Your Crockpot Cooking Salvation

The Best Slow Cooker - Cook An Entire Meal With One Appliance

The slow cooker. What a wonderful product. There is no denying the fact that this appliance has revolutionized the cooking experience. It facilitates multi-tasking and therefore makes the daily chores of life a whole lot easier for working mothers, stay-at-home-mothers, and housewives in general.

So, what is the slow cooker? The slow cooker, also referred to as a crock- pot, is a small electric cooking appliance that cooks while maintaining a low temperature compared to other cooking methods. Because of this low temperature, the slow cooker allows you to leave your cooking unattended for many hours.

The slow cooker was developed by the Naxon Utilities Corporation of Chicago. It was introduced as the Naxon Beanery All-Purpose Cooker. In 1970, Naxon Utilities Corporation was purchased by the Rival Company. In 1971, Rival reintroduced the slow cooker under the name Crock-Pot, and introduced removable stoneware inserts in 1974. The brand is now owned by Sunbeam Products. Presently, there are several other brands of the slow cooker including Hamilton Beach, West Bend Housewares, and Magic Chef.

The slow cooker consists of a round or oval cooking pot with a lid. The cooking pot is made of glazed ceramic or porcelain and is surrounded by a housing which contains an electric heating element. The lid, which is mainly of transparent glass, is seated in a groove in the edge of the pot. The condensed vapor that is trapped in the groove of the pot edge provides a low-pressure seal to the atmosphere. When a slow cooker is in use, the pressure inside is at atmospheric pressure, despite the water vapor generated inside the pot. It is for this reason that a slow cooker is much different from a pressure cooker. With the slow cooker, there is no danger from a sudden pressure release.

The majority of slow cookers have two or more temperature settings and sometimes a "keep warm" setting. A typical slow cooker is designed to heat food to 170o F (77o C) on low, to perhaps 190-200o F (88-93oC) on high.

Recently, there was another upgrade to the slow cooker. This upgrade, in my opinion, qualifies this appliance to be called the best slow cooker. This improved slow cooker was introduced by the Slow Cooker Mate company and the appliance is called the Slow Cooker Mate. With this appliance, you can cook a meal in one pot and take your cooking to a whole new level while making a complete meal in one slow cooker.

The Best Slow Cooker is an innovative three chamber slow cooker that allows you to cook an entire meal with one appliance. The large capacity base crock is removable for easy serving and clean-up. The unique stoneware divided insert, which is found only in The Best Slow Cooker, allows you to cook two more items at the same time. You can cook vegetables, warm dips or sauces and much more. Both stoneware crocks are microwave and dishwasher safe. The lid is also dishwasher safe. The Best Slow Cooker is ideal for the chef in the house who is already short of time.

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by AlishaV

Slow Cooker Can Give Your Food Its Best Flavor

Slow cookers and crock pots are very useful in the kitchen. It gives out the best flavors of foods.

Slow cookers are electrical cooking gadgets that keep a low temperature for long hours for unsupervised slow cooking. Slow cookers are also called crock pots. They are commonly placed on countertops. It is used to cook food requiring low heat and long cooking time.

A slow cooker is usually made of porcelain or ceramic enclosed in metal housing with heating element controlled by a thermostat. The pot cover is commonly transparent glass to see what's cooking inside. The pot both serves as a container of the food to be cooked and also a source of heat. They come in many sizes, from ½ liter to 7 liters.

A common slow cooker operates at maximum heat of 190 to 200oF. The temperature while it cooks is below 212oF or 100oC, approximately 160oF on low temperature setting. A steady heat from 175 to 200oF is retained by the heating element.

As a general guide, a low setting is used for cheap cuts of mutton, venison, beef, lamb and other red meat. It softens the connective tissues and takes 10 to 12 hours.

Medium setting is used for red meats. High setting is more for pale meat like chicken. This setting cooks faster for about three to four hours with temperature a little higher than that of medium setting.

Auto cook makes food taste better than those cooked with temperature setting of low or medium according to some actual tests. The automatic cook setting initially cooks on high temperature then shifts to low and maintain that temperature continuously. Some slow cookers do not have this setting.

