First thing I would do is to fill it with water, and measure the temperature at each setting and how fast it can reach that temperature.

dcarch

Would love to hear your Crockpot cooking results because, from what I hear, the older crockpots are more reliable than the newer ones. Your soup sounds delicious. Sometimes I add a bit of thickener to soups just for something different. If I make a good beef stew, I definitely add some thickener to give some gravy. Good luck and enjoy.

My tip is to use a Reynolds crockpot bag. They are $2 something for a box of 4. Well worth the money. One size fits all. I use my crockpot so much more with the bags.

What do the bags do?

My first tip is to not use too much liquid. Are you making soup or chicken thighs with vegetables?

And tip number two is to resist the urge to open the pot and look until you are at least 3/4 of the way thru.

In many recipes, the veggies put in for the entire cooking time come out pretty mushy, and I generally toss them, like the veggies in stock. If you want to have veggies with the dish, put them in later.

I generally don't put in a lot of spices and herbs, and you used way more than I do. I'll be interested in hearing how the flavors come out after cooking. Intensified or diluted?

A crock pot works most efficiently at 1/2 to 3/4 full. I have one of the small round ones from the 80's era and a large oval 6 1/2 quart. The large one is good for a large batch of chili, a pork roast etc, as long as I have enough food in it.

Vegetables take longer to cook than meat, so always put them in the bottom and meat on top. Browned meat has more flavour than naked meat, although I have a pork roast recipe that comes out very flavourful because of the ingredients, with no browning.

I tend to not like potatoes in a slow cooker. When I make a stew, I like to serve it over mashed potatoes, vs cooking potatoes in with the meat.

1. I agree, check the temperature as suggested by dcarch.

2. Normally the LOW setting is about 200-degrees and the HIGH about 300. One hour on HIGH is approximately equal to 2 to 2-1/2 hours on LOW.

3. Rice, noodles, macaroni, seafood, Chinese vegetables and milk do NOT hold up well when cooked 8-10 hours. Add these to the sauce/gravy/liquid about 2 hours before serving when using LOW setting, or 1 hour on HIGH. If you want to use milk in an 8-10 hour recipe, use evaporated milk.

4. Browning meats before cooking is a choice, not a necessity. However, browning will help reduce the fat content and it will also improve eye appeal.

5. Eggplant should be parboiled or sautéed first due to its strong flavor. Keep the stronger-tasting vegetables to a smaller amount of the total since they will permeate the other foods.

6. For soups, add water only to cover ingredients. If you'd like a thinner soup, more liquid can be added at the end of cooking time.

7. When converting a recipe designed for your oven, you may need to reduce the liquid when using it in a slow-cooker.

8. Most uncooked meat and vegetable combinations will require at least 8-hours on LOW.

9. You can put wads of foil in the bottom of the slow-cooker and place seasoned chicken pieces on the top for "baked" chicken. It will remain out of the juices and won't "stew" by using this method. Heat 1hr. on HIGH, then turn down and cook 6-8 hr. more on LOW.

Oven to Slow-cooker conversion chart:

15-30 minutes in an oven = 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours on HIGH or 4-6 hours on LOW

35-45 minutes in an oven = 2-3 hours on High or 6-8 hours on Low

50-minutes to 3-hours in an oven = 4-5 hours on HIGH or 8-18-hours on LOW.

General Cooking Times:
-Pot roast - 8-12 hr. on LOW or 4-5 hr. on HIGH
-Stew - 10-12 hr. on LOW or 4-5 hr. on HIGH
-Ribs - 6-8 hr. on LOW
-Stuffed Peppers - 6-8 hr. on LOW or 3-4 hr. on HIGH
-Brisket - 10-12 hrs. on LOW
-Swiss Steak - 8-10 hr. on LOW
-Corned Beef & Cabbage - 6-10 hr. on LOW or 4-5 hr. HIGH
-Casserole - 4-9 hr. on LOW or 2-4 hr. on HIGH (stir occ.)
-Chicken - 7-10 hr. on LOW or 3-4 hr. on HIGH
-Baked Potatoes - 8-10 hr. on LOW

-Grainlady

My winner for Christmas dinner was Brussels Sprouts:
2 pkg frozen brussels sprouts (about 2#) cut in 1/2, or 2 pkg frozen "baby" size uncut); 8 Tablespoons or less butter; 2plus Tablespoons Dijon mustard; salt and pepper; 8 slices cooked bacon chopped; 1/2 C water. Cook on Lo for 4 hours, or cooked On for 6 to 8 hours. It smells sulfur-y but oh so delicious.

