Don't have one, don't need one...I have several cast iron dutch ovens and 2 ovens to put them in and a stove top if that's appropriate.
Anything you can do in a crock pot I can do in a Le Cruset oven.
I call them a cordless crock pot.
Linda C

Annie, what's your Mongolian beef recipe for the crockpot?

We use ours about once a month or more. But I love it, and would miss it if I didn't have it.

I rarely use mine, but it was worth the $10 I paid for it!
I'd like to use it more; I like the energy savings and I love coming home to the yummy smells.
I'd like to see the Mongolian beef recipe, too.

Third request for the Mongolian Beef recipe!

I have an old Rival that I will have to the day it days. I hear the new Rivals run too hot and boil your food.

Anyhow, a crockpot does wonderful things to any tough meat like stew beef or chuck roast. Don't cook much chicken in it though.

Why don't you borrow one from a friend to see you like it?

I have 3 of them. I use them all. Small, medium and large. If one broke, I'd replace it the next day.

Fourth request!

Crockpot - I use mine at least once every other year. Let's see if Annie can get mine out of hibernation.

Hardly ever! Mine is old, so old that the color is harvest gold! LOL

The only ones worth buying are the old ones. I have several, old and new, but rarely use them, however, when I need them, they do the job. I.e. keeping cocktail smokies in grape jelly hot at a very casual buffet.

I want the Mongolian Beef recipe too. I would like a recipe that uses the cheaper cuts w/long cooking times over the quick flash in a pan flank or sirloin.

Not Annie here, but I have this recipe saved and I wonder if it might be hers (I didn;t put a name/source on it). Anyway, I think I am going to make this for dinner tomorrow since it sounds good to me!

Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef
Serves 8-10

nonstick cooking spray
1 large sweet onion, cut in half and sliced thinly (if you like onions, add another 1-2 onions)
1 cup soy sauce
2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger
3 1/2 pounds flank steak, sliced thinly (about 1/8 inch) across the grain (Note: This is the most time-consuming part of the preparation, but fortunately it can be done ahead of time. Freezing the meat for about an hour will make it easier to get thin slices.)
1/2 cup cornstarch

1. Spray the inside of the crock with nonstick cooking spray. In the crock, combine the onion, soy sauce, broth, garlic, hoisin, sugar and ginger.

2. Combine the flank steak and cornstarch in a large zip top bag. Shake until the meat is evenly coated.

3. Add the beef to the crock and stir.

4. Cook on high for 4 to 5 hours or on low for 8 to 10 hours. Serve with hot rice.

How would round steak work?

I think what was said about the new ones is that they cook to hot/fast because the old ones took too long to meet gov't ideas of safe food temperatures. That is, they're crock cookers, but not really slow. The original ones were meant to cook all day while you were at work, minimum 6 hrs. The new ones are often done in 3-3.5 hrs. for the same recipe.

I'm not fond of mine (newer model), though it was useful in my old kitchen with the not so functional oven and underpowered cooktop. I used it for making soup, mostly.

Love mine. I used it last night. Mine is only a year or two old, but it cooks low enough to get the nice, shredded meat. I use it mostly for making stock, or for cooking overnight when I need something to take for lunch the next day. It's a lifesaver for those kinds of nights.

Like a good forum member I did a search for Annie's Mongolian Beef and came up with nada! Please Annie, post your recipe for us!

Muchas gracias!
Teresa

I have two. One has a much larger capacity than the other. Both were given to me as gifts from my sister in law. I have used them both so much over the years I simply cannot imagine my kitchen without one. An outstanding investment.

Kate

I can't live without my crockpot. I use it at least once or twice a week. I made soup, stew, BBQ, meatloaf, chili & curry in it. When I have a busy day or have to go out for the afternoon I always start my dinner in the crockpot early. Never have to worry about rushing home to make dinner. My crockpot is a real life saver to me.

Al

I think it depends on how you cook. I use mine on the weekends and either cook a pot of beans or make some kind of chili or stew with leftover bits and bobs from the fridge, it is great for me and I enjoy the homey smell of dinner cooking on Sundays. Is also good for many of the less expensive cuts of meat. I also have success with chicken but I only make certain kinds of dishes and cook it for not so long, like maybe 4-5 hours on low tops. I do not like that the new ones cook so high but I usually use mine when I am home so stop periodically to take the lid off, which cools it down some. Do a search for crockpot, there were several good threads about crockpot cooking here a couple of months ago.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tried and true CF crockpot recipe thread

They do excellent with some things and I still have my very old one and use it. Like otheres have mentioned the new ones run very hot compared to the older units. Not sure when they changed. I've found several older units at yard sales and thrift shops for family and friends.

