34 replies to this topic

[Jean Blanchard]

I used to own a crockpot.....many years ago. Then I bought a pressure cooker and got rid of the crockpot. Now...I want another crock pot....I think. If I buy one, which one? I see that they are now programmable. That looks interesting. Also, any good cookbooks to get me motivated to use it?

Jean

[pax]

I do oatmeal in my crockpot overnight, and in the morning I can toss the interior under the broiler for a minute and have "Oatmeal Brulee". My kids chum it down.

And Marcella Hazan's Bolognese suace, started in a saute pan but finished slowly for hours on warm in the crock pot...the house smells unbelieably homey and good.


If those are not two good reasons for a crock pot I don't know what are.

[Pebs]

I agree with Pax. I bought a crock pot about a year ago after not having had one for decades. Bolognese and other slow cooked sauces are perfect for crock pot cooking when you don't have the time to stir consistently. And my crock pot yields fantastic pulled barbequed pork as well. I don't have any of the fancy stuff. Just HI, LOW and OFF.

[christine007]

I have just the garden variety crockpot, I think I got it at a yard sale.
I love doing corned beef with potatos and cabbage, pot roast, chili, all manner of stew type dishes.
I love how you can start it, leave the house, and come home and eat hours later.

[Terrasanct]

I love using my crockpot. Big batches of chicken soup, so I can always have some in the freezer. Also works well for onion confit.

[Chris Hennes]

My only advice is this: don't buy the ones that are "semi-programmable." I had this one (until just last week, when I finally got frustrated enough to put it out of its misery ) : http://www.jardensto...bid=17&pid=2632

It only lets you set it for two different times, and switches to "warm" after that. Terrible, terrible, terrible. I think the programmable ones are not necessary, and can be harmful, in this case. Simple is good.

[Jean Blanchard]

Thanks for the input. I've seen the $150.00 programmable ones and they are pretty well recommended in some cooking magazines. That's kind of expensive though for something I'm not sure I'll use that often. It has been a while since I bought a new toy though. Any cookbooks you like or just using your own recipes? BTW, Marcella Hazan's ragu is the best! Also, my father used to make us oatmeal in the well of our Chamber's range every evening in the winter and it was the BEST oatmeal I ever had. If the crockpot can mimic that, you're right, it would be absolutely worth it!

[Toliver]

There's another option: a slow cooker.
Here's one similar to what I have:
Westbend Slow Cooker
It doesn't have programming...just a knob with numbers representing different heat settings. One of the benefits of this kind of slow cooker is that the non-stick pot is made of metal and can be used on the stove. So you can brown your meat in the pot and then move the pot onto the base for slow cooking.
The base is also non-stick and can be used as a mini-griddle.

[Quiltguy]

My only advice is this: don't buy the ones that are "semi-programmable." I had this one (until just last week, when I finally got frustrated enough to put it out of its misery ) : http://www.jardensto...bid=17&pid=2632

Completely agree on this. Mine goes to the "Warm" setting at the correct time, but, it's still at a vigorous simmer, looks the same as "low" to me. There's no way to go directly to the warm setting.

If the power flicks off while you're away, the pot resets to a waiting to program aka "Off" mode. Away at work for the day? Too bad, two second power outage and you're out of luck...

Just my experience.

[andiesenji]

I have several crockpots and have replaced several that didn't perform up to par. I use them for candying fruits, ginger, etc., as well as the usual long, slow cooking. Also for safely melting wax for candlemaking, and a few other odd tasks. I'm also an artist and have one old crockpot that has never been used for anything except cooking rabbitskin glue. Thirty + years old and still working just fine.

I recently bought one of these, which is programmable
I also have one of the older versions of VersaWare that is not programmable, but has the same type of inner container that can be used on stovetop to sear and brown meats.

I have purchased several times from this vendor (also in the previous post link from quiltguy) and have been very satisfied with both the pricing and service. They carry replacement parts for Crock-Pots, lids, liners, racks, including an oval rack with handles that is very handy.

Edited by andiesenji, 17 October 2007 - 05:43 PM.

[Marlene]

I have the progammable one and haven't ever had a problem with it, and I use it to make onion confit which takes about 20 hours or so in a crock pot. I start it on high then when I go to bed, just reprogram it for the 10 hour low and it's fine.

