingredients but it was good enough to see what you needed for each meal. I enjoyed being about to prep everything out using the booklet and then go to the multicooker and start the program for that recipe knowing you had everything you needed. I also like that you can do 2,4 or 6 serves and it has the amount needed for each serving for that recipe. I found this handy as some nights everyone was home so I would do 6 serves then other nights it might just be my hubby and I.

I did find some errors with the recipes in the booklet and then on the multicooker. One example was beef taco mix, the book states 'Canola Oil' yet when you go to do it in the cooker, it will state - now add the 'Olive Oil'. I also found it confusing at first for when to add things. Sometimes it would say 'preheating' and I would wait for it to preheat before adding the item it wanted me to brown or cook, then 'preheating' would finish and it would go onto the next step and I would work out I was meant to put the ingredient in while preheating and the preheating setting was the cooking/browning setting. This happened with the 'Duck with Apricots'. Then other times preheating would be just that and when it preheated it would then state to add/brown item such as 'Savoury Beef Mince'.

Luckily I'm a fairly seasoned cook in the kitchen so could work it out for myself when it didn't give me enough directions or I found I missed a step without noticing - however my teenage son had trouble when doing 'Fettuccine Carbonara' and without being a confident cook got confused and had to try and muddle though which did stress him. So I did find the instructions on the cooker to be a bit too basic with some of the recipes yet other recipes it would be really good in stepping you through them. I found though after 2 weeks of constant use for every dinner that I was starting to understand it better, so if you do find at first its confusing I recommend sticking with it and you will get to know and understand it over time.

With the browning function I found it wasn't as hot as my other multicooker. It was more a low-med heat than a medium to high. It would state 2 minutes to brown (Savoury Mince) and would take closer to 5 minutes to brown. I also found it didn't crust the meat like my other mulitcooker which seems to be a hotter heat. Still worked well but it will take longer than it's suggested time when using the browning setting.

I also didn't like the fact you can't skip steps in the recipes. If I found I had missed a step with the confusing instructions or needed to add liquid at the end because it had insufficient liquid I had to start the whole recipe again including the browning function which I really didn't want. I found when this happened I would have to go manual and just work it out for myself. For someone not as confident with cooking this could be an added stress.

I did find all the different recipes I made from the booklet were lovely though and there wasn't any my family or myself didn't like. There are so many to choose from so it was easy to miss the ones you knew noone would like and still have many to choose from. I found the desserts from the booklet were really lovely and we had dessert nearly every night. They are very basic recipes and most only needed about 5-6 ingredients which made it easy to have them on hand. A few times I did add extras I know would add more taste - like onion or salt and pepper. However even if you stick to the only ingredients the meals were still nice and we enjoyed them.

It also has a delay cooking function which I found useful. What I liked about it was you can enter the time you want it finished which I found easier to say than trying to work out when it should start so it was finished by a certain time as you couldn't always guess how long preheating may take etc. I used this alot for rice when making a meal in my slow cooker so they would finish at the same time.

Since this was also a pressure cooker I did try using trying using the manual mode. I found I didn't have alot of success though other than rice. I found when I would use the manual mode it would come out either not quite cooked or over cooked or complained about not having enough liquid and after a few tries I would give up. I think it will be something I will have to work out with trial and error as I don't always want to only make the recipes it comes with.

This mulitcooker has 2 methods of cooking as in having a pressure cooker mode and what I would call a saucepan mode which you can use for browning, boiling and simmering. I think it would be really great if it could also be a slow cooker as sometimes I like to make other meals which I don't want to much liquid like lasagne, a full cooked breakfast over night, bolognese etc. It would also mean I only need one machine instead of needing a slow cooker as well as the multicooker. However this is only my suggestion.

