Tefal Cook4Me+

I use the Tefal Cook4Me+ almost every day. I even bought an extra pot insert so that I can cook 2 food items in a very short time. I make almost anything in it from boiling vegetables, soup, curry and rice you can even do pull apart roasts. I run a little cafe and it helps me cook tasty food in a very short time.
It is very easy to clean and there isn't any smells or flavours after use. I have actually convinced other family members to buy this and they are loving it as they are time poor and the recipe instructions are a bonus as it actually tells you when to put the ingredients in at each time.
It is so easy to use and will impress your family when you can plate up tasty meals quickly.
Yes I have had failures too and have learned from them- but the successes definitely outweigh them.
I continually tell others about this amazing invention and rely on it to feed my family and customers.

When you unpack the Cook4Me it looks like a small satellite. Once n the bench top the best part is, everything is self contained. There are no additional boxes, racks or satchels, just the appliance, instruction manual and a recipe book. (They are also available online). The same recipes are stored in the control panel but the book is handy for quick reference. In fact the paper recipe book only tells you the ingredients and quantities, the rest of the information you need is stored in the appliance itself. There are only two main controls, a rotary dial with a pushbutton in the middle of it, and a separate, "back" button.
My first journey into the cook4me's capabilities doesn't sound that exciting. I needed rice, and I needed it in a hurry. A bit of history. We used to have a rice cooker but I got sick of it because it used to burn the rice onto the bottom of the bowl, so we reverted to a saucepan. Our old, electric stove means keeping rice at just the right temperature is a chore, plus lots of time and water wasted. Of course cooking rice isn't really a recipe, but no bother. The screen on the cook4me has a selection of 4 main items - recipes, ingredients, manual, and favourites. The "ingredients" section has other subgroups, so I selected "rice and cereals" and away I went. I just followed the instructions and in minutes, had lots of perfectly cooked rice. I can honestly say I was amazed as this was the first time I had ever used the cook4me and had expected it to be a somewhat frustrating experience but that was not the case.
Next I was a bit more adventurous and tried pumpkin risotto from the "recipes" menu. Honestly, the preparation took longer than the cooking time. I usually cook pumpkin risotto in the oven and that can be a time consuming experience, but the cook4me offers a step by step, simple process. I ended up on the lounge waiting for the chime to go off, (after which there is a "keep warm" option but so far I have not needed it) and it only took six minutes to cook. Six minutes!
Finally, after a big weekend a meat pie went in the oven with the kids asking for mash potatoes. Usually this results in me, standing next to a saucepan poking chunks of potato with a fork, but this time diced potatoes went into the cook4me, the weight entered, water added and minutes later, cooked potatoes were done.
After cooking, the main bowl is light weight and easy to clean. There is also a basket for steaming which is also easy to remove and clean. There is a small, removable condensate container that needs to be emptied after each use but this is no drama, it just clicks in place.
As a parent of three kids, the speed that the cook4me turns out meals is the best part. I find it quiet astonishing actually. OK, it does take up some benchtop real estate but the advantages far outweigh the one, disadvantage.

I use this reguarly. I cook lots of things as there is a built in recipes and a book. So easy as it shows all ingredients and instructions throught the cooking time is much quicker. Makes rissoto in no time at all and no need to be constantly stirring, perfectly and thats hust 1 of so many dishes to cook. Switches to keep warm function.
Couldn't do with out the Cook4me

I’ve been testing the Tefal Cook4Me+ multicooker for the past month under the Ambassador programme.

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT THIS APPLIANCE
*It rarely burns food. I’ve used the browning setting extensively – it’s fantastic for browning onions, mushrooms and tomatoes without blackening them.
*It makes the most of cheaper cuts of meat when used on the manual pressure cook setting – they come out tender and tasty. Fresh corn and frozen veggies also retain their flavour on manual pressure cooked.
*It’s ideal for making quick and easy meals like omelettes when you’re in a rush. I’ve found the best results are achieved by setting it to manual browning for 2 minutes. While the egg mixture is cooking, let the lid rest down to trap most of the steam in (but don’t bolt the lid).
*While it's not a slow cooker, if you cook the ingredients on manual pressure cooker for about 10 minutes, then select "keep warm" mode until you're ready to serve , the end result in terms of taste and texture is very similar to slow cooking (works well for homemade pea and ham soup)

This is the first time I’ve used an appliance with inbuilt recipes. I’ve been impressed by the flavour of the inbuilt recipes. Most main course recipes use easy to obtain ingredients. I haven’t tried any of the inbuilt dessert recipes yet but I plan to.

