"Gary" > wrote in message ...
> gregz wrote:
>>
>> Gayle Hodur > wrote:
>> > There are times I want to prepare a slow-sooker recipe the night before
>> > and start it cooking first thing in the morning. I read that if you
>> > refrigerate the stuff in the stoneware dish you should cook it for 2
>> > hours on high and then switch to low. They didn't say if those 2 hours
>> > on high count as 2 hours of your cooking time or if you do them in
>> > ADDITION to the full cooking time. Anybody know?
>>
>> Should be in addition, but might take off some of the time. You would
>> have
>> to measure temp to be sure.
>
> I always start a slow cooker (crockpot) on high up to a simmer. You don't
> want to put things in there at low temp and let bacteria grow for hours.
> That said, the simmer temps later on will kill off all of the bacteria.
>
> gary

how long does it take a crock pot to hit 140F? I don't know, I don't have
one, but you raise an interesting point. I imagine it would only take a
couple hours to hit 140F. Is the setting a temp setting? If so, it is just
turning on and off, heating full blast while it is on.