When I leave our slow cooker to putter through the night, when I wake up and
check on it, it's doing a pretty serious boil. I think. Bubbles around.
The slow cooker is new and easy clean and really pretty. OTOH, I think
it goes from lo to blast off after an hour or three and stays there.
What would you do to check temp when it is set on low? Would I let it
go with just water for an hour or so and put in a thermometer? Yes. That
sounds good but I'll loose some temp by taking off the lid. Maybe not much.
Polly

On Sun, 9 Jun 2013 23:40:57 -0500, "Polly Esther"
> wrote:

> When I leave our slow cooker to putter through the night, when I wake up and
> check on it, it's doing a pretty serious boil. I think. Bubbles around.
> The slow cooker is new and easy clean and really pretty. OTOH, I think
> it goes from lo to blast off after an hour or three and stays there.
> What would you do to check temp when it is set on low? Would I let it
> go with just water for an hour or so and put in a thermometer? Yes. That
> sounds good but I'll loose some temp by taking off the lid. Maybe not much.
> Polly
>
I don't own a crockpot, never have... shouldn't it be bubbling
somewhat slowly? Anything less seems like it might be breeding
something you wouldn't want to ingest.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

On 6/9/2013 10:46 PM, sf wrote:
> On Sun, 9 Jun 2013 23:40:57 -0500, "Polly Esther"
> > wrote:
>
>> When I leave our slow cooker to putter through the night, when I wake up and
>> check on it, it's doing a pretty serious boil. I think. Bubbles around.
>> The slow cooker is new and easy clean and really pretty. OTOH, I think
>> it goes from lo to blast off after an hour or three and stays there.
>> What would you do to check temp when it is set on low? Would I let it
>> go with just water for an hour or so and put in a thermometer? Yes. That
>> sounds good but I'll loose some temp by taking off the lid. Maybe not much.
>> Polly
>>
> I don't own a crockpot, never have... shouldn't it be bubbling
> somewhat slowly? Anything less seems like it might be breeding
> something you wouldn't want to ingest.
>

They're famously over-heated, imo.

We're on our second one, and it has a probe to keep it honest, but the
darned thing is woefully slow to reach cooking temperature and then
reluctant to surrender it.

I make this one of the worst temp-regulated cooking devices out there.

How can that be in this age of such luminaries as the Zojirushi rice cooker?

I think we all suffer from cheap non-Asian electronics...

"Polly Esther" > wrote in message
...
> When I leave our slow cooker to putter through the night, when I wake up
> and check on it, it's doing a pretty serious boil. I think. Bubbles
> around.
> The slow cooker is new and easy clean and really pretty. OTOH, I think
> it goes from lo to blast off after an hour or three and stays there.
> What would you do to check temp when it is set on low? Would I let it
> go with just water for an hour or so and put in a thermometer? Yes. That
> sounds good but I'll loose some temp by taking off the lid. Maybe not
> much. Polly

The newer ones cook at a much higher temp. than the old ones did. With
those you needed to cook for at least an hour on high before turning to low.
As for checking the temp... Don't know how to do that.

"Polly Esther" > wrote in message
...
> When I leave our slow cooker to putter through the night, when I wake up
> and check on it, it's doing a pretty serious boil. I think. Bubbles
> around.
> The slow cooker is new and easy clean and really pretty. OTOH, I think
> it goes from lo to blast off after an hour or three and stays there.
> What would you do to check temp when it is set on low? Would I let it
> go with just water for an hour or so and put in a thermometer? Yes. That
> sounds good but I'll loose some temp by taking off the lid. Maybe not
> much.

This is the thermo I have. You can just leave it in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVZyEL8RB2o

I've had a similar one for a few years, but in the past couple of months I
bought one of these - it has a silicon wire which I like better I don't
think I got mine from ebay but maybe Sheila can remember.

--
--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

I leave mine on hi til I see those bubbles, (usually an hour), then to low for the rest of the time.

Like with a washer or dryer, I would NEVER ever go to bed with a crockpot going - or even leave the house. Shit happens, ya know.

Kalmia wrote:
>
> I leave mine on hi til I see those bubbles, (usually an hour), then to low for the rest of the time.
>
> Like with a washer or dryer, I would NEVER ever go to bed with a crockpot going - or even leave the house. Shit happens, ya know.

Well, we certainly are the same! My old crockpot has a high and low
setting. Whenever I use it, I start at high until it gets very hot, and
THEN I will turn it down to Low to cook for hours.

