---- Summary ---- Pros: - Easy to clean - Lightweight - Digital display - Auto keep warm mode Cons: - None ---- Review ---- Design: The Calphalon Digital Sauté might be the best looking slow cooker that I have seen. It has a nice stainless steel finish with a modern LED-lit screen and simplistic controls. This slow cooker is impressively lightweight but also well built, and transporting, moving or storing it is relatively easy. I think it is also worth mentioning that the nonstick ceramic coating makes cleaning simple. Overall, this is a very well designed slow cooker that I am happy to have seen on my kitchen countertop. Features: One of my favorite features of the Calphalon Digital Sauté is the ability to remove the pot for use on a stove or in the oven. This is not a feature specific to only this slow cooker, but I would say it is the easiest and most effective out of others I have tried, and that adds to the versatility. There are four modes controlled by the rotary dial, and those are “OFF”, “WARM”, “LOW” and “HIGH”. Once the cooking time that is shown on the LED screen is up, the slow cooker will default to the “WARM” setting. The ability to sear, sauté and slow cook all in one device is fantastic. When it comes to features, there is nothing more I could ask for. Performance: I have tried a few different recipes, and they have both turned out perfectly. The timer and the different cooking modes are accurate, and food seems to cook evenly every time. There is a lot that can be done in this Calphalon slow cooker, and I have yet to have a bad cooking experience with it. Verdict: The Calphalon Digital Sauté is a slow cooker I have recommended to friends and family, and I would recommend it to anyone reading this. I do not think you will find a better designed or better performing slow cooker out there, and the features like auto keep warm mode and digital display are the icing on the cake.

We've used several slow cookers over the years and typically purchased the $30 versions. Didn't really think we needed anything more than that. Along comes the Calphalon Digital Sauté Slow Cooker. First off, it's one of the nicest looking slow cooker (or crock pot) that I've seen. You won't be ashamed to have this one left out on your countertop. The dark stainless steel helps it to blend in a lot with other items in the kitchen, but also stand out as something sleek and stylish. The rotary knob on the front is plastic, but has a good weighted feel to it as you rotate it through 'off, warm, low and high'. The timer buttons (+/- and cancel) actually have an 'automotive' feel to them, like well made switchgear. I was nicely surprised by that. The digital display looks a little more bespoke and in keeping with the design, rather than an off the shelf afterthought as well. The timer advances in 15 min increments, and if you press and hold, you can advance by the hour as well. Overall, a very nice design. Our previous slow cooker is a 6 QT oval. This one is 5.3 QT and round. So far we haven't missed that extra 0.7 QT, as this Calphalon Slow Cooker appears deeper than our previous one. The weight of the cooker overall is very light and manageable. The heating unit itself is incredibly light. The interior liner, the main cooking part is aluminum with a non-stick coating. It is a metallic dark grey, which compliments the main unit nicely. Being aluminum and non-stick coated (all over) means that it can be used in more than just the slow cooker. You can put it on the stove to sauté meat before turning on the slow cooker. You can put it in the oven after you've made something like sweet potato casserole, so that you can brown the marshmallows on top. It's very versatile indeed which sets it apart from other slow cookers. Just make sure to use wooden or plastic utensils in it, otherwise you may scratch off that important non-stick coating. After making sweet potato casserole and browning the marshmallows, I was concerned about cleaning any of the burnt marshmallows off of the side of the liner, but as a nice surprise, it cleaned up incredibly easily. Almost wipe clean in fact. Very nice, as our previous ceramic one was a lot tougher to clean after cooking something like that. One thing we did notice is that the liner (the aluminum non-stick part) did seem to hold onto some odors from the previous meal that was cooked, so we took to storing it with the lid off, just to make sure it aired out. It never transferred anything to the next meal, but the odor was something we noticed, even after a thorough cleaning. Another thing to note is that being metal, it does get very hot, so you can't just go pick it up after your meal has cooked without some oven gloves or protection for your hands. Also, if you are browning, the lid is NOT oven safe, so you can't cover it using the lid in the oven. The timer is accurate, and works well. Give a short audible notice when the time is up and it reverts to the warming function for an additional 4 hours when the time is up. After that, as a safety precaution, it will turn off. We left it on all day yesterday cooking chicken for 'Taco Tuesday' and when we got home, it was in the warm setting, the chicken was so soft and succulent and just shredded perfectly as soon as you touched it. Very pleased overall with this Calphalon Digital Sauté Slow Cooker, it's functionality and design set it apart from other slow cookers.

