Slow cooker settings, low and normal — especially low — work on the principle called building temperature. Meaning, the slow cooker builds temperature over time without increasing it. This type of slow and gradual increase in temperature is what causes your meat to get juicy and extremely tender. Lifting the lid off of your slow cooker mid-cooking interrupts the heat building process. As a result, it takes a lot more time to once again build-up to the required temperature.
The reason might just be lifting the lid off of the slow cooker multiple times. If it somehow gets removed, make sure to add 15 minutes to the cooking time if you are cooking on low. Thank you so much for blogging about this. I can never go by suggested recipe cooking times as all of my crockpots cook much faster, even on low. I often have to cut the cooking time in half, which is a pain if I'm going to be out for the whole day.
BTW, love your blog! Looking forward to days in My daughter showed me your blog.. I barely managed to save a piece for Larry! My crock a newer 6-qt variety said right in the booklet that it will get hot on the outside and to avoid setting it directly on certain countertop materials. When I use mine, I put it on top of a heat-resistant glass cutting board with feet. If your board only has four corner feet like mine, consider adding another foot in the middle or using something to support the center.
A loaded crock can get mighty heavy- I was worried that it would heat and then break the glass. Right now, you can buy a programmable crock pot on Amazon. For chicken, which almost always seems to cook waaaay to quickly, I put the whole recipe together unless it has tons of acid that could "cook" the chicken except I use frozen chicken and put it in the fridge the night before.
I pull it out the next morning and put it in the crockpot and turn on low. The chicken then turns out perfectly when I get home.
Since i'm away from home for 10 hours and do not have an automatic switch to warm, this method works perfectly. So this is kind of embarrassing, but I burned a meal to a crip in my crockpot and it won't come out. I'm afraid that it will never come out! Does anyone have any suggestions for cleaning and making it useable again? Hi Erin. Not embarrassing.
It happens to the best of us. On a day you are home to monitor, squeeze some dishsoap into your crock and add 2 cups or so of waterenough water to cover whatever baked-on mess you've got going on in there. Then turn it on high. Rinse, then do the same thing over again. Depending on how gross the crock is, you may need to do it a few times. After the crock is somewhat free of debris, run through the dishwasher. I am still in mourning since my s crock-pot's cord broke.
They knew how to make crock-pots in the olden days. I hate the new ones. I have a Rival that burns anything on the back side of the crock. On high it does a rolling boil, on low it still boils and on warm it still bubbles but at least not as hot. I have a new small crock-pot that is much better with only a high and warm setting.
I have been using the same Rival pot since and the whole thing's looking a bit worse for wear, although it still cooks fine.
The crock's also hard to clean. It must be of that newer generation, because it cooks way hotter than I'm used to. The first thing I tried was applesauce--left the kitchen for awhile and then came back--applesauce running all down the sides, yuck. I thought it was just me, but the next thing I cooked, the same thing happened--way too much pressure happening, liquid forming around the lid--and that was just on LOW. I guess I'll go back to my wedding present--when I want to slow cook something, I like to know that it's going to be slow.
And not all over the counter. My last two soup recipes of yours looked delicious, but what I got was completely different than your pictures the broccoli cheese and the apple and white bean chili. They smell great, but the cream seems to have separated out. I have a large crock pot. Do you think a smaller one would help Hi Christi, I get separation with soups sometimes , too.
After a quick stir, they are fine, so I don't think too much of it. Canned soup separates alsoI think it's pretty normal for heavy stuff to sink and lighter stuff to float. I've seen reviews of the 2. I was going to get it, but I was afraid that being so small it might overcook things. Lots of results for a 2. I even searched for the model number SCR and turned up nothing.