As for this multicooker I did enjoy using it. I think it would really suit a young family with quick and healthy meals which doesn't take too much work to make or experience with cooking. I also think it would make a great gift for a student going off to uni as this would allow them to make meals in their dorm room easily and you would know they are eating well. This would be good for anyone who needs a different method for cooking in a saucepan that isn't a stovetop as well for example if you work away and have limited cooking facilities.

A great concept but far too many issues – Tefal Cook4me+ review. As a Productreview Ambassador, I was asked to thoroughly test this product and give an unbiased review, so here is my opinion after careful consideration. Out of the box its a very impressive, luxurious looking unit indeed, which feels nice to handle. The smooth black piano finish plastic body combined with large gleaming… Read more

chrome highlights on the lid are just amazing. Im not sure why we humans like shiny things like diamonds, cars and cookers but thats for another time. It has a very sturdy construction with all locking and moveable parts working beautifully. I found it easy to disassemble the lid and wash the parts prior to use as recommended. The weak link in the chain will be the non-stick surface of the cooking pot. Only time will tell. I used only a silicone flat stirrer to combine ingredients, and feel confident that this will preserve the non-stick surface for a long time. Colourful advertising stickers indicating what this machine is capable of adorn the sides of the unit, but these are easily removable. A third sticker which covers the LCD display, appears to be very well adhered to the surface of the screen and really doesnt look like its supposed to come off, but it obscures the LCD display while cooking so I carefully removed it. The main LCD display is sectioned into four options, Ingredients, Recipes, Manual and Favourites. There are 150 recipes as a sub menu under the Ingredients option. The two books that come with the unit are of excellent quality. The user guide steps you through the different options for cooking, and it does this very well indeed with lots of diagrams. The other book has 150 different dishes to choose from, and again is well set out and colour coded, but would be greatly enhanced by the inclusion of basic methods accompanying the list of ingredients. You dont find out how to put the dish together until you are cooking it. Both books are produced on high quality paper and in full colour. I am of a different breed who reads instruction books before using any product, and I feel this was invaluable with the Tefal. Before use, I was well aware of the maximum and minimum levels of food allowed in the cooking pot. We have a Kambrook Pressure Express which has had very little use, and to be honest, I have not used it independently. I do know that I had to help my wife become familiar with the operation, and in particular releasing the steam manually, which is potentially dangerous without your full attention. The Tefal Cook4me+ does this automatically which is a real plus. First cook using the Tefal Cook4me+ From the Recipes Menu method (Page 22), I chose barbeque chicken drumsticks (main course) from the cookbook, to serve four. With all ingredients on hand I started the process. Note: It takes a good 10 minutes rather than the suggested six minutes to brown this many (8) chicken legs. Soon after closing and locking the lid, the machine suddenly told me Insufficient liquid on the LCD. This was after I had placed all the ingredients including 150 ml. of BBQ sauce and 150 ml. of sweet chili sauce in the cooking pot. Page 13 in the instruction book shows a minimum of 200 ml. of fluid (contents) is required for pressure cooking and the above ingredients should have satisfied this. I can only conclude that they were too thick and sticky for the unit to be happy (it was too hard to get the moisture out of the sauces to make the steam required to close the pressure valves). Totally taken by surprise, I opened the lid (fortunately not too much pressure had built up or this would not have been possible) to add 150 ml. of water as this seemed like the obvious solution. I added the water only to find that this action took me right back to the start of the process. I stepped my way back to where I was, by repeatedly selecting the ok options on the menu, and it said preheating all over again. The unit, and I were happy