Is crockpot cooking safe?

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jessicacarr

Senior Cook
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
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i have a crockpot, and have used it some in the past until one day i put 2 and 2 together and wondered...
food is supposed to be quickly heated and quickly cooled.
this is the opposite of what the crockpot does!
i never got sick off of what i cooked in it, but i still wonder about it.
i figured this is the perfect place to pose the question...
is crockpot cooking safe?
 
I'm pretty sure there has been a discussion on this one before, but I believe the answer in a nutshell is that the minimum heat setting on modern crockpots is in the safe heat range. I'll go see if I can find some of those discussions and post some links for you.

Here is an excellent thread to read thru.
 
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This is a quote from AllenMI:

The increased temperatures may be because a temp of 120°F is just right for extremely rapid bacterial growth. 150°F is a perfect holding temperature, although it will cook. The newer models with higher temps are not as likely to develop bacterial growth in the food as it cooks.

Some models of crockpots, according to my old "Crockery Cookery" cookbook, will actually exceed the boiling point. To measure how hot a crockpot gets, you might want to use some oil instead of water.
http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=173231
 
I can not speak to the older Crock Pots, but the Crock Pots of today are completely safe.

jessicacarr said:
food is supposed to be quickly heated
Nope this is not true. There are many things that benefit from long cooking times. Somethings should be cooked quickly, but other things should be cooked slowly. BBQ is a perfect example of something that needs to be cooked slowly over low heat. Try it any other way and you will not be happy.
 
The foods cook at a temp comparable to braising temperatures in an oven. The crockpot makes it convenient in that you can set it and not have to tend it. Following the rules for cooking in crockpots makes them safe. Starting with frozen meats may make them unsafe, but in most manuals I am familiar with, this is not recommended.
 
GB said:
I can not speak to the older Crock Pots, but the Crock Pots of today are completely safe.

Nope this is not true. There are many things that benefit from long cooking times. Somethings should be cooked quickly, but other things should be cooked slowly. BBQ is a perfect example of something that needs to be cooked slowly over low heat. Try it any other way and you will not be happy.

a valid point
 
GB said:
I can not speak to the older Crock Pots, but the Crock Pots of today are completely safe.

Originally Posted by jessicacarr
food is supposed to be quickly heated

Nope this is not true. There are many things that benefit from long cooking times. Somethings should be cooked quickly, but other things should be cooked slowly. BBQ is a perfect example of something that needs to be cooked slowly over low heat. Try it any other way and you will not be happy.


Yes, but a crockpot should come to safe temperature relatively quickly and then cook slowly. It would, in fact, be unsafe if you set the crockpot to "low" and it took several hours to get the food above 140.
 
OK my bad. I should have read this more carefully. Jenny is absolutley right of course. Food can cook for a long time, but needs to be brought up to safe temps quickly.
 
You need to carefully follow the directions or recipe when cooking in a crock pot.

Recently I cooked 5 pounds of beef chuck roasts in a 6 quart crock pot, and the recipe was for a 3 pound roast. I was concerned at my excess meat, so I carefully watched what was happening in the pot the first hour. I ended up quickly switching the pot on high, from low, for almost one hour. I then turned it back to low as indicated in the recipe for the remaining 8 hours. I believe I simply had too much meat to safely leave the pot on low the whole cooking time. The roasts turned out splendidly.
 
ok, so then my question is...do crockpots bring them up to that temp quickly enough for food safety?
 
Most new crockpots have an "auto" setting which quickly brings foods up to temp and then automatically switches to low.
 
I finally bought a Crock Pot and it came with receipes and directions. I also have printed out a lot of Crock Pot receipes from you wonderful chefs and cooks.

I am still going to buy a book that a friend told me about entitiled "Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Receipes For Crock Pots.

The Crock Pots of today are excellent and the receipes tell you what temperature to cook different items at.

Jill and Jolie
 
While I don't use my crockpot a lot, I do enjoy using it when I do - & feel safe doing so.

