Need a new Crockpot?

[Kate]

while traveling, I took a cast iron/campfire cooking class. Very cool! I would have never thought of putting the coals on top of the pan, but it just makes so much sense. Do you do bread also?

kate

[Buck]

We've been using the $30 Rice Cooker from Costco. Makes great chili and stews.

[Jack D.]

I 'slow cook' in my cast iron all the time. During the civil months (not winter) I hang a pot of something over the fire pit on Sat night, usually a soup or stew. Other times I still use the cast iron and either put it on the wood stove to cook all day or in the oven on 'L' which is about 150-175F.

A little known fact but modern 'slo-cookers' don't cook as slow as the ones from the 60's/70's. The reason given is we don't have as much time so they raised the temp to slow cook faster. My electric slow cooker is from the 70's and has a funky mushroom pattern on it. I just sold a mostly brand new modern cooker because my overnite oatmeal burned horribly the time I used it on low.

[OWC Jamie]

Another reason I've read for the bumped up wattages is so food cooked in them come up to a bacteria safe temp sooner.


My old Rival slow cooker is pretty old and is lo 135 watts, hi 210 watts
some of the ewer ones are 300 or so


I've seen crock pots older than mine at 110 watts.

[deckeda]

And just to come full circle, Crock Pot now sells "non electric" slow cookers ... not to be confused with dutch ovens!

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/pr...en/3257191

[Kate]

I also slow cook in my solar oven, sunlight allowing

Kate

[Racer X]

yes, modern slow cookers do get hotter. But to be fair, they also make them much larger than they used to as well.

Low on mine is roughly high on my old one. Warm is supposed to keep the food at @150 once it is hot. I don't doubt that a bit. If it is half full, even warm will scorch the food. They really need a thermocouple to measure crock temp, and set accordingly.

Mine is a 7qt Crock Pot model sold through Costco. Fits 2 small pork shoulders, or one monster one.

[OWC Jamie]

yeah the oval shaped ones are nice for pork roasts

[fauch]

Me, I put my old one on the stove and it exploded....