Baked beans: Soak 1# rinsed dry navy beans 12 hours or overnight in water to cover, drain, and rinse off excess starch; 2 1/2 C chicken broth or - water and 2 bouillon cubes; small can of tomato paste or couple big squirts of ketchup; 1/2 C molasses or 3/4 C brown sugar (less if you use ketchup); 2 Tablespoons dry mustard or 3 Tablespoons prepared mustard; 1 C diced onions; 8 slices briefly cooked bacon, chopped; lightly add salt; and good bit of ground pepper (up to 2 teaspoons if you are brave); 1 clove garlic minced; optional - dashes of hot sauce (truly not my thing but DH likes it). Cook 6 to 8 hours until the beans are still shaped but soft. If you cook it too long and it becomes mushy and not what you want as a side dish I just fry it like Mexican refried beans with some canned jalapeno chilies and it is still wonderful. Beans are very nutritious and taste nothing like the stuff in the cans.

Chicken Noodle Soup: Lay in the pot - 2 stalks celery sliced or diced; 2 carrots sliced or diced; 1 medium onion chopped or diced; 1 pkg frozen peas; 2 to 3 # chicken cut up (no innards); dried or fresh herbs: choice of all or mix: basil, parsley, rosemary; must have sage in there since it is the perfect mate to chicken; salt and pepper; 1 quart water or broth. Cook 4-5 hours on ON or 7 hours on LO. An hour before finished remove the chicken, take out the bones and skin, cut in bite sized pieces and put back in pot; stir in 1 or 2 C wide noodles or pasta of your choice (I like tiny ditalini or tiny stars but DH like the extra wide egg noodles).

I personally find the slow cooker bags to be of little use. The pot is easy enough to clean even if it is not removable. Just something else to throw into the landfill. IMO.

Go very lightly on salt. It seems to intensify and find it better to add it at the table than while cooking. Although fresh herbs lose flavor so I add more.

I find that anything that roasts in the oven does wonderfully well in the crock pot. Whole chicken, turkey breast, pot roast, brisket and cabbage, "loose" casseroles. I tried using the crock pot for lasagne and enchiladas and they were just messy and not "right".

Do try stuffed baked apples in the crock pot ( 2 to 3 hours with bit of water in the base) - stirring some caramel sauce or cinnamon/nutmeg hard sauce over them in the last 1/2 hour is totally magic.

One thing I learned is that if you are putting hot food in the pot should be hot, if cold it should be cold too.

Any kind of long cooking soup is infinitely better because no liquid escapes as steam - you may need to reduce the liquid you start with. Therefore you should not ever open the lid and have "trust".

Don't add any dairy products until the very end (like 15 minutes). Otherwise it browns and is not pleasant tasting. I make leek and potato soup in the crock pot and only at the last add the cream. If you want that recipe LMK.

If you want rich flavor you should brown meat like beef, lamb, sausage, venison, poultry, bacon, pork, or ham in a skillet first before adding it to the crock pot because no browning will happen in the pot. Scrape up all the browned bits and include them in the pot.

Fish and seafood cook rapidly and degrade terribly (no taste left) in the long cooking process of a crock pot so I don't make things like jambalaya in a crock pot unless I just do the rice and seasonings there and add the fish for the last half hour at most. Paella in a crock pot is wonderful but the fish/seafood is tossed in at the end so the flavors are still there but the rice/saffron/veggies have been melded wonderfully.

I find that even though I am retired, having a crock pot full of dinner gives me a great deal of pleasure and lets me do other things I like to do besides just eat.

Nancy

Thank you all !!! for the education and tips. This is exactly what I was hoping for.

The random chicken stew-thing turned out fine. About 8 hours in the cooker, five hours on low, then I added some miniature alphabet pasta - a really random choice, there was a half-used bag of it that I wanted to finish up - and three hours on high. Reasonably tasty and I've packaged it up for lunches during the week.

