What exactly is a crockpot

Copyright 2006 Tony Buel The word 'crockpot' is a name which is actually a trademarked name, but is often used as a generic term. The terms 'crockpot' and 'slow cooker' have come to be used interchangeably. 'Rival' is the original holder of the trademarked term 'Crock-Pot'. The Rival Crock-Pot / slow cooker has been one of the most important cooking tools for busy families since its introduction in 1971. Slow cooking is a great way to provide delicious home cooked meals for people and families on the go and produces flavorful meals time after time. This appliance is made of fired clay and is usually glazed and surrounded by a metallic housing. It contains a controlled heating element to maintain the slow cooker temperatures whuich allow food to be cooked over longer periods of time. Typically a slow cooker will have just two heat settings, and a glass lid is used to retain the heat and moisture. An important tip to be sure to follow is this: Don't lift the lid while it is cooking the food! Letting the heat escape in this way will add twenty minutes to the cooking time! The lid is important as it prevents escape of hot water vapor which would, if permitted, lead to lowering the internal water level, loss of heat and drying out of the contents. A slow cooker works in a much different way than a pressure cooker which allows much higher temperatures than the boiling point of water. Because the lid of a slow cooker is on very loosely, the temperature inside will never get above the boiling point of water. Any vapor that does occur condenses on the lid and returns as moisture back onto the food. Because of the nature of slow cooking, food can be cooked for longer than expected with no harm to the food. In fact, your meats become more tender when they are cooked like this over longer periods of time. Recipes for these cookers must be adjusted to compensate for the nature of the cooking. Often water must be decreased. Most (probably all) come with recipe booklets. Many cookbooks with slow cooker recipes are available and there are numerous recipes on the Web. A small number of cookbooks seek to make complete dishes in a slow cooker using fewer than five ingredients while others treat the slow cooker as a serious piece of culinary equipment capable of producing gourmet meals. With some experience, timings and recipe adjustments can be successfully made for many recipes not originally intended for these cookers. The long, moist nature of the cooking method allows for lower quality cuts to be used. And even though a slow cooker takes longer to cook the food, it will actually save you time! How is this possible? Well, you can quickly load the ingredients in the morning and turn it on. That right there is the bulk of your time - not very much! And at dinner time, your home will greet you with a flavorful aroma fit for a king or queen!

Barbeque and grilling blunders learn to eliminate outdoor cooking mistakes that kill your cookout

: Your average backyard cook is no expert in the barbeque or grilling field. He has no television shows on the Food Network. He has no grilling cookbooks out. Nor has any of those been part of his lifetime goal. No, your average outdoor cooking enthusiast makes more mistakes with bbq grilling than you could ever imagine. The meat ends up dry and tough time after time, despite marinating for hours.

Or the meat is burnt or cooked too long. These mistakes are made time and time again because your average backyard cook usually does not know any different. He does not automatically know How to Barbeque. Here are some of the more common mistakes and do's and don'ts made in bbq grill cooking: 1) If you started with frozen meat, make sure the meat is thawed completely. Trying to cook the inside of a still-frozen piece of meat is next to impossible without burning the outside. 2) When using a charcoal grill, try to start the fire without charcoal lighter fluid.

Lighter fluid taste will always get into your meat no matter how much you cook the coals down first. A chimney starter makes starting the fire a breeze. It also allows you to add charcoal along the way should the coals burn out along the way. 3) Never poke the bbq meat with a fork after cooking has begun.

This is one of the most common mistakes and one of the most deadly for your barbeque. When poking with a fork, the juices will run out of the meat and right into the bottom of the barbeque pit or grill. Your meat will be dry and less tender.

Use a long set of tongs to turn the meat. 4) Lower the heat. Except for grilled steaks, which need a quick searing, cook slowly over low to medium heat.

Lower heat is much more manageable and it will make the meat tender and juicy. 5) Quit lifting the lid to check the meat. Every time you do that it changes the temperature inside the bbq grill or pit. Air from you opening the lid acts like a sponge and dries the meat up. Opening the lid also increases your chances of flare-ups. 6) This is more of a food safety mistake. Do not put the cooked meat back on the same plate or platter that the raw meat was on without washing it first. Mixing the cooked with the raw just begs for someone to get sick.

7) After removing the meat from the bbq grill or pit, let it rest for at about 5-10 minutes. Cutting into or slicing the meat immediately after pulling it from the cooker will cause all the juices to flow out of the meat and onto the platter. Of course, these are not all of the mistakes made by the amateur outdoor cook, but are some of the more common. But if you will prevent doing these yourself, you will eliminate many of the things that cause barbeque failures.

Your guests and family will wonder how come your grilled or barbequed food is so much better then it used to be. And, who knows?...Maybe the Food Network will come looking for you.