I know there is the food police and all but we have been eating stuff out of them since the 70's and we are still here.

David

Alexa, that's similar to the recipe I used, but I wouldn't cook it anywhere near that long in one of today's newer, hotter crock pots.

This is the recipe I used, I don't remember where I got it. I got a bit carried away with the red pepper flakes. I used my own home dried and crushed hot peppers and over estimated just a little. And, as usual, I left out the sherry because I didn't have any and I didn't use the green onions because I didn't have any. I used Moscato wine because I had one of those tiny little bottles and I just dumped the whole thing in and with all the other flavors I couldn't even taste the wine, so I liked it. (grin) I used an arm roast because they are relatively muscular and tough, so I figured a good long cooking would be good. It weighed about 2 pounds and I still had plenty of liquid for cooking it. It didn't fall apart, but it was nice and tender, just right texture. As always, I used Bragg's Amino Acid in place of soy sauce. And, it was pretty sweet, I might cut the sugar a little, although Ashley loved it this way and thought it would be awesome with pork ribs.

Crockpot Mongolian Beef

SERVES 4

1 lb beef flank steak, sliced thinly across the grain
1 medium white onion or yellow onion, sliced thinly (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup light soy sauce or Braggs liquid aminos
1/2 cup dry sherry
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon minced garlic (I grated some fresh from the freezer)
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2-1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, to taste
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 cup cut scallion, in 1 . 5 inch pieces (green onions)
1/3 cup fruity white wine

1.Slice the flank steak thinly across the grain - the strips should be 2 to 3 inches long each; set aside.

2.Combine the onion, soy sauce, sherry, broth, garlic, hoisin, brown sugar, ginger, and pepper flakes, then put the mixture into the crock pot.

3.Put the cornstarch in a large Ziploc bag; add the sliced beef and toss well to coat.

4.Add the coated beef into the crock pot, gently pushing it into the liquid to cover; pour the white wine over - do NOT stir.

5.Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours; an hour before you're going to serve, turn the crock pot to high, add the cut scallions, stir, and cook for an additional hour.

6.Stir, and serve over rice or noodles.

As you can see, it needed some color, it would have been prettier with the green onions.

Annie

Thanks, Annie! Sounds great. I look forward to trying it.

I love those little crispy rice noodles that are served with it. Here is a recipe I found for those (haven't tried it).

3-4 ounces bean thread noodles (Sai Fun)
Prepare Sai Fun: Heat several inches of oil in a wok or fryer.
Pull bean thread noodles apart slightly and drop into hot oil and stand back a bit; almost immediately they should puff up enormously (so don't put in very many at a time).
When they have done this, lift them from the oil and drain on paper toweling and begin stir-fry.
To serve, place some of the "Sai Fun" (crispy noodles) on the plate and cover with a portion of the stir-fry.

i love mine, but i dont like leaving it on when im gone because on high it gets very hot. its a newer one, i wish i could find a smaller one as it is just me and i end up with way too much. you will love it, its perfect for soups and stews

On the Sai Fun, do a really little at a time, pulled completely apart. They won't puff if they're stuck together. Use a flat wok skimmer and pull them out immediately so they don't go greasy.

Sounds yummy!

After buying Nesco ovens I threw out the crockpots, er, slow cookers. (Although I think mine were Crockpot brand) I use the 4 qt and 6 qt Nesco roast Nesco does everything a slow cooker does and moreer ovens without the limitations. You have a mini oven with full temperature control so you can have the 180° if you want or over 400° if you want. I'll never have a slow cooker again.

After using the Nesco, I'd use a Dutch oven before buying a slow cooker (of any brand). They're not just for turkey anymore.

I use mine mainly when I feed a crowd to keep hot food hot, rather than actual cooking in them. I can use my 35-year old Saladmaster Cookware essentially the same way with the additional benefit - I can also stack the cookware and make more than one thing on just one burner.

I'd suggest doing a web search for recipes, or get some cookbooks for slow-cookers (aka Crock-pots) at the library and see if the recipes sound appealing.

In my quest to use less energy when cooking/baking, I can also do essentially the same long, slow, cooking method in my Solar Ovens as well as my Thermal Cooker (heat food in the internal pan to temperature then it "cooks" in a thermal container WITHOUT any electricity), as my other options to a slow cooker.

