After doing the soaking & BKF cleaning procedures, there is no way those remaining little white flecks are food debris. Crock-pots do not get hot enough to really bake-on any debris that BKF won't remove. If what you see in the insert after cleaning is the size of specs......I would think it is a defect or part of the ceramic. If it is spotty, it might be soap residue that forms on drying. I would try cleaning with Windex window cleaner and towel drying. If the spots are removed......it is just soap residue. If the specs remain....it is a minor harmless defect in the ceramic insert. Dan

I used the same bean pot style enameled West Bend slow cooker for decades. I was doing bookkeeping in an appliance and hardware store newly married and the West Bend salesman sent one to each of us. Completely simple. It had high or low, off or on. Nothing else and did a wonderful job. I could put it on cooking as I left for the office and come home to a kitchen that smelled wonderful and a fully cooked tender meal. After many years of use, the interior was looking pretty stained and worn. What i found in researching new was that all more recent models cooked hotter than those early appliances. It was explained as a safety thing, food temps. Only - hotter was not turning out better tasting products. In frustration, I bought a Fagor multi cooker after carefully researching its temps. Could have been as long as 20 years ago? The browning function worked flawlessly, it would slow cook on high or low, there was a rice cooking setting and it would pressure cook or even just keep warm. I use it a lot and enjoy it still. I don't know what I'll do when it quits - I understand they've gone out of business. I think I could be tempted by a Breville product, I've had quite good luck with their small appliances. Mushy discolored vegetables is making me think possibly cooking at too warm a temp and I don't know how you get away from that since someone has decided the original cooler cooking models were not always safe. We were certainly never sick from my original (70's) West Benn Bean pot style 😊

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

I LOVE my slow cooker! It's an old Rival, probably from the eighties, given the floral motif in country blue. It has a heavy, ribbed, earthenware insert that holds the heat well, and clean-up is SO easy, no matter what has been in it or for how long (don't need those new inserts!). It just has the two settings, low and high, and has a plastic lid. I can't even remember where I got it. I think maybe my mom found it in a thrift shop, and I think she gave it to me because she thought it was too big just for her. Anyway, I work long hours, and having a hot cooked meal waiting for me when I get home is a godsend. (Has anyone read Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal Vegetable, Miracle? Her family has named their crock pot, "Betty Crocker," because she stays home and cooks all day for them! Tee hee.) One of my favorite things to make in it are pork roasts (either with teriyaki and pineapple for an Asian flair or with applesauce and onions for a Germanic twist--always browned on the stove first before adding to the crock pot). But recently, I made the BEST chuck roast ever--a Polish recipe with chopped dill pickles in it! Sounds weird, but it was HEAVENLY! Here's a link to the recipe and a picture (from my cooking blog): http://lindseysluscious.blogspot.com/2008/08/big-o.html And finally, the very best thing I make in my crock pot is a pasta sauce with braised short ribs that must be tasted to be believed! It is just FAN-tastic! Here's the link to that one: http://lindseysluscious.blogspot.com/2006/10/short-ribs-long-on-flavor.html I think slow cookers are going to become sexy again. ;-) Enjoy yours--Gina