The appliance also comes with a printed recipe book. This is particularly handy for meal planning because you can flick through and find a recipe and check that you have all the ingredients for it, before selecting it on the cooker.

The appliance comes with a user manual. Parts of this manual are very informative and the print size is easy to read. (Other parts need revision - font size too small, insufficient information etc)

There is a helpful instructional video on how to wash the lid and the pressure cooker valves at this link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3qxmmzL0UI

The Tefal app can be downloaded if you’d like additional Cook4Me recipes. There is also a Tefal Cook4Me Facebook page with more recipe ideas and user feedback.

THINGS I FELT NEED IMPROVING
The main issue I’ve had with the appliance to date is troubleshooting error code messages.
There simply isn’t enough information in the Tefal manual to help consumers work out how to fix any issues they have with their multicooker. The dearth of troubleshooting information leaves consumers unsure whether the issue they are having is user error or an appliance fault.

The single page troubleshooting table in the user manual needs to be expanded. Also the table is difficult to read because the print is too small.

Consumers expect appliances to work when they are new. Getting an error code the first time you use a new appliance is stressful. Getting multiple error messages during the first few weeks of use dampens brand loyalty.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Hubby gave the pressure cooker lid its first pre-use wash under running water. The appliance worked in manual pressure cooking mode the first two times I used it (I cooked veggies in the provided basket. ) The third night I decided to try my first inbuilt recipe. Midway through this recipe it spat up an error 24 message. The screen on the cooker advised me to add more liquid or refer to the user manual. The recipe was watery so I consulted the user manual. It informed me that the pressure had decreased while cooking and the solution was to add more liquid! Grrrr…

Hubby examined the lid and noticed that the middle ball valve wasn’t centred. He rewashed everything, repositioned the ball and reassembled it for me. The error 24 messages persisted in recipe mode. I also had issues unlocking the lid and an error 21 code in recipe mode.

After about a fortnight of recurrent error messages I decided to pull the lid to bits again. This time I washed the lid, all the valves and the ball in very hot soapy water in the sink before reassembling it. To my astonishment (not to mention hubby’s) it worked perfectly. Hubby examined the lid a couple of days later out of curiosity. He told me the ball was now self-centring correctly. And since our initial teething issues, the cooker has continued to work with no further error codes (to date).

It’s too early to say if I would recommend this appliance. The first two weeks were rough going. I had multiple issues as described above. However, for the past fortnight (since using hot soapy water on the lid and components) the cooker has been trouble-free and I’ve become increasingly relaxed about using it.
While the appliance hasn’t faulted since the hot wash treatment, I am not ruling out that the appliance might have an intermittent fault – i.e. a faulty heating or pressure sensor, or a fault that only shows up when a user tries to make a certain installed recipe.

INSIGHTS AND TROUBLESHOOTING TIPS
Error code 24 (pressure dropping during cooking) seems to be the most common fault code. Both the cooker and the manual recommend adding more water, 50 ml - 100 ml at a time to resolve this error code.
The problem is, adding more water only fixes error code 24 if the food you are cooking has insufficient water to make enough steam (i.e. user error).

There are other reasons why the pressure might decrease while cooking which the manual doesn’t mention. Not enough heat because of an insensitive heating sensor might cause a decrease in pressure. So might steam releasing prematurely due to a sticky valve.

If your common sense tells you that the adding more water to an already watery mixture is not going to make any difference, the following suggestions may help fix an error code. (Note: these tips are not in the troubleshooting section of the user manual – I’ve gleaned them from various online sources while trying to resolve my own error codes.)
• Try switching to manual pressure cooking mode. Some users have commented that they have trouble with some of the inbuilt recipes on auto mode but that cooking in manual mode works fine.
• Lift out the bowl and check inside the appliance. Check that the silver round central element with the sensor is ultra-clean (see Photo 4). Flour dust, a grain of spice, a drip of water etc can make the central sensor inaccurate so the element doesn’t switch on regularly enough to maintain the cooking pressure. I've got into the habit of checking the middle heat sensor every time BEFORE I start cooking a meal.
• Check the bottom of the food bowl is scrupulously clean when you wash it, and dry it thoroughly before putting it back into the appliance. A trace of grease, a drip of water, a grain of salt etc might cause the sensor to inaccurately detect the temperature. I've got into the habit of checking the bottom of the bowl every time BEFORE I start cooking a meal.
• Wash the lid, the three valves and the removable ball in HOT, SOAPY WATER. (Photos 1-3). If the ball lets steam escape before it’s meant to, the cooking pressure might drop or not build up during cooking.
• If you can't clear the error codes and you have a half cooked inbuilt recipe, try browning mode to see if that’s working. If it is, finish the meal in browning mode which is like traditional stovetop cooking anyway. Next time try a different inbuilt recipe. Do any of the inbuilt recipes work? (Some users claim that the inbuilt recipes cook at different pressures. These pressures are preset by Tefal, and this is why some inbuilt recipes work and others don’t.)

