I have Mom's Corningware crockpot, which has a high and a low, and it's better than the others I had.

My favorite, though, thanks to Cynic, is my 6 quart Nesco roaster. It has a rack and a temperature adjustment that goes from less than 200F to 450F. It's equally good at roasting a whole chicken withnicely crisp skin and slow cooking a pot of beans. It even has a 'slow cook' setting. It took me a couple of tries to get familiar with the temperatures for certain recipes, but I love it and I've used it more than any other kitchen appliance I've purchased lately (except the coffee maker).

I've baked/steamed Boston Brown Bread in it, roasted chicken, a turkey breast, made beans, simmered soup, baked potatoes, roasted vegetables and made lemon chicken.

It's a roaster, it's an oven, it's a crockpot, all in one handy device, and it works so well that Elery bought one for his house too.

Annie

I have to agree with Annie. I have a 6 qt Nesco roaster and love it. I bought mine because of comments I saw on this forum. The best price I found is on walmart.com and had it shipped to the store.

Thank you - however, there are at least 12 or more each on both Amazon and Walmart dot com. I have no idea of WHICH MODEL might be the one you are writing about. Any chance you could look it up to see which models you have? Thanks.

I've read the favorable reviews too. Ended up buying both a 6 quart and a 12 quart Nesco Roast-air (i.e. convection) roaster. IMO, the hot air currents inside give poultry that extra crispy skin real fast which really locks in those juices.

FYI......there is a "new in box" vintage 6 quart air roaster Nesco for sale on eBay right now....see link below. There are other models that are available without the convection fan.....and these generally cost a bit less.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

Here is a link that might be useful: NIB.....Vintage 6 quart Nesco air roaster.

Go to the thrift store and get a used one!!

I used to have a Hamilton Beach Stay or Go that I loved until the crock cracked. The large, sturdy handles made getting it out of the cupboard much easier (my current one has tiny plastic handles that always seem in danger of breaking) and it had a latching lid with an o-ring to prevent messes while traveling. My current crock-pot has a rubber ring that loops around to hold the lid in place, but without the latching seal, I got cider all over my car. So far as high and low goes, I never measured the heat but I was satisfied with the performance.

arlinek, the 6 quarts are all about the same, just different colors. I got the one with the non-stick cook well because it was the cheapest at the time, but some have porcelain. I see the red one is now $34.00. The surface doesn't affect the cooking, just the cleanup and depends on what you prefer, some people avoid non-stick.

I got the stainless one because it matches the toaster, the coffee maker and the food processor. It's Nesco 4816-25-30PR, stainless 6 quart roaster with glass lid and nonstick insert. It was less than $40 and the shipping was free.

Annie

Good timing. My old Rival 5 qt. has seen it's last potluck and I was wondering what to buy. I couldn't live with the red, though, so I ordered ivory. Only cost DH $127. (Already had a couple of pullman pans, a popover pan and a rack for my canner in his shopping cart, hehe.)

arlinek, I bought the ivory 6 qt from walmart.com for $34. I had it shipped to the store so there were no shipping fees. Mine has the porcelain cookwell and I don't have any problems cleaning it.

The Roast Air fan is nice to have at times. I bought the "converter" kit for mine so I got the higher lid and the "2 way" rack and still have the regular ones. Sometimes it's nice to have the higher lid and you don't have to have the fan on there if you don't want it. It snaps on and off easily. I have both a non-stick and regular cookwell. At times I'll use them both.

If you insist on a slow-cooker I would consider going with the one that is like a little frypan with the container on top. At least you have temperature control with that but OTOH that will heat from the bottom so it's more like cooking on the stove or in an electric frypan. Come to think of it there is one, Daisy made what they called a "Chef's Pot" which had a temperature control on it. That was a functional unit but I don't think it's made anymore. It gave you the dial control on temperature, not as good of a control as the roaster but vastly superior to the traditional slow cookers. You could also use the heatwell part of it for boiling potatoes, deep frying, etc, by removing the crock.

Having used slow cookers of various types, and going to an electric roaster I could not give up the temperature control of the electric roaster and go back to the traditional slow cooker. To me it'd be like going to a washboard for washing clothes. I prefer the modern washer.

annie1992 outlines many of the advantages. I'll just say, albeit not easy (people fight change - my dad would never give up the wringer washer!), I've converted many friends and relatives and not one has ever gone back to a slow cooker of any brand (since of course "Crock-Potî" is a trademark of Jarden, formerly known as Rival). I tossed mine, most others are collecting dust in their houses.

What's hard to get across at times is that the roaster is a fully-functional oven with full temperature control. So you can use it as the slow cooker but also do a fairly high heat (425ð-450ð) roast and if you have the convection, all the better. Then turn it down to 150ð or so and keep it hot without drying out right away.

BTW, holiday time is when it' nice to have more than one so you can be cooking something in one and have a roaster full of apple cider heating. Oh yeah, dat's good. And you can have it set on just warm, or put it up to a crockpot level so someone might sue you if the spill it in their lap! :D

What is nice about the Nesco is that it's very versatile and can be used for slow cooking and other types of cooking as well. The temperature is controllable, with a crock pot it's pretty much just high or low. A lot of people gripe because the new ones burn the bottom because they can't get the temp down low enough.

after reading all of the glowing comments last fall, i bought a 6 qt nesco. we used it at thanksgiving to cook a corn casserole.....the one that uses jiffy cornbread mix for those that might have made it. it was placed in the removable portion of the cooker and within 15-20 minutes it was burned black around the edges. it hasn't been used yet. any ideas that might instill more confidence?

jae, I put the casserole itself inside the cooker, I don't try to make casseroles or baked goods right in the roaster. As cynic pointed out, it's actually a small oven, so it would be like cooking your casserole right on the oven floor.

Soups and liquid foods do OK right in the cookwell, but meats and poultry I put on the rack, and when I made Boston brown bread, I put the loaf pan on the rack and poured the water into the bottom of the cooker for steaming.

As I said in my first post, I had to experiment a couple of times with temperature to get it right, but it works great, minus the human error factor!

Annie

thanks annie! that makes lots of sense....i know all too well what spillovers do in the oven..lol. we will have to pull it back out and give it a few more tries cause i know this many people can't be wrong!

If you are still looking at a slow-cooker, I had a Rival Smart Pot, and it cooked at too high a temperature. My roast was way overdone.

I got rid of it, and bought a Hamilton-Beach 3-in-1.....it has 3 different sized bowls, a 2, 4, and 6 quart, so it will accommodate any size meal. It works perfectly, I use it regularly.

Thank you all; I will be getting the Nesco; I'm convinced!!

Enjoy your new Nesco. Here's a few recipes to give you some ideas and get you started. There's probably going to be a recipe book in there with it too.

One caution, usually they need to have the electronics burned off before the first use. There's a coating on the new components that needs to burn off. This only needs to be done one time. Check the instruction book but the odor can be offensive so put it outside if you can, cover the heatwell (the main part - that actually heats up), turn it on high and let it go for a while until the smell is gone. Could be a matter of minutes to a couple hours even. Then you generally need to season the cookwell (the metal liner, the pot so to speak, wherein you put the food), might as well do it at the same time. Turn down the heat if you like. Put a little oil on the cookwell and put it into the hot heatwell and let it season a bit.