I think the biggest thing is to make sure you stick to safe volumes of food for the size crockpot you have.
 
A crockpot cooks at higher temperatures than 140 degrees. That's all it needs to do. The cooling, however...that's up to you. If you use a timer method of cooking, please be sure you are either home when the meal is finished cooking or it has a holding temp of 140.

If they were unsafe to use according to proper manufacturer's instructions, they would all be pulled off the market shelves.

Enjoy the ease it brings to your life.
 
GB said:
I can not speak to the older Crock Pots, but the Crock Pots of today are completely safe.

Nope this is not true. There are many things that benefit from long cooking times. Somethings should be cooked quickly, but other things should be cooked slowly. BBQ is a perfect example of something that needs to be cooked slowly over low heat. Try it any other way and you will not be happy.

You are right, GB. Food that is undergoing an initial cooking phase (not reheating) doesn't need to be brought up to temperature rapidly. Some foods, ribs, for example, are best when cooked slowly at moderate heat. The operative word when it comes to food borne illness and pathogens, microoganisms is TIMING. You can cook at a low heat (for the initial cooking, again, not reheating). However, when you do get to the desired temperature, that temperature has to be maintained for a short time to be sure all microorganisms have been killed.

Food has to be 'brought up' quickly when you are reheating. Food has to be brought down quickly when you are cooling. Food safety experts are not trying to change the way food is best prepared. Instead, food safety experts want to educate on how to safely handle food from the purchase stage, through preparation, consumption and storage.
 
OK. This the fourth time I've tried this post; the last three times the website kicked me out.:mad:

Anyway, I always have done pot roasts and such in a Dutch oven, searing the meat when the oil begins to smoke. I always thought that part of the reason for the initial sear is to bring the meat closer to safe temp. The other part, of course, is to develop the fond. I've only, so far, used crockpots to maintain a safe temp. Recently, however, I was given a crockpot that has a removable, ceramic pot. It is supposedly good to med-high heat, which could be good enough to develop the sear (so far untried). I worry about ceramic on the (gas) stovetop. Any thoughts/experience?
 
Hi bullseye
The purpose of the searing step is to form a crust around the meat that will hold the juices in during the longer cooking processes required for many cuts of meat. If you are searing correctly, there is no way you can bring the temp up to a safe zone because the middle of the meat should still be cold. Searing is only to brown the uppermost layer.

I do not believe you can sear in the ceramic part of your crock pot because I don't believe it can get hot enough. As you can probably tell, searing is done at very high temperature. You can eliminate the searing step when you use your crockpot. The flavours won't be effected overmuch, and the meat will still be moist due to the slow cooking.
 
I use my crockpot all the time - I love i t! Small cuts to big cuts. I've cooked a 8-9 lb. turkey breast in the crock on low for 7 hours, it was wonderful.
 
bethzaring said:
You need to carefully follow the directions or recipe when cooking in a crock pot.

Recently I cooked 5 pounds of beef chuck roasts in a 6 quart crock pot, and the recipe was for a 3 pound roast. I was concerned at my excess meat, so I carefully watched what was happening in the pot the first hour. I ended up quickly switching the pot on high, from low, for almost one hour. I then turned it back to low as indicated in the recipe for the remaining 8 hours. I believe I simply had too much meat to safely leave the pot on low the whole cooking time. The roasts turned out splendidly.

Glad the roast turned out well. Seems to me, though, that the whole purpose of a crock pot gets lost if it involves such work and attention. At that point, it might have been easier to braise conventionally.

And that's the problem I personally have with them in general. I tend to think that slow cookers are great for those who want (or need) to throw all the ingredients in at once and leave the scene. And that's fine, especially if it's out of necessity.

But since I'm more attracted to the slow-cooker recipes that involve more steps, like initial browning, which I'm not likely to do in the wee hours of the morning, I figure I might as well use a a good LC or Staub pot.
 
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