No listing of a 2Qt model at crock-pot. Are the contents in the crock pot supposed to be constantly boiling, even on the "low" setting? Whatever I am cooking, the liquid is always boiling- doesn't seem to be "slow cooking" to me! Am I wrong here? Has anyone seen a Consumer Report or Cook's Illustrated rating of crockpots? I'd like to see what they recommend before I buy one I read somewhere that crockpot manufacturers now often have the low setting higher than in the past because of food safety concerns disputes about whether the low setting really brings the food up to the safe temperature fast enough.
Somewhere I found directions on how to test the temperature and, sure enough, the wedding-present crock from was fine, but the new purchase wasn't.
Of course, the '96 crock was a Rival, and the new one was an Aldi brand. But even with the Rival, I've had chicken recipes get massively overdone.
Finally had one work really well -- instead of the 8 hours on low of most recipes I've seen, this one called for 4! My current pet theory is that cookbook authors, in order to make crockpots convenient for gone-all-day types, stretch out the cooking times too much! I find that for most recipes, it's best for days that I'm working at home, or am at home with the kids but need something I can prep and get started during naptime.
I've also read that boneless chicken really is usually not suited for the crockpot and you ought to be using bone-in chicken. Haven't tried that, though. Last year for Christmas I bought my mom a 3 in 1 crock It comes with a 2,4, and 6qt insert and they store inside each other. I plan on getting one next time I buy one.
Wellm reading these comments has answered my question, which was "why does my crockpot take so much LONGER to cook things than it says in your and many other recipes? It drives me crazy because I follow the recipe and think I have plenty of time to get the meal cooked, but come home from work and find it's still half raw.
So now at least I know why! Ya learn something new every day, "they" say, and today's my day, I guess! When my Mom died back in '06 I inherited her late '80s Montgomery Ward rectangular slow cooker with grill base, and used it until the knob rusted completely closed on us one day. Dear hubby tried to free up the control but couldn't. I still have all the parts, but Necessity really is the mother of invention, lol!
My aunt bought us a new 6-qt for our 1st anniversary and everything is done in much shorter time than I'm used to. Now I know why. Thanks so much for this blog, Steph. I crock pot at a minimum every Sunday my "sleep-in-with-hubby day and have been desperately searching for new recipes to try. Won't have to search elsewhere for a while. I'll post a few of my own concoctions too, if that's all right. I love to "mix and match" out of the cupboard and fridge. Hubby has put on twenty pounds since we married in January of '07!
Thanks again, and I'll be back! Man, I'm glad I read this post yesterday! I've been following your blog for about a month but hadn't read this post yet because my old crockpot was fine! Unfortunately, my "vintage" from crockpot met an untimely demise when the ceramic insert met our ceramic tile floor for the first time. My spaghetti sauce yesterday was practically boiling when I got home, and it was on low! And let's not discuss how bad the beef broccoli came out I guess I'll either need to use frozen meat, or cook any meat first and use the warm setting, or ask Santa for a smartpot for Christmas.
Our dump has a recycle table, so I grab any crocks that get left. All fit in my various crockpots and its very handy having extras. Some are a bit shorter and these cook longer than the ones that go all the way to the bottom. Try posting on freecycle for crocks, sometimes people have the crocks because their base died. The crock pot is not designed for rapid increase and decrease in temperature. These temperature flactuations can crack it and you may have to replace it.
If you simply want a means to boil water, I recommend you use a normal pot. If the crock pot is the only thing you have available, then I suggest that you do it in such a way that the temperature goes up very slowly but I would strongly recommend even against that. Agnes is a kitchen and cooking enthusiast as well as a fitness fanatic.
She loves to help readers upgrade and furnish their kitchen with the best available products! She is the primary writer behind SmartKitchenImprovement.
Crock Pots tend to work at the temperature of degree Fahrenheit and maintains it to cook food. However, reaching this temperature scale will take around four hours. With this being said, boiling water in a Crock Pot will take around four hours, which is nothing but a waste of time. The Crock Pots tend to attain the temperature slowly, and cooling down will be equally slow. However, if it heats up too quickly, it can damage, causing safety hazards. As for boiling water, it is best if you use the ordinary pots.
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