Hamilton BeachSet 'n Forget Programmable Slow Cooker With Temperature Probe, 6-Quart (33967)

My last slow cooker was being recalled, so I was in need of a new one asap. At first I thought this slow cooker looked great, and after reading reviews, I was a little nervous that it would shut off in the middle of cooking. Either way, I decided to purchase it and was so glad I did! I wasn't looking to spend a ton, so the price was just right for this model. As soon as I unpacked it (2 days after ordering -- thanks Amazon!) I was impressed. It looked really sturdy and was visually pleasing. Everything comes apart easily, and the lid has these great latches to keep heat in. And the meat thermometer comes with it as well. At first glance, I was happy.Now for how it cooks.. it's very easy to use and after a quick glance at the instruction manual, I was ready to go. My first attempt was a pork roast, and I wanted to test out the meat thermometer. I did this on Sunday so I would be home to make sure if anything went wrong (but nothing did). I filled the pot with a mixture of soup and water, added in the 3 lb roast, stuck in thermometer, set it to 170 and let it go. About halfway through, I threw in some veggies. After 4 hours on low, the slow cooker beeped and turned on to warm.. the roast was done, and it was PERFECTLY cooked! I was so happy with this slow cooker. Now I was confident I could leave it on all day while I was at work. So far I've made chili, sloppy joes, applesauce, beef stew, and everything came out great. I had a problem with my old crock pot that even on low, the edges would burn, but not here. I set everything for ~7 h on low, then it turns to warm, and everything is great when I get home from work. The programmable features are perfect on this model.Overall, I am very happy with my purchase and highly recommend this slow cooker!

Other reviewers have mentioned all of the positive attributes of the "Set & Forget, by Hamilton Beach. So I won't write another manual on how to operate it.I must say it cooks a lot faster than my old crock pot. I've only used it twice, once on a pork roast and once on chicken breasts. Each time I cooked about 5 pounds of meat and it was done in under 5 hours using the temperature probe and low heat setting. The pork roast finished in exactly 4 hours and the chicken took 4.5 hours.One interesting tidbit is that the USDA says poultry should cook until it is 165 degrees F. but the directions that come with this cooker says 180 F when using the temperature probe. I cooked the chicken to 170 F and saw no pink left in the middle of the breasts. I thaw them in the refrigerator, trim them and rinse. I put them in whole and coat with BBQ sauce. Set and forget. Later they are tender and seem done to me. They came out as good as what I used to produce in 7 hours cooking in the older pot. I really hate white chicken meat when it dries out.On my old 4.5 quart slow cooker, I had no temperature probe, never used a thermometer and saw pink at times. Never got sick. Maybe I was lucky. I always cooked them for 7 hours on low and I had it loaded! Most of the recipes called for 7 hours, but were not intended for 5 to 6 pounds of meat. Lucky me. -:)I never thought much about it until the last time I tried to use the old cooker it seemed to be taking forever to heat up. I checked out this old one using 2 quarts of water at 90 degrees, on low for two hours. It only got to 140 degrees, which is too low. Should be 165 to be safe.I don't know why but I used 3 quarts of water on the "Set & Forget" before I cooked in it. I started at 92 degrees on low and in 2 hours it was up to 154 degrees. If it had been 2 quarts of water, I suspect the temperature would have been well above the 165 degrees we were looking for.Part of the reason I bought this slow cooker is because of the digital readout and temperature probe. I hate to say it is impossible to burn your food. (someone will figure a way) But using the probe and of course with a little liquid in the pot, it appears that one would have to try, unless their unit is defective.THE MAIN REASON I purchased this slow cooker is because it seemed to have more 5 star reviews than any other slow cooker I could find on the Internet.Programming is very easy. Just RTFM, (read the fine manual). Hey, I'm a guy, but I read manuals. -:)I can see how using this cooker could be a problem for people who work and have to leave if they have power outages. Even just short ones. Yes, it will loose it's memory and shut off. That is in the design. So far the companies (apparently) do not see the need to produce a more expensive product with a battery back-up memory / timer. So if you have power problems, then go with a less expensive cooker that will come right back on when the power comes back. This is the only problem I see with the "Set & Forget".If you stay you can always just re-program it when the power comes back on. That is normally my case. But at least you don't have to baby sit slow cookers. Set & Forget.... Nice name...

