I finally bought a slow cooker. It's a 7-qt cooker, the All-Clad sold at
Williams-Sonoma.

In the instructions it says do not slow cook a whole chicken because the
temperature doesn't get hot enough. The unit is rated at 330W but
nowhere does it mention what the HI and LOW temps really are. Is this
typical, not cooking whole chickens?

I cooked a pot roast yesterday and the water and juices eventually came
to a low simmer (on HI). Is this typical?

The outside housing is stainless steel and in no time at all it was
super hot!!! Is this typical?

The glass cover isn't really a snug fit and has a little room to slide
around. Is this typical?

It did warn that the ceramic temp should match the food temp to prevent
cracking. I imagine that's typical!

Now I can try all those great slow cooker recipes! Just need an army to
feed. It's a big pup!

Andy
Something else to clean

On Sun 04 Sep 2005 05:01:05a, Andy wrote in rec.food.cooking:

I finally bought a slow cooker. It's a 7-qt cooker, the All-Clad sold at
Williams-Sonoma.

As slow cookers go, you could probably have done just as well with a Rival
for a whole bunch less.

In the instructions it says do not slow cook a whole chicken because the
temperature doesn't get hot enough. The unit is rated at 330W but
nowhere does it mention what the HI and LOW temps really are. Is this
typical, not cooking whole chickens?

Oh, pshaw! Most slow cookers are rated low in wattage and most folks cook
whole chickens in them. Someone probably knows, but I've never actually
seen temps listed for the HI and LOW settings. I suspect that the LOW
setting maintains just around simmering.

I cooked a pot roast yesterday and the water and juices eventually came
to a low simmer (on HI). Is this typical?

Yes.

The outside housing is stainles steel and in no time at all it was
super hot!!! Is this typical?

Yes.

The glass cover isn't really a snug fit and has a little room to slide
around. Is this typical?

Yes.

It did warn that the ceramic temp should match the food temp to prevent
cracking. I imagine that's typical!

Do you mean, for example, that both the food and the crock should be at the
same temperature before you start cooking? Yes, that's a good idea, but I
admit that I've taken things from the fridge and put right in the crock,
then turned the cooker on. No problem.

Now I can try all those great slow cooker recipes! Just need an army to
feed. It's a big pup!

You don't have to fill it, but I would recommend filling it at least half
way for best results.

Andy
Something else to clean

I have always put the crock and lid in the dishwasher. I use virtually
nothing in the kitchen that is not dishwasherable (is that a word?), except
my good knives, which I hand wash.

Have fun!

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
____________________________________________

My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four,
unless there are three other people.

"Wayne Boatwright" wrote in message
...
On Sun 04 Sep 2005 05:01:05a, Andy wrote in rec.food.cooking:

I finally bought a slow cooker. It's a 7-qt cooker, the All-Clad sold at
Williams-Sonoma.

As slow cookers go, you could probably have done just as well with a Rival
for a whole bunch less.

Yup, I own two Rivals. One is a 5 quart, the other a 7-1/2 quart oval. The
third is just a no-name bitty little thing I mainly use for making hot dips.

In the instructions it says do not slow cook a whole chicken because the
temperature doesn't get hot enough. The unit is rated at 330W but
nowhere does it mention what the HI and LOW temps really are. Is this
typical, not cooking whole chickens?

Oh, pshaw! Most slow cookers are rated low in wattage and most folks cook
whole chickens in them. Someone probably knows, but I've never actually
seen temps listed for the HI and LOW settings. I suspect that the LOW
setting maintains just around simmering.

Any slow cooker I've ever had came with a recipe booklet and one of the
first things mentioned in each is a whole chicken. Just be prepared for it
to stew in its own juices (literally). If you want crispy chicken or
"roasted" chicken, go to KFC Speaking of which, a slow cooker is great
for making chicken stew!

The HI and LOW thing is basically how long do you want to cook it? LOW 8-10
hours or HI 4-6 hours? My larger oval cooker also has a "keep warm" setting
which is great in pot luck situations at the office. It also came with a
thermal carry case and heavy stretchy straps to anchor the lid down when
transporting.

Ever have one of those "darn, I should have patented this" ideas? I'd been
using big rubber bands to secure the lid down on my 20 year old slow cooker
(stretch across the lid and then around the cooker handles) for years before
I bought the new one. They just made the rubber bands "prettier"

Jill

On Sun 04 Sep 2005 05:28:03a, jmcquown wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Ever have one of those "darn, I should have patented this" ideas? I'd
been using big rubber bands to secure the lid down on my 20 year old
slow cooker (stretch across the lid and then around the cooker handles)
for years before I bought the new one. They just made the rubber bands
"prettier"


And they made money on it! More's the pity you didn't apply for a patent.
Same thing with "bungy" cords.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
____________________________________________

My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four,
unless there are three other people.

