New Slow Cooker

[rodentraiser]

First, I'm not sure if slow cookers belong here. Second, I can't remember if I asked this question already but if I did, I forgot the answer. Yeah, old age, don't go there. LOL

Anyway, I got a new crock pot - a 4 quart this time. My last crock pot had a vent hole in the cover and this one doesn't. Is there a good reason for having or not having a vent hole? Will my food turn out a little different if I now use a crock pot without a vent hole in the cover?

 

[Jusa]

I don't think so. I have a large 5 quart crockpot with no lid vent hole, a 3 quart crockpot with a hole in the lid, and two 1.5 liter crockpots with no vent holes in the lids. I do admit when I'm making pasta sauce in the big one, I will take off the lid periodically, holding it up to trap the liquid, and take it over to the sink to drain off the condensation that accumulated inside and I don't have to do that with the 3 quart crockpot. The little crockpots are really more for keeping things warm at gatherings (like cheese dips or vegetables) and I don't cook in them.

 

[dragnlaw]

I shouldn't think so - I was under the impression that when you cook in a crock pot/slow cooker you use less liquids as the long slow cooking releases liquid form the foods and forms the liquids around to keep the foods from drying out and getting tough.
So to me, a vent in the lid is counter intuitive.
All that to say, it should NOT change anything. It will keep your pull pork/pot roast/roast chicken/chicken and dumplings nice and moist.

 

[rodentraiser]

Thanks! And of course, the first thing I cooked in my new slow cooker was hot dogs and beans. LOL

 

[blissful]

I don't know the answer, but I know that older slow cookers usually had a hot, and a warm notch for the knob for temperature. They were usually hot enough to go over boiling and dried beans could be cooked in them.
As times change and regulations change, some of the newer ones don't get as hot. Maybe that is why they don't have vents in the cover? Some of them don't reach boiling temperature and are not safe for cooking dried beans because they never boiled.
It would be easy enough to check with a thermometer.
That's all I know about slow cookers.

 

[Jusa]

My Rival is probably 30 years old or more, it gets very hot. No vent hole. It's the one I use to make large batches of soup, pasta sauce, chili, etc. Yeah it only has hot and warm. Yes it can cook beans.

 

[pepperhead212]

Before cooking any high lectin beans (red kidney beans the highest) in your slow cooker, check to see what temperature your slow cooker goes up to - the "high" should be boiling, but the regular or low on many don't get hot enough to cook high lectin foods in. They say to cook kidney beans and similar high lectin foods at a vigorous boil for 25 min, before reducing to a simmer, as even just simmering, not even in a slow cooker, has made some people sick. And I remember Consumer Reports found a number of the slow cookers either didn't high enough (to 190°) or were too high (over 200°) for "slow cooking" in general.

 

[Jusa]

Before cooking any high lectin beans (red kidney beans the highest) in your slow cooker, check to see what temperature your slow cooker goes up to - the "high" should be boiling, but the regular or low on many don't get hot enough to cook high lectin foods in. They say to cook kidney beans and similar high lectin foods at a vigorous boil for 25 min, before reducing to a simmer, as even just simmering, not even in a slow cooker, has made some people sick. And I remember Consumer Reports found a number of the slow cookers either didn't high enough (to 190°) or were too high (over 200°) for "slow cooking" in general.

Yes, agreed on that, I generally soak my beans first, then bring the beans to a boil for a bit, then drain them and add them to the crockpot. I don't completely cook them during the boil process, I let them finish in the crockpot. I believe after they boil they need to be drained and rinsed for sure.

No one has ever gotten sick from my food so far (I am 61 but didn't really start cooking much until I was over 30).

 

[rodentraiser]

I don't know the answer, but I know that older slow cookers usually had a hot, and a warm notch for the knob for temperature. They were usually hot enough to go over boiling and dried beans could be cooked in them.
As times change and regulations change, some of the newer ones don't get as hot. Maybe that is why they don't have vents in the cover? Some of them don't reach boiling temperature and are not safe for cooking dried beans because they never boiled.
It would be easy enough to check with a thermometer.
That's all I know about slow cookers.

Well, I know this one gets hot enough to boil. I left it on for about 8 hours because I was gone and when I came home, the brown sugar had melted and was bubbling away.

The only beans I put in when I make hot dogs and beans is just Van Camps Pork and Beans from a can. By the way, remember when these beans had a chunk of pork on top? Neither of these two cans had any pork in them at all. Talk about false advertising. Unless I was expected to use a microscope to see the pork.

 

[pepperhead212]

My guess is it has some pork in it, so that they can call it that, but it is listed past the salt, in the ingredients list.

 

[rodentraiser]

I never thought to check the ingredients.