Slow cookers never really interested me. I guess everyone I have known who used one was a bad cook, so I kind of felt slow cookers were for people who can't cook. Also, it seems to me like most people who use slow cookers use it as a lazy cook tool, with pre-packaged products and just throwing everything together, which to me makes the food extremely unattractive. Recently, though, I have been making lots of soups and stews, so I thought maybe it was time to consider getting a slow cooker.After lots of research, which included reading some slow cooking books and lots of reviews both on books and cookers, I decided to get this one. Of course, I was a little concerned about the issues mentioned on reviews, that the cooker shuts itself off, but I really liked the probe feature. So I made the purchase and hoped for the best. When the box arrived, it was big! I immediately thought I might not want to keep something so huge in my kitchen. Fortunately, there were actually two boxes, plus the original box it comes in, so the actual cooker wasn't as gigantic as I first thought, which was nice.Since I had read some recipes, including the ones that came in the manual, I decided to just try putting something together with what I had at home. Here's what I made:Pork Loin with Vegetables and Marsala1 1/2 lb boneless pork loin roast1 lb baby red potatoes1 lb baby carrots1 lb brussels sprouts1/2 lb red pearl onions5 garlic cloves3 slices of bacon, chopped2 tbs extra virgin olive oil2 bay leavescumincurrypowdered thymeLawry's garlic saltblack pepper1 teaspoon full of "Better Than Boullion" - beef1 cup of Marsala wine- Pat the roast dry and season it with the seasonings to taste, leave the bay leaves aside- Slice the garlic and, on a large skillet, brown the slices in the olive oil- Remove the garlic slices with a slotted spoon and reserve- Add the bacon to the skillet and fry the pieces until they're crunchy and all the fat has melted from the pieces, remove all the bacon with a slotted spoon and reserve- Make sure the oil is hot and bring the roast to the skillet, browing all sides, but being careful so the seasonings don't get burned on the bottom of the pan (mine did)- Place the carrots on the bottom of the pot of the slow cooker, add the bay leaves, and place the browned roast on top- Lower the heat and add the peeled pearl onions to the skillet, rolling them on the pan from time to time, for about 2 to 3 minutes- Add the wine and stir, scrapping the "burnt" areas with a wooden spoon to incorporate that to the wine- Add the beef concentrate (Better Than Boullion)- Stir the contents until the concentrate has been dissolved into the liquids- Place the potatoes around the roast in the slow cooker, then pour the contents of the skillet on top of it- Sprinkle the garlic and bacon on top of everything- Turn on the slow cooker, add the lid, place the probe into the meat, making sure it sits right in the middle of it, plug the probe into the cooker, set the temperature to 160 degrees and the cooking temperature to low.- Open the cooker after about 3 to 4 hours, lift the roast and stir everything else on the bottom of the pan, then place the roast back on top, add the brussels sprouts around the roast, replace the lid and probe, and allow the cooker to finish its cycleI was pleasantly surprised with the texture of the vegetables, as well as how moist the meet was. My thought was that things would turn out more like what I get when I cook using a pressure cooker, but that is not so. The carrots didn't fall apart and had a nice, firm, texture. So did the potatoes. The brussels sprouts were a tad overcooked for me, but I like them very firm and had added them after only 2 hours of cooking, so with the adjusted time it shouldn't be an issue, and they weren't mushy.Next time, I will marinade the pork for 24 hours using all the seasonings and lemon juice prior to browning it and make sure there is no seasoning on it when I do so, this should make it look nicer. A photo of this first meal made in the cooker is being posted.It was also very nice to find out that the cooker didn't turn itself off during the cooking process. I'll keep an eye and add updates here if it starts doing that, but this first time it worked really well and I was impressed with the results. I already have a beef roast in the freezer that is the next in line to try my new toy out with. At some point, I may try to brown the meat in the grill instead of on the stove, to see if it makes a difference in flavor. I'll probably also try that using the smoker, or charcoal grill to see what happens. So many possibilities, how exciting!Regarding other things I read about the cooker, I really think that the person who had trouble closing the lid was probably doing something wrong. Some people wrote about the lid, or insert, breaking. They seem pretty sturdy to me. Of course, anything that's made out of glass or ceramic will break if you hit it hard, or if it falls from a good distance onto a hard surface. I don't really believe they will break if handled properly and with proper care. If I remember, I'll take a picture and post it here.All things considered, me like! :)Enjoy!