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Food and Cooking Tips
Slow Cookers and Crock Pots®
In the 1970s, Rival Industries acquired the rights to a small kitchen appliance called the “Beanery”. Originally designed as a bean cooker, the technology was soon proved to be perfect for cooking meat and a wide assortment of vegetables, at low temperatures, over several hours. Thus, the Crock Pot® was born.
The original niche market it found has continued to expand over the years, as the idea of slow cooking was perfect, not only for busy housewives of the early 1970s, but working women, working men, and adventurous cooks alike.
Hamilton Beach
Slow Cooker |
The name Crock Pot®has become so familiar that few people realize that Crock Pot® is not a generic name for all slow cookers, but a name trademarked by Rival. Thus, for decades, consumers have seen Rival Crock Pots®, along with "slow cookers" from Hamilton Beach, West Bend, Cuisinart, and KitchenAid, and more.
A slow cooker consists of a round, or oval, ceramic pot, that sits in a metal housing that includes a thermostatically regulated heating element. Most have transparent lids, that allow the contents to |
Rival
Crock Pot® |
be monitored without the need to life the lid, allowing heat and steam to escape. Due to the heating element generally being located at the bottom for most slow cookers, occasional stirring of the contents helps prevent the contents from sticking to the bottom. Slow cooker thermostats can provide a range of cooking temperatures, while the Crock Pot® has traditionally had only high and low settings. Crock Pots® have heating elements around the side of the crock, in a housing made of plastic or an alloy with an aluminum liner.
Slow cookers and Crock Pots® work on the same simple principles. Food and a liquid, which can be any combination of water, stock, wine, soy sauce, etc. Once the lip is placed on top, and the cooker is turned on, the contents are heated to a steady cooking temperature of 175º - 200º F (80º - 95º C). The lid is not sealed, and the temperature of the contents can never surpass the boiling point of water, as the lid prevents the build up of pressure. The low cooking temperature will not allow much production of vapor, so that the inside of the crock lid gets surrounded by condensed vapor, and the rate of evaporation remains very low. The condensed vapor falls back into the pot, allowing the food inside to remain hydrated. The heat from the pot wall is delivered to the food by means of heat transfer through the liquid in the pot.
Slow cooker chefs recommend putting vegetables in first, in a layer on the bottom of the pot, with the meat on top. Then, cover the meat and vegetables with your liquid mixture of choice. One of the great benefits of slow cooking to that less expensive cuts of meat will become tender and will undergo less shrinkage than if cooked under higher temperatures.
A good slow cooker or Crock Pot® and a book of slow cooker recipes can make it easy to prepare inexpensive, great tasting meals, when you don't have the time to stand over a hot stove.
©2007 Niftykitchen.com
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