One of my favorite ways to cook is using our slow cooker. The only issue I have is not having a wide variety of recipes to use with it. The slow cooker I have is a hand-me-down and I was very excited to get this Digital Saute Slow Cooker from Calphalon. It was a decent upgrade from the previous model I had been using, but it still provides the same conveniences and simplicity that other slow cookers do. One of the things I noticed right away about this slow cooker was its size. First of all, it’s round in shape and not oblong like my previous device. The inside lining of the slow cooker can be used on a stovetop for sautéing or other prep work before you start the slow cooking process. This diameter of the inside liner is only about 7 inches, which isn’t very large for a family-size piece of meat like a roast. We usually cook a chuck roast in our slow cooker and it lays flat in my oval slow cooker, but in this case, the meat stuck up into the bowl more than I liked. I do really like that the insert can be used for cooking outside the slow cooker. That’s a new concept to me as in the past I’ve only used the insert as a part of the slow cooker and not a separate cooking utensil. As a cohesive unit, the slow cooker looks very sleek. It’s lightweight, which is a welcome change from my previous cooker, which has a very heavy ceramic bowl insert. The handles are lined with a heavy rubber, which is also very nice because it’s easy to transport even after it’s been used to cook. Even though it’s not a snap-into-place lid, the lid is made from glass and has a rubber lining that holds it in place when it’s placed into the recess of the insert. The Calphalon slow cooker does a great job of cooking meals. You do have to be aware of its size when you make plans to use it because you don’t want to end up with more food than it can properly handle. It’s perfect for soups and casseroles, but meat dishes like roast might need a different sized/shaped cooking surface. The name of the product is a little misleading as it makes you think that you will be able to sauté foods in the slow cooker when in fact you have to remove the insert and use it to cook on a stovetop before the slow cooking process. All in all, it’s a really nice device and it makes a great meal.

Pros Attractive design stands out from other slow cookers Sears without requiring separate cookware Stovetop and Oven Safe Rubber gasket prevents messy leaks from edge Small vent hole keeps pressure down and moisture in Plastic handles keep heat from your hands Digital display is very easy to read Finish makes cleanup easy Cons Has less features than others at the price point Rotary knob squeaks All metal construction with no ceramic means outside is very hot Lid has a non-removable piece where moisture can collection Not dishwasher safe With all the slow cookers, pressure cookers, and multi-purpose cookers on the market it is becoming hard to know what is best. The Calphalon 5.3qt Digital Slow cooker was designed not to follow the crowds by adding tons of features but rather refine a traditional slow cooker. Besides simplicity, the focus was on providing a different style to the normal round or oval slow cookers of the past. Design The Digital Slow Cooker has a very simple design. It has a digital screen to set the cook time and show time remaining, 3 faux metal buttons for setting or canceling cooking, and a faux metal knob to set the temperature. The digital display has bright blue numbering that is very easy to see. The finish is called dark stainless steel and the description seems accurate. It isn’t painted but looks like bare steel with what appears to be a natural black finish. The nobs, buttons, and handles are all faux metal which might make you feel you are getting less for your money. During regular use those plastic parts prove useful. The reason why they plastic is because the pot itself is all metal with only a ceramic coating for the cooking surface. This means during cooking the outside gets hotter than other slow cookers. This also unfortunately is a downside in that the pot is not dishwasher safe. The plus to this is the removal of the cooking pot is less of a strain as it is much lighter and whatever type of ceramic coating is used makes cleanup easy. There is no need to scrub burnt in food on the sides like a traditional ceramic slower cooker. The bottom of the pot looks just like the bottom of a regular cooking pot because it can be used on a stovetop or oven to combine options like searing with slow cooking without switching cookware. The lid is flat instead of domed like others and has a rubber seal around the edge and a vent hole