again! Obviously, it did not take very long to pre heat for a second time, and it then started the 20 minute cooking process during which time all the combined flavours are forced into the chicken. One word describes this dish, delicious! Second cook = Beef Stew with Beer Unfortunately, there is a major problem with the programming behind this recipe, as it told me to brown the meat for 8 minutes, then add the mushrooms and brown for a further 3 minutes, which I did. It then asks if you want to start the cooking process, so I said yes. It then told me to close and lock the lid to start the cooking process. It just forgot about all the other ingredients. Two weeks later I repeated this recipe just to make sure I wasnt asleep at the wheel the first time. It did exactly the same thing, so I used the back button and stopped the process. This allowed the steam and pressure to be released, so I was then able to open the lid. I added all the other ingredients except for the peas and stirred them through thoroughly. I then went back into the cooking process and after it finished (35 minutes), I added the peas which cooked quickly from the residual heat. There is obviously a problem with the computer programming behind this recipe. The flavours were nicely balanced, but I couldnt taste the beer. Its a nice dish just the same. Third cook Pesto Chicken Risotto WOW, this exceeded my expectations in all areas. The rice was perfectly cooked, and this was my main reservation. If you love basil, tomato and tasty cheese, give this a try. Again, I used the recipe option in the main menu. When I read the list of ingredients, I thought this sounded like a winner, and it sure was! This Tefal Cook4me makes it so easy to whip up a delicious meal in no time. My wife and I share the cooking and she would be the one to make this type of meal whereas I am more your meat (roast or BBQ) and three vegies guy, but this was sooo easy. At some point I will have to get brave and use the machine in the manual mode. My wife is enjoying the extra nights off and we all know about the happy wife, happy life! Fourth cook Fish Curry (again from the recipe section) Another great recipe, but unfortunately, the same trouble at the start with insufficient moisture to create the steam it needed to pressure cook. It told me to open the lid (presumably to add moisture) and I found the contents were already boiling vigorously. I was genuinely surprised that the amount of steam coming up from the pot was insufficient to build up the pressure required. Given that fish cooks in just a couple of minutes, I left the lid open and just let it cook. My can of coconut cream was 20 ml. more than asked for but my fish was 80 grams more than asked for, so this may have contributed to the problem, but I seriously doubt it. The only way to find out is to cook this dish again, which I wont mind as its both quick and easy. My fifth cook was to repeat the Beef Stew with Beer which went down the same path as the first attempt. (See-Second cook). My conclusion. There are two stand out features of the Tefal Cook4me+ which are the automatic pressure release valves when cooking is finished, and the big comfortable stay cool handles of the cooking pot. I felt quite safe at all times while using this product. However, unless mine has some type of electronic fault, the Tefal Cook4me has some significant issues. I think its best suited to dishes with a good amount of stock or other fluid at the start of the process. Having said that, the Beef Stew was obviously happy with just the juices coming from the meat and mushrooms, as it went ahead and cooked just these two ingredients for 35 minutes (under pressure) without any error messages. I dont know if there are other recipes which have a faulty process in the programming (please see my Second Cook), but this was very disappointing indeed. The Tefal is a very big time saver for certain types of dishes which would take twice as long using conventional methods. Pressure cooking has the effect of forcing flavours into the main ingredient, and blending them which results in very flavoursome dishes indeed. We havent tried any options other than the Recipes one, as my wife is a very good cook and has quite a large repertoire of dishes. For someone like myself who is a more basic cook, this pressure cooker is a real bonus as it gave me the confidence to produce meals I would not have otherwise attempted. Well made, great looks, easy to clean and super smart when it works as its supposed to.

