Archives for December 2015

Why buy slow cookers?

In a fun few weeks of cooking and eating, we’ve reviewed the best slow cookers for tailgate parties (as well as a few slow cooker accessories too!).

Seems every tailgate party I go to these days, there are slow cookers of all kinds. They come in large to small, to portable and massive, the latter preferred for home-gating. The best slow cooker for your particular need is one of the most efficient accessories for tailgating or home-gating. Luckily for us, there are many awesome slow cookers on the market! It’s almost like the slow cooker was invented just for tailgating. Or, maybe tailgating was invented for slow cookers… If you’re interested in finding the best slow cooker, then read on.

Whatever you call them – the generic ‘slow cooker’ or eponymous ‘Crock Pot Slow Cooker’ is a magical appliance:  it’s definitely labor-saving. You can cook pretty darn good meals on ‘set and forget’ that make beer taste even better at any tailgate party.  While the stews, chilis, gumbo and the like really shine in winter, you can eat slow cooker food all year round.  And easy?  I would concur.  Generally, the cooking process just involves throwing in a heap of stuff.  And there are many awesome recipes that give variations on this randomness.  If you are a fan of pulled-pork and would rather spend time drinking beer at your tailgate party than cooking and cleaning, (and who does not fit that description?) honestly, do yourself a favor and get one of the range of slow cookers. The cold weather is kicking in to the Lower 48 to coincide with the football season. So I have been experimenting with these remarkable machines already.  Slow cookers do so much to make a tailgate party rock that it is crazy.

Is it the best slow cooker for the way you party?

Your ‘best’ slow cooker may not be everybody’s ‘best’ but there are some fundamental aspects to check out with tailgate partying first and foremost in mind.

The first thing to realize is that there are three main levels of slow cooker: small, medium and large.  Pick your size with your requirements in mind and then you can start looking at the levels of programmability that each features.  For starters, here is a checklist of features you need to be looking for.

Capacity:

Shape eg. Round or oval – note that oval slow cookers are designed to take whole poultry and cuts of meat say, for pot roast or pulled pork made from a whole pork butt. The round ones hold any diced meats, fish, stews, rice, curry, dips, you name it.

Programmable control on the body of the slow cooker itself – the ability to cook from scratch in the slow cooker pot with a variety of temperatures.

Temperature that the food can rest at.  This must be over 145°F for Food Handlers’ Health Dept.  standards.

Suitable for frying or baking – some slow cookers cook risotto like a dream and you can even make jam or chutney in them.  Even no-frills slow cookers are very versatile. And then there are really hi-tech models.

Power connection – cable/cord long enough? Too long? Retractable?

Weight of the Unit. You want something manageable for a tailgate party so that it fits in your kit. You may end up buying a small one for dips, a large one for pulled pork.

Price – whatever you want to spend depends on how important your tailgate partying is to you and your buds.

So here’s the skinny on slow cookers, from the smallest to the biggest domestic versions.

Small slow cookers

The Little Dipper

 

Keeping the tailgate party foremost in our planning, let’s start small: the first ones are all around $10 a unit (the Triple Dipper of course, is 3 times that).  What these Slow Cookers have in common is that they are cheap, party friendly and compact.  They are not for the large scale tailgate party unless you have a power source and a few of them.  But as host gifts for the tailgate party go, these are perfect, starting with the baby of them all, the Crock Pot Little Dipper.

Crock-Pot Model 32041-C 16-Ounce Little Dipper, Chrome.

Check out these cute 2-cup units that look are a fab idea for setting up a variety of hot dips as a centerpiece to our tailgate party table.  With the brand ‘Crock-Pot’, you know they invented a  product built to North American Electrical standards. So it’s safe and well-designed.  Despite that, it’s extremely inexpensive and not recognized as top of the range so it is accessible.  You certainly can line up a heap of hot, spicy, cheesy dippers and supply some crusty bread, pretzels and appropriate beers.

Capacity, The Little Dipper slow cookers hold 2 cups. 16 oz. That’s a lot of dip.

Shape. Round, mainly for gravies, sauces, dips, melting chocolate, cheese  etc.. You could cook a Quail, Squab or Cornish hen but nothing larger.

Materials:  The Little Dipper Slow Cooker is finished in Chrome with black food grade plastic.

Programmable control – no. It has one temperature.

Temperature – it holds the food at the temperature that the food can rest at.  Must be over 145°F for Food Handlers’ Health Dept.  standards. This holds the food at 155-170 degrees Fahrenheit.  Can tend to bubble so then you can turn it off.  Don’t let it get lukewarm if it has meat or dairy in the recipe.  Gastro alert!

Suitable for frying or baking – People use these little crock pot cuties for candle making (wax melting) potpourri diffusers and anything else you can think of that needs a constant temperature.  They are really good for the long cook required for making your morning oatmeal.  Won’t burn or boil over.

Weight of the Unit. 1 pound.

Price – cheap.

Pros – excellent for packing.  Great for hot dips. Good for taking to work as well as the tailgate party for a nutritious-delicious desk lunch. Cheap.

