Is something wrong with my crockpot?

[MinnesotaCook]

My daughter bought me a crockpot last February. It is Westbend. I made chicken and dumpling soup in it a few weeks ago. I left it on "warm" overnight, as SO is always waking up and eating if he can't sleep. The next morning it was burnt, and the scorched taste ruined the remaining soup. I am surprised on "warm" that it would burn anything. it burnt to the sides.

Maybe all these years I've had the wrong idea on crockpots



Julie

[duonyte]

I have to say, I made a soup that sat in the crockpot for about 9-10 hours on warm and it was awful. I regularly cook my bbq pork overnight in the crock, 12 hours or more, and don't have this problem.

Did the level get very low? That's the only other thing I can think of. Have you had problems with other recipes?

[MinnesotaCook]

no it wasn't low at all we just each had a bowl. What ruined the soup is it was scorched black all around the sides, the soup tasted scorched. It was a cream soup too. my Crockpot has 3 setting, warm, low and high. It was on warm. I'm thinking the temp on the warm setting is too high. I've never left anything on warm overnight before... I'm not game to try it again. Was just wondering if the heat on my pot is off.. starting to sound like it is.



Thanks for reply

Julie

[1hotpotato]

Good morning Minnesota, just want to say that I am originally from Fargo ND and we had a lake home in Minn and I loved it. Miss those days. Jealous of you.
Anyways, what I have found, is that the round enamel or crockpots with just warm, low, high settings have a tendonsy to still be rather hot on the lowest setting. When I cook things overnight or for anything longer than 6 hours I use my (I don't know the official name) retangular one that sits on a hot plate. That one has a 1-5 dial. I haven't seen those in the stores anymore. So when I go garage sale shopping or hit the thrift stores, I am constantly looking for those. In my opinion, they are the best. The only thing that I have found that they don't do well on the 1 setting is potatoes. I have tried to make scallop potatoes in it and come home after 12 hours to find the potatoes still crunchy.

[mrsstats79]

I have a new Rival crock pot and it is much hotter than my old one. I worry that it is too hot. The old one never got as hot as this one

[tasb]

For safety reasons you don't want to leave any food sitting in a crockpot for hours on end there is a small risk of toxins that aren't killed by heat being present in your food and it can make you deathly sick.

I just bought a new crockpot with the warm feature and it says in the booklet not to leave things in it for more then four hours on warm if possible and it shuts down after 6 hours.

Cream soups will scorch because of the milk produces.

If you leave things sitting in there and they dry out they will become a fire hazard. Once fully dry and still heated by the crockpot and they can catch on fire.

I personally am leary about the warm feature, but because I leave for work at 11 am and hubby and the kids get home at 4:30 pm I have to put things in the crockpot, with the timer and the warm feature I don't have to worry about their food getting over cooked and dry if they don't eat right away, but at least hubby doesn't leave my dinner in there until I get home at around 8:30 pm because there is a chance I won't eat it.

I have heard of older folks leaving their crockpot meals on until they finish them, some times a couple days at a time and this is before the warm feature came about. They are still alive and kicking but I wouldn't chance it.

Being a professional cook and having food safety driven into my head I get overly worried about food safety. It is my job to prepare food that not only tastes good but wont make people sick, so I get parinoid easily about foodborne illness.

Sorry I don't mean to scare you, or sound snotty but this is just the way I see it.

[Red Apple Guy]

My daugther's round crockpot will burn items on the sides on the warm feature (I think it was "warm").

The whole temperature of the crockpot is a mystery. I've never seen any slow cooker give actual temperatures. I'd like to measure mine somehow.

[Rita~]

mrsstats79 wrote:
I have a new Rival crock pot and it is much hotter than my old one. I worry that it is too hot. The old one never got as hot as this one

I to I`m having the same problem and I just sent a message to see what they say. If you want you can here
http://www.rivalproducts.com/aboutus.aspx?navId=2
There is also a phone #

[Pricilla]

I bought the Rival Oval Crock-pot about 1 1/2 years ago. Everything I cook in it has turned out awful. It definitely is not like my old one. I'm going to pull my old one out and use that, looks ugly but it WORKS right. It was/is a Rival too. Always relied on Rival Products. Hate the new one. Maybe I can spray paint the old one with that fireplace paint (you know that high heat kind)? ........ LOL

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Red Apple Guy]

We have an oval Rival we bought this year and my wife complains about overcooking things. I'm noticing that it's more of a problem with low-liquid dishes like lasagna and recipes where the amount of food is small for the pot. She's noticed that some dishes are looking done in 3 hours instead of the 5 or 6 hours on high called for by the recipe. I think the pots are hotter for safety reasons, but the recipes stay the same. If the dish looks done in 3 hours, well....it probably is.

[Rita~]

Red Apple wrote:
We have an oval Rival we bought this year and my wife complains about overcooking things. I'm noticing that it's more of a problem with low-liquid dishes like lasagna and recipes where the amount of food is small for the pot. She's noticed that some dishes are looking done in 3 hours instead of the 5 or 6 hours on high called for by the recipe. I think the pots are hotter for safety reasons, but the recipes stay the same. If the dish looks done in 3 hours, well....it probably is.

do you find when on the warm contro; it still seems to be cooking not keeping warm?

[Red Apple Guy]

No. I measured the temperature when half full of water and it maintained 140 F - just accross the "safe" line.

Now, if there are many liquids or a low level of food in the pot, then it might bet hotter, I don't know. I think the key is volume of food in the pot.

[AWinPA]

I have two oval crock pots that were purchased in the last year. My old one finally wore out, and I miss it. The new ones do get much hotter for safety reasons. This was clearly noted in the manuals. However, the same manuals still list very long cooking times, such as 8-10 hours on low. Most items have been done in half of that time. I leave for work at 7:30 a.m. and return home at 5:15 (just under 10 hours). I had hoped I could leave food in all day, such as a very large roast or a broth based soup. Unfortunately, I have not been successful. Food is way overdone. Now, I use it only when we are going to be gone for shorter time periods or when we are home on the weekend. I think we just have to adjust to the "new" crockpots and much shorter cooking times. I also think we need to write to the manufacturers so they update the recipie times.

[Rita~]

AWinPA wrote:
I have two oval crock pots that were purchased in the last year. My old one finally wore out, and I miss it. The new ones do get much hotter for safety reasons. This was clearly noted in the manuals. However, the same manuals still list very long cooking times, such as 8-10 hours on low. Most items have been done in half of that time. I leave for work at 7:30 a.m. and return home at 5:15 (just under 10 hours). I had hoped I could leave food in all day, such as a very large roast or a broth based soup. Unfortunately, I have not been successful. Food is way overdone. Now, I use it only when we are going to be gone for shorter time periods or when we are home on the weekend. I think we just have to adjust to the "new" crockpots and much shorter cooking times. I also think we need to write to the manufacturers so they update the recipie times.

But that is the reason for them To be able to go to work for 8-9 hours and come home to a hot cooked meal!

[Red Apple Guy]

Rita L wrote:
.....But that is the reason for them To be able to go to work for 8-9 hours and come home to a hot cooked meal!

Wow. Dat was buutiful!