Morphy Richards 48721 Slow Cooker, 3.5l, Black

Bought the Morphy Richards 48721 3.5ltr because it was cheap, a known brand and where ever I looked seemed to come up smelling of review roses. I bought mine from the local Co-op for a mere £19.99

Having looked at quite a few along the way my shortlist was the 6.5ltr Russell Hobbs with the divided pot which was my first choice but nobody seems to sell them. Next was a 4.5ltr Breville, just that bit larger without being OTT and had an auto mode (starts on high then auto reduces to low) which I found would have been useful. The 6.5ltr Morph Rich looked so big you could have a bath in it (but only £30 at the Co-hop) so ended up with this little beauty and never looked back.

It appears to be very well made and looks very good on the work surface. Heaps better than the aluminised exterior of the 48710 and does not get noticeable finger marks on it. The controls on the front feel good and the inner pot is sturdy. MR say the pot is not oven proof (the lid certainly is not) but I have had no problems whatsoever putting it under the grill to crisp off sliced tatties or a bit of cheese before serving. As regards the dishwasher MR cover their arrises by saying 'Non' but again I have, so far at least, not had any issues. Having said that the pot is so easy to clean under the tap with a squirt of fairy you do not need to shove it into a dishwasher like you would an oven a casserole pot.

The cooker finds it very hard indeed to overcook your food in fact, unlike many of the reports on Rival slow cookers, I have not yet overcooked the food. If the recipe says 8-10 hours on slow and you leave it for 15+ I have never had any crispy crud up the sides of the pot. Even when I have put the pot on a bit late for slow cooking and cooked instead on high and then left it for 2 hours longer than the max time there was no issue at all. Just make sure the pot is reasonably full.

Have to say that even the toughest of cuts that you would normally not buy from Tesco/Sainsburys/Morrisons/Asda etc i.e. their 'basics' range of cuts of lamb (usually as tough as old boots), stewing steak come out so tender it brought tears to my eyes and comfort to my credit crunch impoverished pocket. I pushed the boat out and bought some braising steak and cooked it as steaks rather than cutting into chunks and it was incredible and far more flavour than fillet.

For four hungry adults the pot is really only just large enough. If you have a particularly large family go for the 6.5ltr version but remember to work well the pot needs to be fairly full so it may not be so good for cooking smaller quantities. For most peeps I recon a 6.5ltr would be OTT, the 3.5 will give 4 decent portions but a 4.5ltr Breville, if full, will feed 5 hungry rugby players.

The Instruction booklet is clear enough and contains a moderate selection of recipes to get you going. In my travels after asking, without success, in WH Smiths for a book called 'Slow Cookers for Dummies' I found a really good little number for a fiver called 'Slow Cooking Properly Explained' by Diane Page. Bought it, don't need anything else.

The only real downside I have found with slow cooking, so far at least, is teenage ladies withiin the household being picky on what they will or will not eat (and this very frustratingly seems to vary almost on a weekly basis !!) so keeping everybody happy with the ingredients has be troublesome - now I just tell white lies as to what I put in and low and behold the issue has all but evaporated. Oh yes, if I used the pot too often I suspect it might go the way of the sandwich toaster.

The exterior of the unit does get a bit warmish, as I guess most slow cookers do, and it was good to warm my cold hands on when I came in from the garden. Whilst hot(ish) I do not believe it would burn a small bairn should they happen to inadvertently touch the container.

So, to sum up: This pot looks good, appears well made in all departments, cooks well and in my experience doesn't burn, very easy to clean, in practice is dishwasher and grill proof, can serve the inner pot direct to the table (even for a dinner party), is incredibly competitively priced........ need I go on.

It says that I am the first person to review this product, so here goes. I bought this slow cooker because this is the black version of model 48710 3.5L in stainless steel, which has received rave 5 star reviews.
I can compare both models with each other, as I have owned and cooked in both.

I first bought the 48710 in stainless steel for my elderly mother, and it certainly lived up to expectations. When it came to replacing mine, I found this black version, which I must say looks very contemporary, and would suit a lot of people's kitchens. Personally, I much prefer the colour, and the fact that it doesn't show any fingerprints, which the model in stainless steel does. Apart from that, they are identical, and the cooking results in both are superb. They are true to their settings of low, medium and high, and do not cook too high, or burn food as some other slow cookers have been accused of. I find these 3 settings give you loads of flexibility on food timings, better than just having low and high, as on most others.

We are a family of 2 adults and 2 kids, 8 and 6. Its a perfect size for us, and stands out on the worktop all the time. We are now eating healthy, tasty home-cooked meals. We will probably use it 1-2 times per week.

As a mum, my busiest time is after school, but now I can spend all my time with the kids, helping with homework, running them to after school clubs, knowing that all I need to do is serve up, and wait for the compliments! Plus when husband is running late, its no problem. We are eating far less ready meals and take aways now, think we'll be losing weight too, without feeling deprived!

Only thing is, I now find that to truly take advantage of this way of cooking, I am going to need a bigger pot, so that some days I can cook loads, eat and freeze. This is where the true cost and time-savings will be. Next time, I am going to research a bigger one that has got a timer and keep warm facility, so that chicken or fish don't overcook if we're out at work for 10 hours or so. I think it will be very useful to have both sizes.

If you want be economical, yet still eat healthy, delicious, restaurant quality food, I can totally recommend this model.

I brought this 5 weeks ago and its now the most used item in my kitchen. I also brought a slow cooker cook book and even my son (8) is eating the meals. its so easy to set up in the morning and we have a really tasty health dinner at least 3 times a week. With fuel prices rising and the credi crunch it is saving me a fortune on my gas bill and also can buy cheaper cuts of meat. I cooked a cheap roll of beef in some red wine for 10 hours and it fell to peices. can not recommend it enough.