Other issues: If the lid won’t unbolt and you are sure all the steam has discharged, you can stick a skewer in the hole near the vent to manually release the rod mechanism (see photo 5). The user manual explains this procedure in more detail.

THE TEFAL APP
Pros:
*The app is a good source of recipe ideas.
*It’s convenient because you can copy and paste recipe ingredients over to your shopping list, or screenshot a recipe that’s custom designed for the TefalCook4Me.
*Also by reading other people’s comments about the recipes, you can also get an idea of the issues others had with a recipe before trying it.

Cons:
*Some of the app recipes have very similar names to the inbuilt recipes which can be confusing e.g. the recipe for chicken and rice on the app has entirely different ingredients to the recipe for chicken with rice which is installed on the machine.
*Some of the app recipe instructions are confusing. e.g. The app instructions might say “start cooking” – but not say whether start cooking means "start pressure cooking" or "start browning". Other app recipes ask if you’ve put in the ingredients, if you click yes or done, the cooking countdown timer will start (and finish) before the appliance has even finished preheating...
*App permissions: You have to give the Tefal app permission to access your phone’s microphone

The Tefal cook for me is essentially a pressure cooker with a timer on it. It will brown, simmer etc, and then you can set the timer on the pressure cooker and walk away. 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 exagerating). Because it's a closed system, you resist the urge to over-season the food and the natural flavours are the star. If like me, you have teenagers that put things on the stove and walk away and forget, then the this unit with the timed cooking / automatic switch off is an essential peice of kit for the kitchen. Enjoy

Pressure cooking significantly speeds up food cooking, particularly large quantities. I upgraded from another electric pressure cooker (Midea) to this spaceship looking device which has guided built-in recipes and a colour screen.
The step-by-step recipes all turned out great, such as it guides you to "brown" the food when applicable in the machine to improve the flavour before adding the rest of the ingredients. You can choose to cook smaller or larger quantities. The cooking consistency of larger items was great and it was generally easy to use with a bright, clear screen and logically done controls. It was also quiet during cooking, with just a soft white noise.
The cook4me can work like traditional pressure cookers with basic modes for open-lid cooking, rice and pressure.
Everything is automated, there is a countdown timer, the venting after cooking happens automatically and it beeps to warn you beforehand.
When done, the large, easy-grab handles let you lift out the bowl easily and the base was stable. I found no areas of hot steam or hot areas of concern apart from the obvious vent area..
Cleaning was generally good, the bowl is non-stick, and top assembly comes apart. The ball regulator is also removable for thorough cleaning.
The display colours and icons were great, and the display has a good viewing angle (see last picture) which avoided having to bend down.
Improvements?: I had some problems with the app. Up front it wanted tracking cookies. Not a good start, glad I pressed more-info and turned off the pre-ticked YES to "tracking/Personalisation/Advertising". The basic recipes should have been offline rather than the whole lot being essentially a wrapped mobile site. It didn't load a few times, not a fun experience at the supermarket when trying to buy ingredients.
I also found the beeps to be very harsh with what sounded like something loose in the beeper, the sound could be improved with a better speaker or perhaps speech guidance added.
The main control knob is also very hard to turn with greasy hands, it should have bumps or a texture on this, or a larger touchscreen in a future model. Getting to the top lid assembly was also more difficult than I was used to, I had to unscrew an aluminium knob which is easily lost and it's also not obvious if it's on backwards, consider making this nut captive. Include a measuring cup for dry ingredients and have certain measures additionally as "volume" in the recipes as this is easier than weight. "Milk 125mL (1/12 cup)"

We've owned 2 pressure/slow cookers over the years and love cooking with them.
Let me put it simply, my husband loves creating meals in them and I love eating the food.

I generally avoided using our previous pressure/slow cooker for a number of reasons, it's cumbersome to pull out of the cupboard, messy to clean up when done and I could never get it to seal correctly without numerous attempts which drove me insane.
I should point out that this is not an old pressure cooker it's still on the market.

When the Tefal Cook4Me arrived we were pleasantly surprised with just how easy it is to use compared to what we have been using.
It comes with pre-installed recipes and you can also download the app which is full of fantastic recommendations.
I love this.
I am by no means the cook in the household - my husband does 90% of the cooking and is very particular with the type of food he serves. Lets just say he's a foodie.