Cons: You can’t remove the pot from the unit for easy cleaning.  Cleaning is a bit of a challenge.  The lid is not Pyrex or even glass so you can’t check the progress of the cooking.

Hamilton Beach Party Dipper Food Warmer

 

Hamilton Beach Model 33101 Dipper

Capacity, 2 cups. 16 oz.

Shape. Round, Removable ceramic bowl for easy cleaning. 2 1/2 inches deep and has a 4 inch diameter.

Materials:  finished in Chrome and black food grade plastic. Glass lid. Ceramic interior bowl.

Programmable control – no. You need to use an exterior timer if you need a timing feature.

Temperature – this holds the food at 155-170 degrees Fahrenheit. Reaches 190 degrees. It will retain this heat for an hour or so but after that, be careful as at that point the food will move out of the safety zone.  Discard any food after two hours or put into the fridge/icebox.

Suitable for frying or baking – Good for keeping pre-cooked dips warm safely, chocolate, cheese/jalapeño, wax melting, soap making, potpourri. As well as lining up dips on the table at the tailgate party.

Weight of the Unit. 1 pound.

Pros – Hamilton Beach are very good to deal with.  Exchanges are simple. Very inexpensive and no-frills.  The Hamilton Beach slow cooker range is guaranteed lead free.  It may be alarmist of me, but I just like a declaration of being lead free.  I would recommend the use of a slow cooker liner bag (and that makes cleaning even easier).

Cons: Outside gets really hot.  Has no switch. Just plugs in to the wall. Very short lead.

Crock-Pot Little Triple Dipper, Silver and Black

 

The most popular tailgate party table is one with plenty of variety. The Crockpot Little Triple Dipper is a terrific way to cook and transport three separate dishes/dips at a time.  Make three really crowd-pleasing dips or even three styles of mac’n’cheese, pop pre-made dishes into the Little Triple Dipper bowls then into the carry bag and off you go.  They are held at a food-safe temperature for at least an hour. As well, the clean up is a breeze as this model has both the glass lids users love and ceramic, removable dishes.  I have even put all the bowls into the dishwasher with no ill effects.

Capacity, 3 x 16 oz. cookers. That is around 6 cups of food.  Dips, gravies etc..

Shape: each slow cooker segment is round but they fit snugly into a triangular shape.

Programmable control – no, only one temperature.

Temperature – food safe. Rather hot. It can develop a solid surface or skin so give it an occasional stir.

Suitable for frying or baking – no, just keeping pre-made food hot and safe to eat. OK for fondue.  The thing with these is that you have to pre-make the recipe and then hold it at a food safe temperature.

Weight of the Unit. 4.5 pounds.  Ships at 5.9 pounds.

Price – cheap. Includes carry bag.

Pros – 3 dips in the one space.  It is compact and value for money. Has it’s own carry bag.

Cons: You can’t really cook in it apart from fondue. Pre-make your dishes on the day before the tailgate party then hold at food safe in these dishes.  This should get you through a tailgate party appetizer round with ease.

Medium slow cookers:

What is the medium size for a Slow Cooker?  It seems to be somewhere around the 3 quart mark.

Cuisinart PSC-350 3-1/2-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker

 

Chefs rate this Cuisinart programmable slow cooker really highly.  It is not the latest model and the consensus is that most of the newest range cook at too high a temperature due to FDA upping the food-safe level.  Cuisinart is a good and reliable brand.  I have a few of their products and they are well designed, looking good on the counter as well as being functional.

Capacity, 3 and a half quarts.  This is enough for 2 huge full meals with leftovers.  Or a mac’n’cheese for a small crowd.

Shape: Oval – you can fit a medium chicken or a small turkey in this.  Glass lid, dishwasher safe pot and lid. Easy clean.

Materials – brushed steel, glass lid, ceramic pot – stay-cool handles. BPA free in every part of the slow cooker that comes in contact with food.  Lead free.

Programmable control – 4 cooking modes – high, low, simmer, and warm – with a touchpad control panel and 24 hour LCD countdown timer which means you can set it and forget it even the night before you go to work and then return to a yummy dinner.

Temperature – food safe. Has an automatic keep-warm program.

Suitable for frying or baking –  No.

Weight of the Unit.  9.5 pounds. Ships at 11.3. (Includes recipe book)

Price – average.  A little more than anticipated because it is equipped with time-saving features which make it your slave.

Pros – good for family use.  Will cook rice. This should get you through a tailgate party appetizer round. Fully programmable and can be set the night before and cook long and slow before you leave for the tailgate party.

Cons:  None.

Crock-Pot Programmable Touchscreen Slow Cooker SCVT650-PS, 6.5-Quart, Silver

 

Made by Crock Pot, this programmable touchscreen slow cooker ticks many boxes but sacrifices others.

Capacity, 6 and a half quarts.  Not sure whether to class this as medium or large but to my mind the large capacity is over 7 quarts.  Very commodious, plenty of leftovers or food for a big crowd.  Try it on chili and you will see what I mean. You could probably buy two of these – one for the beans and fixings and the other for the meat and it would feed a couple of dozen tailgaters.

