VitaClay VF7700-8 Chef Gourmet 8-Cup Rice and Slow Cooker

The real reason I have nothing negative to write about this Rice and Slow Cooker is because I had no expectations that it would be the same as the other non-stick surface rice cookers and slow cookers. I expected it to - be different - cook differently - and I expected it to - contribute to my general health. IT HAS NOT DISAPPOINTED ME! I use it daily. I have cooked brown rice, white rice, wild rice mix, oatmeal, beef stew, lamb stew, chicken fricassee, split pea soup, lentil soup, black beans, ....... the list is just too long. I am COMPLETELY SATISFIED with this ceramic cooker. It is true that there is a small amount of rice that always sticks to the bottom of the pot. The reason for this is that I wanted to get rid of the poisonous non-stick surface on my previous rice cooker. This does not bother me. It is a very small amount of rice and it does not represent a large waste of food nor a large amount of money. My estimate is that it represents about $5.00 a year if you cook rice almost every day as I do. I am oh-so-very pleased to be rid of the teflon coated rice cooker. It's sitting in my Goodwill Industries take-away box. If you are wondering... do I buy it? Do I not buy it? The answer lies within your expectations. Do you want to be healthy? This is not a non-stick surface! Yes... the rice WILL stick a bit only on the bottom. I soak it for 30 minutes and the rice comes right off. I handle the pot and the top with GREAT CARE. I follow the instructions that came with the manual. No extreme changes in temperature. You can't take the ceramic pot out right after cooking and pour cold water in it. If you think you might be banging the pot and top - don't buy it... you will break it. It is not your old metal rice cooker. It is ceramic. It is somewhat fragile as all ceramic pots are. Do you want delicious food? Buy it. Do you want beef, lamb and chicken that you can cut with a fork it is so tender and juicy? Buy it. Do you want enhanced flavor in recipes you have been cooking for years? Buy it. The product, the packing and the shipping were Amazon's usual EXCELLENT. I had it at my door 2 days after buying and it was packed extremely well. I DO HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS COOKER to anyone that genuinely cares about their health and that is willing to be realistic in accepting that they are purchasing something different than what they are accustomed to. You will fall in love with it and use it many many times as I do! UPDATE: June 29, 2012 Still 100% pleased with this purchase. I use it almost every day. Today I put some navy beans, water, carrots, potato, onion, garlic, swiss chard and lamb in my pot... pressed soup and went out with family. When I got back I had an excellent Tuscan Navy Bean Soup waiting for me. My apartment smelled DEELICIOUS!!!! I love this pot. I've cooked about 20 different types of rice in it and the more I use it the more I value it and am so glad I took the risk and bought it. UPDATE: May 16, 2012 Still 100% pleased with this purchase and use it almost every day.

This is a nice basic rice cooker. Well maybe it does more than that but it cooks my rice real nice. Pro - You’re not eating non-stick nastiness and can feel morally superior to your plebeian friends. Con - The digital display was programmed by a puppy. It counts down while cooking in 00.X format. Then it beeps when done. Great. But then it starts counting back up to let you know how long it’s been done cooking. And you’d think “oh cool they have three digits and a decimal to work with I’m sure they figured out a smart and simple solution to display this time elapsed that’s totally different from the cooking countdown” but you’d be a silly goose for thinking that. Nope, they used the same exact 00.X format. It makes for a fun game when you come into the kitchen and see 00.2 and don’t know if it’s still cooking or if it’s been done for 20 minutes. Also the clay pot is very nice and I don’t want to wash it while it’s still too warm and potentially crack it from the change in temp, so that just adds a little time to the cleanup.

This is an amazing little device. It's pretty to look at, cooks rice perfectly, and I just served up the most perfect pot of beans on my FIRST TRY! The water recommendations that come with the device are not correct, so you will need to experiment and adjust for yourself. My first pot of brown rice was a bit drier (not crunchy or undercooked, just chewier) than I like, so I just went back to my old 1:2 ratio, and voila! Perfect brown rice! This morning, I put some cheapo dried beans in. Now, I have NEVER been able to cook beans that I like. My old slow cooker always made them mushy and slightly burned, so I just resigned myself to the metallic taste of the canned kind. I wasn't expecting much, to be honest, so I didn't bother seasoning them or anything, and I even forgot about them! I remembered to check about 4 hours later and found, underneath 4 cups of water (where DO they get their water recommendations???), plump sweet perfect little beans!!! They were so good, I was eating them without any salt, seasoning, or ANYTHING! CRAZY! Yeah, the clay pot is like a cast iron skillet, meaning you have to use some care and common sense with it-- clean it before it gets too gross, no sudden temp changes, banging it around, or dropping the lid. But I think that's an acceptable sacrifice we make to be healthy. The coating on the pot is smooth and non-stick, not rough like a regular clay planter-- just keep it moist and the food comes right off. Plus, replacements are reasonably priced and available from the company website. I'm getting one for all the women in my family this year!

