TigerChef

Putting up supper in a crockpot or slow cooker is as easy as 1-2-3. Place the food into the slow cooker in the morning, add the spices, turn it on and ‘see you at supper time’. Although slow cookers are used mostly for soup and stews, the fact is that you can actually do just about anything in a crockpot, including stewing, roasting, simmering, warming,  and yes, even baking.

One of the many conveniences of cooking in a crockpot is that you don’t have to worry about stirring your food, especially when cooking on low heat, since the food will not burn. There is one problem with crockpot cooking though. When stovetop cooking, you do not have to worry about removing the lid to check on your food. A crockpot, on the other hand, every time the lid is removed, the crockpot loses a large amount of heat. You must then add an additional 20 minutes to the original cooking time for each time that the lid is removed.

Just about all recipes can be converted to crockpot cooking. When using a crockpot, unless cooking something like rice, pasta or beans, which actually calls for twice the amount of liquid, reduce the amount of liquid called for in the recipe since crockpot cooking does not evaporate water the same way that stovetop cooking does.

Converting your most favorite recipe to the crockpot or slow cooker is pretty straightforward. Simply follow the guideline below for the approximate crock pot/slow cooker cooking times.

15 to 30 minutes on stovetop =   4-6 hours  on low setting and  2-3 hours on high setting

35 to 45 minutes on stovetop =   6-8 hours on low setting and   3-4 hours on high setting

50 minutes to 3 hours on stovetop =  8-16 hours on low setting and 4-6 hours on high setting

Rule of thumb: 1 hour on the high setting is equal to 2 hours on the low setting.

When cooking raw meat in a crockpot on a low setting, make sure to let it cook for a minimum of 8 hours to be sure that the meat is cooked through.

Filed under: How-To • General

Tags: crockpot