Thread: Turbo Cooker Plus

Hi Everyone. I am intrested in possibly purchasing the Turbo Cooker Plus. I have watched this infomercial alot.
Does anyone have this or the original one. Would you share your thoughts with me. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks Have a great Sunday

I dont but heres a story a news center did about it. They check out all the "as seen on TV" things, I find this to be a very informative site.

http://www.krbctv.com/diw_archive/


Turbo Cooker

The Turbo Cooker claims it can "Steamfry" your food, letting you make healthy meals in minutes...but Does it Work?

7-31-2002- One of the products that I've been getting a flood of requests for is The Turbo Cooker, and the reason seems fairly obvious. At our society gets busier and busier, it can get more and more difficult to find the time to cook a decent meal. Many of us turn to fast-food as the solution, but burgers and fries aren't all that healthy. The other speedy alternative is the microwave, but it comes with a series of limitations, and can also be unhealthy.

If this problem sounds familiar, then The Turbo Cooker claims to be exactly what you've been looking for. For about $60.00 it comes with everything you'll need to make fast, healthy, and tasty meals. In fact, it claims it can actually make several full meals with main courses and side dishes in just minutes.

In each package you get a variety of items:

One Turbo Cooker
a steam rack
a spring-form cakepan (for desserts)
30 recipe cards with a variety of dishes
a cooking guide, for making your own meals
an instructional videotape with hints.

With all that help it would seem like a fool-proof product. Since I'm far from a cooking veteran..(I'm the fast-food grabbing workaholic that I talked about above)...I deliberately read through the cooking guide and the recipes, and I watched the 30 minute video. I learned some handy tricks and felt confident that I could wield The Turbo Cooker with ease.

Nonetheless, I wanted to make sure someone was there to help me, so I asked my producer Anna to assist. Then we decided to cook Ginger Honey Chicken, a dish which included broccoli and pasta and claimed it would only take about 15 minutes. We got the ingredients and went to the kitchen.

The first step didn't even involve The Turbo Cooker. We had to mix

up a marinade and let some chicken strips soak for about 20 minutes. Unfortunately this time span was not included in the overall time, so the total preparation time was now up to 35 minutes. Still, this only took a short time, and we set a kitchen timer to let us know when we could start cooking.

After the chicken had soaked, we put the marinated chicken strips in the base of The Turbo Cooker, put on the lid, closed the steam vent, and turned the burner onto medium high. We didn't have to add any oil since the marinade would produce the steam we needed. We were officially "steamfrying". After several minutes we added the rest of the marinade, and kept cooking.

Unfortunately this is where the trouble started. It took a little longer then we expected to finish cooking the chicken. We gave it an extra four or five minutes, attributing the problem to a weak burner, and while the chicken appeared to be sufficiently cooked, we were still concerned. Then it was time to add some broccoli and pasta, as well as a cup of water, some teriyaki, and some salt. This is where the problems got even worse.

It took a considerable amount of time to cook the pasta. While we were able to keep the chicken warm in the pan, and everything was cooking at once, it just wouldn't cook. We had it in there almost ten extra minutes, and it was still crunchy when we finished...(and I don't mean Al Dente).

In the end this Turbo Cooked meal wasn't all that Turbo. It took about an hour from the start of the marinade mixing, to dishing it out on the plates. Some of that was likely due to a weaker burner, but it was still disheartening. That was supposed to be the biggest selling point!

As for the flavor, it was alright. While some might have found it a little bland, I thought it tasted like a respectable chicken dish. Anna, on the other hand, was unimpressed. The pasta never cooked properly, and the broccoli was only passably good.

The biggest problem was the frustration. This thing drove us both mad. I kept checking the recipe over and over again, and I wasn't doing anything wrong...it just wasn't cooking as fast as it promised. The videotape advises that some stoves will work faster then others, but this still seemed awfully awkward.

It wasn't all bad news though. The Turbo Cooker was very easy to clean, thanks to the a non-stick surface, and the meal was undoubtedly healthier then if it had been cooked in oil. At the same time, "steamfrying" does suck some of the flavor out, which is why you have to consistently be adding more seasonings and sauces to keep the taste going.

I think with a lot of practice, someone could get to be fairly good with The Turbo Cooker. Unfortunately I foresee some ruined meals on the way there, especially if you're not all that comfortable in the kitchen. It takes a lot of practice...more then a lot of people might be willing to give it. At the same time, if you're health conscious and patient, you will probably be able to get some decent meals out of The Turbo Cooker...after determining what works and what doesn't.

For more information on The Turbo Cooker, you can log on to their website at www.turbocooker.com , and if you want to e-mail me a product idea you can reach me at [email protected] .


I hope this helps!

Thankyou, cpbaby. This helped alot. I am exactly the person the reporter spoke of. I never have enough hours in the day to make a good meal.
I am going to keep this website onfo, for future infomercials.

My niece has this machine and she said it cooks beatutifully. But then again she can't cook and there is nothing worst than bad food cooked faster. But, she likes it! Hope it helps and good luck!