Presto 06000 Kitchen Kettle Multi-Cooker

Comment: A very good general purpose cooker that is both rugged and easy to clean. The one weakness of this cooker is the four feet.

Comment: Just picked one of these up at Walmart thinking the temperature control was an improvement over the old Presto
Granpappy that finally gave up the ghost after 10 years. Wrong. This may work great for soups and other cooking but it's a bust for deep frying. Turned up to max the oil never got above 325 degrees. Cooked fish and fries and they were an oily mess. If you want a decent deep fryer keep looking.

Comment: I bought this at Walmart last year. I use it pretty often, but mostly for making popcorn. Turn temp to 350, put a couple-three tablespoons of peanut oil in the bottom, and then when the oil heats up throw in 1/3 to 1/2 cup of popcorn. Put the cover on and keep the pot moving while the corn pops. When the corn has just about stopped popping, turn the heat off and pour the popcorn into a bowl. Butter, salt and eat. YUM!

I've deep-fried scallops in it, steamed vegetables, cooked rice, made soup and even baked potatoes. The thing works great! I wasn't going to write a review until I saw Alton Brown talk some trash about it on Good Eats. I got pretty defensive about my humble Presto cooker! He was doing a silly episode about "man food" like corn dogs and thin, square hamburgers. Well, when Mr. Brown was explaining how to fry the corn dogs he said (while holding a Presto mutlti-cooker) that a pot with an heating element on the outside of the bottom wasn't a good idea because first the element had to heat the pot and then it had to heat up the oil. Too slow. After that he displayed three home-use rectangular fryers with immersion type heating elements. He said they were also better because they each had cooking baskets and break-away magnetic cords. He picked the one with the digital controls, while implying that this was somehow better than the manual rotary temp control.

I don't know if A. B. gets paid for product placement on his show, but I really thought he was being disingenuous regarding the Presto "pot." First of all, about the heating element on the bottom of the Presto cooker: During the frying demonstration, Mr. Brown had some text placed over the screen that said that if you didn't have a special electric fryer, that a pot on the stove-top would work fine. Isn't that interesting? What the heck is a pot on the stove, but just a heating element on the outside of a pot that heats up the pot and then the oil inside? That's exactly what he was criticizing the Presto kettle about. What gives? Secondly, the Presto cooker DOES TOO have a magnetic break-away electric cord to keep the unit from tipping when the cord is yanked by accident. Also, the Presto cooker DOES TOO come with a frying-steaming basket, which Brown implied it didn't have. Nya, nya, nya! See, I can be just as immature as Alton Brown!

I don't know if the rectangular fryers are really better, but I'm sure they cost a lot more. My Presto cooker was $26.85 at Walmart. I keep it in a lower cabinet - it doesn't take up much space there. I pull it out when I need it. It's inexpensive, easy to use, and simple. When we go to Maine in August, I'm allowed to take only one of my counter-top appliances. So, I just take the Presto cooker with me. Normally, I cook steel cut oats in a small bowl, sitting in water, in a slow cooker (a bain marie -sort of - found the idea here [...] I can do the same thing with the Presto cooker. And I have a pot with me on vacation that I can do so much more with.

One last thing. With my slow cooker I use a plug-in timer called a Rival Smart-Part. But it's not rated to control the wattage of the Presto multi-cooker. I found a heavy-duty programmable digital timer that I use to turn the Presto cooker off and on automatically. This device really allows me to use the Presto cooker like a slow cooker, without over-cooking stews and such when I am out of the house all day. The Presto 06000 is a terrific appliance! Buy one now, and don't believe everything you see on TV!

Comment: I had one of these before and it simply wore out. When my granddaughters come to visit they are always fixing french fries and this is ideal for that purpose. It also is an excellent steamer.

Comment: I purchased this after considering a deep fryer. I wasn't really aware of the Presto Kitchen Kettle but ran across it at the local discount store with the fryers (and for under $20). The added versatility is a winner too. A friend has a Fry Daddy but I did not like the idea of working without a basket and having to scoop hot food out with a spoon. We have only had this about a week, the first use was to make pasta. It was so easy and with the basket was far easier than pouring a pot of boiling water through a strainer. Tonight, we made fried shrimp and fries (both from frozen) using each product's cooking directions. The fries were done nicely done in 6 minutes, I dumped them into a bowl with a paper towel underneath and cooked the shrimp, done in 3 minutes. The wife commented on how quick dinner was ready!! The oil preheated to 400F in only about 10 minutes, when the orange light on the temperature control goes off you know it's ready to go. Supposedly you can strain the oil through a coffee filter and reuse it, I am not sure yet if we will do that or just use fresh oil each time.
A couple of minor criticisms- the "fill line" for the oil as mentioned in the manual is basically a very slight ridge on the inside of the pot and not readily visible or apparent. Basically, a 48oz. bottle of oil will fill the pot almost up to the line. The manual cautions not to use more than 7 cups of oil (56 oz.) to avoid overfilling. And like another reviewer, I found the surface of the temperature control knob/housing to get pretty warm, not enough to burn you but it will get your attention when turning the knob off. Other than that, a versatile, well conceived kitchen appliance that you will use regularly.