Pick A Pot
I still call them Crock Pots. That's because my first slow cooker was a Crock Pot. I now have three slow cookers and none of them are the Crock Pot brand.
If I want to cook a little fondue or put warm chocolate sauce on a buffet I use my little slow cooker. That one is 1.5 quarts. I use the medium one the most. That one is for soups and stews and will serve about 6. And I use the big oval one for parties or for things that are long, like a rack of ribs.
I was asked how to choose a slow cooker. I had to really think about it because I don't use mine that often and I had to think about what my priorities are in choosing and using mine.
Slow cookers can be as inexpensive as $25 and range all the way up to about $200 so there are some major differences depending on what features are a priority to you.
I'm going to lay out my favorite features.
1. A glass lid. I know this sounds trivial but to me it isn't. Most recipes will say that if you peek and lift the lid while your dish is cooking it can add up to 15 minutes to the cooking time each time you cheat and look. I am tempted, so the glass lid keeps me from peeking. Why I want to look at the food while it bubbles is anyone's guess. I just know that without that glass lid my food would take longer.
2. Insert dish. I want to be able to pull out the cooking vessel. The biggest reason is so I can clean it; maybe even put it in the dishwasher. When slow cookers first came out they didn't have inserts so you had to be very careful while cleaning it so you didn't damage the electrical elements. Most slow cookers now have inserts but if you are going for the budget model this is something you might have to sacrifice.
3. Programmable timer. I want a timer that can be set to start later in the day. This is important if you are going off to work. So let's say that I have a dish that only takes 4 hours to cook. I leave for work before 8AM so I really don't want the dish to start cooking until around 2PM. I won't be home to start the slow cooker. It has to start itself with a delay timer. Even if I do a dish on the low setting most won't take more than 7 hours. I'm never home in seven hours.
4. Keep warm setting. This sort of goes along with the programmable timer but it's a separate feature. I want my slow cooker to keep food warm when it's done cooking. If the dish is done at 5PM I want the slow cooker to keep it at a nice warm temp until I get home at 6PM. You have to buy quality to get a good version of this feature. Some of the pots that say they have a warm feature will stay too hot and the food continues to cook instead of just stay warm. That can mean tough, over-cooked food. Another reason to have the stay warm feature is so you can serve party food on a buffet.
Good Housekeeping magazine does a yearly assessment of the best slow cookers on the market. You can find their evaluations on line. In the October issue this year they also have a rating of the best budget buy (Bella Dots is the brand). Best for small families is a Hamilton Beach offering, Best overall is a Cuisinart model and new for this year is a buffet version by Crock Pot. That one is for serious slow cooker cooks who party. It's three Crock Pots that all hook together.
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