By Martin Vedris

SYDNEY: Seventies cooking styles are coming back in vogue with fondues and slow cookers making a resurgence at home dinner parties. And Tefal is bringing back the pressure cooker with its Minut’Cook.

“As the colder months arrive, slow cooked meals like stews, casseroles or soups have become very popular meal choices,” said Groupe SEB marketing manager, Filiz Bensan.

“Where traditionally these tasty meals would cook for hours on end, with Minut’Cook’s fast cooking action, meals will be ready in a third of the time compared to traditional cooking methods making it very appealing. You can cook soups or risottos in just six minutes.”

The Minut’Cook pressure cooker can cook a variety of foods from braised meats and stews, to poultry, seafood, vegetables and desserts. The unit offers variable pressure levels and 3 preset cooking menus — Brown, Simmer and Sauté.

The Minut’Cook also has a 6-litre capacity non-stick removable cooking bowl, Automatic Keep Warm setting with a pressure release at the end of cooking and a digital timer with a countdown. A steaming basket is included, the bowl and lid are dishwasher safe and the power cord is detachable.

The product is available to all major retail outlets and will have a recommended retail price of $249.95.

Groupe SEB is also promoting the energy saving benefits.

“Not only is Minut’Cook a valuable time saving machine, it also helps us to do our bit for the environment by reducing our energy consumption,” said Bensan. “As food cooks up to 70 per cent faster in an electric pressure cooker, less energy is needed and therefore less heat is generated.”

The Minut’Cook will be promoted in stores by the Groupe SEB demonstration team.

“We will be supporting the Minut Cook with a strong demonstration program at Shows and Events as well as in store." said Bensan. "It will be featured at the Sydney Good Food and Wine show on 3 July. Initial consumer feedback has been very positive and we expect the Minut Cook to perform very well.”