Slow Cooker

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Pat

Pat

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This is my all time favorite slow cooker, the shape of the pan allows you to put a whole chicken in to cook. No need to cut the chicken up into parts to get it into the pan. The girdle can be used to make grilled cheese sandwichs, cook bacon and other pots warm at the table. I have the heavy round one also but it does not get the use that this slow cooker gets.

What is your favorite slower cooker?
 
I have always had the basic round slow cooker but I do like the shape of this one. As you say, it would be a lot more convenient for chickens and some bigger roasts. I also like the griddle. Its almost like two appliances in one!
 
Our slow cooker is oval, so it can fit a chicken quite well. I use it quite often, usually on a day I'm at work. I can bung all the meat and veg in, go to work and come home to a dinner that's pretty much ready. If it's something like a vegetable soup, I can even dice everything up the night before so all I have to do is throw it in with some stock.:chef: The problem is for Night Train, who is in and out of the kitchen all day while I'm out, and has to deal with the aroma of cooking making him hungry for a dinner he can't have yet!:cry::hungry:

I've done roast chicken, and pulled pork too. My tip would be that if you're cooking a whole chicken, lay it in a sling of foil, with the ends coming up under the lid, to make it easier to lift out. It's so tender that otherwise you try and lift it and it all just falls apart! :thumbsup:
 
I love the shape and color of these, as well as the bags that go along with it, but I am curious, does it cook as evenly as a traditional slow cooker with the thick clay pots? I'm not sure where they put the heating elements in crock pots, but I thought some of them heated from the side and bottom, whereas this looks like it only heats from the bottom. Plus does the base of the unit get very hot to the touch, since it can double as a griddle? I love the idea of being able to take the pot off the heating device though and store it on one of those bags for traveling to someone else's house.
 
I have not had eny trouble with the pot not cooking evenly. The griddle section does get hot, you will want to wait for it to cool before handling it after cooking, I have burned myself more times than I want to say from forgetting to wait for the griddle to cool before I moved it. I am on my second slow cooker, and love them.
 
I have 3 of these except they are older than the Oval ceramics.
2 are 3 quart and one 6 quart. Mine have the old thick glass lids that you can turn either way and can actually stack a second pan on top.
They cook very nicely and take up much less space than the same capacity ceramic crocks.
(I have several ceramic ones too.)
 
Presto Big Kitchen Kettle..jpg



THIS is my new slow cooker / multi-cooker! The Presto Big Kettle.

It can be used for just about everything imaginable, from boiled rice, deep fried foods, boiling pasta or veggies, soups and stews .& pot roast! :wink:
 
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We have oval controllable one with a clear lidd at home gets used a lot during the week,pork shoulders,brisket,chicken,currys I gets a lot to of use
 
My slow cooker is a cross breed as it doubles as a large rice cooker. I cooked roasted paprika potatoes in it last week for the first time. The idea was that they would take 4 hours but I bit the bullet and set the controls to congee and they were finished in less than an hour.

paprikapotatoes-1s.jpg
 
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We have an old basic model, oval with just three heat settings - low, med, high. The temp control knob has broken making things a bit hit and miss, so a replacement is called for.

I was looking at new ones in Lakeland on Saturday. The Crock Pot seems quite sturdy, but for about £30 more (on special offer at the moment) they have a multi cooker version that steams, roasts , cleans the house, walks the dogs etc. etc. Given that we only usually cook casseroles or lamb shanks in the slow cooker I'm not sure if it's worth paying the extra. Does anyone have any experience of these?
 
epicuric said:
We have an old basic model, oval with just three heat settings - low, med, high. The temp control knob has broken making things a bit hit and miss, so a replacement is called for.

I was looking at new ones in Lakeland on Saturday. The Crock Pot seems quite sturdy, but for about £30 more (on special offer at the moment) they have a multi cooker version that steams, roasts , cleans the house, walks the dogs etc. etc. Given that we only usually cook casseroles or lamb shanks in the slow cooker I'm not sure if it's worth paying the extra. Does anyone have any experience of these?
Click to expand...

I misread your post as you found a multi cooker for 30.

The question now becomes do you want to spend the extra 30?
 
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Cinisajoy said:
I misread your post as you found a multi cooker for 30.

The question now becomes do you want to spend the extra 30?
Click to expand...
That was indeed the question. Not so much from a money point of view, but how much of my life would I waste trying to use it for things better done traditionally on, or in the oven.
 
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