The keep-warm is sometimes referred to as hold setting. It prevents the food from getting cold while keeping its flavor and preventing it from drying out. The slow cooker automatically shifts to keep-warm when the cooking time is reached. It is useful when the crock pot is going to be unattended longer than the required cooking time.

The indicator light is a useful visual aid to know that the slow cooker is on and working.

Check the power cord if it has enough length to reach the power source. Using extension cord is dangerous because liquids might be spilt into it and possibly causes a fire. It is a good idea to purchase a crock pot with a removable liner for the simple reason that it is much easier to clean.

Cheaper cuts of meat when cooked for a short period can be difficult to chew because of its connective tissue and muscles. But then long boiling can dissolve the connective tissue making them dry and hard. Slow cooker's long and slow cooking will make the tissue soft and the muscle easy to chew.

There are some disadvantages in slow cooking. Sometimes through the process the food loses significant nutrients and vitamins. Enzymes are quickly denaturized when heated at high temperature, giving them less time to act throughout the cooking time.

Vegetables also have a tendency to lose nutrients when its enzymes are not denatured rapidly, as slow cookers cook at heat considerably below the boiling point. Vitamins are retained well when vegetables are quickly cooked because its cells do not potentially lose acids.

Some beans contains toxin that can be eliminated by continually boiling for 10 minutes or longer. It is recommended to boil raw beans before cooking in slow cookers to prevent food poisoning.

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by daftgirly

How to Make the Best Crockpot Recipes

If you are fortunate enough to own a slow cooker or crockpot you will want to use it as much as you can. Slow cookers are handy for lots of different occasions. Perhaps you have a party or buffet to arrange and you want to use the crockpot to make hot dips or to keep your hot apple cider or mulled wine hot. You can make easy appetizer recipes in a slow cooker too, such as sweet and sour meatballs.

Some days there just do not seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done. If you have a hectic day, let your crockpot take some of the stress away from you. Load it up with vegetables, meat, water and herbs before you go out for the day and you will get home to a delicious stew recipe.

There are lots of easy crockpot recipes to choose from and many just involve adding the ingredients and turning the slow cooker on. There is no simpler cooking method than this.

You can find the best crockpot recipes online, if you know where to look. Also, your slow cooker might have come with some free recipes along with the instruction manual. Once you become familiar with making these delicious dinners you can adapt the recipes to make different meals.

Adapting Slow Cooker Meals

Perhaps you fancy making chili con carne but the recipe looks a bit too spicy. Simply leave out the chili peppers or use less than the recipe tells you to. If someone in the family likes their food spicy, you can serve hot sauce on the side.

The same applies with other recipes where you are not sure whether or not the end flavor is going to be too strong. It is always easier to add more spice, sweetness or flavor, rather than take it away.

You never have to stick to a recipe if you want to change parts of it, as long as you know what will work and what will not. That, of course, comes with experience.

Time Saving Crockpot Tips

The more you use your crock pot the more you will want to use it. Crockpot cooking is time saving by definition because you do not need to watch your food cook or stir it frequently. There are also other ways to ensure your crock pot recipes are easy and quick.

If you know in advance that you are going to have a rushed day, fill the crockpot with your meat or chicken, vegetables and other ingredients the night before, then put it in the refrigerator. This is great for two reasons. Firstly, all the ingredients will have the chance to mingle and merge flavors. Secondly, you will be able to take the slow cooker out of the refrigerator when you get up in the morning and plug it in and flick the switch just before you leave the house.

The best crockpot recipes are often the simplest ones where the flavor of the meat, fish or vegetables clearly shines through and anything you add for flavor simply enhances the overall flavor of the dish.

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Question by Samuel B: What's the best slow cooker (Crock-pot, etc.) available for a reasonable price?
I'm trying to find a good Slow Cooker for my mom this Christmas but the reviews on amazon.com aren't very good. Most have low scores, but some have high scores but they all still have at least one review that says "Cooks food too fast!" Either all the slow cookers they have for sale don't work right or the reviewers are stupid and are using them wrong. What is the best cheap (-0) slow cooker available?

Best answer:

Answer by Shane
I have a Proctor-Silex and a Hamilton Beach. Both are reasonably priced and work great. I recommend one having at least three heat settings (for example warm, low and high).