So when I cook, I need a recipe.. Being a foodie, my husband cringes a little when he sees me pulling recipes off the net and slapping things together in under an hour.
If it's not some kind of Peruvian Duck or a triage of fancy elements perfectly cooked and seasoned then I can see his heart sink (and mine too) a little at serving.

Enter the Tefal!
Pre-Installed Recipes.
Pressure Cooking, Classic Cooking, Steaming, Reheating.
It's almost fool proof.
It really does 'Cook4me"
Step by step guides, ingredients & instructions and a count down timer and fancy little screen that allows you to perfectly manage dinner and family in that busy time of the evening.

Let's be clear, my husband didn't rate one of the recipes that was on it to begin with - scoffing at my delight and excitement when I cruised though the endless list of suggestions to cook eagerly wanting to take over his domain...

I could see he didn't want to give this fancy new kitchen machine a chance as his ties to our old pressure/slow cooker were strong with all the wonderful meals he had created.

But something changed.

His love for the Tefal become apparent while he browned off his ingredients.
I saw him shrug, slightly impressed with a raised eyebrow as the aroma of his ingredients wafted thickly into the air.

The browning was quick, very efficient and much faster than our other pressure cooker which tended to stew the ingredients over a drawn out period of time.

He threw the meat in, expecting the heat to drop off but instead the meat browned and fat rendered perfectly.
Just as fast as it would on our gas cooktop.
In less than a few minutes he was ready to throw in his liquids and lock it up.
Super impressive.

It was clear he was fighting his emotions.
He didn't want this new beaut fancy kitchen gadget I'd already fallen in love with, to out compete his old faithful pressure cooker.

He complained about the dial being too sensitive when he turned it and lack of buttons but he was clearly clutching straws at this point.
NB: The dial is not overly sensitive and there is a button in the center of the dial for selecting AND a back button beside it - wonderfully simple and easy to manage/clean ect... but apparently not enough buttons for this man of the house *insert eye roll here*.

We disagreed with how long the meat should be cooked for. The tefal said 20.
From experience, the other pressure cooker would take 40.
I pressured him to do what the Tefal said and if it needed more, we'd pop it in again.
We went with the 20 minutes for the beef.

While he went outside to hit some golf balls, I eyed the tefal off wondering if what he was creating inside would be just as good.

It smelt amazing.

I was rooting for the Tefal by now.

It was quiet, counting down.

The steam coming out intermittently & silently.

And while our old pressure cooker just blasted steam out so much that we needed to place it under our cook tops extractor fan to ensure it didn't destroy the underside of our wall cabinets, the tefal did not need to be moved to accommodate this.
The steam that was emitted was not a problem.

After 20 minutes after it had take a short time to become pressurized, the Tefal let out a glorious announcement.
The digital screen lit up with Serve & Enjoy!

It reminded my husband to empty the condensation trap.
To which he had no idea what that was, as our old pressure cooker would just pour condensation around its rim or blast it over our cabinets.

This is where I took the lead, simply removing the catcher at the back and pouring the water into the sink.
"Well that's stupid" he piped *insert another eye roll*

THE UNVEILING

The bowl inside the Tefal is ingenious.

It comes with two over sized heatproof handles permanently attached to the bowl and no seams in which things can drip and build up in over time.

GAME
CHANGER

It means you can pull the entire bowl out to serve and clean it while it's still hot.
No need to grab mitts and awkwardly hold a hot bowl by its rim over the sink while scraping out sauce before it sets hard.
There is also no deep rim around the unit itself where stray drips of deliciousness get stuck in and create havoc when trying to wipe out hot areas.

The meat looked tender, smelt amazing - as all of my husbands meals do *wink*

He switched the dial back to classic cooking and simmered the curry down, adding a few other final ingredients.

Simmer really was a simmer. And far too weak for if he wanted to reduce the liquid.

I can imagine when I slowly make my way through the recipes I'll be able to try all the extras this machine can do.

Back to browning/reducing for a few minutes
A quick trip out to the garden for some accompaniments, and before I new it the meal was laid on the table before my eyes.

We each took a mouthful.
My husbands eyebrow raised again, and his eyes caught mine.

"Ok, well, that's surprising".

He's a man of few words.

But I knew he was caving, hopelessly realizing the old pressure cooker was just not up to par with what the efficient Tefal can produce.

Not much was said after that.

However, the next night, there sat the Tefal proudly on the bench, happily whipping up our next dinner in less than an hour.

He insisted the recipes that came with it were far to 'basic' for his liking however the way it cooked was 1000 times better than he'd had.

