Have you just bought a Crock-Pot, or are you thinking of getting one. In our detailed crock pot review, we mentioned all the features, benefits, advantages, and all the possibilities that it offers you for your kitchen.
Stew, barbecued chicken, pulled pork, stuffed peppers… North American homes smell like these and many other stews mid-morning. There may not even be anyone at home, the adults are working and the little ones are in class.
In the United States, for example, it is very typical to get up, prepare the Crock-Pot in a short time with the ingredients that the dish needs, program the pot and “forget” it until the return of work, when it touches that of “Dinner’s ready!”
The reasons to surrender to the Crock-Pot
A good part of households have pressure cookers, a kitchen robot, a hand mixer and many more utensils that make our day to day easier, slow cookers like Crock-Pot are not yet widespread. Thanks to word of mouth, yes, they begin to become popular in the world.
What is driving so many people to recommend it as its demand has increased in the last two or three years? There are basically four reasons for those who have surrendered to the Crock-Pot :
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- no need to keep an eye on the food, no fire or stirring to prevent food sticking or passing;
- dishes are healthier and healthier, cooking food at low temperatures for a long number of hours, better preserve nutrients;
- the taste, being habitual that its users invoke the homemade food or the stews of the grandmothers when they boast of the recipes that they have made with this small appliance; and four, and perhaps the most important reason,
- how easy it is to cook delicious dishes.
Enjoying the “unboxing” moment
After listening and, above all, reading so many compliments in recent months, it is not strange that the “Review and Shop” feel a certain curiosity to try the Crock-Pot and thus draw our own conclusions.
The model we have in our hands is the SCCPRC507B with digital display. In its box, we will discover five things: the lid, a metal base with electric power, the ceramic pot, the cable to connect it to the light, as well as a crockpot instruction manual and recipes in several languages.
In this one, three and a half sheets, so in less than five minutes we will be clear on what to do before using it for the first time (washing it) and how to use it thereafter, including nine recipes (pulled pork or crumbled pork, included). For us to debut in a big way.
Getting us to handle the Crock-Pot will take us a minute, the time we need to place the only four buttons that facilitate its use:
- the on and off switch, on the right;
- those in the center, with two up and down arrows, to raise or lower the timer (from 30 to 30 minutes);
- and the one on the left, to select the power (high or low).
With these indications, it is enough to delve into the world of low-temperature cooking. The rest is about finding the right recipes to test and succeed with the family.
Meats, fish, desserts … It can with everything
During this week of crock pot review and testing, we have not let the pot rest. As everyone speaks highly of the texture and flavor of cooking meats, we started with a beef stew, followed by the famous pulled pork and a shoulder of lamb.
These first stews have served to corroborate the simplicity of its use; how practical it is to forget that you have food “on fire” for hours, the three dishes with which we premiered required seven hours at low power; and the juiciness of the result, the meat is cooked with its own juice, there is no need to add water. That is why gelatinous meats are usually recommended, which after cooking are tender and mellow.
In this intense week of use, we have dared to prepare (both in the image) a cheese fondue (150 grams of gruyere, 150 of Emmental and 50 of gorgonzola, plus white wine, pepper, and cornstarch).
The first foray with fish was a tender and tasty confit cod (4 cod fillets, spices, and olive oil), which was ready in an hour and a half.
For dessert, we have not opted for rice pudding (750 ml of milk, 125 grams of rice, a cinnamon stick, half an orange peel and 75 grams of sugar) that has tried to rival that of the grandmother. It has stayed very close to the traditional recipe, and a second attempt is sure to bring better quantities and times closer.
In the same way that in the last year we have been recommended the Crock-Pot several times, we think that it is a product that those who enjoy cooking will appreciate so much, for its texture and flavor; such as those who do not have the time or desire to face the stove since the preparations usually take a few minutes. He does not cook alone, yet, but it is true that he gives a lot of freedom to be able to leave it programmed and that all the dishes we have prepared were frankly tasty.
For those who are not convinced of having a device for seven (or more) hours connected to the electricity grid, it should be noted that in our crock pot review ts consumption is very low, using between 75 and 150 W in low temperature and between 150 and 210 W in high temperature. In fact, when comparing the cost of a dish if done in an oven, the ceramic hob, and the slow cooker, the lowest always corresponds to the Crock-Pot, a device available at Amazon.