Borrow one from a friend for a month and see if you like it. If you happen to find one "used", make sure you test it before using it to make sure it's up to temperature.

"To perform the test, pour two quarts of cold tap water into the cooker. Heat, covered, on LOW for two hours. Using an accurate thermometer, check the temperature quickly (the temperature will drop 10-15 degrees when the lid is removed). The water temperature should be between 185-200° F.

If your cooker is not heating up to these temperatures in that two hour period, it will not heat food hot or fast enough to avoid food safety troubles".

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: How to use a thermal cooker

I use min a fair amount. I use them for soups, chili, stew, cabbage rolls, Bizlady's Country Style Ribs, beans, Gingers Beef on a Bun, pulled pork, meatballs. Mostly for very wet dishes and for a larger amounts.

U sue it for serving quite a bit,

Think I'll give that Mongolian beef a try. I bought some skirt steak on an impulse and have no idea what to do with it but seems to be it could be used instead of flank.

I'd buy a pressure cooker before buying a crock pot.

I had a crock pot many years ago (35) and have never felt the need to replace it. Like Linda I use my cast iron dutch ovens for anything I want slow cooked. Either on top of the stove or in the oven.

Ann

Sounds good, Annie, I'll have to give it a try.

(But Sharon, that skirt steak should really turn into Lorijean's fajitas IMHO)

Skirt steak is amazingly delicious grilled. All that marbling will get lost in a braised dish. It's also the main meat for fajitas.

Sharon - I too suggest fajitas for the skirt steak. Buy the cheap-o steak for the crock pot

Alexa

Oh Thanks guy and gals. I thought skirt steak was a cheap flank so I ent and checked the sticker.....holy shi! what was I thinking when I bought that baby!!!

Fajitas or grilled for sure!

Thanks for the save.....

I bought one because my son wanted to make cholent several years ago. We made it. Once. It was fine. Not going to make it again.

And I've not used it sense. I keep seeing recipes that sound good but every time I think, heck! I can make that in my pressure cooker in 20 minutes instead of letting it simmer for 6 hours! I just can't wrap my head around cooking food for hours on end when I can do it so quickly with another method. I do have an LC dutch oven which I use for braising occasionally as well. Mostly though, I just use the PC.

I once posted a question here regarding what was the difference between the three methods, slow cooker, dutch oven and pressure cooker, aside from the time. The concensus was that they all three pretty much do the same thing in a slightly different manner. So the recipes are adaptable.

When my son graduates and sets up housekeeping, I'm going to give him the crockpot if he wants it. That'll free up some real estate for me!!

Wow, I am so happy to see so many responses to my post. Thanks everyone. I think I am going to visit some garage sales, yard sales and flea markets for an older one. It sounds like they are better than the newer version.

I am also going to look through some crockpot recipe books to see if anything is appealing to me. I have to say though the Mongolian Beef recipe sounds delicious. It would probably be my first crockpot dish.

Lowspark, I have a pressure cooker but all I use it for is veggies. How do you convert crockpot recipes to PC?

cactuscatie, I also have a pressure cooker, which I use for other purposes, but even a "I can make that in 20 minutes" recipe doesn't suit me some nights.

Because I do all my own yard work, pool cleaning, house work, and the farm, plus my full time job, sometimes I want to come home, grab whatever is ready, and go out to rake leaves or mow or whatever before it gets dark, I don't want to even spend that 20 minutes fiddling around with something in the pressure cooker.

Elery has his own house/yard to deal with and he's only here on weekends, mostly, so I don't want to spend all the time he's here doing house and yard maintenance, so sometimes that 20 minutes is the difference between planting herbs in the backyard or not.

I also love the crockpot for keeping things warm for serving at family dinners and parties, it'll keep a pot full of sloppy joes warm for a couple of hours and it's great for baked beans.

I also have a big Nesco roaster and it'll do a lot that the crockpot will, but I don't have a smaller one. I've even baked brownies in the big Nesco, but since the crockpot was a gift, I'm not going to go out and buy a smaller Nesco. At least not right now. (grin)

Annie

I have a Lorna Sass PC cookbook which I refer to for cooking times. So say for example, if I find a slow cooker recipe for a 3 lb roast. In order to figure out how long to cook that same recipe in my PC, I look in the PC cookbook and check the guide for 3 lb roasts, or find another recipe for a 3 lb roast and go with the time listed.

