Fagor Futuro 6 Quart Pressure Cooker

After sitting on the fence for quite awhile, I decided to purchase a pressure cooker for daily meal preparation. I have many years of working with a large pressure canner to do meats, etc., schooled by my grandmothers and using up to date information. I had never, however, prepared meals with one. I opted for the 10 qt. because it would also allow me to do a small batch of canning without the overkill of my large pressure canner. The claims of shorter cooking times and more flavorful food hooked me in the end. Some background: I do almost all the cooking in my family since it's just not my wife's thing and I really enjoy good food. I don't like prepackaged food because of the preservatives and ingredients which are far from healthy in many items. Cooking from fresh is also often cheaper. Every winter, I immerse myself in something new in the kitchen to keep myself amused, practicing recipes and techniques that will pay off during the summer months when I am much more busy. Again, a pressure cooker looked to be an obvious asset. Where I'm at now: I have used this cooker almost daily for the last 2 weeks to get a feel for where I can go with it. So far, I have made everything from potato and leek soup and Hungarian goulash to a lemon chicken dish and all have turned out really well for a first run. My first pressure cooked risotto turned out really creamy and nice, and my next run at risotto will end the days of my standing and stirring for 20+ minutes forever. As a matter of fact, I was able to run to and from the grill while it was under pressure, something I could never do before. Black beans that I soaked overnight cooked quickly and the results were way beyond anything canned or stovetop cooked quality wise. Made them in about 18 minutes on a weekend, added to chili later in the week. What I've found so far: Timing on fresh vs. frozen vegetables. --Both turn out nice, but I can see that a minute or two extra could really overcook them in a hurry. Finishing or thickening sauces --From my reading, it's best not to incorporate large amounts of flour or other starches before pressure, since they react poorly. Finishing quickly afterwards seems to work just as well to date. About the Fagor cooker: Extremely safe and well built. Get over the old horror stories of explosions, etc. You would have to try to get hurt with this cooker. Although pricey, its sandwiched encapsulated base does make a big difference for even cooking and heat retention, just like other good stainless cookware. I haven't found any hotspots& while browning or sauteing. It came with the Cooking Tastefully Under Pressure cookbook, a great starter resource. Even the owner's manual has some good time tables and starter information. I went back to Amazon and bought the matching glass lid so that I can use this as a conventional pan or intermediate stockpot when I don't want to get out a bigger one. Many folks will find this will fit their needs for lots of large pan duties. Tip: I found Hip Pressure Cooking blog online and it is currently a go-to for techniques and recipes. Conclusion: I recommend having a good pressure cooker if you like to cook quality food for your family and friends. With a little study and practice, I think you'll find it a useful tool in your kitchen, and not some rarely used gadget.

I've only written 1-2 reviews before, but given that we spent $160 on this pressure cooker & have used it no more than 15-20 times, I want to forewarn people. Sure, it's great when it's new. We loved it. But, after a couple of years and not that many uses, it won't even hold pressure any more. It's as good as boiling your food. Sure, the price has dropped significantly, but ask yourself how much you think you should have to spend per use before yours, too, goes kaput.

I hadn't really had the time or motivation to cook for years. When I started to research newer, energy-efficient, slow cookers (I obtained my current one in the '70's.) I found none. My attention turned to pressure cookers and I am delighted. Now I can cook grains, legumes, vegetables all quicker and with little nutritional loss. They look beautiful and taste delicious. The cooker itself is pretty simple to use. Follow the directions and you can't go wrong. No exploding safety concerns like years ago - just follow the directions. You'll be adapting your favorite recipes in no time.