Andie, I really like the looks of the one you linked to, and being able to use it to brown stovetop would be a huge bonus. I wonder if they ship to Canada.

[andiesenji]

I have the progammable one and haven't ever had a problem with it, and I use it to make onion confit which takes about 20 hours or so in a crock pot.  I start it on high then when I go to bed, just reprogram it for the 10 hour low and it's fine.

Andie, I really like the looks of the one you linked to, and being able to use it to brown stovetop would be a huge bonus.  I wonder if they ship to Canada.

I am pretty sure they ship anywhere. One of my friends, who lived in Niagara, but has since relocated to Spain last March, bought one of the thermal cookers from this vendor. I am fairly sure she ordered it direct.

[Pierogi]

There is NOTHING like walking into a cold house (OK, realistically, I live in Southern California, and *my* cold house is nothing like a cold house in Wisconsin in January, but still..........) after a day at work, when you're dead to the world, and chilled to the bone, and in need of significant comfort, and smelling DINNER in the crockpot.

And knowing its warm and cozy and comforting, like stew or chili or soup or pulled pork or braised brisket or curried chicken or whatever.

And even more importantly knowing you really don't have to do anything in order to be able to sink into dinner and have the day be all right.

Crockpots are a good thing. I only use mine maybe 4 or 5 times a year, but each time I do, I think they are worthy of a Nobel Prize.

They're also a Godsend for when you're up to your eyebrows in STUFF and you still need dinner. I make a crockpot veggie soup each year the day I do the bulk of my Christmas cookie baking. Smelling it all day, with the smell of the cookies baking and the Christmas carols blasting on the stereo is one of the things I look forward to each year.

[eskay]

Whats the difference between a crock pot and a slow cooker? I thought they were the same thing...

[Anna N]

Whats the difference between a crock pot and a slow cooker?  I thought they were the same thing... 

As I understand it, "crockpot" is a trademarked name of the Rival Company and "slow cooker" is what other companies call the same thing.

[andiesenji]

Whats the difference between a crock pot and a slow cooker?  I thought they were the same thing... 

As I understand it, "crockpot" is a trademarked name of the Rival Company and "slow cooker" is what other companies call the same thing.

Anna is correct. The early "slow cookers" were incorporated into 1930s, '40s, '50s electric stoves - and were called "deep-well" cookers and the point was that the heating coils surrounded the cooking chamber instead of being on the bottom which allowed foods to cook evenly without burning on the bottom.
At the same time came along the stand-alone electric roasters, which worked on the same principal (I have a collection of these) but were mainly marketed to people with large families and those who would have a house full of friends and relatives for holidays and wouldn't have enough cooking space on or in the kitchen range to cook everything.
The early ones also came with multiple inner containers and advertised being able to cook an entire meal in the same cooker (assuming one wasn't cooking a 20+ pound turkey!

These were still aimed at stay-at-home moms as this was still in the days when married women and mothers did not work outside the home.

In the late 1960s the West Bend Aluminum company came out with a bean pot with a separate electric hot plate (that exactly fitted the bottom of the crockery pot) which became a popular appliance and a couple of other companies also made similar ones, including one called The Beanery, which had the electric coils enclosed around the non-removable crock.
Rival bought this company in the 1970s and took the concept further, and developed recipes for other foods that could be cooked at long, slow temps. (Coc-au-Vin was the recipe featured on the cover of the first Crock-Pot cookbook manual.) The early ones did not have removable crocks and the metal shell often rusted because of inadequate cleaning and seams that allowed liquids to seep through the seals. The electric "innards" were often damaged by moisture.

Other companies, Hamilton Beach and West Bend, in particular, were quick to see how well these were selling and jumped into the marketing wars. The original late 1970s 1 1/2 quart cookers were supplanted by larger, extravagantly decorated models with removable crockery liners, vented lids, divided chambers and other "improvements" until we are at the point where one can find a dizzying number of styles, sizes, electronic controls and even a couple that double as deep fryers - when one removes the inner crockery liner.
Meanwhile, there has also been a resurgence of the electric roaster and now 12 quart, 18 quart and even 25 quart models have come back onto the market.
Something for everyone.

This is my oldest "roaster - slow-cooker" made in 1935 and it is pristine, never used. Total volume 12 quarts.
As you can see, it has the classic Art Deco design both as decoration on the roaster and on the instruction booklet.