on the lid to allow steam to escape in a controlled fashion. Performance Usage is a simple as it gets. If you have a recipe where you need to sear the meat first, then just place the pot on the stove and sear it. Once you are done searing just place it bake in the base and add the rest of your ingredients and set your slow cook temp and time. Need to finish off a recipe in the oven? No problem. Again, just take out the pot and put it right in the oven. Options for heat include high, low, and warm which you select via a dial. Strangely for what is overall an expensive looking appliance, the dial squeaks when turned. It doesn’t in any way affect the operation but just seems a bit odd to have an appliance focus on style but then make such a sound. Beyond that oddity the cooker performed with even less fuss than a regular slow cooker. Because of the design of the lid pressure escapes from a small well placed hole on the lid instead of boiling over the rim in the middle of the night. No more waking up in the middle of the night to hissing sounds only to realize your slow cooker is covered in a layer of food that is nearly impossible to clean off. What’s even better is between the rubber seal and small vent hole you get improved cleanup, less messes, and best of all more juicy food. On a normal slow cooker throughout the night some of the juices cook off and are lost on the sides of the cooker, or worse yet, the counter. There was always the option to add water to keep meat from drying out but that dilutes the flavor. Soups sometimes would come out overly thick. With the Calphalon Digital Slow Cooker’s design very little natural juices are lost. You can safely leave it cooking over night without waking up to a mess. In fact, you wake up to a meal moist and ready to eat. It’s a small difference in the design but it really makes a difference in the outcome. The overall shape of the pot internally might seem a little odd compared to old designs in that is it large at the top and narrows to the bottom. At first this seems only for looks but after several uses everyone agreed it really helps with getting the last bit of food out. When using a ladle, you can get nearly everything out instead of scraping around the side trying to get the last bit hiding at the bottom corner. The design change seems so small, but everyone agreed it made picking up food much easier. Conclusion Of course, you can get much cheaper slow cookers. The question is if you value a traditional design that solves some of the little annoyances slow cookers have had for years without complicating things? Do you want an appliance that looks more sophisticated? If so the Calphalon 5.3qt Digital Slow Cooker might be for you.

5 enthusiastic stars! I can’t say enough about this Calphalon 5.3qt Digital Sauté Slow Cooker. Talk about awesome! The dark stainless steel exterior of this slow cooker is super sleek, modern, and while sitting out on my kitchen countertop, fit in well with my stainless steel appliances. Talk about versatile! The beautiful ceramic-coated cooking pot (which is practically non-stick) can be used on most stove tops (gas/electric/induction), and can even go in the oven; although the lid cannot. Being able to sauté and sear your food with the cooking pot right on your stove top, before placing it within the heating base for slow cooking, is not only convenient, but really practical, as well. The programmable digital controls make this Calphalon slow cooker super easy to use, too! There are the usual cooking modes - low, high, and warm. A feature I particularly liked was the automatic ‘keep-warm’ function which will engage once the set cooking time has been reached. Another feature I appreciated, was that the timer setting counts up in 15 minute increments for more accurate, customizable, cooking times. This Calphalon 5.3qt Digital Sauté Slow Cooker is indeed a well-made small kitchen appliance. You can certainly see the quality inherent in its design. The apparently ‘tempered glass’ lid, while not oven safe, is sturdy, with a vent for steam and a silicone type seal around the lid’s outer edge. The handles, on both the lid and the heating base, are heavy duty, too. Of course, the exterior of the slow cooker (while in use) will get warm, but that’s to be expected. As always, I encourage my fellow consumers to read over the included User Manual, so as to be aware of those important safeguards and usage instructions. I was most definitely impressed with the incredible performance of this Calphalon 5.3qt Digital Sauté Slow Cooker, and can wholeheartedly recommend. In my opinion, the cost of this appliance is most assuredly worth it.