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West Bend Slow Cookers the Best Around

West Bend slow cookers are the best. It is a well known fact the recognition the recognition of slow cookers has reduced enormously during the past few decades, but, recently, some new version of these cookers have taken the market by storm and these are finding new loyalists with each passing day- thanks to the fact that these cookers provide the food with ideal pressure and heat, which permits the food to cook at an optimum rate. Thus, food cooked using these cookers is palpably more healthy as well as tastier.

During the 70s, these cookers were introduced as substitutes of regular cooking hardware available at that time. They permitted for abandoned cooking of standard home food such as stew, rice and other dishes.

The rationale why nutrition is preserved in food cooked using slow cookers is the food is cooked using indirect heat from the heating elements, which builds up slowly.

The slow cooker is a particularly helpful appliance, simple and suitable to use. You can prepare the meal early in the morning. In the morning just take the dish out of the chiller and place it in the main unit. Your supper will be prepared by supper time.

Slow cookers or crockpots are one of the best methods to prepare a meal for a busy mom that needs to be all over the place every day. You can prepare the food on the previous day, keep it in boxes in the fridge and quickly get it going in the slow cooker in the morning. The food remains fresh in the slow cooker for several hours which means the the food can keep for a bit till the family is prepared for eating. Slow cookers put out tiny heat into a room, making them a wonderful way to prepare hot meals in the summertime. As you are using the longer cooking times at a lower heat, you should buy the less expensive cuts of meat and the long cooking process will make sure the meat turns out extraordinarily juicy and tender.

It is important that you always defrost meat and cut it into small pieces. Full roasts or chickens will cook so slowly that the beef may remain cool long enough to encourage bacterial expansion. Most slow cookers should be 1/2 to 2/3 full for all recipes. Removing the lid permits heat to flee, and often increases required cooking time by at least 20 minutes for every time you take away the lid. West Bend slow cookers will work the best. So resist the temptation!

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by hummingcrow

Look to the South for the Best Crock Pot Recipes

Most people are completely unaware of it, but in the Deep South pot cooking is a specialty. Soups just don't fit into a southerners diet. Rather they prefer stews that can be eaten alone with a nice big hunk of warm bread or ladled over a plate full of rice.

In fact if you were walk into any restaurant in the French Quarter of New Orleans, back in the kitchen they will have someone who carries the title of “pot cook”. This will be the chef thats responsible for anything that is slow cooked in a pot and there is a veritable cornucopia of dishes prepared this way down there.

The one thing that too many crock pot cooks fail to do, is to prepare a rue to base their stew off of. This is done by pouring about a half a cup of veritable oil into a pan and than adding about a half a cup of plain white flour to it. Carefully stir the rue on light heat until it's a nice dark golden brown but “not burnt”.

A nicely prepared rue is why so many of the simpler crock pot recipes such as leek & potato stew that you will find in the south will leave you wanting to lick your plate. Now making a perfect rue does take a little practice, so if your's has burnt taste when it's done then  toss it out. A rue should have a nice nutty flavor.

If beans aren't your cup of tea then you haven't tried beans the way they're cooked in Southern Louisiana. They take beans serriously down there and the finished pruduct reflects this well. You're going to have to cook your beans all day in a crock pot until they are the consistency of a gravy. Also don't forget to toss in some bacon or pork fat.

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by FotoosVanRobin

Easy Slow Cooking - the Best Crockpot Recipes are Also the Easiest!

Are you short on time? Do you find it hard to be organized in the kitchen? My grandmother never rushed around in the kitchen and I'm finally starting to learn some of her secrets. And is it ever making a difference!

A lot of us have this secret and don't know it! A lot of us have this secret time saving appliance sitting high on a kitchen shelf somewhere and it's just collecting dust. What is it? It's the crockpot!

The trusty old crockpot is making a comeback in a big way! It would be a mistake to underestimate the convenience that this appliance provides. Let's bring this hidden appliance back into plain view, shall we? Keep in mind what it will be able to do for us.