The interior has the separate pans for cooking multiple foods separately.

Edited by andiesenji, 18 October 2007 - 09:29 AM.

[MelissaH]

Andie, that's beautiful! (I'm somewhat partial to Art Deco styling, but if I had something as gorgeous as that, I might have designed my kitchen around it!

MelissaH

[kbjesq]

Andie, if it's not too much trouble, would you mind posting more pictures of your crock pot collection? This is absolutely fascinating.

Just like Jean Blanchard, I threw away a really cheap crock pot that never worked properly when I bought a new pressure cooker.

After reading this thread, I realized how much I miss the crock pot option and so, since I had a bunch of reward points and could basically get it for free, I pulled the trigger and ordered this Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker with temperature probe. I'm really not that into adding gadgets onto things, but the size and the price was right and maybe the probe feature will prove useful.

[eskay]

Thanks, anna and andie. Much less confused now

[fiftydollars]

I'm not a super big fan of crock pots.

I own one and use it only rarely because, for some reason, everything cooked in a crock pot tastes exactly the same. It seems that regardless of what ingredients are added, through the magic of it's handy dandy patented slow cookery, the crock pot always delivers a remarkably similar product to whatever you have cooked in it before or will ever cook in it afterward. I speak mainly of meat dishes, but the magic of the crock pot's patented slow-cookery technology seems to magically impart a certain characteristic blandness to any of your favorite flavors.

I do use my crock pot to pasteurize vinegar and make onion confit and it performs these tasks very capably. It works great for both of these things.

Aside from that, every time I make a pot roast or any kind of meat stew, I get less than spectacular results. The result is usually overcooked, the flavor seems stunted, or just severely diluted, and all of the flavors blend together... and this not in a good way. When I mean it makes everything taste the same, I mean that not only will today's pot roast taste a lot like yesterday's chicken stew, but for some, almost undoubtedly patented reason, within each dish, any one vegetable will taste a lot like the protein and/or any other vegetable. Not to mention the bizarre way in which vegetables that have been cooked for many, many hours (8-12) can emerge from the crock pot undercooked...a lot undercooked... It's creepy.

Now I'm not saying that your tomato sauce will be able to pass for chicken stew, but yes, they will both share the same uncanny qualities. It is not difficult to see how vastly inferior either of these things are when made in the crock pot as compared to a dutch oven.

I've long suspected that the reason may have to do with the slow-cooker's ability to retain moisture, which I suppose is a requirement if you are going to leave food in it for long periods, unattended. But as a result, because little moisture evaporates, the slow cooker does not concentrate flavors very much, so when meat is braised over a long period of time, for example, instead of having flavor concentrate and glaze the meat like a good braise should, the meat just boils along in a somewhat dilute liquid that denatures its proteins beyond recognition without leaving anything behind. But this is just a wild and very poorly educated guess.

I don't really know why it cooks like it cooks, but I am just not a big fan of crock pots. But if you are going to buy one, when you get one make onion confit. It's good!

Edited by fiftydollars, 19 October 2007 - 12:25 AM.

[Toliver]

Whats the difference between a crock pot and a slow cooker?  I thought they were the same thing... 

As I understand it, "crockpot" is a trademarked name of the Rival Company and "slow cooker" is what other companies call the same thing.

I always assumed a crockpot was one with crockery whether it had a crockery insert or, like the ancient model my mom has, is made of crockery and has no insert and is a pain in the ass to wash and rinse since it's not immersible in water. And if it was a non-crockery cooker than it was called a slow cooker.
Ya learn something new everyday. Thanks Anna!

[Big Bunny]

I've recently started making stock in a crock pot. The moisture retention makes it easy to produce a rich stock without fussing.

BB

[Toliver]

I just received an email from Cooks Illustrated where they rated slow cookers/crockpots.
Their winner is the ALL-CLAD Stainless Steel Slow Cooker with Ceramic Insert,
It'll only set you back about $150.

[kbjesq]

Their winner is the ALL-CLAD Stainless Steel Slow Cooker with Ceramic Insert,
It'll only set you back about $150.

Yes, that's true . . . but they also recommended the HAMILTON BEACH Programmable Slow Cooker with Temperature Probe
Features: 6-quart capacity, digital timer, programmable temperature probe, "keep warm" mode.

