Not All Slow Cookers Are Crock Pots
My family has lived in the same house for the past 25 years. Styles have changed, furniture has been rearranged (not my husband’s favorite rec mode), walls have gone through the colors of the spectrum – you get the idea. But, there is one thing that hasn’t differed by even a fraction of an inch. And what would that be? My slow cooker, sitting on its ceramic-tiled throne of honor, aka the kitchen counter. Yes actually. My Crock Pot® has been the only appliance or cookware to survive the parade of cutting-edge technology.
Going back more than 50 years, as the United States recovered from World War II, Baby Boomers and their families were looking for a way to make their lives happy. Daddy went to work every morning, left home right after breakfast, and came home every afternoon to a loving wife and two children, clamoring for Daddy’s attention. Mom was the epitome of the “Donna Reed” generation, always perfectly groomed and with a big smile for everyone. After all, life is about family. She looked for any way possible to have extra time to spend with her children and her husband, instead of being chained to the stove to cook the perfect dinner.
Ready! The pressure cooker burst onto the scene, promising Mom the time off she and her family deserved. Now, dinner could be cooked in a single pot that didn’t have to be watched with a wary eye on the clock.
As time went on, the pressure cooker got better year after year. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, lifestyles tended to “stay loose” and subscribe to the “do your own thing” philosophy. No one wanted to be stuck at home, spending long hours at the stove, when they could be out and about. Women had a new freedom to take a job outside the home. With the advent of SLOW COOKING POT The time came for Mom to gather the ingredients for dinner, put them in the slow cooker, and head off to work without worrying about dinner. Just one less thing to juggle with your daily schedule. After leaving food to cook all day in the slow cooker, all Mom had to do when she got home was set the table (better yet, let the kids do it), call the family over for dinner and sit with your family. , making dinner a quality time experience.
It came in the late 1970s, and with it came Rival Industries’ acquisition of another company that made a small kitchen appliance called the “Beanery.” This cooking device, actually a basic bean cooker, was made of white steel, with a glazed brown lining and an aluminum lid.
Through experimentation, cooks and chefs determined that the small bean pot cooked meat better than beans. And there blossomed a joyous relationship between man and machine.
Rival’s initial slow cooker was called CROCK POT®; Due to trademark considerations, only one slow cooker made by Rival was entitled to be called the Crock Pot®. The name Crock Pot® has become so familiar to the American public that many people don’t realize that Crock Pot® is not a generic name for all slow cookers. Likewise, unless it is a Kimberly-Clark product, a facial tissue is not a piece of Kleenex®. Not all adhesive bandages are Band-Aids®. That wavy, translucent gelatin dessert isn’t necessarily Jell-O®. In the playroom, those deadly little plastic building bricks to bare feet (ouch!) may or may not be Legos®. And the malleable multicolored pseudo-clay kids love can be homemade or from a can of Play-Doh® from Hasbro.
What exactly is a slow cooker and how does it work?
The components of a slow cooker include a round or oval pot made of ceramic material, a thermostatically regulated heating element surrounded by a metal casing, and a transparent lid that allows the contents of the pot to be seen without having to lift the lid, and therefore therefore losing valuable steam. . The ceramic pot does double duty as a cooking vessel, as well as acting as a heat reservoir. Available in a variety of sizes, a slow cooker’s capacity can be as small as 16 oz. and as large as 6 quarts.
The heating element of a slow cooker is on the bottom. Due to increased heat at the bottom of the vessel, it may sometimes be necessary to stir the contents to prevent them from sticking to the bottom. The slow cooker usually has a thermostat that allows for a range of cooking temperatures.
The Crock Pot® has its heating element, which is located around the side of the crock, in a housing made of plastic or an alloy with an aluminum liner. It usually has a tableware insert, also known as the crock. Since the complete Crock Pot® cannot be submerged in water for cleaning, the crock can usually be removed for easy washing. The Crock Pot® generally has two heat settings,
High and low.
Both the Crock Pot® and the slow cooker work on fairly simple principles. Food and a liquid that is mostly water (water, wine, broth, but not oil with water) are placed in the vessel. Then put the lid on and turn the pot on. The heating element, in conjunction with the thermostat, will cause the contents of the pot to rise to a constant cooking temperature of 175º to 200º F (80º to 95º C). Because the lid is not airtight (does not seal), the cooking temperature can never exceed the boiling point of water, as the lid prevents pressure buildup. Since the low temperature will not allow much steam production, the inside of the pot lid is surrounded by condensed steam and the evaporation rate remains very low. The condensed steam falls back into the vessel, allowing the contents to remain hydrated.
Heat from the wall of the pot is delivered to the food by means of heat transfer through the liquid in the pot. The lid must remain closed, as each time it is lifted it will be necessary to extend the cooking time due to heat loss.
When loading the Slow Cooker or Crock Pot®, remember to layer the cut vegetables in the bottom first, then along the sides of the pot. Add your meat last. When my husband makes his specialty meat and vegetables in our Crock Pot®, he always reserves enough vegetables to make a layer on top of the meat. That may not exactly be following the “rules” to the letter, but they taste great laid out that way.
What you can cook in a Crock Pot® is only limited by your imagination. Have fun creating a “Mystery Meal” for your family to figure out. No matter what foods you put in your slow cooker, there really is no way to make a bad meal.
Find your inner culinary adventurer and get out there and create.
Experiment!
