CONSTRUCTION AND LOOKS
The Russell Hobbs 2 litre slow cooker looks good in the kitchen and it occupies a very small amount of counter space. Everything feels reasonably well made. The white casing and cooking pot are easy to clean by hand. The cooking pot and lid fit into the washing up basin easily because of their small size. The lid and cooking pot are dish washer safe although the instructions indicate that they may suffer some minor and superficial damage in the dishwasher.All in all, if you are cooking principally for one or two this is a stylish slow cooker which is economical on kitchen surface space.
SIZES AND CAPACITIES
The cooking bowl has a total capacity of 2 litres which is fine for an all inclusive meal for two. If you are just cooking sauces (or with meat in) such as bolognaise or ragu then the pot is easily big enough for six portions.The approximate dimensions are H:200 mm W:250 mm D:200 mm. Energy consumption is 75 to 90 Watts. The electrical cord is shorter than the average and in some circumstance this might not be long enough.
COOKING PERFORMANCE
Our first test on the Russell Hobbs 2 litre slow cooker was to fill it two thirds with water and set it to cook on low. We recorded a maximum temperature of 68°C / 154°F which was reached after three and a quarter hours. Not only is this well below average but it is also not clear to us if that temperature is actually a safe maximum - see our article on food temperatures here to make up your own mind.
OUR VIDEO REVIEW OF THE RUSSELL HOBBS 18446 2 LITRE SLOW COOKER
We then turned the temperature to high and after two hours it had reached 90°C / 194°F which is spot on for the high setting in a slow cooker. Our advice is simple, if you buy the Russell Hobbs 18446 2 litre slow cooker then use the high setting for the majority of the cooking time, not the low one, to cook your food.
Even the high setting though has problems with how even the food will be cooked. We cooked a spaghetti bolognaise sauce in this slow cooker and were surprised when we looked at the sauce cooking in the bowl. The liquid around the edges of two thirds of the cooking bowl was bubbling away as is normal with a slow cooker. However the liquid at the front (the control panel side) of the bowl showed no signs of bubbling at all. In other words food at the front of the cooking bowl was at a higher temperature than food at the rear. This something that we have not encountered in other slow cookers.
The keep warm setting temperature was 68°C / 162°F after two hours from a previous high setting which is within the bounds of food safety. One final check we performed was to heat on the high setting and then set the temperature to low. This recorded a low temperature of 78°C / 172°F after three hours which is a surprise because it is much higher than just setting the dial to low in the first place.
FEATURES
Clearly this is a budget priced slow cooker so we wouldn't expect any advanced features. The Russell Hobbs 2 litre slow cooker does however have three heat settings, low high and keep warm.It does also have a useful and sometimes missing feature of a light that works when the unit is cooking. The instructions are reasonable and informative with many suggested recipes.
OTHER REVIEW OPINIONS
There aren't many reviews online of this slow cooker and those that are present give a mixed opinion. At least on major review picked up a problem with slow cooking on the low setting however they didn't identify that the problem is most likely too low a temperature. One reviewer reported that the markings on the case came off easily with vigorous hand washing.SUMMING UP
| Low setting cooking |
 |
| High setting cooking |
 |
| Keep warm |
 |
| How easy to use |
|
| Setting up |
|
| Cleaning |
|
| Build quality |
|
| Value for money |
-
if it can't do the one thing it is designed for (slow cook on low)
then it can never be value for money. |
| Overall rating |
 -
although not the average, the poor slow cooking on low is a very
major drawback to using this slow cooker. |