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I don't review much, for which I apologize, but I took a chance on a 3 liter anodized Hawkins stovetop pressure cooker despite a few worrying reviews and remarks in reviews, and after using this to cook family-of-four sized portions of dried giant white beans, chickpeas and french lentils I wanted to circle back and make a couple of points.The most important is the idea, expressed in a couple of reviews, that it is impossible to put the lid on and take the lid off without dunking the lid into your food preparation. Without calling anyone out by name, I strongly suspect that reviewers who had this experience didn't bother to read the instructions. At least the model of cooker I bought is ingeniously designed, with an oval shaped opening. When you hold the lid handle at 90 degrees (perpendicular) to the base handle it is very easy to insert the lid into the pot. I would say at most it needs to dip down three-quarters of an inch into the pot, which won't bring it anywhere near your food unless you have majorly overfilled it.The second "issue" which I read about in at least one review, is the idea that the lid will fall into the food when you go to open the pot.Really, both of these issues stem from the sensible but unusual design of this cooker, which is that the lid, rather than resting on top of the pot as it would in a normal saucepan, fits under the rim of the lid. What this means is that the pressure you build up while cooking doesn't force the lid off the pot; in fact it enhances the seal between the pot and the lid. Intuitively this seems to me a much safer way to cook under pressure. However, it does take a very little bit of getting use to; if you release the lid once you are done cooking, after the pressure has diminished, it will fall into the food if you let go of the handle. Because the lid IS inside the pot. However, all you have to do is keeping holding the handle as you turn it perpendicular to slide it out, using exactly the opposite of the motion you

As an asian, cooker is essential for most of our cooking and this hawkins cooker does its job, nice material, easy to clean and easy to tenderize meat. It is a bit heavy which is great.