Update: 13 August.

Tonight I cooked Satay Chicken which was a total disaster !! The cooker told me to start with the coconut milk and soy sauce, and started "preheating". Before very long I could see this was going to reduce excessively and then burn as it was boiling vigorously and quickly evaporating, so I added about 50 -60 ml of water. This did not solve the problem. It appeared that the underlying problem here, was that it got to the end of it's "preheating" and just stayed there, quickly evaporating the coconut milk and soy sauce. It eventually got to the pressure cooking process after I added much more water than the recipe indicated, but after closing the lid and several error messages later (still saying insufficient fluid even after I progressively added at least two to three more cups of water), I gave up! I went into manual cooking mode and winged it from there. We eventually had a tasty dish but with absolutely no thanks to this fickle machine. As far as I am concerned, this gives it a big fail! In all honesty, I can't possibly give it more than one star after so many failed uses. It doesn't matter how good it looks, if it doesn't work as it was designed to. I feel certain that mine must be faulty, and I intend to contact Tefal.

UPDATE : On 19th of August, I contacted Tefal who advised me to return the cooker for testing, and they expect to be sending a replacement. This is very good customer service, and I will revisit this review just as soon as I have tried my replacement machine. Looking at other people's reviews, I expect to be able to give it 4 or 5 stars. I will try the dishes which failed previously, and I'm very hopeful they will be great. 9/11/2019 I'm sorry for the time delay in updating my review, but I have been away from home a lot in recent months. The first dish I cooked with the new machine (replacement machine) was chicken risotto which went without a hitch. It was one of the recipes which has always worked. Last night I tried one of my favourites again, Beef Stew with Beer. Well, I wish I had good news but I don't! The new machine did exactly the same thing as the last one. It told me to brown the meat for 8 minutes and then the mushrooms for a further 3 minutes. It then asked if I wanted to stop the browning, I said yes. It then asked if I wanted to start the cooking to which I said yes. It then told me to close and lock the lid leaving the onions, tomato paste, garlic, beer, beef stock and paprika on the bench! From here I opened the lid straight away and "winged it" from there on. I feel I have written enough on this product, so my conclusion is that there are recipes which work, and some which don't. It's biggest attribute is it's ability to automatically release the steam under pressure by itself at the completion of cooking. It is also a robust machine. It will be a good tool for the time poor as is any pressure cooker. I will persevere with it but the "shine" has certainly gone off it for me. Thanks for reading.

Good for the simple stuff but foodies beware – It took us a few days to get started as looked rather imposing and all the safety instructions were a bit scary, but it was actually pretty straight forward and the locking/unlocking mechanism very user friendly. The initial chemical smell with the first use was quite strong and I suggest this be done in a well-ventilated area. Initial setup:… Read more

The dial on the front feels loose and we kept going to touch the display as if it were a touch screen, this was annoying at first, but we got used to it. But it does seem a little old-fashioned and cheap for today’s market. I set the language to English Australian but it was actually English American as when I returned to the main menu Favorites was spelt wrong as was flavor, etc. If you’re like us and despise American English then I’d suggest changing to English U.K. as this spelt Favourites correctly. A small gripe but an oversight on Tefal’s part in my opinion.

Meals: We decided to cook meals that we do already to compare time, flavour and texture.

1. Plain rice was first and unfortunately, we were very disappointed. The advertised 9-minute cooking time is really 22 minutes, including 13 minutes of preheating time. The rice was very overcooked and mushy; and lots of rice was sitting in the base having fallen through the holes in the basket. The fact that it doesn't have any scales meant we had to measure out the 200g of rice, and much of the other ingredients that needed weighing, in our Thermomix. But if you already have a set of scales then that's fine. Rice cooked in a Thermomix is amazing using the steam and absorption method. *Definitely don't use the Cook4Me+ for steaming rice!*

2. Whole chicken with potatoes was next which was on the recipe app requiring manual use of the cooking functions which was a little unclear at first, but we figured it out. This recipe combined some browning followed by pressure cooking. The chicken cooked perfectly and was super tender. The potatoes, however, were overcooked so we will put bigger pieces in next time. It was great to have roast chicken on the dinner table in less than 1 hour, start to finish.

3. Pumpkin risotto was next, again off the phone app. We found the recipe bland and would play with the flavours and seasoning next time. From start to finish wasn’t quicker than doing it other ways, but it is handy having a hands-free option for most of the cooking time; and after our failed plain rice efforts, we were pleasantly surprised with the texture of the risotto. It was creamy with separate grains and was ‘just right’.

