Fantastic Food After a Long Day
The stove, grill, and oven have just found a new rival with the Crock Pots or Slow Cookers. For a variety of low-heat cooked meals like curries, pot roasts, casseroles and more, crock pots and slow cookers are quickly becoming the cooking tool of choice for many people, especially the working couple who do not have the luxury of time for long meal preparations, or busy college students and other beginners in the culinary arts.
How it works
For plenty of tender, rich, and sumptuous meals like pot roasts, the ideal cooking temperature is low heat found in the crock pot. These types of slow cookers work by providing a slow but continuous stream of low heat from the bottom and sides of the cooker. The winning advantage of these cookers is that it takes its own sweet time in cooking the meals for you while your busy working or relaxing in a hot tub. Prepare the ingredients at night, store in the refrigerator, and simply combine everything in the crock pot in the morning before going off to work or school. By the time you come home after a long day, the meal is cooked perfectly for you.
Types
There are various types of crock pots. A cooking tool used since the seventies, it has changed from the single-piece crock pot to the cookers whose crocks can be lifted out of the heater. This has made the crocks easier to clean, and in well designed units, the crock is elegant enough to be used as the actual serving bowl. Crock pots also have steel or glass covers that fit in snugly on the crock. The crocks can be made of steel or ceramic. Ceramics are generally better for maintain heat over long periods of time, but steel crocks have the advantage of being usable on stoves for light frying before adding in the sauces and broth for the dish. Some crock pots come with simple dials for heat and cooking adjustments, while others are entirely digital and can be programmed for complex meals or longer cooking time – perfect for people who come home late. The crocks themselves come in several sizes, ranging from 2 quart crocks to 6 quart crocks. Some units today, however, come with several crock sizes that all fit on the same heater, to allow you to cook meals in various quantities.
How to choose
Keep in mind that the crock pot is not necessarily the same as the slow cooker. Slow cookers are not designed to have heating panels installed on the side, which means that cooking is done mostly from the bottom. Keep in mind that in some dishes, heat must be as dispersed as possible, to allow the meat to become as tender as possible. The generic slow cooker cannot do this. Also, crock pots are designed to heat food continuously, while slow cookers will turn on and off during the course of the several hours needed to cook the meal. This can result in scorched food, which the crock pot avoids through continuous but lower heat.
With the crock pot, there is no need to worry about fitting meal preparations for the most succulent dishes, no matter how time-starved and hectic your schedule is. Just put in the ingredients in the Crock Pot or Slow Cooker, and you can be sure to come home to a satisfying meal.
Hey there, great post. I did not know what the difference was between a crockpot and a slow cooker. Thanks for the insight.
For years crock pot has always been a hit among many people especially for preparing soup and stew recipes. I personally love it for finding my chicken ready after a long days work.
Great post. I too was unaware of the difference between slow cookers and crock pots. I had to go check to see which one I own
I have a pretty generic model but it works for me so far. Do you recommend any higher end crock pots for cooking something like a whole chicken?
Thanks!
I though my crock pot was a slow cooker. Guess not. From what you explained, I think I have a crock pot. Thanks for the info.
All this talk about crockpot and slow cookers made me hungry. Now for sure I wish I had such a gadget, so I don’t have to stay an hour in the kitchen cooking something.
Good tips and well thought out writing on slow cooking. I personally love to cook bbq in my slow cooker overnight.
Good job! Just letting a great way to beat the heat this summer is to use a stoneware slow cooker or crock pot instead of your stove top or oven. Slow cookers don’t use much energy or give off much heat. Stay cool Pretty much anything you can bake you can make in crock pot. One the best kitchen appliances invented.
My mom always used a slow cooker when I was a kid. She cooked some of the best food in it. Just about everything she made in it was so very good. Just reading this article makes me think of my moms slow cooker stew. It was so very good.
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Always nice to keep up with new innovations. I enjoy the warming feature that has been add to the newer rival crock pots. My sister has an older model slow cooker you can put on the stove as in traditional cooking. thanks bye for now.
Yes, I’m glad you posted this. I planned to post something similar but now I don’t think I’ll need to. Would you mind if I link to it from my livejournal? My readers might like to read it too. Thanks, Victoria
Crock pots are one of my favorite ways to cook. I just put chicken, apricot preserves, apple juice, russian dressing and a little water into a crock pot in the morning, and by dinner time, we enjoy a wonderful meal of apricot chicken.