I own a Rival Crock pot, a Chef's pot (virtually the same thing only a little larger and is a multipurpose crock pot, deep fryer, etc) and a 4 & 6 qt size Nesco roaster. Hands down winner is the Nesco roaster. They work in a similar fashion. You just have much more control with the roaster. I'm going to talk about Nesco since that's what I have and I know its features. The other roasters do not necessarily have the same features. Cost of a crock pot or roaster are about the same. I just bought two of the 6 qt Nescos at Target for $24.99 each (they were on clearance and I couldn't turn them down for gifts). The crock pots have Off/Low/High for settings. I never found them to really be right. Low wasn't hot enough and High boiled everything so it was a constant switching back and forth. Granted, others do not have this problem. The Chef's pot has a variable temp controller, and a crock. I just hate cleaning the crocks. They're NOT easy cleaning. The Nesco with the enamel pot is fine for a while, but gets harder to clean. But with the non stick which comes in them now, it's easy cleaning. Plus you have temperature control from off to 450° or so. I've baked bread (frozen white bread and banana bread in the Nescos. I can put a 7# turkey breast in the 6 qt version. Beef roast is great. I'll cook up a package of boneless chicken breast and have for other things. I'll use it for baking potatoes. Basically if you can put it in the oven and cook it and can fit it into the Nesco, it works fine. The best lasagna I've ever made was in the Nesco and not cooking the noodles. In summary, yes, you'll do everything with a Nesco that you can do with a crock pot and more. I don't use my crock pots anymore. No need to and it's less hassle to clean and don't fight the heavy crock. Lift out cookwell fits in the frig better too. I'm also hearing people who have similar units say they're not as good as the Nesco brand. No, I don't work for them, just very satisfied with it. The people I know and have either bought them or received them as gifts *all* love them and won't go back to crock pots. Crock pots served their purpose but are now obsolete. I equate it to a can opener and an old can to a pop top lid. The Nesco is more modern way of doing the old way. Yes you can still use a can opener and crock pot, but why when you can use pop top lids and a Nesco? OK, not the greatest analogy, but you get the idea. Ken

Technically a fryer is a smaller bird in the 3-5lb range. A roaster can be quite a bit larger, 6-8lbs. Roasters are a little plumper (fattier, I think) which makes them good for long cooking in the oven. You could probably use either one in the recipe. The birds in the grocery stores are on the smaller side indicating fryers.

All the photos and experience you all so generously provided were a huge help to me. Update: I spent my precious points on the compact and it fits perfectly under my plate rack! However, I did get a laugh this morning when I had to read a book to learn how to make toast! Just wanted to thank everyone on this thread for their input & suggestions. So many things these days offer convenience but turn out to be a PITA and end up in the donation box. It was great to know in advance that I wasn't stumbling into that. Do think I really will enjoy the Breville. (Just a P.S. to anyone doing any shopping at Crate & Barrel for the holidays. I didn't know about this at all. I bought ornaments for Xmas gifts at Crate last year. They offered 10% off that purchase if I took out their credit card, so I did. I didn't buy another thing there until September when we needed a new sofa on sale. I used their card. That purchase gave me 1% points valid for several months. I used those points for this purchase, also on the card, online putting in the coupon code. This was a very nice added value to the sofa purchase. )

As far as meat is concerned, I think the popular use of the two terms is the same, whether that's accurate or not. The temperature doesn't matter. The way to avoid dry meat, no matter what kind, is to use good quality meat and avoid overcooking it. Times you find listed are only an approximation, it's the internal temperature in the deepest part that matters. For chicken, about 155-160 is the right point for breasts and then let the pieces rest 5-10 minutes. Another approach that can be used for chicken is to brine it though the final target internal temperature is the same. I won't go into the details, the method is easily found. I buy skin on, bone in air cooled breasts and bake/roast them at about 375 deg. With no more preparation than a light rub of olive oil and a little salt and pepper, the skin comes out brown and crisp by the time the right internal temperature is reached. They're always moist and tasty.