On low, the contents do of the pot are still and I measured the temp in the center at 180-185 F. On high, the contents are simmering and temp is 205-210 F.

I think I'm in a "crockpot rut". I tend to use my crockpot for things that it does very well, and not branch out to other uses.

I like it to cook beans, I can leave them all day and they're just right when I get home from the farm or the garage or babysitting at Ashley's. It might be baked beans, or bean soup or just a "pot of beans". I'll toss a smoked pork hock in there if I have one.

I really like to peel several apples, slice them, add a bit of brown sugar to taste (depending on the sweetness of the apples), a couple spoons of cornstarch, stir it all up. Toss in dried cherries, cranberries, raisins, whatever, cook on high for about 3 hours until it becomes a thick hot apple "stuff". I use it on pancakes, as a side dish, Elery likes it with biscuits and I stir it into oatmeal.

It's good for keeping things warm, like mashed potatoes or soup or gravy, and I have a couple of dessert recipes that I have yet to try.

I don't really like ground meat cooked in the crockpot, like sloppy joes or chili, it gives an odd texture that's unpleasant to me.

Good luck, the soup sounds delicious and soup is one of the things that I think a crockpot is very good at.

Annie

This post was edited by annie1992 on Sun, Feb 2, 14 at 21:43

You can roast a whole chicken - put it on some veggies and cook it on low for 8 - 10 hours - falls apart.
Beef in red wine is heavenly.
Rice pudding is so creamy and delish!
Bolognese sauce.
Duck legs in their own fat.

I'm not sure about cooking a whole chicken, turkey.
My neighbour does it regularly, but do you think the temp heats up quick enough, as the chicken is sitting there at basically room temperature for a long time?

I've seen sites for and against cooking whole chickens in the slow cooker.

I often cook on High for the first hour to give the slow cooker time to heat up and heat the meat, then turn it down to Low.

John, you can cut a recipe in half by cooking on High.
if a recipe says 8 hours on Low, you can cook it 4 hours on High.

I like the bags because it makes clean up so easy. My crock is heavy and a PITA to clean. Maybe newer crock pots are different but mine is heavy stone. Just twist tie the bags and throw it away. I cook so much more in my crock pot since I started buying the bas.

My mother is elderly and has limited use of her hands. Her crock pot is newer and medium sized but still the crock is too heavy for her to lift out. (Lighter than mine but still too heavy to her). She cooks exclusively in her crock pot. If it wasn't for the bags her diet would be very limited.

Lots of good tips here.

This post was edited by debrak2008 on Sun, Feb 2, 14 at 10:16

"----I've seen sites for and against cooking whole chickens in the slow cooker.----"

It all depends. Crock pots are very low powered, from 100 watts to about 300 watts, comparing to a roaster, which can be about 1,800 watts. How long will it take for this low power to heat up a very cold chicken?

Depends also on where the heating element is and where the thermostat is located.

dcarch

I''ve done roast chicken in the crock-pot for years and have had nary a problem. Generally, I put the roaster in the pot, put 1-1/4 cup water in it, cover it and cook. Old pot did a 6 lb roaster in about 10 hours on Low. New pot takes 7 hours on Low due to a higher cooking temperature on Low.

Donna

I don't use a crock pot often as I'm not crazy about most braised meats but there are some things it's great for in my house. Applesauce, chili w/tough meat, and chicken broth are the mainstays. Overnight grits are great. Polenta too.
There's a popular meatloaf/baked potato recipe floating around facebook lately that looks good for those who like that sort of food.
Generally, I'd rather cook food without a crock pot and heat it up the next day for another meal.

Crockpot was great to make corned beef for St. Patrick's Day ... perfect tenderness ... Didn't need to add water, since the corn beef released juice.

I learn NOT to put spices in until 1 hour before it's done. When spices are cooked 8 hours, they have this weird flavor. I had a crockpot disaster when I was young by putting dry beans & tomatoes & salty meat together. The acid of tomatoes, plus the salt prevented the beans from being tender.

Now I boiled the beans first, before putting in the crockpot with acidic & salty ingredients. Thank you, Grainlady for the time equivalent info. of crockpot vs. oven.

Strawberry, you reminded me of one of my all time favorite crock pot recipes and it pretty much does the opposite of what you mention.

