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Slow Cooker CookbooksFeaturing Casseroles, Stews, One-Pots, Comfort Food and Curries |
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More about Slow CookersA slow cooker or Crock-Pot (a trademark often used generically) is a countertop electrical cooking appliance that maintains a relatively low temperature for many hours, allowing unattended cooking of pot roast, stew, and other long-cooking dishes. The original Slow Cooker was first manufactured in the late 1960s. A slow cooker consists of a lidded round or oval cooking pot made of glazed ceramic or porcelain, surrounded by a housing, usually metal, containing a thermostatically controlled electric heating element. The lid is often transparent glass and is not hermetic. The ceramic pot, or a crock pot, acts as both a cooking container and a heat reservoir. Slow cookers come in a variety of sizes, from 500 ml to 7 litres. Due to the placement of heating elements (generally at the bottom and often also partway up the sides), there is usually a minimum recommended liquid level to avoid uncontrolled local heating. Many slow cookers have two or more temperature settings (e.g., low, medium, high, and sometimes a "keep warm" setting). A typical slow cooker operates at (more or less) 80°C on low, 90°C on high, and 1 hour at 90°C followed by 80°C on medium. Raw food, and a liquid which is predominantly water, such as water, wine, stock, but not oil without water, are placed in the slow cooker. Some recipes call for pre-heated liquid. The cooker lid is put on and the cooker is switched on. Cookers often have high and low heat thermostat settings. Some cookers automatically switch from cooking to warming (maintaining the temperature at 62°C–72°C) after a fixed time or after the internal temperature of the food, as determined by a probe, reaches a given goal. The heating element heats the contents to a steady temperature in the 80–95°C range. The contents are enclosed by the crock and the lid, and attain an essentially constant temperature. The vapour that is produced at this temperature condenses on the lid and returns as liquid. The liquid transfers heat from the pot walls to the contents, and it also distributes flavours. A lid must be used to prevent warm vapour from escaping and cooling the contents. Recipes intended for other cooking methods must be modified for slow cookers. Often water must be decreased, as ordinary cooking at higher temperatures requires enough liquid to allow for evaporation, whilst slow cookers prevent vapor loss. Some slow cookers are supplied with recipe booklets; many slow cooker recipes are to be found in cookbooks and on the internet. Some cookbooks provide recipes for making complete dishes in a slow cooker using fewer than five ingredients, while others treat the slow cooker as a serious piece of culinary equipment capable of producing gourmet meals. With some experience, timing and recipe adjustments can be successfully made for many recipes not originally intended for these cookers. The long, moist nature of the cooking method gives good results with cheaper (and tougher) cuts of meat. If excessive liquid is present at the end of cooking, it can be reduced and concentrated by rapid boiling in a saucepan. Some foods do not take well to boiling. In particular, cheaper cuts of meat with connective tissue and lean muscle fibre are suitable for stewing, and tastier than stews using expensive cuts; but if they are cooked for a short time the connective tissue and hard-worked muscles will make them tough and gristly while long boiling will dissolve the connective tissue, but the muscle will be dry and tough. Long slow cooking will soften the connective tissue without toughening the muscle. Boiling dissolves the connective tissue and enriches and thickens the cooking liquid; slow cooking leaves the gelatinised tissue in the meat, so that it may be advantageous to start with a richer liquid. The long cooking time can be an advantage: food can be set to slow-cook before leaving for a day's work, and will be ready on return; an inexpensive timer can also be used if necessary. If on a tariff with cheap night-time electricity, overnight cooking is cheaper. Cooking the meal in a single pot reduces washing up, and the low cooking temperature and glazed pot make cleaning it very easy. We sell books within Australia and world wide. We have posted books to New South Wales (NSW) Queensland (Qld) Victoria (Vic) South Australia (SA) Western Australia (WA) Northern Territory (NT) Auctralian Capital Territorty (ACT) Norfolk Island. Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Canberra Perth Adelaide Geelong Bendigo Albury-Wodonga Wollongong Central Coast Newcastle Port Macquarie Coffs Harbour Northern Rivers Gold Coast Towoomba Sunshine Coast Wide Bay Capricorn Coast Mackay Townsville Cairns Hobart Launceston Darwin. Worldwide we have posted to the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Germany, France, Italy, Israel, Turkey, USA, Canada, Norway, Singapore, Finland, Sweden, South Africa.... and more
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