Same thing. I think they refer to them as a "slow-cooker" as "crock pot" is a name brand.

No they are not. A crock pot is a true crock a piece of crockery that may or may not come out of the thing for cleaning. They used to be the main type. I got rid of those heavy hard to clean monsters years ago. I only have slow cookers and multi cookers. They are wonderful. The slow cooker is a stand alone pot that sits on a base that contains the heating element and controls you can use the pot part on the stove and put it in the dishwasher the base can not just wipe it clean. The multi cooker does lots of stuff from cooking rice to slow cooking to sauté and simmer some are pressure cookers too.Edit to say that they are all called crock pot and slow cooker interchangeably but that's the actual difference.

To answer your question, Yes you can use your "crock pot" or whatever it's called.

I just googled Slow cooker & crock pot and got these results:

Images from google for slow cookers

Images from google for crock pots

Pudgeder... I think you're right about the "name brand" think. And ravencajun... I remember when they first became popular... you really didn't want to get base wet... definitely couldn't put in sink to soak. Rick Bayless used one on his show he had on PBS where he could use the insert part on the stove top to BROWN stuff before tossing it in to "slow cook"... bet they're expensive?!?

Here's what Google had for definition of the 2.

A crock pot is actually a type of slow cooker, so they are very similar, but not all slow cookers are also crock pots. Acrock pot is a type of slow cooker with a stoneware pot that sits inside a surrounding heating element. A slow cooker is a usually metal pot that sits on top of a heating surface.

This is my exact west bend slow cooker I won it at a Tupperware party in the 70's still working great and they still make it I would definitely buy it again.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/182266864153?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_ref=http%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover%252F1%252F711-117182-37290-0%252F2%253Fmtid%253D1588%2526kwid%253D1%2526crlp%253D53601919689_324272%2526itemid%253D182266864153%2526targetid%253D73951648147%2526rpc%253D0.00%2526rpc_upld_id%253D999%2526device%253Dm%2526mpre%253Dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.ebay.com%25252Fulk%25252Fitm%25252Flike%25252F182266864153%25253Flpid%25253D82%252526chn%25253Dps%2526adtype%253Dpla%2526googleloc%253D9027664%2526poi%253D9027718%2526campaignid%253D239125209%2526adgroupid%253D14978428809%2526rlsatarget%253Dpla-73951648147%2526gclid%253DCj0KEQjwjK--BRCzv-Wyu4OTosEBEiQAgFp5OFiSHDwST12ThqoQC92IwQIMEEGypmf20uS7NkzYu9YaAp348P8HAQ%2526srcrot%253D711-117182-37290-0%2526rvr_id%253D1087842459185&ul_noapp=true

I had this one too but something happened to the base along the years I still have and use the pot it's a good soup pot

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-West-Bend-Lazy-Day-6-Quart-Slo-Cooker-Slow-Crock-Pot-Warmer-5225-USA-/381754936710?_trkparms=aid%253D222007%2526algo%253DSIC.MBE%2526ao%253D1%2526asc%253D35277%2526meid%253D24a86d9e68af4e7e86f8b996652e70d5%2526pid%253D100408%2526rk%253D12%2526rkt%253D21%2526sd%253D152217138297&_trksid=p2056116.c100408.m2460

Raven, this was mine from the '70s. West Bend Bean Pot Style. Or like mine. If mine had looked that good, I wouldn't have replaced it. I was working in an appliance store that had a housewares department and one year the West Bend salesman let all of us young women order the Bean Pots at cost. Which was almost nothing.

It was more than 30 years old, had no off and on, only plugged in and low and high. I used the heck out of it ;0) And replaced it with a multi-function Fagor that I love, electric. It cooks rice, slow cooks on two temps, pressure cooks on two temps and browns beautifully. All programmable and the insert will go into the dishwasher.

I had one like the 1st one you posted too Raven. I used the heck out of it!!

Hubby immersed the bottom in water and that was that.

To me they are the same, a Crock Pot is a brand name of a slow cooker. Kind of like we call all tissues "Kleenex". A slow cooker doesn't have to be a Crock Pot as there are many different brand names of slow cookers.

My slow cooker has a crockery insert that goes in the dishwasher. I always thought a crock pot was more like a pasta pot in shape and the slow cooker was oval shaped. In over words, a crock pot was the perfect shape for soups, chilis, dips and/or heated drinks while you could cook a whole chicken or roast in a slow cooker.

No, Crock Pot is a brand name:

Crock Pot's website

In the 70's I had a Rival Crock-Pot with a glazed stoneware insert. The metal outside pot had the heating element in the base and the inside was teflon coated. You could use that like an electric pot to deep fry shrimp or boil water.

We used it often while both of us were working but got rid of it when I read reviews that some of the original slow cookers didn't maintain a hot enough temperature to avoid bacterial growth.

Mine looked like this one.

http://www.viewpoints.com/Rival-4-5-Quart-Slow-Cooker--112523-reviews

"got rid of it when I read reviews that some of the original slow
cookers didn't maintain a hot enough temperature to avoid bacterial
growth"

Same for us. Concern about food safety temperatures and multi-hour exposure to ceramic glazes of unknown (but often Chinese) origin pushed us away from these gadgets. I also try to avoid electric gadgets that do the same thing as other implements we own. I'm happy to do the occasional stew, etc, in the oven but only when someone is home. The risk of fire or a problem may be remote but still it's something I prefer to avoid.

I know many use these crockpots and enjoy them, they're just not for me.