4. Next was Bolognese. Like most of the curry recipes, this recipe also called for pre-made sauces in jars which we were unimpressed by. We used passata and not a pre-made sauce, played with the ingredients a little including adding vegetables, but used the same cooking method as advised. There was an error code that suggested there was not enough fluid at the start of the pressure cooking, which seemed odd as I added more sauce than the recipe called for. I had to open the unit and add some more water and restart it which worked but the process how to do this wasn’t clear, I had to figure it out. The final product was pretty good. We still preferred my usual slow cooked version but doing it quickly was handy and the keep warm function was very useful as I cooked it in advance of our usual dinner time.

A warning about steam: Despite all the safety warnings we did not expect jets of steam coming out the back of the unit. Fortunately, the unit had its back to an open window, but if on an island bench it could be potentially unsafe.

Conclusion: Overall, I can see this unit being good for people who aren’t confident cooks as its recipe and direction based. Anyone who is a foodie will want to use better quality ingredients and more raw ingredients i.e. creating their own sauces and using their own stocks. Using it manually to try and invent your own recipes is possible but knowing how long to use the pressure-cooking function would be an issue. It would be good as a portable one stop shop if going on holiday and self-catering without a full kitchen available.

Some meals looked initially attractive to make in terms of the advertised cooking time, but this is misleading due to the rather long preheating times required. Having a Thermomix and an induction stove at home means I am used to much quicker onset of heat for cooking. Personally, I like the idea of using it to significantly shorten usually long cooking times like slow cooked meat dishes and pot roasts I would do in the oven. Replacing stove top cooked meals much less likely.

An additional note about the app. It's ok I guess But as stated above, the recipes general lean heavily on packaged or jar sauces instead of fresh herbs, spices or ingredients. We also found it very disjointed when try to use the app and the unit together, having to manually key in times and weights, etc, which seems rather counter productive for the unit as a whole. I guess an improvement would be to have a Bluetooth interface with the device and app so you could cast the recipe to the unit and it wouldn't need to be programmed manually. So yeah, it was a little annoying but maybe a step in the right direction towards an integrated LED device (probably Android) in the front (like the latest Thermomix.) But then it would probably be $600 for the product.

How did I live without this? – I’ve just started using my COOK4ME. I am so impressed with the size as when entertaining my family, I wanted to be able to cook for us all, so with the options of cooking for 2, 4 and 6 – this is perfect. The options to brown and to keep warm are brilliant! I have a slow cooker and never bother browning meat as it means an extra pan, extra time… Read more

and effort. With the Tefal COOK4ME, I can do it all in one – perfect! I also love the ‘keep warm’ function with a partner who often works late, its an absolute blessing.

The convenience of reducing cooking time by 2/3rds is awesome and the pressure cooking brings out the flavour in the food like nothing else, simple dishes become gourmet events (not exaggerating). Because it's a closed system, you resist the urge to over-season the food and the natural flavours are the star.

On opening the box, I was greeted with the Tefal Cook4Me multicooker, a steam basket, the ceramic coated bowl and user manuals. Aesthetically speaking, I really liked the look of the cooker – although it was larger than I expected, the black gloss contrasted really nicely with the metallic detailing to give an appearance that wouldn’t look out of place in a kitchen featured on Grand Designs.

I had a quick flick through the booklets – one of which is a user manual and the other has the ingredients with recipes – and everything looked self-explanatory. As we were nearly out of food in the house, we couldn’t make any of the pre-programmed recipes just yet, but instead, we chose a few recipes which we wanted to make in the upcoming week and added these ingredients to our supermarket online delivery.

I was really surprised at how ‘normal’ the ingredients were. I had wondered whether we’d need to buy expensive items or find speciality shops for the rarest of spices, but a lot of the recipes constituted of things we’d normally buy – we just needed one or two additional items like natural yoghurt, crème fraiche or curry paste. I also noticed that quite a few of the ingredients could be used in different recipes, so it wasn’t like we’d have to eat the same meal three days in a row to use up a ingredient.