Andy wrote:
Now I can try all those great slow cooker recipes! Just need an army to
feed. It's a big pup!

No you don't. I have a 7 quart slow cooker. I routinely do things like
stews and chili in it. We make enough to freeze for quick meals later
on in the work week.

Sandi

Wayne Boatwright wrote:

On Sun 04 Sep 2005 05:01:05a, Andy wrote in rec.food.cooking:

I finally bought a slow cooker. It's a 7-qt cooker, the All-Clad sold
at Williams-Sonoma.

As slow cookers go, you could probably have done just as well with a
Rival for a whole bunch less.

I know. I went to Target and saw some Rivals and others but the housings
were cheap-o plastics and flimsy. As hot as my cooker got, I pictured
them melting.



In the instructions it says do not slow cook a whole chicken because
the temperature doesn't get hot enough. The unit is rated at 330W but
nowhere does it mention what the HI and LOW temps really are. Is this
typical, not cooking whole chickens?

Oh, pshaw! Most slow cookers are rated low in wattage and most folks
cook whole chickens in them. Someone probably knows, but I've never
actually seen temps listed for the HI and LOW settings. I suspect
that the LOW setting maintains just around simmering.

I'll try a small chicken and get some temp readings at some point. I
don't know how it'll look when finished. My oven roasted birds always
look great!



Now I can try all those great slow cooker recipes! Just need an army
to feed. It's a big pup!

You don't have to fill it, but I would recommend filling it at least
half way for best results.

I never cooked enough to freeze stuff but now it's a great idea.



Have fun!

Thanks for the advice and the funny sig!

Andy

Andy at q wrote on 9/4/05 8:01 AM:

I finally bought a slow cooker. It's a 7-qt cooker, the All-Clad sold at
Williams-Sonoma.

7 qt is a little big for a small family--don't know what your situation
is--but it will come in handy. Just make sure it's always at least half
full. You don't want it more than 3/4 full, anyway.

In the instructions it says do not slow cook a whole chicken because the
temperature doesn't get hot enough. The unit is rated at 330W but
nowhere does it mention what the HI and LOW temps really are. Is this
typical, not cooking whole chickens?

Yes, it is. You can make small birds in a crock pot, like a cornish game
hen. I wouldn't go bigger than a 3-3.5 lb broiler in a crock pot. And
DEFINITELY not stuffed! It's not that the temp doesn't get hot enough--it's
that the temp doesn't get hot enough QUICK ENOUGH to avoid the danger zone
for salmonella and other nasties that seem to like chicken. The slow
heating takes time to penetrate the entire bird, and the center of the bird
winds up being "lukewarm" (the perfect environment for bacteria) for an
extended period of time. And especially in a large slow cooker, the food
will be farther from the sides, where the heating elements are, so it will
take longer for the heat to penetrate all the way through than it would in,
say, a 3.5 quart slow cooker.

If the booklet says don't do it, I wouldn't. It might be ok.
But what if it turns out it's not? Is food poisoning one of those things you
really want to experience?

Chicken parts are a different matter. They are acceptable in the slow
cooker (but they don't need as long as, say, a chuck roast or a pork
shoulder.) Follow the guidelines in the booklet that came with the
slow-cooker. You just might want to brown the pieces before dumping them
into the pot.

You usually don't want to skip the browning step when using a slow-cooker.
The slow-cooker is really a simmering pot....and if you don't brown your
meat in a pan on the stove-top, you will wind up with water-logged meat.


I cooked a pot roast yesterday and the water and juices eventually came
to a low simmer (on HI). Is this typical?

The outside housing is stainless steel and in no time at all it was
super hot!!! Is this typical?

I dunno. I have cheaper slow-cookers (West Bend and Hamilton Beach brands,
one less than $15, one less than $25) and I imagine their housing is
aluminum. It gets hot, yes. Super hot? Not sure if I'd characterize it as
super-hot but yeah, it gets hot. It's a cooking pot. It's gonna get hot!
Also, the heating elements are in the walls of the housing, the coils wrap
around the crock and that's how it cooks. So yeah, don't worry about that.
Just keep plastic bags and little fingers away from it when it's on.

The glass cover isn't really a snug fit and has a little room to slide
around. Is this typical?

Yes. That's by design, so there is a slight amount of evaporation from the
pot during simmering. If it were a snug fit, you'd really be steaming the
food.

It did warn that the ceramic temp should match the food temp to prevent
cracking. I imagine that's typical!

