Is something wrong with my crockpot?

[Chef #1463501]

Hi -- I don't often post to forums, but hope help to out on this issue. I agree that using a timer is the way to go. Even the older crockpots could overcook things. (Testing a recipe once before leaving it on all during the work day helps.) When it starts to smell good is the time to check for doneness.

Putting everything in the slowcooker the night before and leaving it in the frig until leaving for work works well. The timer is set to start for the cooking optimum time - say 11 am. I agree that setting a stop time is a good safety feature and prevents overcooking if everyone is delayed getting home. I have had to adjust to the higher temperatures on my new slow cooker, but we seem to like the results. Meat especially seems to taste better than with the old one. Good luck.

[NormCooks]

WARM is not an appropriate setting to cook ANY foods. HIGH is 3 to 5 hours. LOW is 8 to 10 hours. WARM is for use after the cooking is done, then only for 1 to 2 hours.

If your meals are scorching, check the recipe and ensure you are using enough liquid and avoiding dairy products and ingredients likely to be overly sensitive to lengthy cooking times

[Rainbow - Chef 536866]

I never had one of the old slow cookers that had the heating element on the bottom and a lower cooking time. I just recently got a small one with the heating element on the sides and the higher heat. So I don't have to make any adjustment from one to another. My major adjustment is to get used to it at all! but I love it.

I'm like tasb, having worked in a hospital where people have come in deathly ill from foodborne illnesses, and having been sick myself I want to be careful. I've had some training in food handling also and I understand how important it is to have a safe minimum temperature that will kill all the germs in the food and keep any survivors from propagating.

I don't think the main purpose of slow cooking was/is to make the cooking last for 10 hours,, though it has been touted as a great benefit. I think the recipes for that have to be chosen for that especially, and the timer ones that can be turned on at a delay are good for that.


I agree that recipes should be updated. That means they have to be actually tried in a test kitchen, and maybe they don't want to spend the money doing that. I've seen some recipes that have two times listed, one fort old pots and one for new.

[Cluich]

NormCooks wrote:
LOW is 3 to 5 hours. High is 8 to 10 hours.

Methinks you've got that backwards.

Anyway, yeah, the newer crock pots cook much more quickly, which, as Mick pointed out, defeats the whole point of the blasted things. I'm glad my old one's still alive and kicking.

[NormCooks]

ooops....You are Correct....LOW is 8 to 10 hours...HIGH is 3 to 5 hours (sometimes this old brain has a dyslexic tendency)...entry has been corrected...Thanks for the post

[Rainbow - Chef 536866]

Well, the higher cooking temp does not defeat the purpose for me. I guess I have a different purpose. Mine is to save on the energy my big oven uses. A second is to try to keep things at a simmer better than my stove does, although someone taught me a trick to do that very recently. She told me that to keep tomato sauce at a simmer, below a boil, to put another burner on top of the stove burner to raise it up a bit and put it at a bit of distance from the heat source.