I can't speak to the particular brands but I would "slow cook" all the time in my wall oven and continue to do so in my range oven. Just throw whatever meat (pork shoulder, brisket, etc) in a pot with some liquid (stock, beer, wine, apple juice, whatever) and set the oven to 225, 250, whatever you want. Has always worked like a champ for me. I've left my oven on unattended tons of time. Yep, I've used a fork to extract toast from the toaster, too. Even been known to ride a motorcycle! :) -Stooxie

Wonderful suggestions. But the leftovers I was anticipating, well you see, we've been eating them. I'm not sure how much is left on there! But I'm worried, I think I have heard that you should get the meat off the bone as soon as possible. I WILL deal with it tonight. Anyway, next time I do this I will have to get a bigger ham and just learn how to do it in the oven (or micro-convec like Ma) so we don't eat it all before I can get some frozen. It seems like many recipes call for cubes of ham. I saw some in the store packaged as cubes - looked very tempting and convenient but so expensive as compared to just doing a whole one.

They are one in the same. Crock pot is the original brand name, by Rival i believe. Slow cookers are what the appliances are. Much like Kleenex is a brand name, but they are tissues in actuality. I prefer the older Crock pot by Rival. They are well built. I received 2 as gifts for my wedding 34 years ago. They are both still working great and that is with heavy use. We also have a newer SS Cuisinart digital slow cooker. It is fine, it seems to run hot as that is the most common complaint I here with other slow cooker owners. NancyLouise

""A crock pot is a true crock a piece of crockery that may or may not come out of the thing for cleaning." Sorry Raven, that's not correct. "Crock-Pot®" is a registered trademark of Jarden (formerly called the Rival Crock-Pot®) and they call it "The Original Slow Cooker". (Actually "Slo-Cooker" is also a brand name for another "slow cooker".) The term for the cooking style is "slow cooker", eg Crock-Pot® 6-Quart Manual Slow Cooker. Just because it has a crock, it's not necessarily a "Crock-Pot®". If it's not made by Jarden/Rival, is cannot legally be sold as a "Crock-Pot®" (at least in the US) and Jarden even shut down a website of recipes for infringement because they used a variation of the spelling of Jarden's trademark in recipe descriptions. Even though it was not spelled the same, apparently they claimed it was close enough to be an infringement. As arkansas girl pointed out, to the layfolk it's become like "Jell-O", "Kleenex" and if you're in the south, "Coke". Just don't let Jarden hear you use their name to describe a competitor or they'll probably be upset! I had two Crock-Pot® units. (Yes, made by Rival) Threw them both out when I bought Nesco roasters. No comparison. Also had a Daisy Chef's pot that had a crock liner (but that didn't make it a Crock-Pot). That unit was a vastly superior product to the Rival/Jarden units since it was a larger capacity and had a true temperature control instead of the 3 choices - "off", "too low" and "too high". It was great for boiling water and deep frying without using the crock liner. I'd have kept that going for a while if it hadn't died. Anyway to answer your question the reality is they're basically the same unit as far as function, with or without a crock. Different units can do different things. The electric roaster can be a "slow cooker", just like the West Bend unit that's the electric frypan with a pot on it. A Dutch Oven on the stove is actually a "slow cooker" at times. If Maryann Esposito had a slow cooker (even with a crock), that was not made by Rival/Jarden she could potentially be sued if she called it by the brand name. Companies are very sensitive about their trade names. Someone made a sauce called "A2" and they lost the lawsuit from a concerned company.