Crock-Pot Cooking

[Merlot]

so if we are using a new crockpot and come across directions that say to cook at high for one hour ...should ignore bec. Of the newer tech.? Would that be the way to go or should I still do it?

I have never (in roughly 10 years of using a crockpot) come across a recipe that says cook for one hour on high then cook on low the rest of the time but obviously from other posters they are out there!

I don't know mumu, I guess if I came across a recipe I would follow what they stated but that's just me!

 

[GLC]

There's a limit to how much faith you can have in small appliance instructions today. They're mostly Chinese, and those makers aren't averse to just using whatever instruction they can find, and there's certainly no assurance that the source of the instructions ever used that product or even one like it. All you can really do is understand how it was made, such as a basic crock pot being a simple device with heating elements wired into the power source through a switch, with no other controls. It's just a "fire" to cook over. In effect, the switch just moves the pot higher or lower over the fire, or moves it from the small fire to the big fire. That's all it is and all it can be. And the sort of cooking that's appropriately done with that sort of cooker is just the sort you would do in a heavy pot hanging on a tripod over a fire for hours. And the good thing is that means it's very tolerant. Of course, in order to make the pot appear more useful, the recipes with it present all sorts of dishes. But in the end, it's all -

Here fire. Here pot. Go cook.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Maybe it's just me and my odd take on food, but I think most crock pot recipes should read: "cook on low for several hours or whenever you get home."

Not amenable to deducting an hour. Several minus an hour is still several hours. It's like, how big a number is infinity plus one?

 

[lyndalou]

I cook just about everything on low. Nobody has died yet. I do sear meats before they go in, as someone else mentioned.

I was interested to read that some of you cover whatever you're cooking with liquid. The instructions that came with my slow cooker say to add less than you think you should, no more than half way up.

 

[jennyema]

I have never (in roughly 10 years of using a crockpot) come across a recipe that says cook for one hour on high then cook on low the rest of the time but obviously from other posters they are out there!

I don't know mumu, I guess if I came across a recipe I would follow what they stated but that's just me!

I bought my mom a crockpot and a cookbook and a whole lotta recipes start out on high and then switch to low. Her crockpot didn't have an automatic feature to do that so they both got returned.

 

[SherryDAmore]

Ya know after thinking about this, I think the 'start on high, switch to low' was because the early c/p versions took a looooonnnnnggggg time to get hot, so you started on high to get it hot enough.

Really, it probably isn't necessay anymore with a good slow cooker; I have a HamBeach programmable with a temp probe, and a 3 1/2 qt. Cuisinart with 4 temp settings, so I might be doing the hi/lo thing out of habit rather than need. I'm cooking in one today, so I'll skip it and see what happens.

 

[mumu]

crockpot cooking

Zhizara, u said u do it manually. after u have on high do u adjust the time on low then?

 

[mumu]

crockpot cooking

maybe if i word it this way.....say u have a older crock pot and to cook on low they say u should start out on high for the first hour,something about safe zone of meat,then after a hour switch to low. Do you adjust any of the low time since you have cooked it at high for 1 hour already? I know the new ones (crock pots) u dont do this to. been told here.

 

[taxlady]

maybe if i word it this way.....say u have a older crock pot and to cook on low they say u should start out on high for the first hour,something about safe zone of meat,then after a hour switch to low. Do you adjust any of the low time since you have cooked it at high for 1 hour already? I know the new ones (crock pots) u dont do this to. been told here.

I doubt that you would want to adjust the time on low by much. If it is an older slow cooker, it will take it a while to get up to high, so a lot that time is actually at a lower temperature.

 

[mumu]

crockpot cooking

SherriDAmore...do u find your hambeach to run to hot or notice any thing different than u would with other slow cookers? some say the new ones run hot. Does yours have the spoon and it fits in the lid? Any problems with receipes?

 

[SherryDAmore]

SherriDAmore...do u find your hambeach to run to hot or notice any thing different than u would with other slow cookers? some say the new ones run hot. Does yours have the spoon and it fits in the lid? Any problems with receipes?

I love love love my Ham Beach. I have this one: Hamilton Beach 33967 Set 'n Forget 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker: Amazon.com: Home & Kitchen No, it doesn't burn hot. It is on the "best" lists of Consumer Reports, Good Housekeeping, and America's Test Kitchen. I love the probe; I can cook things to temperture, and when it's reached, shifts to warm.

I know the new Rivals run really hot - boiling everything. I also have a 3 1/2 quart Cuisinart, which is also programmable with time, but not temp, and I love that one, too.

 

[mumu]

crockpot cooking

SherryDAmore did u happen to try the slow cooker today without going high to low?

 

[SherryDAmore]

SherryDAmore did u happen to try the slow cooker today without going high to low?

Yes, I did. Didn't seem to make any difference. Made a stew. Turned out great.

 

[mumu]

crockpot cooking

thanks all for the help and information.

 

[pengyou]

I am glad I found this thread. I just bought a Joyoung (brand name) crock pot. I live in Taiwan and have found this brand to be pretty dependable and durable. I filled it halfway with water and found that low setting is about 125 degrees F, medium about 176 degrees and high...the water was too hot for me to measure - I was using a meat probe thermometer. It did not get up to boiling but "felt" pretty close. The low setting on my pot seems to be about 15 degrees lower than the lows posted here. Do you think it is safe to use this on low for cooking meat? or should I only use the medium setting? Medium seems to be too high for true "slow cooking". I am guessing that this crock pot is calibrate this way because Asians use them extensively to prepare soup - mostly broth type. Any suggestions?

 

[Harry Cobean]

i have used slow cookers for years & have never used anything other than the low setting.but then i never read the instruction manuals for anything!my current cooker has three settings.low,medium & automatic(starts on high then switches to low once the desired cooking temp is reached).in the instruction manual(i did read that bit out of interest) it shows the cooking times for the same ingredients which are shorter the higher the temp setting.so in my opinion the different settings have nothing to do with food safety or the type of food being cooked,merely cooking times.
i think that two more important factors apply to this and,in reality,any other cooking technique:
a) the temperature of the food to be cooked at the outset.i always cook everything(apart from fish,seafood & anything that says"best cooked from frozen")from room temperature.
b) the provenance & husbandry of meat.nowadays meat rearing standards are so high in the uk(thanks largely to our experiences with mad cow & foot & mouth diseases) that it is ok to cook good quality home raised pork pink.
unheard of even a few years ago.
but that's just me!

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I more or less use low for long cooking times, high for short cooking times, and high then low to get it started and then go to simmer for a long time.