Slow
cookers are the ultimate braisers, allowing you to transform humble
ingredients into 5-star meals while mostly ignoring them. With a
control panel that rarely has more than four functions — low heat,
high heat, warm, and a timer — it’s pretty basic.
It
may surprise you to learn that the Crock-Pot® slow cooker debuted
before WWII as a simple bean cooker. The appliance defined a new way
for homemakers to serve an affordable, tender, delicious meal to
their families. It used inexpensive cuts of meat and helped minimize
time in the kitchen.
People
tend to use the terms "Crock Pot" and "slow cookers"
interchangeably, but they are not. Crock Pot is a brand name.
An
inventor by the name of Irving
Naxon put together a
portable food heating device that consisted of an insert, a case, and
a heating element, which allowed even heating of food inside the
insert.
It
came about due to Jewish Law. the Sabbath, is a day of rest in
which observant Jews aren't supposed to do any work.
Naxon's
Lithuanian mother had told him stories about a bean-based stew she
used to take to her village bakery in Lithuania to sit in their
turned off ovens and bake all day. This meat and vegetable stew was
called cholent. As the ovens were turned off for the Sabbath, the pot
of cholent would be put in the oven, and that slow residual heat over
the course of the 24 hours would be enough to cook the beans.
The
stew would go on before sundown Friday night, when the Sabbath
begins, and cook all the way until the end of Saturday services the
next day.
From
a humble bowl of bean stew grew a kitchenware empire.
The
Rival Company from Sedalia, Missouri, bought Naxon.
They turned it over to their scientists to develop into a production
model which could cook an entire family meal, going further than just
cooking beans. The cooker was then reintroduced under the name
"Crock-Pot"
in 1971.
It
was marketed toward working mothers. You could put food in the pot
before leaving for the office and come home to a cooked meal. The
Crock Pot sold millions. The Crock Pot "cooks all day while the
cook's away," a 1976 advertisement said. Crock Pots (or slow
cooker made by a different company) surpassed the toaster as a
preferred wedding gift. Soon every kitchen had one. Sales died down
a little in the '80s, perhaps coinciding with the rise of the
microwave.
Today,
however, slow cooking is as popular as ever, it is estimated over 80
percent of USA families owns one. The original Crock Pot design has
changed little over the years, but now the insert is removable, a
major improvement.
By
the late 70s, there were roughly 40 companies all making their own
model of slow-cooker.
These
days the slow-cooker is the busy parent’s best friend, a must-have
appliance for families and single folk alike. The ability to “set
it and forget it” means less time scrambling over the stove for
dinner and more time with the family and friends.
As
women began entering the workforce, Crock-Pots made it possible to
serve families a piping hot meal after a hard day’s work.
The
first Crock-Pot, which cost a mere $25, came with an 84-page cookbook
with over 150 recipes. This price has not risen much: some of the
lower-tech, basic Crock-Pots still cost about that.
Because
the Crock-Pot draws about as much current as an incandescent
lightbulb — much less than an electric oven — many families saw
it as a way to save money on energy consumption during times of
shortage.
In
1974, Rival introduced removable stoneware inserts, making the
appliance easier to clean. The brand now belongs to Sunbeam Products,
a subsidiary of Jarden Corporation.
Regardless
of the exterior, each one uses an electric heating element to bring a
vessel or crock — usually made of stoneware or ceramic – to
somewhere between around
170°F for Low and
around 280°F
for High.
A
basic slow cooker consists of a lidded round or oval cooking pot made
of glazed ceramic or porcelain, surrounded by a housing, usually
metal, containing an electric heating element. The lid itself is
often made of glass, and seated in a groove in the pot edge.
Condensed vapor collects in the groove and provides a low-pressure
seal to the atmosphere. A slow cooker is quite different from a
pressure cooker and presents no danger of an abrupt pressure release.
The
"crock," or ceramic pot, itself acts as both a cooking
container and a heat reservoir.
Many
slow cookers have two or more heat settings (e.g., low, medium, high,
and sometimes a "keep warm" setting); some have
continuously variable power. In the past, most slow cookers had no
temperature control and deliver a constant heat to the contents. The
temperature of the contents rises until it reaches boiling point, at
which point the energy goes into gently boiling the liquid closest to
the hot surface.
At
a lower setting, it may just simmer at a temperature below the
boiling point. While many basic slow cookers still operate in this
manner, newer models have computerized controls for precise
temperature control, delayed cooking starts and even control via a
computer or mobile device.
Heating
element heats the contents to a steady temperature in the 174–199°F
range. The vapor that is produced at this temperature condenses on
the bottom of the lid and returns as liquid to the dish.
The
slow cooker's lid is essential to prevent the warm vapor from
escaping, taking heat with it and cooling the contents.
Every
time you remove the lid of your slow-cooker, all of the heat that has
been slowly accumulating to reach the desired temperature is let out,
reducing the temperature. Each time you lift the lid you need to add
30
minutes (!) to the cooking time,
so try to resist the temptation no matter how wonderful it smells.
Basic
cookers, which have only high, medium, low, or keep warm settings,
must be turned on and off manually. More advanced cookers have
computerized timing devices that program the cooker to perform
multiple operations and to delay the start of cooking.
Because
food cooked in a slow cooker stays warm for a long time after it is
switched off, people can use the slow cookers to take food elsewhere
to eat without reheating. Some slow cookers have lids that seal to
prevent their contents from spilling during transport.
The
long, moist cooking is particularly suitable for tough and cheap cuts
of meat including pork shoulder, beef chuck and brisket. For many
slow-cooked dishes, these cuts give better results than more
expensive ones.
Cheaper
cuts of meat with connective tissue and lean muscle fibers are
suitable for stewing, and produce tastier stews than those using
expensive cuts. The long slow cooking softens connective tissue
without toughening the muscle. Slow cooking leaves gelatinized tissue
in the meat, so that it may be advantageous to start with a richer
liquid.
The
low temperature of slow-cooking makes it almost impossible to burn;
even food that has been cooked too long. However, some meats and most
vegetables become nearly tasteless or "raggy" if
over-cooked.
Cooking
the meal in a single pot reduces clean ups.
Note:
The
exterior casing that contains the electric heating element should
never
be submerged in water; clean up any spills with a damp cloth.
Can
you put frozen [fill in the blank] in a Crock-Pot?
No.
You cannot
put any sort of frozen meat, chicken, pork, or any other frozen
protein into a slow cooker without serious risk of food poisoning.
The slow cooker takes way longer than the stovetop or oven to get raw
ingredients past the food safety danger zone (between
40°F and 140°F).
If you start with frozen ingredients, the heating process takes too
long to ensure a bacteria-free meal. Best to thaw it in the fridge
the night before.
Frozen
veggies are also a no-no unless there’s only a small amount of a
more delicate vegetable to be added in the final half-hour of
cooking. For example, you could add a ¼ cup of frozen corn or peas
into an already-warm cooker of stew. It will thaw quickly enough for
safety (but may cool your dish more than you'd like).
Raw
kidney beans, and, to a lesser extent, some other such beans, contain
the highly toxic lectin
phytohemagglutinin.
Boiling destroys this lectin, but the far lower temperature of a slow
cooker does not. This means that dry beans must be soaked in water
overnight, after which the water must be discarded, and the beans
must then be boiled for at least 10
minutes.
So
please take note of
this when using the modern day version of the Naxon
Beanery.