Throughout his meat cooking trials he made a pulled pork - Which is not something that he would do - that's more my kind of go to meal.

He did his own spices and the meat was delectable. Super juicy & tender.

So good, that I told him I'd be making the pulled pork from the Tefal recipe.
Because really.. how bad could it be?

He wasn't excited. But handed me the kitchen reins late one evening.

It trumped his pulled pork.

I wouldn't tell him to his face, but sweet baby jesus couldn't have made a pulled pork slider as amazing as that dish turned out.

I was heralded a cook for once in my life.

He swallowed his pride that night, and began browsing the app for recipes.

It took a few more meals to trial cuts of meat and cooking times before he finally said it.

"Yep, review it. It's bloody amazing".

Since the Tefal Cook4me has come into our lives we've used it 3 or 4 times a week.

As someone who wants simple directions to create amazing food. You wont be disappointed.

If you are a bit of a foodie who wants all the bells and whistles in a pressure cooker then look no further.

We haven't got one bad thing to say about the way the Tefal looks, cooks and cleans up after.
It's a game changer in our household and certainly worth investing in one for your kitchen!

I'll update my review in time if anything changes.

*We predominately use our pressure cooker for delicious curries (Indian & Thai, pulled pork, beef stews and falling off the bone meat dishes.

I loved using the Tefal COOK4ME, I always want to prepare healthy delicious meals for my family but with a full time job & other commitments I always have struggled. The built in recipes gave me the direction of where to start as I have never used this
way of cooking previously. The directions where straight forward and the results where amazing. The favourite has been the mushroom & spinach risotto. Being able to reheat the left overs without the microwave has made me realise how much better the food can
taste. Pumpkin, broccoli, potato & leek soups have all been winners. I can cook light fluffy prefect rice in 9 minutes. The time I have saved by the pressure cooking setting has been able to be spent on other activities. The ability to brown onions & bacon
in 2 minutes sounded unbelievable but it really worked and the taste & texture was not compromised at all. Overall it is a great multi cooker and I recommend it to all us time poor people out there.

I have fancied owning a Cook4me+ for a long time. I already own 2 electric pressure cookers but after watching the infomercials, what appealed to me was the main point of difference this machine offers- the combination of pressure cooking with inbuilt recipes.
I imagine that is the attracting feature for a lot of other people too and it is the reason I have only given it 3 stars, because at the moment, the inbuilt recipes and the recipe book are seriously not up to scratch. More on that later.

The Cook4Me+ itself is a sturdy, well made machine and the inner lid, though a lot more fiddly than on other electric pressure cookers, is a much more solid, better quality piece of work. It is not substantially bigger than other electric pressure cookers although at first glance you may think so. It is about the same height as others and just a fraction wider.
The Cook4Me+ and I did not get off to a good start. I decided to make Massaman curry for 2 (inbuilt recipe). At the start of cooking, the machine loudly and forcefully vented 3 large hisses of steam. It seems this is an emergency steam release and can happen any time and it has happened occasionally with other recipes though never as forcefully. The real problem though followed soon after. Steam began to vent from around the lid, most especially from the handles.
I have since joined a Cook4me Face book group and it seems this can sometimes be a problem and some people have had to replace their units as the problem persisted.
I have used my machine many times after that though without the problem recurring. All electric pressure cookers can be touchy, most especially about the amount of liquid in a recipe though, and this one is no exception, so always make sure you have enough water in it and stir.

However, one problem with Cook4me+ (that initially might seem like an advantage) is the automatic release of pressure. Unlike other electric pressure cookers, you have no control, there is no manual override. When a cooking session goes as planned, this is fine. But when the machine threw up an error message and stopped cooking midway, I found no way to get it to release steam, I had to wait for it to dissipate, which was frustrating.

Pressure cookers to my mind are wonderful though for their ability to reduce even a tough cut of meat to tender in about 30 minutes. If you want to quickly make things like a pie filling or casserole, then this is the machine for you.
The Cook4Me+ can be used in manual mode. That means that you can look up pressure cooker recipes online and use those (which I would advise actually), you are not restricted in any way to the inbuilt recipes or the phone app.
It has a wonderfully dimpled, non stick inner bowl that I love. Very easy to wash. You can brown your food in it before pressure cooking, which means everything is done in the one bowl, not much cleaning up to do.
It does have a couple of other features it took me a little while to adjust to. Not faults as such. First was the screen. It is not a touch screen as I am used to on my thermie, you have to keep pushing the ‘Okay’ button with this one.
Second is that although the recipes are inbuilt, only the pressure cooking part is timed for you, so if a recipe asks you to brown something for 5 minutes, you’ll need to be doing that manually and watch the clock. Not big points, but just so you know.