D O N O T B U Y ! ! LEAD POISONING & FIRE RISK ! ! DESIGN FLAWS ! ! Top Lid, Bottom Heating Element, and other crazy design features. Even though my Clay Pot has not broken after 1 year of using once a week, and is still going strong: I'M NOT USING IT ANYMORE. IT'S GOING INTO THE DUMPSTER. LEAD FREE? Why take a chance with our lives. I'm going back to my stainless steel pot. Thank you, for waking me up ! To the wonderful PERSON who wrote the informative details on mining the different levels of clay, and all the things that can happen in the factory, with all the complex details of manufacturing. ARE WE REALLY GETTING A 99.9% LEAD-FREE CLAY POT. I have been lucky (OR, MAYBE UNLUCKY) using my Vita-Clay for 1 year; and clay pot still has not broken. HOWEVER, THANKS FOR POINTING OUT: Vita-Clay has one lab test showing their pots to be 99.9% free. However, thank you for showing, these tests would have to be done continuously, it depends on different levels and batches of clay, etc. And, you never really know for sure, with all the many other details that go into manufacturing. WHY AM I PUTTING MY LIFE INTO THEIR HANDS? The manual is so stupid. That should make one wonder. Also, I'm not mechanically inclined, however, it's common sense, after using it for one year: Design Flaws - Top, Bottom & Sideways. The heating element is too close to the clay pot. That is why no matter how much I stir it, or make sure the water level is correct, the food burns to the bottom. Eating burnt food is toxic and not healthy. Maybe that's why other people's clay pots are breaking - the heating element is too close to the clay pot. It WILL boil over if I shut with top cover - a major design flaw. Also, impossible to clean, and a cleaning nightmare to clean top cover, which does NOT detach. Ditto for cleaning the bottom heating element when it overflows; which it will do, no matter how much you follow the "manual" or what you do ! It even boils over with just the clay lid on, no matter how little water is in it. No matter how much you baby sit it. I was going to try leaving the clay lid partially open at all times. Hello ! MANY OTHER CRAZY DESIGN FLAWS. ALL OF THIS, AND MORE. I have been crazy to trust this Vita-Clay company with my health and life, this last year. Wishful thinking on my part. How could I be so dumb. There were so many signs. I think it is like so much in this crazy world - cognitive dissonance; false advertising, marketing, and media. Creating false realities. I'm sorry I have been so dumb. THERE ARE SO MANY REASONS N O T TO TRUST THIS COMPANY with our lives, not just being poisoned by lead ! ! I HOPE I DON'T HAVE TOO MUCH LEAD POISONING AFTER USING IT FOR ONE YEAR. Thanks for waking me up. I'm going back to babysitting my stainless steel pot on the stove.

Love it. the rice is tasty and healthy

First off I really like this machine. I have prepared 10 meals on it in two weeks . Just basically rice and beans with lots of different ingredients added. I run the beans in the brown rice mode then add the rice and run it again in the rice mode. Add a little olive oil, salt and pepper and other spices to suit and its an inexpensive healthy meal for less than a buck. Everything is holding up fine but in the first few days I dropped the lid just over and inch and it cracked in half. I looked at it and its way too thin. Okay so no problem Im saving some money on meals I will just order 1 maybe two. But the website wants 30 dollars for one lid with shipping. So no good its just going to crack anyway. I appealed to sales and they said touph luck. So Im off looking for a lid which I will have to modify so it lets some of the steam out. Hopefully the pot isnt full of lead or stuff like that. You never know these days with stuff from China. If anyone out there has found a lid that works let me know. Otherwise I will update. ****Update 10/2017 Still love the pot . Seller sent me a lid a few years back at no cost and we have finally managed to crack that one too. The rest of the pot and the cooker work so well I have upgrade from two to 4 stars as it just cooks the rice so well. Brown rice, White rice moist and not overcooked. Just do not leave in the cooker past cook time or the keep warm cycle will cause the rice on the bottom to dry out and stick. We use the two piece lid and it still works well. We now have two lids in 4 pieces so these will just have to suffice.

My first batch of brown rice, the only kind to eat. Not to moist, not to overcooked, just about right, light and fluffy. On a big dish, mixed with soy sauce and butter, the popped into half a leaf of lettuce with hoisen sauce, with kimchee on the side. Rolled up on a half of leaf of lettuce and then popped into the mouth. Good, no great. And a side bowl of string beans/broccoli, fish and Classico Alfredo sun dried tomato sauce on top, steamed. Fabulous. Can't wait for tomorrow's meal. A great buy and Amazon pays for the freight. Others want $40-60 to ship it to you. The savings in freight, means you get it for almost nothing, free. Need I say more? The clay pot is an extra bonus. Run a cycle of water/vinegar in clay pot, then rinse first time usage. I'm a happy camper. A good meal and it only cause me less that $10 bucks for the cooker! Thank you Amazon!!! You guys are the greatest and can't be beat.

The best way I can describe the Vita Clay is a cross between the Crockpot and Instapot. I like it for its simplicity and the use of clay, which is free from toxins. The clay pot has is weighty, sturdy, but can still be fragile if handled roughly. The VC cooks quickly and evenly, and I can lift the lid anytime I want without worrying I will harm myself. That is always a plus! Initially, I decided I needed one because a friend of mine had one, and her rice was delicious and the clay pot caught my eye as unique (to me). I did have to spend quite a few extra bucks JUST TO MAKE RICE. I admit I had a little buyer's remorse happening until I finally used my VC for my first batch of wild rice. Since then, I made split pea soup and an Americanized version of Coq au Vin which--I quite humbly put out there-- was just as good as the traditionally prepared French version. Vitaclay is really worth the extra money you would spend on a rice maker and can do so much more! I highly recommend not taking it out of the box and cooking with it, until you read all of the directions. I see people unhappy with it, knowing that damage can come from not seasoning it first. (i.e., cooking a non-edible rice concoction to get things started). I think it is a lovely thing to have in my home and what it does, it does excellently!