Physics. Yeah, perfectly normal. There's wiggle room there, though. If you
put ICY cold food into a room temp crock, then turn on the pot, it won't
crack. Don't do that for another reason though--see my first point. Really
cold food will take longer to reach a safe temp and you could wind up with a
food-poisoning incubator. You don't want that! What you want to avoid is
extremes of temp...NEVER pre-heat the crock pot, or turn it on without any
food in it. This can cause cracking--putting COLD food into a HOT crock.
Same goes for any crockery cookware. (Those clay bakers, for example) It's
just simple physics.

To avoid cracking, just put warm from the skillet or room temp ingredients
into a room-temp crock, and switch it on immediately.

Now I can try all those great slow cooker recipes! Just need an army to
feed. It's a big pup!

Invest in some Gladware containers and freeze the leftovers in meal-sized
portions. This will come in very handy when you come home from work tired
and don't feel like cooking but want a home-cooked meal. Voila, instant
pot-roast! Seriously...most foods that work well in the slow-cooker freeze
well, also. Just be sure to label the containers with contents and date, and
use them up within 3 months. Unless you have a vacuum sealer. Then stick the
filled containers (bottoms only) into a vacuum sealer bag, suck out all the
air, seal, label and those will be able to be kept months longer.

Andy
Something else to clean

Slow cookers are great but you have to know how to use them.

You don't need special recipes, you can use your favorite recipes, but keep
in mind a couple points:

1. There is no browning in a slow-cooker, so always pre-brown anything you
want to benefit from that nice "caramelized" flavor. The exception to this
is you can make a meatloaf in a slow-cooker and somehow it does develop
crust. It's not brown, really, but it is crust, and it's delicious. Just
make sure it touches the sides of the pot. Also, it's perfect for making
caramelized onions.

2. There is very little evaporation, so cut way down on the liquid in the
recipe. Never more than 8 ounces of liquid (including thick liquids like
tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, honey, ketchup, etc) Keep in mind, water from
the meats and veggies will also come out in the cooking process, which adds
to the liquid in the pot. So try to use flavorful cooking liquids, like
broth, wine, etc. It will get diluted from the natural juices of the foods
you are cooking anyway.

Good luck.
---
Love like you've never been hurt
Live like there's no tomorrow
And dance like there's nobody watching

Andy wrote:
I finally bought a slow cooker. It's a 7-qt cooker, the All-Clad sold at
Williams-Sonoma.

In the instructions it says do not slow cook a whole chicken because the
temperature doesn't get hot enough. The unit is rated at 330W but
nowhere does it mention what the HI and LOW temps really are. Is this
typical, not cooking whole chickens?


I suspect that is just the response to slow down Dewey, Cheatum & Howe
who are just waiting to enrich themselves with a big suit if someone
were to get sick and claim that the instructions omitted some
prohibition. I imagine there is also a prohibition about using the
device while swimming and not to place small (live) animals in it.

A crockpot isn't temperature regulated so there is no concept of hi or
lo temperatures. The hi an low simply refers to the rate at which heat
is added.





I cooked a pot roast yesterday and the water and juices eventually came
to a low simmer (on HI). Is this typical?

The outside housing is stainless steel and in no time at all it was
super hot!!! Is this typical?

The glass cover isn't really a snug fit and has a little room to slide
around. Is this typical?

It did warn that the ceramic temp should match the food temp to prevent
cracking. I imagine that's typical!

Now I can try all those great slow cooker recipes! Just need an army to
feed. It's a big pup!

Andy
Something else to clean

Sheryl Rosen wrote:

Great info snipped

Good luck.


Sheryl,

Thanks for all the great info!

Do you write user manuals in your spare time?? --JUST KIDDING!--

All the best,

Andy

Wayne Boatwright wrote on 04 Sep 2005 in rec.food.cooking

Do you mean, for example, that both the food and the crock should be
at the same temperature before you start cooking? Yes, that's a
good idea, but I admit that I've taken things from the fridge and
put right in the crock, then turned the cooker on. No problem.


Hell, I've thrown in frozen stuff, and I have a Rival. I used to have the
fancy timer Rival as well, but I didn't like the way the timer
worked...It only allowed you to select the cooking duration after you set
the hi/low temp setting. So putting in frozen stuff and selecting a
delayed start time wasn't feasible.


--
The eyes are the mirrors....
But the ears...Ah the ears.
The ears keep the hat up.

Andy wrote:
Wayne Boatwright wrote:

On Sun 04 Sep 2005 05:01:05a, Andy wrote in rec.food.cooking:

I finally bought a slow cooker. It's a 7-qt cooker, the All-Clad
sold at Williams-Sonoma.

