The real beauty of slow cooking is that a complete meal can be tossed in the crock in the morning and then ignored until dinnertime. This is a real plus for working families but also convenient for stay-at-home parents who may have enough to do without stirring and stewing over a more complex dish throughout the day.
In addition to simplicity, slow cookers have a number of other distinct advantages:
1. Slow cookers are energy efficient. With a wraparound cooking apparatus, heating extra unused space is eliminated. Think about all the unused inches in a standard oven. With a slow cooker, only the food area is zapped with heat.
2. Slow cookers contain heat. While most cooking appliances heat up a kitchen, the crock pot slowing perks along without turning the kitchen into a sauna. A deep fat fryer can be a hot and messy choice on a summer day, but the slow cooker slowly cooks up food without any noticeable negative side effects.
3. Slow cookers can cut grocery bills. The slow and low method of cooking means that a cheap cut of meat turns our fork tender without drying out. In fact, cheaper cuts of meat tend to fare better in the crock pot than the more expensive cuts.
4. Slow cookers can be used to turn out healthier meals. When cooking less expensive meats with lower marbling, animal fat is reduced. Add a trivet (or put a few balls of tin foil in the bottom of the crock to lift the meat), and all the fat is in the bottom and below the meat line. Fat can be skimmed off later, and the natural juices can be used to make wonderful and tasty gravies.