- Slow cooking needs virtually no watching or tending
- Slow cooking can tenderize cheaper cuts, tougher cuts of meat
- You can make lots of different dishes, you're not stuck with just soups and stews, usually without worry of burning
- Using a slow cooker helps eliminate excessive heat in the kitchen
- A slow cooker frees up your stove and oven
- Slow cookers use very little electricity
Of course there are dishes that probably won't work well in a slow cooker and there are some 'rules' to remember but for the most part it's an awesome appliance to have.
With the exception of stews and chowders, fish doesn't seem to do well in a slow cooker. Slow cookers build up a lot of steam which collects in the closed cooker and therefore you have to keep in mind the excess fluid. If you are going to be cooking meats, it's best to brown it before adding it to the slow cooker.
The low setting on slow cookers is usually right at 200 degrees (F). That is below boiling. The high setting will boil because that's about 300 degrees (F). You should avoid lifting the lid as much as possible when using a slow cooker. It's a good rule of thumb that you should add 15-20 minutes cooking time each time you remove the lid. The exception to that is if a recipe tells you when or how many times during the cooking process to stir. If that's the case then most likely that loss of heat has been figured into the directed cooking time.
The most commonly referred to slow cooker does only that, slow cook. Usually the heating element is coiled up and around the sides of the appliance. This allows even heating within the crockery of the appliance which also discourages scorching.
There are also multi-cookers that are referred to as slow cookers. These appliances come with adjustable thermostats and can be used for different types of cooking. In most of these, the heating element is in the bottom of the cooker. This is not my cooker of choice because you're more likely to have burnt on the bottom, sticky bottom blues with these. This is not to say that you wouldn't like the multi-cooker. I prefer the other style because with my crazy and active household, I'd rather put it in and forget it.
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