That mongolian beef recipe looks good. I need to buy hoisin sauce. I'm guessing that with the beef sliced so thinly I could do that recipe in the PC in 15 - 20 minutes cooking time, letting the pressure drop on its own. I hope to give that a try in the next couple of weeks.
The slowcooker recipe is good for ingredient combinations I might not have thought of.

Fajitas are traditionally made from skirt steak--which was a throwaway cut given to the vaceros. At least in the old days, the meat was tough (though not as tough as flank steak) and would be treated for several days before being made into fajitas. The popularity of fajitas seems to be what's driven up the price of skirt steak. I agree that there's no point in crockpotting money. :)

I hope everyone doesn't think I'm dumb but I had to google Nesco roaster. I was thinking about a crockpot but now I have to do some research. Decisions, Decisions :)

Just looking for something to make my life easier when my day is crazy, where I don't have to watch it. Yes I can make stew or soup on the stove but having a gas stove I need to stir and keep an eye on it.

While I agree that the newer ones seem to cook hotter than the old ones, my old (1970s) crock pot cooked a lot faster than its recipes promised, no more than five to six hours. Anything over that was dreadfully overcooked. It was okay for cholent recipes as these were designed for at least 20 hours of cooking.

What I liked about the model I had was baking bread in it. Back before bread machines it was a pleasure to be able to set up a loaf to both rise and bake, and wake up to freshly baked bread. (Some of my friends tried it in theirs and it didn't always work.) And it did a great job baking granola.

cactuscutie, if you're dumb, so am I -- I had to google it, too.

Me too on the Googling, but it turns out to be very like the "portable oven" my mother won back in the early '60's when a lady came to the door and asked how many ships were on the Folger's can. Mother guessed right, but she's always used Yuban. ...With a tender feeling for Folgers because the portable is very useful. She used it for making baked beans, and baked potatoes for company, but hers is too big to use as a crockpot for ordinary things.

pllog, I have a big 18 quart Nesco roaster too, I use it for turkeys or ham at Christmas, for au gratin potatoes when we have 40 or 50 people at a family party.

Now I'm thinking, though, a Nesco 6 quart with the temperature controls might be a better option for me, since I've just started dabbling in cheese making and I often need to heat or hold milk or curd at a specific temperature.

Hmmmm....

Annie

Love both of my Rival Crock pots (large one with removable pot & small one with stationary pot) I received as wedding gifts. They are still working good as new 29 years later. I use them for all sorts of cooking and keeping foods warm. I also have Lodge enameled cast iron dutch ovens. Use them frequently also. Having one doesn't mean forgoing the other. Both work equally well. NancyLouise

I'm so intrigued by the discussion of the smaller sized Nesco roasters. Is the inner cookwell light in weight? My biggest concern about crockpots is the weight of the crock itself. I'm deathly afraid that my wrists couldn't handle the weight during cleanup. That's one of the problems I have with my enameled cast iron dutch oven. It' so heavy to lift and I'm always worried it'll slip while I'm washing it.

Shambo, my big Nesco has a relatively light inner shell, it's enameled metal. I only assume the small one is similarly made.

Annie

Thanks for the info, Annie. Now comes the hard part -- trying to decide if I really need yet another small kitchen appliance!

Interesting discussion. My crockpot of 30 years died a couple of months ago. I miss it. Didn't know about the newer cookers cooking too quickly. I'll start scouring the garage sales.

Like others here, I use many different methods for slow cooking, including my t&t Le Creuset cookware, but I do like using the slow cooker when I know I'll be gone for the day.

Makes great apple or pumpkin butter. Plus, love to make roasts in mine. They are so tender this way. And, if not making pressure cooker beans I make them in the crock pot.

Last night I made a version of Mongolian Beef but I stir fried it instead. The store had a great sale on sirloin steak and I got two packages @ 1.5 lbs. each for less than $2 a package. I used the sauce in Annie's recipe and added some Srirach at the end. It was delicious! Thank you, Annie, for peaking my interest to try this new to me recipe!

Yum, Teresa, that sounds good and much faster than the crockpot, I'll have to try that. Elery would love it with the Sriracha.

Annie

Mainly I use my crockpot on Thanksgiving to keep mashed potatoes hot and fluffy. I make them a few hours early and they keep perfectly for hours.

Jo

Wow I have so many opinions on crockpots and roasters and the pressure cooker.

I was thinking about making the Mongolian Beef in my wok. Thanks Teresa for your suggestion about Sriracha.

Went to a couple of garage sales this afternoon but found no crockpots.

Thanks all for making this such an interesting and informatve post.