I am one of those people that has always liked the thought of "nutritional, home cooked" dinners. By the time I think about cooking the stews/roasts/whole chickens/etc. it is already too late in the day so there they sit in the freezer while I am running to the store for something quick. It's really sad to see beautiful, fresh stew vegetables (along with great intentions) go bad in the refrigerator. Well, NO MORE!!!! If you are thinking about buying a pressure cooker, go for it! Mine came in the mail yesterday and I made Tortellini Stew last night - oh my gosh it was the most tender stew meat we've had in years. It was even better than sitting in the crock pot all day! I did not pressure cook the little tortellinis :) but everything else cooked so easily. I put the stew meat in with garlic, olive oil, tomato paste and about 2 cups of stock. That pressure cooked on high for 10 minutes. Then I released the pressure (my husband calls it "releasing the aromas" because it smelled soooo good) and added in the mushrooms, carrots, celery, spices, and more broth. I brought that up to low pressure and let it go for about 3 to 4 minutes. Then, added in the tortellinis with the lid off for a couple minutes and we had a dinner in MINUTES that used to take literally HOURS!!! I decided on the Fagor 10-quart futuro model for several reasons: 1. It's stainless steel. I don't like cooking with aluminum. 2. The 10-quart size is awesome and it is not too big. It's just right for my family of four because we like leftovers and have company for dinner often. 3. I like that this model is made in Spain rather than China. 4. I liked the steamer basket/grater that came with this. 5. The easy handles on the lid. I went back and forth on this one, but after using it am SO GLAD I went with this handle design. It will store nicely and it really is super easy. 6. The two pressure settings of 1 and 2. It will be nice having a lower pressure setting when I cook tender vegetables. It was so intimidating that first go-round but it was so easy! You should see the steam fly out when released. It's amazing how the cooker can sit so quietly on the stove. I was not expecting the big rush of steam, so it made me jump the first time but these are totally safe and really make cooking fun and GOOD! I had no problems taking the lid off when the pressure came down. I was a little nervous about that, too, but it was no big deal whatsoever!

I bought a Fagor 10 quart pressure cooker about 3 weeks ago and so far the only quibble I have, and it's not a big one, is that it could be a little easier for newbies to tell when the thing is up to its cooking pressure. The manual, and the video that came with the PC both say that it's up to pressure when the little yellow button pop up. That's not actually true. When the button pops up, that means that the pot is pressurized, not that it is up to 15 psi. It is up to full pressure when wisps of steam start coming out of the relief valve. Today I made Lentil Soup with 10 minutes of cooking time. If I had started timing when the yellow button popped up the lentils would not have been done because it took (I'm guessing here, I didn't time this part) an extra 2 or 3 minutes from the point where the yellow indicator button popped up to when stream started coming out of the relief valve. If the steam is hissing out then you need to turn down the heat until wisps of steam gently escape. I have an electric stove so there's that issue of "thermal inertia" where I make an adjustment to but it takes a short bit of time for it to respond. It is just the nature of the beast for electric ranges. A good tip from a PC cookbook said to use two burners, one to heat the PC up to pressure and a second burner turned on at the same time to a lower setting so all you have to do is move the PC from the high temperature burner to the lower temperature one. I had an "El Cheapo" stainless steel old-style (first generation) PC and the setting on my stove for cooking was the letter "M" on the word Med. on the dial. With the Futuro all I need is the "m" on word Wm on the dial. This is a much lower setting. It is surprising how little energy is needed to maintain pressure with this PC. The build quality is excellent - one reason I bought the Futuro is that this model is still made in Spain. I've had enough trouble with Made in China gear that I wasn't about to trust our well-being to Chinese quality control. (This is a whole other issue but I now look for alternatives to Chinese made items whenever possible). If they are willing to add a poisonous material (melamine) to milk to make it test higher in protein and kill a handful of babies and sicken thousands more how much could they care about me standing in front of a stainless steel pot pressurized to 15 psi? I shouldn't have to worry that my PC is an I.E.D. (Taking a breath now) The bottom of the pot is very thick and spreads the heat well. As I said earlier, I made Lentil Soup today and I realized as it was nearly done that I added the lentils first so they were sitting on the bottom of the pot and I added the other ingredients on top of them. I use highest heat setting to bring the PC up to pressure (an electric stove will boil a pot of water quicker than a gas stove) so it is a very high heat. I was worried that the beans might burn a bit because I'd forgotten to stir the ingredients before heating up to pressure. But when I emptied the pot there wasn't the slightest evidence of that. The soup is delicious! I like the short handles on the Futuro, it is easier to store. The operating valve is simple to remove and clean and the silicone gasket is easy to remove and it makes no difference which side is up when replaced so there is one less thing I can screw up. I bought the glass lid for $10 from Amazon and now I've got a very high quality 10 qt. pot for non-PC usage. A couple of days ago I made Pulled Pork for sandwiches from a 4.5 pound piece of boneless pork loin (lower fat, ya know) that turned out wonderfully in the PC. We're having that again tonight with a cup of Lentil Soup. This has changed the way we do much of our cooking. I'm sorry if I'm burying the lead but the new generation of pressure cookers is very, very safe. They are nothing like the ones that your mothers or grandmothers had. I'm assuming that most people who are looking at these fairly expensive PCs already know quite a bit about them so you probably know that but I felt I should make the point for newbies. Buy a couple of good PC cookbooks when you buy your PC and you'll get a ton of good advice about using them, including how to adapt your family's favorite recipes to the PC. Good grief! Did I do 800+ words about my PC? I need an editor after only one margarita. If you're looking for a PC you can't go wrong with the Fagor. Enjoy!