One feature that I was initially very impressed with was the fact that with the inbuilt recipes, you can choose to cook for 2, 4 or 6 people and the machine will show you the adjusted ingredient amounts accordingly. Great idea, pity about the execution.
Often I am cooking for only two of us but sometimes with the family over, I want to cook for more, so I could see this feature being fantastically useful.

The potential is still there but the inbuilt recipes are a minefield and until this company proofreads the book, tests the instructions as given and reprints, there is no way they deserve 5 stars. I know that might seem harsh if my main complaint is with their recipes and not the machine but as I said earlier, a lot of people probably consider buying this machine exactly because of the attraction of the inbuilt recipes.

Here is what I found. The recipe book contains only recipe name/preparation and cooking time/ingredient list. It does NOT include instructions and it desperately needs to.

1. Sometimes the ingredient quantities as given in the cookbook do NOT match up with what shows on the machine's screen (e.g. Glazed carrots for 2). This was not a huge problem as such as it was just the quantity of carrots that differed but to my mind, as a matter of principle, ingredient lists need to be accurate.
2. What infuriated me was one recipe (Satay chicken for 2). I defy anyone to cook this recipe, as instructed, without disastrous results. As far as I can make out, it does the whole of the 6 minute pressure cook without at any stage asking you to add chicken or half the other ingredients. I would have appreciated having the instructions in the cookbook to double check. I had to wing it.
Maybe the instructions are more accurate in the 4 and 6 person versions, I don’t know, but I expect it to be accurate in all of them.

The cookbook itself looks good at first glance. Good size, nice quality paper. Second glance though, you notice lots of spelling errors (e.g. Rositto for Risotto). Spelling errors we can all live with but it is an indication to me of overall sloppy attention to detail. It is the mistakes in recipes and recipe instructions that most concerns me. It needs to be sorted.

If you buy one of these, take the instructions seriously and don’t install it under cupboards as it vents a lot of steam. Unlike a normal pressure cooker, it also vents occasionally during the cook and you have absolutely no control of when it will vent, during or at the end, so you need to keep children well away.
If you don’t have much open bench space maybe do as I do. Sometimes I put mine on a board on the unused cook top, under the range hood.

I’ve only had the Cook4me+ a month. I can see its potential, it’s a good quality, well built machine, it's a good pressure cooker, but the recipe book and instructions are not up to scratch. You can certainly use Cook4Me+ on manual though for a huge range of other online recipes, but I expect to also be able to use the inbuilt recipes without problems. Many of their recipes are fine but some aren't.

The Tefal Cook4Me+ is so intuitive it allows all the family to cook dinner. The instructions includes ingredients, directions and a menu with awesome flavoursome meals that cannot go wrong.

We are the usual busy family with kids going to dancing, school, we are getting home all hours from work. The Tefal Cook4Me saves us so much time and we have started eating better meals also, with a bit more vegetables in our meals. How does it work? Basically you chop everything up... throw it in the multi cooker and it cooks it for you! It speeds up cooking time because it's a pressure cooker. Our favourite recipes are; risotto, lentil and vegetable stews and soups. The built in recipe function is super, and you'll find the menu book great for ideas.

One thing I did like is how it keeps your meals VERY warm after you switch it off at the wall. I made a risotto in the morning and unplugged the Cook4Me before going out for a few hours. When I got home it was still too hot to eat!

I can highly recommend the Cook4Me. It will save you heaps of time.

Great product does what it says, but non-stick surfaces have proven to reduce immunity (ie fight cancer cells). So, an overal 0 from me. Budgies and canaries sitting next to non-stick surfaces while they are heating up have died from the fumes.

We have one of these in the kitchen and use it reasonably often. It is easy to use and the built in recipes are easy to follow. The Corned Beef we cook in it comes out perfect. Sometimes the inner bowl can be a little small when trying to get a Lamb Leg into it with the bone, but that is the only issue we have had with this cooker.

Firstly let me say that this is slow cooker and pressure cooker combined really it just cuts down the cooking time for meals and deserts to a more manageable level especially if you are time poor and dont have time to actually do the slow cooker route in the mornings.

If you are contemplating buying this cooker remember that even though with the lid closed it looks like it might fit where you want it too go, with the lid open it adds another 6 inches to the height off the cooker, which was something I didn't realise till I got the cooker. I cleaned out a cupboard getting rid off a few things I dont' use anymore and also found a spot to put it away while not in use and again you need to make sure the space is big enough so the cooker's lid can be left partially open as recommended by the manufacturer.