With some easy crockpot recipes in hand, you can easily put your ingredients into your crockpot in the morning. Then set it... and forget it! When you return home at the end of the day, you will be greeted by a delicious and mouthwatering aroma that is simply indescribable.

There are 5 ingredient, 4 ingredient, and even 3 ingredient recipes that are easy enough to make and that are simply the best in my opinion: Best and Easy Crockpot Recipes.

You also have a lot of choices to create a variety of foods that will satisfy any family, large or small. And regardless of the size of your family, the time spent preparing your meal doesn't have to go up considerably for a large family. Let your crockpot do all the hard work for you!

A crockpot is perfect for the busy family - Its a 'dump it all in' appliance that takes a very little amount of effort as well as a very little amount of talent. You can try some easy crockpot recipes just to get started. You don't have to be a gourmet to make a gourmet meal!

It is time to substitute the slow cooker habit in place of the fast food habit. Ponder that tidbit for a moment. You put the ingredients in your crockpot in the morning and turn it on. There! You're done with dinner! And it took less time than rushing to the fast food place after work. And the final result is a well balanced meal that saved you a whole lot of time and money.

A crockpot can do all that? Yes, and more.

And whose grandmother wouldn't be proud of that?

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by AlishaV

Best Crock Pot Cooking Tips

One of the least used and yet most versatile tools in the average kitchen is the slow cooker. With just a few crock pot cooking tips you can turn this dust collector into one of the most useful items in your kitchen

This is some of the best crock pot cooking tips obtainable out there.

Buying roasts and other big cuts of meat that will go into in your crock pot easily is important. If the cut won’t fit it into the container, trimming the piece down works better than attempting to stuff it further. This is one of the most significant tips on using crock pots that people will learn to appreciate. For more details visit to www.fair-recipes.com
Before cooking, you must get rid of the skin and cut away any extra fat from the poultry and other meats. This will assist to lessen the quantity of fat in the completed serving of food as well eliminate any oily flavor.

Some of the best crock pot cooking tips involve using vegetables. Fresh root vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, and onions, should be placed in the bottom of the pot, under the meat, for more even cooking. These types of vegetables tend to cook more slowly than meat.

This is another neat trick you can use. You can pace the process of thickening the sauces near the end of cooking time by turning up the heat setting. Tasting the liquid to ensure that it has had enough time to flavor is advisable. Leave it on low heat and let it sit a little bit longer until you start to taste the flavor that you want.

Another important point to remember is seasoning in crock pot cooking. Periodically seasoning and tasting prior to taking away the dish is important. This is because crock pots, after sitting for some time, will tend to sometimes water down the flavors. Being resourceful with your seasonings is a good practice. Adding seasoned salt, garlic powder, seasoned pepper, and complementary herbs and spices is also an excellent way to complete the cooking. To know more logon to www.100cookingtips.com .Another important thing to remember is that in slow cooked foods, the dish will tend to lose its color. Utilizing certain garnish such as chopped fresh parsley, chives, tomatoes, and red or green peppers when the cooking is nearing completion, helps by adding color to the dish.

Buying a cookbook that has been written especially for crock pot cooking is amongst the best ways to learn to use your slow cooker more effectively. Not only do they offer delicious recipes but also lots of crock pot cooking tips that can help you use your slow cooker with ease and you can find these types of books either online or offline. The slow cooker can really earn its keep once you know how to put it to work, in today's busy world of working families.

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Question by Puddleduck: Best Crock Pot pulled pork recipe?
I'm looking for a Crock Pot pulled pork recipe that ***doesn't use*** bottled BBQ sauce. Anyone have a good one?

Best answer:

Answer by blues breaker
my sil used to make one that had the pork and a bottle of salsa. really simple and tasty

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Question by cocoboo312: Best Crock Pot/Slow Cooker Cookbooks?
I just got a new crock pot and I am fired up about using it but I don´t have any great recipies to use with it. Are there any great crock pot/slow cooker books worth buying? Any cool web sites worth visiting?

Best answer:

Answer by PuffinLove
I am still sort of new to slow cookers... But i generally refer to this site alot.. And my fav recipe is putting chicken breast in with a can of my favorite salsa.. Yum!

If you want me to email you i have a bunch of healthy crock pot recipes..

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