Slow cookers have been around since the 1970s. Though the technique of cooking slow and all day varies in popularity, most families dabble with crock pot cooking. If you learn how to use a slow cooker and play around with recipes, it will open up many cooking doors.
Nothing beats coming home to the smell of a home cooked meal ready and waiting, but the “Leave it to Beaver” family model with someone home to fry up the bacon and bake the beans is almost as obsolete as the typewriter.
During the 1970s, The Rival Company came out with the slow cooker trademarked under the name Crock Pot. The basic idea was that the family meal maker could load up the cooking vessel, turn it on, and forget about the meal until several hours later when a hot and tasty meal would be ready and waiting. The original models were small and somewhat limited and were all-in-one piece models which made clean up rather unpleasant.
The New Face of Crock Pots.
Today, options on crock pots are virtually unlimited. One huge improvement is that most modern crocks lift out for cleaning rather than being built in to the unit. This helps tremendously as far as storage and also on clean up. A crock can be prepared and filled the night before (with some recipes), stored in the refrigerator and then placed in the cooking unit the next morning to eliminate early morning preparation. When a meal is completed, the crock lifts out and can be soaked and cleaned without worrying about the heating unit getting wet.
The original crock pot which was a rather tall and slim design (about 4 quarts capacity) has given way to a variety of sizes and shapes. Most slow cookers are now oval in shape. This works better for most cuts of meat which tend to be closer to oval than round in shape. The larger models now will work hold and cook a small turkey or a good size turkey breast.
From mini crocks to big family crocks, there is a size for every individual or family. The smallest models (which usually do not have lift out crocks) will hold a chicken breast for a bachelor or fondue/dips on the side to go with a meal. Jumbo models will work for large pork loins or will accommodate enough stew, soup, or stew for a good sized group (20 or so adults). A few of the big cookers include dividers, so meat can be slow cooked on one side while vegetables can cook separately on the other side.
A number of other helpful features have been added to various models. Some slow cookers offer a full range of temperatures rather than simply high and low and can be used for a fuller range of meals. Several models now have timers. If a recipe calls for seven hours cooking time, and the family will be out for nine hours, the cooker will shut off automatically rather than cooking the food down to mush.