I used the Tefal Cook4Me app to get some recipes and found that these were pretty much right with measurements and ingredients for the amount of people to be cooking for. I did also adapt a Beef Stew recipe I normally use in my slow cooker to cook a meal and have some left over, using my own ingredients and adapting it for myself. Remember though if you are increasing the amount of ingredients in any recipe to slightly increase the amount of water you use even though the cooking time is the same it seems to take up more water if the ingredients are increased, I guess because there's less space in the base for the water.

My first recipe I used the Balsamic chicken wings just to see how it worked and what the food would taste like and it was very nice, but off course the wings didn't crisp up like it normally would in an oven it's still a tasty snack though. I also cooked up bread and butter pudding using the steamer which is very quaint and after I figured out the two pieces off steel loose in the cooker were for the base off the steamer I was okay using it.

The manual off the cooker says it does smell a little after use so to leave the lid open slightly which I did, and it does retain smells from the stronger ingredients and it did so after using the balsamic vinegar even after washing it it doesn't taint the next meal you cook. After a time though it seems too dissipate.

The one drawback I find is that you MUST wash all the parts after each use and if you are one off those families that eat later than usual you might find it a bit off a chore but it is only one drawback I find with the Cook4Me. You can adapt your own recipes but remember it's a pressure cooker not a slow cooker so the timing is where you might need help which the app doesn't give you much instructions on and neither does the books enclosed with the cooker.

I used the beef stew recipe on the app as a guide only adding my own ingredients and spices but did use the same amount off water for 2 people which gave me extra for later, but I needed to add a bit more so I was lucky that I didn't leave it on warm to long. the keep warm part off the cooker is a godsend really especially if you are in the middle of doing something else when it finishes cooking and handy for those who are waiting for someone to come home and they are running late. Remember though extra water might be needed as even when keeping warm it doesn't use that up.

Steam comes out off the back part off the lid so dont' put it too near the wall, curtains or blinds but other than that it's a good product. I also found that the little container art the back that holds moisture, condensation trap they call it, sometimes gets pretty full if you're cooking a larger meal so maybe that too need to be looked at but it's just a matter of being careful and the lid does accumulate water under the metal lining part off it which runs down into that condensation trap at the back when you lift the lid.

I didn't' use it to cook rice in it so can't comment on that nor did I saute but I did use it to brown the meat etc before putting it in pressure cook mode to cook the stew. there was one thing while browning I used the recipe programmed in and forgot I had to tell it I wanted to stop browning, it didn't affect the cook at all I just need to remember to keep an eye on it and to turn off the browning part when I'm done.

I think though there needs to be more instructions on timing, how much water to use if you do adapt recipes for those of us who are used to using our own favourite recipes though, both on the app and in the booklets they enclose with the cooker.

This product is great for it you want a nice dinner fast, and it lists all of the ingredients you need, or you can search for recipes based on what you have in your cupboard. We use it regularly and you can set and forget it. Would love for some more recipes/ rotating recipes that you could update it with.

If you are a novice cook, you will enjoy the features of the Cook4Me+.

As with all appliances, there is a teething period where you have to learn the features and tweak how you operate it (like not screwing the underside of the lid on too tightly). It is evident a lot of thought and design went into this appliance, from the excellent non stick pot, to the handles allowing you to remove the hot pot safely, to the sleek look of the appliance.

The browning function is particularly impressive with a fast heat up allowing all the flavours to remain in your meal rather than decanting between the stove and the appliance as required by other multi cookers I have tried.

The recipes provided via the Cook4Me app are generally simple and easy to follow. There are some minor errors within some recipes which can usually be resolved with common sense, and the photos can be a more stylised version of what your meal will actually look like (my BBQ chicken drumsticks and Thai chicken and rice looked different), but all recipes we tried were pretty tasty and it is very easy to make notes and tweak the recipe to your personal preferences.

It is also worthwhile looking at the recipe reviews in the app to pick up hints that other people have used to tweak and improve the recipes. Some recipes seem to miss a step telling you to put in ingredients which can be confusing the first time you cook something - if you let common sense prevail you can generally work it out pretty quick. The recipes tend to rely on prepackaged sauces, which would suit people looking for quick flavour but aren’t as healthy as homemade fresh ones.

Also, be aware that you will generally need a minimum of 200ml of fluid in the cooker to stop it alarming. Bear this in mind for your recipes or you will find the machine will constantly alarm, depressurise and stop cooking your meal (and make your dinner late). This caught me off guard a few times. You also need to allow extra time for ‘preheating’ which is not always accounted for in the recipe time.