Of the 50 pre-programmed recipes in the Cook4Me – which includes starers, mains and desserts – the meals we decided to cook to start with were Bacon and Leek Risotto, Chicken Tikka Masala, Farmers Chicken, Pesto Chicken Risotto and Pot Roast Cider Chicken – obviously over consecutive days, not all at once! I decided to make us a Chicken Tikka Masala. Using the recipe booklet that came with the Cook4Me, I measured out all of the ingredients beforehand, then turned on the cooker. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but was pleasantly surprised at how easy and intuitive it was to use. You simply turn and press the rotary dial to select what you want – e.g. which recipe and for how many people (2, 4 or 6) – then follow the step-by-step instructions which are shown on the LED display.

I found the process very easy. I selected the recipe, chopped the ingredients – with added mushroom and pepper which wasn’t in the recipe – and then used the Cook4Me to prepare the food. This included browning the chicken, adding the veg, natural yoghurt and the curry paste before closing the lid for 10 minutes.

Something I particularly like about the Tefal Cook4Me is that it’s smart. It has 50 recipes pre-programmed, so it tells you what to do and how to do it – almost like you have your own robot chef in the kitchen. However, you can also do manual cooking should you wish to make different meals designed by yourself and can also cook individual ingredients like rice, meat, fruit or veg. There are also other things, like it goes into warming mode after the meal is cooked so that it doesn’t get cold and you can also set a delayed start so that it turns on at a future time. As you can probably tell, I’m very happy with the Cook4Me. It’s simple to use, meals are produced quickly (33 in less than 15 mins supposedly) and everything has tasted nice. We were getting a bit bored with eating the same things each week, so the additional meals we have through the Tefal Cook4Me have helped reinvigorate the cooking in the kitchen.

Being so easy to use and to clean has made the COOK4ME a perfect addition to our home.

Not very intelligent for an 'intelligent' pressure cooker – I got this for free. My overall initial impressions were good because of the features and options to store your own recipes. The street price is in the low to mid $300 mark. My expectations were high due to the high price. I already had a history of cooking with pressure cookers and rice cookers that span 30 years plus. Previous pressure cookers… Read more

required fiddling and testing to get the recipe right, i.e. for it not to be under or over cooked. Once you get those parameters right, it works all the time.

The good thing is that the pot inside the cooker has handles to remove the pot. Most other pressure cookers don't have this feature. When opening the lid, the mechanism is conveniently located away from the steam release valve. Great for avoiding scalds. The pre-installed programs appeared 'useful' at the time.

As my wife is Asian, we have high expectations when cooking rice. Ideally, it should be moist but not wet, mushy or soggy. My first recipe was white rice. I followed the instructions. I turned out mushy and soggy. On my second time cooking rice, I reduced the water content a little but the rice was still fully covered. An alarm went off telling me that a valve was clogged and then that there wasn't enough water in the machine (see image CODE: 24). How can it be clogged after only one use? Next time, I put more water in it but extended the cooking time to make sure the rice wasn't soggy and mushy. Over time, I achieved various results. Some were acceptable while others were not. My old rice cooker has one button and my rice is always perfect. With the Tefal, it was a hit and miss... more miss though.

I successfully cooked pasta but thought that the hassle of setting up and then cleaning the device was far more cumbersome than quickly boiling water in a pot on my stove top. The glitz and glamour of having to press and turn the navigation button soon lost its shine.

This afternoon, I made rice once again. When the device had finished, I couldn't open it. It was stuck. I have no idea why. I finally managed to open it with some force. Now it won't close. The rice was fine but it appears that parts in the lid have twisted due to the heat. According to the manual, parts in the lid can twist when hot. Not such a good design after all.

In summary, the programs, at least for rice, are useless. The mechanical side is poorly constructed. How can it be clogged after just one use? Why is the lid defective? I am not the sort of person who will run to customer service every few days because of a problem. Either it works or it doesn't. This one doesn't. I'm going back to my hassle-free rice cooker and hassle-free pressure cooker.