spamtrap1888 wrote:
> David Dyer-Bennet > wrote:
>
>> I keep wondering if a crockpot might be useful. *But I've found various
>> things on the web that are discouraging me. *I'd like information from
>> people doing something like what I want to do, with recent cookers, to
>> see if it's practical.
>>
>> Spending time in the morning to prepare stuff is right out, I'm up,
>> through the shower, and out the door, and getting up earlier is no
>> something I'm willing to do.

There's another thread that discusses assembling the ingredients the
night before and pulling the crockpot out of the fridge in the morning,
putting it into the heater unit and turing it on. To me that's standard
procedure for a crockpot.

>> However, refrigerating the loaded
>> container overnight, or perhaps the prepared food separately and loading
>> it into the container in the morning, are possible.
>
>> So the next question is, how long can things cook in the crockpot? *If
>> I'm out the door by eight in the morning and not back until 7 at night,
>> will it be burned / overcooked? *(There might, sometimes, be a
>> possibility of having somebody else take the loaded container from the
>> refrigerator and start the crockpot in the middle of the day, but that's
>> my least-favorite choice, way too many things to go wrong.)

That's esactly what a crok pot is for. When chosing the right tool for
the job you just did a bullseye pointing you to getitng a crockpot.

> I've had three crockpots over the years, and they simply never get hot
> enough to burn when set to slow. But I only ever use them for soups
> and stews -- I've never tried to cook food dry in them. The lids have
> been heavy enough to fit tightly enough so that all the moisture
> inside stays inside.

The make anything dry you need to remove the cover. Because of the heat
lost to evaporation it won't cook with the cover off. Thus to make any
dry recipe it needs to cook wet with the cover first. Then remove the
cover later. An hour is rarely enough to matter so that's not practical
for meals during the week but I have done it on the weekend.

> When I've made stock, I have sometimes left everything in the crockpot
> for up to 24 hours.

In my experience the simmer of a crockpot is too low to make good broth.
To me a good broth is one that bubbled slowly down. I've made broth in
the crockpot but not good broth.

When making beans I've left them in the crockpot for in excess of 24
hours. I've had beans that were okay for dinner that day then better
for dinner the next day. I have not tried that without other foods.