According to CI: "While the temperature probe itself wasn't a lure for testers ("slow cooking shouldn't be that temperature-specific"), this model passed the evaporation test and performed well in the cooking tests. This cooker was downgraded for being the only one without handles on the insert, which made removing it difficult-especially when hot."

And it's on sale at Target this week for $34.99, (here). For $100+ price difference, I'll go with the Hamilton Beach and get out my pot holders.

[Habeas Brulee]

After getting my first crockpot a year and a half ago, and using it only a handful of times with mediocre, bland results, I'm finally giving it away this week. I find that it takes up way too much space for a tool I rarely use and by which I am usually disappointed.

[MarketStEl]

Funny that one of our Crock-Pot (n.b.: the trademarked phrase is capitalized and hyphenated this way) critics recommends it for onion confit.

It seems to me that onions are a common ingredient in slow cooker dishes, and their flavor tends to permeate everything. That, I suspect, may account for $50's disappointment with what she makes in the cooker.

However, I will second that liquid retention makes many braised meat dishes problematic. My experience has been that such meats become stringy and virtually shred themselves when cooked in a Crock-Pot, and chicken parts often fall to pieces. Perhaps adding more vegetables on the bottom, which both absorb and keep the meat above the level of the liquid, might help.

I've never had a problem with undercooked vegetables in a Crock-Pot. What usually happens is that they take on the flavor of the meats above them -- and of the onions.

For meats that should be in shreds of some sort, like pulled pork, a Crock-Pot is ideal. Ditto dishes like chili, which usually call for beef chunks or ground beef. The only adjustment I make is that I add very little liquid; in most cases, I simply add the beans undrained (I buy a store brand that comes seasoned for chili; the liquid, despite the addition of sugar to it, is usually adequately spicy for my taste after adding some chili powder, cayenne and cumin to it) and add tomato paste to thicken the sauce.

I do plan to try cooking spareribs in my new 6-quart portable (locking lid) Crock-Pot, purchased to replace a 30-year-old Hamilton Beach Crock Watcher that died a month back, soon. I will probably add nothing other than the dry rub and see what happens.

[ray goud]

I believe most of the naysayers of slow cookers might change their opinions if they tried the recipes in Lora Brody's "Slow Cooker Cooking". I cannot praise this book enough; it puts the French ambiance in slow cookers.
Ray

[andiesenji]

I believe most of the naysayers of slow cookers might change their opinions if they tried the recipes in Lora Brody's "Slow Cooker Cooking". I cannot praise this book enough; it puts the French ambiance in slow cookers.
Ray

I agree completely! I also have Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann's "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook."

I also have a diabetic cookbook for the slow cooker and a vegetarian cookbook but can't recall their titles offhand. I bought the vegetarian cookbook at a local health food store when they were doing a demo of three recipes from the book and all were delicious. I have several vegetarian friends and I like to include them when I invite omnivores and preparing entrees is easier when I can have them cooking in the slow cooker.
I haven't found that everything tastes the same. However I do use much less salt when cooking with this method because while liquids reduce, the salt doesn't. I use salt-free or low salt stocks and broths when necessary to use these.

[tafkap4d]

Interesting...I have a crockpot and have always had one. Recently (and with all the talk of braising) - my interested has been towards a pressure cooker. I am not sure of the feasibility for me. I apologize for being a little OT but what are the pros and cons of one vs the other? (Crockpot vs. pressure cooker)

[andiesenji]

I got out the slow cooker cookbook I mentioned above.

The one I really find helpful is Fast Cooking in a Slow Cooker, by JoAnn Rachor.
A Slow Cooker Vegetarian Cookbook
the cookbook at Amazon

On the first page she states she has 25 slow cookers (more than I have). She goes on to explain that not all slow cookers are equal... That is, there can be significant variations in cooking temps. She explains how to determine the cooking temp of your particular cooker.
This is a boon for newbies!

She has arranged charts of various kinds of foods (cereal grains, beans, root vegetables)
in charts that take into the account the variation in heat levels in the different appliances.

I have found this to be one of the most helpful cookbooks for people new to slow cookers, even though it has only vegetarian recipes.

So often people complain that their slow cooker doesn't cook something in the time described in a cookbook. This one gives all the variables and makes the adjustments for you.