Pintos, soaked for 2 hours
Country ham pieces

Place beans in crock pot, lay country ham pieces over the top. Add water to about one inch above. Cook 1 hour on high, 12-18 hours on low until beans reach the desired tenderness. Add water when needed.

I made chicken stock on Sunday after cooking a chicken in my crock pot Saturday night, and so I decided to test the broth temperature at high and low settings. The temperature at high was 178 degrees and the temperature at low was 212 degrees, and the pot was boiling. I did not test the "keep warm" setting, but I guess I should.

Are my settings backwards, or did I do something wrong? How long do you have to leave it on to test the temperature of the water? How do you know how hot it gets when roasting a chicken without filling it with water? I do have a thermometer gun that shoots a laser beam to get a temperature, and so maybe I should use that as well.

Lars

"----- How do you know how hot it gets when roasting a chicken without filling it with water? I do have a thermometer gun that shoots a laser beam to get a temperature, and so maybe I should use that as well."

It will be exactly 212 F. As long as you have water in the pot, it can't get higher than 212 F. You are basically steaming the chicken at 212 F.

A remote read IR thermometer does not read with the laser beam. It reads the infrared radiation from the object. The beam is simply a visual indicator of where you are reading the temperature.

dcarch

This post was edited by dcarch on Tue, Feb 11, 14 at 14:31

Here's information common to University Extension Services. This particular one is from Purdue University.

Your slow cooker must be heating correctly to keep food safe.. You can check your slow cooker to make sure it is heating properly by using the following directions:
1. Fill the slow cooker 1/2 to 2/3 full with water.
2. Heat on LOW or 200-degrees F on digital units for eight hours.
3. Check the water temperature with an accurate, instant read food thermometer. Do this quickly because the temperature drops 10 to 15 degrees when the lid is removed.
4. The temperature of the water should be 185 to 200-degrees F.

Temperatures below 185-degrees F indicate that your slow cooker does not heat food high enough or fast enough
to avoid possible food safety problems. If your slow cooker doesn't pass this test, don't use it. It's unsafe
to use and should be replaced! Temperature readings above 200-degrees F indicate that food cooked for 8 hours
without stirring would be overdone.

I always thought the older crockpots had a lower "low" temp and were more valued as a result?

I need to recheck my crock pot on high because it had only been on for a couple of hours when I checked the temperature. I will check it again after leaving it on with water in it for 8 hours. I might check the low setting again as well. I might just get rid of it, since it takes up a lot of space and I rarely use it.

Lars

Just want to start by saying hello, I read often here but seldom post. Lots of good info here, I may be printing out this thread! I just bought a new slow cooker, have only used it once but think I am going to love it. I had a large 6 qt. round one that I bought around 1990, so it is one of the treasured older ones, but it is too large now that it's just the two of us. So I bought a smaller oval one and am getting back into the crock pot groove!

Grainlady, thanks for sharing that useful information. I have a question. In the comparison of cooking times for crock pot vs. oven, what is the oven temperature? I have a couple pieces of LeCreuset that I have considered using for slow cooking in the oven, and am interested in converting recipes the other way, from crock pot to oven, rather than oven to crock pot.

I'm just about to put some chicken and sauce ingredients into the pot for pulled barbeque chicken sandwiches. Then think I'll put some steel-cut oats in before going to bed tonight for a nice hot breakfast tomorrow.

Love all the tips and recipes, keep them coming!

This post was edited by shea on Wed, Feb 12, 14 at 10:42

This is a good stew recipe that does well in a crock pot:

Spicy Beef Stew, Crock pot

1 to 2 lbs. stew beef, cut in 1-inch cubes
4 med. potatoes, cubed
4 med. carrots, sliced
1 med. onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans tomato soup
2 soup cans water
1 c. red wine
2 TB flour
1 t. salt
1 t. paprika
1/4t. pepper
1/2t. each oregano, basil, thyme, sage, marjoram
1 TB Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves

Coat beef cubes with flour, s&p, paprika. Put vegetables in crock pot, top with the beef cubes. Mix all the rest but the bay leaves, pour over meat and veg in pot. Stir in bay leaves. Cook 8-10 hours until all is tender.

Thank you, Teresa, for that great recipe ... will try that soon.