Crockpot Cooking - Advantages and Disadvantages

In my 'un-biased' opinion, the crockpot / slow cookeris one of the most convenient and easy to use appliancesin my kitchen. The time savings features of theslow cooker and the delicious dinners that haveresulted more than offset any minor drawbacks.

Before I list my top reasons why the crockpot is themost useful appliance in any kitchen, I will list a few of the areas where it does not perform as well.

- Large cuts of meat such as boneless prime rib orleg of lamb are still best when oven roasted.

- Except for stews and chowders, the slow cookerdoes not cook fish very well.

- The slow cooker collects a lot of the juicessince the steam does not escape during cooking and thesejuices can become diluted and watery, which can affectthe flavoring of the food.

- If not careful, a slow cooker can overcook food -especiallysome of the more tender meats and poultry.

These drawbacks are relatively minor compared to thepositives which I will list now.

- The slow cooker needs virtually no tending whileit cooks, freeing you up to do other chores or recipes.

- The slow cooker will tenderize less expensive, toughcuts of meat and make great stews out of them.

- The slow cooker allows you to be out of the kitchenfor extended periods of time -sometimes even all day.

- Burning your food is rarely a problem. The slow cookerwill make many dishes for you better than any otherappliance -especially those that tend to stick tothe bottom of a pan.

In my opinion the slow cooker is one of the mostunder-utilized and yet superior of kitchen appliances.When used for what it does best, you will find that youare able to prepare great dishes in less time than youthough possible!

Tony has been working diligently to providefree cooking related resources for the 'chef'in all of us. His website http://www.my-crockpot-recipes.comis a 'labor of love' which provides delicious and easyto make crockpot recipes and related tips and advice.

http://www.my-crockpot-recipes.com