As slow cookers go, you could probably have done just as well with a
Rival for a whole bunch less.

I know. I went to Target and saw some Rivals and others but the
housings were cheap-o plastics and flimsy. As hot as my cooker got, I
pictured them melting.



In the instructions it says do not slow cook a whole chicken because
the temperature doesn't get hot enough. The unit is rated at 330W
but nowhere does it mention what the HI and LOW temps really are.
Is this typical, not cooking whole chickens?

Oh, pshaw! Most slow cookers are rated low in wattage and most folks
cook whole chickens in them. Someone probably knows, but I've never
actually seen temps listed for the HI and LOW settings. I suspect
that the LOW setting maintains just around simmering.

I'll try a small chicken and get some temp readings at some point. I
don't know how it'll look when finished. My oven roasted birds always
look great!

Do NOT expect a slow-cooked chicken to resemble anything like an oven
roasted bird.

Jill

"Mr Libido Incognito" wrote in message
...
Wayne Boatwright wrote on 04 Sep 2005 in rec.food.cooking

Do you mean, for example, that both the food and the crock should be
at the same temperature before you start cooking? Yes, that's a
good idea, but I admit that I've taken things from the fridge and
put right in the crock, then turned the cooker on. No problem.


Hell, I've thrown in frozen stuff, and I have a Rival. I used to have
the
fancy timer Rival as well, but I didn't like the way the timer
worked...It only allowed you to select the cooking duration after you
set
the hi/low temp setting. So putting in frozen stuff and selecting a
delayed start time wasn't feasible.

My crock pot may run hotter than those here but I deliberately put
frozen joints or chicken into my crock pot before I leave for work in
the morning. If I put unfrozen then the meat is over cooked when I get
home.

Ophelia

Wayne Boatwright wrote:

snip
Andy
Something else to clean


I have always put the crock and lid in the dishwasher. I use virtually
nothing in the kitchen that is not dishwasherable (is that a word?), except
my good knives, which I hand wash.

Andy, I put the crock and lid in the dishwasher too. Wayne, I don't put
my pots and pans or any non-stick pans in the dishwasher. My pots and
one fry pan are stainless steel with a polished finish. I find the
dishwasher leaves spots that I don't like and sometimes there is a film
left on the inside. I treat my non-stick frypans and wok with kid
gloves. IME the dishwasher not only leaves spots on the non-stick
surface but lessens the lifespan of the non-stick surface. My good
knives are handwashed too.

Have fun!

~patches~ wrote:

Wayne Boatwright wrote:

snip
Andy
Something else to clean


I have always put the crock and lid in the dishwasher. I use
virtually nothing in the kitchen that is not dishwasherable (is that
a word?), except my good knives, which I hand wash.

Andy, I put the crock and lid in the dishwasher too. Wayne, I don't
put my pots and pans or any non-stick pans in the dishwasher. My pots
and one fry pan are stainless steel with a polished finish. I find
the dishwasher leaves spots that I don't like and sometimes there is a
film left on the inside. I treat my non-stick frypans and wok with
kid gloves. IME the dishwasher not only leaves spots on the non-stick
surface but lessens the lifespan of the non-stick surface. My good
knives are handwashed too.

Have fun!


~patches~,

The crock is so large that it's a real dishwasher hog, so I soaked it
and washed it in the sink.

I handwash my good knife and wood spatula and spoons.

Andy

On Tue 06 Sep 2005 05:46:07a, ~patches~ wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Wayne Boatwright wrote:

snip
Andy
Something else to clean


I have always put the crock and lid in the dishwasher. I use virtually
nothing in the kitchen that is not dishwasherable (is that a word?),
except my good knives, which I hand wash.

Andy, I put the crock and lid in the dishwasher too. Wayne, I don't put
my pots and pans or any non-stick pans in the dishwasher. My pots and
one fry pan are stainless steel with a polished finish. I find the
dishwasher leaves spots that I don't like and sometimes there is a film
left on the inside. I treat my non-stick frypans and wok with kid
gloves. IME the dishwasher not only leaves spots on the non-stick
surface but lessens the lifespan of the non-stick surface. My good
knives are handwashed too.

I don't like dishwasher spotting either, but luckily mine rarely does it.
I also have polished SS pots, well the interior is a brushed finish, but
they come out spot free 99% of the time. I only own one non-stick pan and
I've had it for years. When I take it out of the dishwasher, I rub a tiny
bit of oil on the non-stick coating. As long as nothing is actually
touching the nonstick surface, it seems to fare well in the DW.


--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
____________________________________________

My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four,
unless there are three other people.