I'll go to bed with it on but I NEVER leave it on once I leave the house. I
only use the crockpot on weekends when I'm home all day

As you said, things happen. YOu should never leave an appliance on all day
when you are gone....you never know if you might not come home in time.

G.

On 6/10/2013 7:40 AM, Kalmia wrote:
> I leave mine on hi til I see those bubbles, (usually an hour), then to low for the rest of the time.
>
> Like with a washer or dryer, I would NEVER ever go to bed with a crockpot going - or even leave the house. Shit happens, ya know.
>
Any fireman would agree there.

On 6/10/2013 9:40 AM, Kalmia wrote:

> I leave mine on hi til I see those bubbles, (usually an hour), then
> to low for the rest of the time.
>
> Like with a washer or dryer, I would NEVER ever go to bed with a
> crockpot going - or even leave the house. Shit happens, ya know.
>

Same here. The sides get too hot.

--
CAPSLOCK–Preventing Login Since 1980.

On Jun 10, 12:40*am, "Polly Esther" > wrote:
> When I leave our slow cooker to putter through the night, when I wake up and
> check on it, it's doing a pretty serious boil. *I think. Bubbles around..
> * * The slow cooker is new and easy clean and really pretty. *OTOH, I think
> it goes from lo to blast off after an hour or three and stays there.
> * * What would you do to check temp when it is set on low? *Would I let it
> go with just water for an hour or so and put in a thermometer? *Yes. That
> sounds good but I'll loose some temp by taking off the lid. Maybe not much.
> Polly

Temperature is not the item to check. With water in the crock pot it
will never get hotter than 100C. (Will be a little different
depending on altitude and what is dissolved in the water.)

What is important is for the heat generated to be correct. It's
exactly like cooking on your stove top. To simmer you want to
equalize the heat used to evaporate the liquid at the required rate.
for the crock pot this is regulated by manufacturer's design, so
you're kind of stuck. It will also vary depending on how full the pot
is.

The only fix you can try is using a different lid. It must still fit
tightly, so you don't use too much liquid, but a metal lid will lose
more heat and reduce the ferocity of the boil.

http://www.richardfisher.com

On Jun 9, 9:40*pm, "Polly Esther" > wrote:
> When I leave our slow cooker to putter through the night, when I wake up and
> check on it, it's doing a pretty serious boil. *I think. Bubbles around..
> * * The slow cooker is new and easy clean and really pretty. *OTOH, I think
> it goes from lo to blast off after an hour or three and stays there.
> * * What would you do to check temp when it is set on low? *Would I let it
> go with just water for an hour or so and put in a thermometer? *Yes. That
> sounds good but I'll loose some temp by taking off the lid. Maybe not much.
> Polly

Slow cookers are now fast cookers, apparently for food safety reasons:

http://busycooks.about.com/od/crockp...potcooking.htm

On 6/10/2013 11:56 AM, spamtrap1888 wrote:
> On Jun 9, 9:40 pm, "Polly Esther" > wrote:
>> When I leave our slow cooker to putter through the night, when I wake up and
>> check on it, it's doing a pretty serious boil. I think. Bubbles around.
>> The slow cooker is new and easy clean and really pretty. OTOH, I think
>> it goes from lo to blast off after an hour or three and stays there.
>> What would you do to check temp when it is set on low? Would I let it
>> go with just water for an hour or so and put in a thermometer? Yes. That
>> sounds good but I'll loose some temp by taking off the lid. Maybe not much.
>> Polly
>
> Slow cookers are now fast cookers, apparently for food safety reasons:
>
> http://busycooks.about.com/od/crockp...potcooking.htm
>
Thanks for that, very helpful indeed, and it clears up the mystery of
why these things now are consistently over-temp.

I guess you either buy one with a probe or go garage-saling for a really
old one.

On Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:18:40 -0600, casa bona > wrote:

>On 6/10/2013 11:56 AM, spamtrap1888 wrote:
>> On Jun 9, 9:40 pm, "Polly Esther" > wrote:
>>> When I leave our slow cooker to putter through the night, when I wake up and
>>> check on it, it's doing a pretty serious boil. I think. Bubbles around.
>>> The slow cooker is new and easy clean and really pretty. OTOH, I think
>>> it goes from lo to blast off after an hour or three and stays there.
>>> What would you do to check temp when it is set on low? Would I let it
>>> go with just water for an hour or so and put in a thermometer? Yes. That
>>> sounds good but I'll loose some temp by taking off the lid. Maybe not much.
>>> Polly
>>
>> Slow cookers are now fast cookers, apparently for food safety reasons:
>>
>> http://busycooks.about.com/od/crockp...potcooking.htm
>>
>Thanks for that, very helpful indeed, and it clears up the mystery of
>why these things now are consistently over-temp.
>
>I guess you either buy one with a probe or go garage-saling for a really
>old one.

You can get a good one new except that the quality seems to be
directly linked to price. I was sick of substandard slow cookers that
I splashed out $180 on my last one. It is a Sunbeam, just went to have
a look at the model but it is up too high for me to see. I has a
non-stick heavy lift-out resevoir, has asear function for browning
ingredients, can be st at high or low OR at 100, 120, 150 or 180
degrees celcius.

I am very pleased with it, but we get a lot of use for the amount it
cost. Do a bit of googling, there are models that are notorius for
melting and (luckily) shorting the power before they could cause a
housefire.

JB

On Jun 11, 12:59*am, JBurns > wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:18:40 -0600, casa bona > wrote:
> >On 6/10/2013 11:56 AM, spamtrap1888 wrote:
> >> On Jun 9, 9:40 pm, "Polly Esther" > wrote:
> >>> When I leave our slow cooker to putter through the night, when I wake up and
> >>> check on it, it's doing a pretty serious boil. *I think. Bubbles around.
> >>> * * *The slow cooker is new and easy clean and really pretty. *OTOH, I think
> >>> it goes from lo to blast off after an hour or three and stays there.
> >>> * * *What would you do to check temp when it is set on low? *Would I let it
> >>> go with just water for an hour or so and put in a thermometer? *Yes.. That
> >>> sounds good but I'll loose some temp by taking off the lid. Maybe not much.
> >>> Polly
>
> >> Slow cookers are now fast cookers, apparently for food safety reasons:
>
> >>http://busycooks.about.com/od/crockp...potcooking.htm
>
> >Thanks for that, very helpful indeed, and it clears up the mystery of
> >why these things now are consistently over-temp.
>
> >I guess you either buy one with a probe or go garage-saling for a really
> >old one.
>
> You can get a good one new except that the quality seems to be
> directly linked to price. I was sick of substandard slow cookers that
> I splashed out $180 on my last one. It is a Sunbeam, just went to have
> a look at the model but it is up too high for me to see. I has a
> non-stick heavy lift-out resevoir, has asear function for browning
> ingredients, can be st at high or low OR at 100, 120, 150 or 180
> degrees celcius.
>
> I am very pleased with it, but we get a lot of use for the amount it
> cost. Do a bit of googling, there are models that are notorius for
> melting and (luckily) shorting the power before they could cause a
> housefire.

I wish we could get a Sunbeam anything here, but now it's just another
factoryless brand, not like in Oz. My first slow cooker was a Penney's
private label Sunbeam crocker/cooker with a removable crock. You could
cook or deep fry when the crock was removed.

Got it! Thank you all. Polly

On Monday, June 10, 2013 5:23:46 PM UTC-4, wrote:
>
> I shall treat my old crockpot with tender loving care now I know
>
> that!!!

Yeah!! to think that I was going to ditch my ancient Rival, just because the crock insert cannot be removed. It's a faithful friend and I should know by now that new is hardly ever better ( goes for mates too )

If its anything like mine what is on the dial as the slow poke cycle is a bit too vigorous. I watch how it boils and turn it down till it looks right then put on the lid and forget about it. Never have bothered to stick it with a gauge but 150 on the dial is usually just about right.

On 6/10/2013 12:40 AM, Polly Esther wrote:
> When I leave our slow cooker to putter through the night, when I wake
> up and check on it, it's doing a pretty serious boil. I think.
> Bubbles around. The slow cooker is new and easy clean and really
> pretty. OTOH, I think it goes from lo to blast off after an hour or
> three and stays there. What would you do to check temp when it is set
> on low? Would I let it go with just water for an hour or so and put
> in a thermometer? Yes. That sounds good but I'll loose some temp by
> taking off the lid. Maybe not much. Polly
>
>
My slow cooker boils, too. Seems to be a higher heat than I expect.
Looking forward to the answers.

--
CAPSLOCK–Preventing Login Since 1980.