I have 2, and I call them both Slow Cookers. One is a 5-quart oval and the other is a larger 6 1/2 quart oval one. I looked at the names, and funny, they're both Rival Crock Pots. the larger one came with a very small pot for dipping sauces, etc. I just finished making some meatballs in a honey-hot sauce in the smaller one. I use it the most often.

Crap, the smaller one, which is an older model, just had the handle come off of the lid. Now I have to go scouting for something to use for a handle. I don't have anything.

""A crock pot is a true crock a piece of crockery that may or may not come out of the thing for cleaning."

Sorry Raven, that's not correct. "Crock-Pot®" is a registered trademark of Jarden (formerly called the Rival Crock-Pot®) and they call it "The Original Slow Cooker". (Actually "Slo-Cooker" is also a brand name for another "slow cooker".) The term for the cooking style is "slow cooker", eg Crock-Pot® 6-Quart Manual Slow Cooker. Just because it has a crock, it's not necessarily a "Crock-Pot®".

If it's not made by Jarden/Rival, is cannot legally be sold as a "Crock-Pot®" (at least in the US) and Jarden even shut down a website of recipes for infringement because they used a variation of the spelling of Jarden's trademark in recipe descriptions. Even though it was not spelled the same, apparently they claimed it was close enough to be an infringement. As arkansas girl pointed out, to the layfolk it's become like "Jell-O", "Kleenex" and if you're in the south, "Coke". Just don't let Jarden hear you use their name to describe a competitor or they'll probably be upset!

I had two Crock-Pot® units. (Yes, made by Rival) Threw them both out when I bought Nesco roasters. No comparison. Also had a Daisy Chef's pot that had a crock liner (but that didn't make it a Crock-Pot). That unit was a vastly superior product to the Rival/Jarden units since it was a larger capacity and had a true temperature control instead of the 3 choices - "off", "too low" and "too high". It was great for boiling water and deep frying without using the crock liner. I'd have kept that going for a while if it hadn't died.

Anyway to answer your question the reality is they're basically the same unit as far as function, with or without a crock. Different units can do different things. The electric roaster can be a "slow cooker", just like the West Bend unit that's the electric frypan with a pot on it. A Dutch Oven on the stove is actually a "slow cooker" at times. If Maryann Esposito had a slow cooker (even with a crock), that was not made by Rival/Jarden she could potentially be sued if she called it by the brand name. Companies are very sensitive about their trade names. Someone made a sauce called "A2" and they lost the lawsuit from a concerned company.

Slow cookers often heat from the bottom. Crock pots are surrounded by heat from both the bottom and sides.

watchme, are you suggesting that for something cooking at a very low temperature over many hours, that there's a difference between heat only from the bottom vs heat from the bottom and sides?

Maybe Elmer. Probably, I would think. True crock pots maintain a steady temp throughout the cooking time. Many slow cookers cycle on and off . Because many slow cookers heat from the bottom they may be more prone to scorching. It would seem they would require more babysitting and stirring. It seems a crock would perform better for deeper levels of food to be cooked or those with a bulkier mass and slow cookers would seem to be better for flatter cuts of meats or things like lasagna as opposed to a vat of chili.

But really any casserole could be a slow cooker in an oven. Braising is slow cooking. So is smoking meat. So is sous vide cooking.

Any time you apply heat to something it can scorch. My Crock-Pots always did when you put something in there for a long time. And to be accurate, they heat from the bottom only but the stoneware distributes the heat in a manner similar to a cast iron pan on a stove. Crock-Pots (and most similar slow cookers) do not turn on and off, they apply constant power the entire time which is why it's so important to fill them only 1/2 - 2/3 full. Less than that they'll get too warm, more than that, not warm enough. And that's also why they're not necessarily the power savers that many think.

Wrong. The crock pot heating element surrounds the crock. It is not at the bottom. That is why they have to be at least half full to work at their best.

A slow cooker (crock pot) will heat from the middle/top to 79- 93 Celsius 174 - 199F. The vapors produced at this range rise and get trapped by the lid and condenses returning to the bottom as liquid, thus providing a complete circular even heat. This is why a crock pot is always steamy, and why you should not open it very often, as opening the lid will not only let the steam escape but almost instantly cool down whatever you are trying to cook.

Below is a link to the innards.

https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=11729

For me personally, I want to protect myself and my family from harm, and if I knew that a certain model was prone to bacterial growth I would not use it. But the USDA link below specifically says that these cookers ARE safe.

I did a search and did not come up with any results alerting me to unsafe cookers. I would think that just as the problems of safety records of certain cars are all over the internet, if there were safety issues with certain models a search would find them. Certainly, if anyone finds such info they should post the specifics here.

There are some common sense safety procedures, like not starting out with frozen items in the cooker.

Slow cooker food safety

I have several Crock Pots or Slow Cookers. I just rounded up two that I don't use all the time, that I shall need for Friday and Saturday's food I am taking to have for us to eat at daughter Amber's yard sale. The two big ones are Crofton, one is divided, say they are Slow Cookers. The other big one that I use all the time, is a West Bend and it says it is a Crockery Cooker. I have two sort of small ones, One of the small ones is another West Bend and I don't know what the other one is as it is out in the cabinets in my garage. The bigger West Bend I do cook in weekly it seems. However I will just be using them this week for keeping our soups and barbecue and things warm. They all seem the same to me, removable inserts. I too used to have the ones with the inserts that did not come out. No longer have those, probably wore them out.

Sue