Overall, the machine is very intuitive, stylish, easy to maintain and of a high quality that you would expect from Tefal. Seasoned cooks probably won’t love the prescriptive nature of the recipes provided, but the Cook4me+ makes a great investment for novice cooks looking for a quick and simple way to cook at home. Would recommend.

i brought one of these on advice from the Good Guys
Got it home and started cooking and steaming meats and it cooks it perfectly every time and great recipes on the machine
highly recommend

So impressed with this Tefal smart cooker. It has now replaced multiple appliances (saving space and washing up), gotten my partner who would never cook before to start cooking because it's so simple and straightforward with its instructions and made cooking easier for me. It basically does everything except chop up your ingredients. This is one of the best kitchen appliances I have ever had.

Overall design - sleek and modern and a beautiful deep red. The screen can be personalised and is very easy to use and navigate (It only took me about 15 minutes to go through the manual and figure out how to use the inbuilt menu fully). It's quite simple and intuitive, so you don't get overwhelmed with figuring the machine out before you've even begun to use it. The help manual is also very clear and with not a lot of complicated instructions. It's sturdy and solid, but not overly heavy and bulky, so it can be moved and stored easily. Have used this multiple times and its been easy to wash up (just lift out the large pot and wipe the machine down).

In-built recipes - the fact that you can look through the recipe book they provide (which has tonnes of recipe selections - and they are simple recipes too, not ones with lots of ingredients) and select a "base recipe" where it tells you the ingredients and amounts and then adjust it is awesome. My partner is pretty useless in the kitchen as he just doesn't really know what to do and how to use the other appliances. Now he just grabs the recipe book, buys what is needed and when he selects the recipe on the smartcooker it walks him through everything - it's super foolproof. There is also a way to program your own recipes. It sets the correct cooking time for recipes (so if you are using a certain recipe it will tell you to cook/simmer/pressure cook something for a set amount of time and then give you an alert when it's completed). This means things are never over/undercooked. The recipes we have tried from the book have all been delicious.

Replacing other appliances - this has not replaced my rice cooker, slow cooker, pressure cooker and even the general stovetop (as you can do things like browning onions, cooking meat, adding in vegs/sauce) in the one pot. You can also do everything in the one pot

Pressure Cooker - I haven't really used a pressure cooker much before, and a lot of the time would forget to put things in the slow cooker to leave on for the day. Now I rely on the pressurecooker (if you throw in all the ingredients for a curry in, it takes about 6 minutes to pressure cook it so everything is cooked and soft).

Overall Pros
- Price (considering how many appliances this replaces, it is well worth the price).
- Design (sleek, modern yet very easy to use and navigate through the inbuilt menu
- In-built recipes (amazing feature - saves so much time with deciding what to eat, figuring out what/how much to buy and working through recipe).
One-pan design - you can do everything in the one pot, so there's not a lot of washing up.
Cook4me App - The app is great. It has all the instructions, recipes inbuilt and you can go through it and select your recipe and get it to make a shopping list for you.
Time saver - this machine saves time at every part of making a meal. From having a range of recipes to choose from to generate a shopping list for you so you're not figuring out what to buy/how much to walking you through every step of the process and ringing an alarm when certain stages are completed (so things aren't over/undercooked)

Cons
- The colour (this is pretty much the only con I have, I prefer black/white appliances and while this is a very beautiful deep red I would have liked a colour choice).

I cooked a stew recipe from the book supplied, it was scrumptious and tender after 35 mins cooking time. Wow My Partner cooked chicken wings, and he was very happy.

I can't cook. It's as simple as that. I have never been able to cook anything and unfortunately my family has suffered because of it. I try but everything seems to be a complete failure.

I came across the Tefal Cook4me+ on a shopping channel and was intrigued. Watched a few more shows and researched on youtube. I was sold!

It looks great straight out of the box. In truth it sat on my bench for months - I was too scared to try it. Then one day I decided to try the chicken risotto - wow! So easy and such a small amount of ingredients. There is a huge number of inbuilt recipes to try and the app is great for browsing and consulting when I'm at the supermarket and have forgotten my list. The machine tells you what to do, when to add things and when to open and close the lid. It keeps things warm too which is a nice feature.

Cleaning the machine is very easy too. Comes apart easily and the huge bowl is non-stick. Sometimes smells may linger (especially after curries) but they do not stay long and don't interfere with other meals.

So far I've cooked risottos, curries and casseroles. The only fail I had was a whole chicken. Everything else has been great which is such a blessing for someone with absolutely no cooking skills at all. I admit I've only used the inbuilt recipes but that's all I need at the moment. I would definitely recommend this product.