This was under the Christmas tree and promises to be an awesome addition to our kitchen. Pot is 18/10 stainless with aluminum disk sandwiched in base - beautiful and highly functional with or without presseure top. This would definitely be a 5-star item, but... WHY WOULD DOES FAGOR MAR THE FIRST TWENTY MINUTES OF OWNERSHIP WITH THE PAINSTAKING, TEDIOUS TASK OF REMOVING A LABEL FROM THE SIDE OF THE POT??? I USED WARM WATER, FOLLOWED BY DENATURED ALCOHOL WITH MUCH SCRAPING WITH A PLASTIC SCRAPER FOR A GOOD 20 MINUTES TO GET EVERY LAST BIT OF PAPER AND GLUE OFF THE POT, TAKING CARE NOT TO SCRATCH THE BEAUTIFUL METAL UNDERNEATH. They actually have an easily romoved plastic label on the top to show how the cover aligns with the base - if they had used the same on the base, I would be a happy guy. Come on Fagor, this can't be more than a few cents of extra cost on an item that sells for over one hundred dollars (10 qt). I will avoid Fagor items until they advertise a no-stick label.

I think I have to agree with the lower star rating some have given this product and that it may indeed be dangerous......maybe some people are getting a better product, but it seems some of them are definitely faulty. The first *bad* thing I noticed was that the knob feels very flimsy and unreliable. It doesn't really click or have any real indication that you've moved it to either 1 or 2.......I have used mine 5 times now. The first few times it seemed to get up to pressure ok, although a lot of steam and condensation escaped from the handle. The 3rd time I used it, it never got up to pressure and the liquid quickly evaporated and made a horrible black scorched mess (see customer picture above)on the bottom of the pan, plus ruined what I was trying to pressure cook, squash, in this case (unless you like squash with a horrible smokey taste). I cleaned it out really well, and tried again. This time it did get up to pressure, but about half way through the cooking time, it suddenly almost stopped its steady hissing of steam for ~ a minute, then all of a sudden steam blew through the hole at an incredible rate like it might explode. I could tell the pressure was MUCH too high and took it off the burner immediately. Something is not right with at least some of these cookers. They need better quality control; I just don't feel mine is safe to operate after this last episode and am going to return it :/ So disappointed, I really wanted this to work well, but it just scares me now.

I had looked at Fagor 30 years ago and didn't get one because it was too expensive. I got two other cheaper types instead with the heavy weight on top. I got rid of both of them about 5 years ago and wasn't intending on buying any new ones. When I saw the price on the Fagor 6-qt., I couldn't resist. This is indeed the best pressure cooker I have owned. Most of the time I don't even know it is cooking--no more constant "jiggling" that you have to be aware of. You still have to monitor the steam release, but definitely much better. And the stainless steel is an added bonus. Only one con found so far: Even though there are arrows to line up the lid with the pot to get it on, I have a devil of a time. It usually takes me at least 5 minutes or more trying to get the lid on and then it usually ends up just "falling" into place. I would recommend this cooker to anyone, even people who haven't tried pressure cooking before (just make sure you read and follow the directions).