Shape: Oval – you can fit a turkey in this slow cooker.  Glass lid, dishwasher safe pot and lid. Easy clean.

Materials – polished stainless steel, glass lid, stoneware pot which makes it a bit heavy but the solidity also means it’s not easily broken which is good for tailgate parties where a bit of rough housing tends to happen – metal handles with stay-cool wraps built in but also take some pot holders as the edges tend to get hot. BPA free in every part of the slow cooker that comes in contact with food.  Lead free.  The stainless steel finish is very easy to clean.  Just protect from dings by maybe investing in an insulated carry bag.

Programmable control – 4 cooking modes – high, low, simmer, and warm – with a touchpad control panel and 24 hour LCD countdown timer which means you can set it and forget it even the night before you go to work and then return to a yummy dinner.

Temperature – food safe. Has an automatic keep-warm program.

Suitable for frying or baking –  Yes.

Weight of the Unit.  15.6 pounds. Stated that it ships at 15.8 which seems a little low. (Includes recipe book)

Price – Inching up to the $100 mark but it is solid state and one of these can feed a dozen of your best buds.

Pros – good for family use as well as tailgate parties so if you want one for the game, this is easy to sneak in.  Will cook rice. Has a warranty.  Stainless steel – love that.  Touchscreen panel makes it easy to program.  Has a bonus cookbook.

Cons: None that I can  see.  So far, this is my fave and perfection is reached at a tailgate party with the Triple Dipper alongside it for variety of sides.

Large slow cookers:

Or you can get a grand size that will feed a heap of hungry buds.

Crock-Pot 6 quart Programmable Cook and Carry Oval Slow Cooker

Capacity- This Crock Pot holds 6 quarts.  This is enough for 7 meals or a 6lb roast.

Shape: Oval – you can fit a large chicken or a medium turkey in.  Glass lid, dishwasher safe ceramic pot. Easy clean in the dishwasher.

Materials – brushed steel, glass lid, ceramic pot – stay-cool handles. BPA free in every part of the slow cooker that comes in contact with food.

Programmable control – Digital display 4 cooking modes – high, low, simmer, and warm – with a touch-pad control panel and 24 hour LCD countdown timer for set and forget cooking and also with a digital countdown readout to give you the heads-up on how much time you have for preparing accompaniment dishes.

Temperature – food safe. Has an automatic keep-warm program.  If you are not around when the food reaches its cooked state, it automatically switches to a safe cook-warm mode.

Suitable for frying, roasting or baking

Weight of the Unit.  8 pounds. Ships at 13 pounds. (Includes recipe book)

Pros – For your tailgate party, this is one of the ultimate units as you can fit in a whole pork butt to make pulled pork or a ton of chicken wings and you can still fit it in your vehicle. Nice and light.

Cons – An off smell when new.  Treat as above by doing a discarded pre-cook and then it is fine.  Made in China – check this for lead content before you buy.

 

Elite Platinum MST-900R MaxiMatic Stainless Steel Slow Cooker, 8.5-Quart

This is the grand-daddy of domestic slow cookers and if you have crowds at your tailgate parties, then check out this 8.5 quart capacity large pot. And it even comes in red!  Oh, and it is a very cheap model with no digital capacity but maybe that’s OK.  With the bumping around tailgate party pots can put up with, you can rest assured that after a few dings you can afford to replace it.

Capacity, 8.5 quarts.  You can fit a turkey in it, 2 small chickens, a medium chunk of ham or pork butt.

Shape: Oval –   Glass lid, aluminum interior pot. Easy clean – just wipes right out and is non-stick.

Materials – brushed steel in red, white or stainless, glass lid, ceramic pot – stay-cool handles. BPA free in every part of the slow cooker that comes in contact with food.

Programmable control – Has a knob to indicate the 3 cooking modes – high, low, keep  warm.

Temperature – food safe. The keep warm setting is a little hot but it won’t poison you.  Just make sure to monitor that (through the glass lid) and if it is crusting around the edges, turn it off and restart after 15 minutes.

The Elite is suitable for stews, mac’n’cheese, wings, rice.

Weight of the Unit.  16 pounds. Ships at 18 pounds. (Includes recipe book)

Pros:  For your tailgate party, you can cater for a crowd with chili for around 10 people or as an accompaniment, 20. Very light weight which is good if you need to stash it on a high shelf or transport to your tailgate party in the parking lot  Nice color. This slow cooker has a tight gasket around the lid to prevent spills and boil-overs. Don’t fill more than 2/3.  Food doesn’t stick or burn. Easy to clean. For tailgating the large size is satisfactory to transport and the handles don’t get hot. Transport it in its own travel pack (optional – see below under accessories!)

Cons: When brand new, it smells of plastic and washing does not remove the odor.  I had read this in reviews and for the first cook I did a vanilla spray, then wiped with oil and boiled some water.  Then cooked again using just some meat for the dog.  I figured he wouldn’t mind the off-flavor.  And he didn’t.  I boiled up a chicken and he was happy to wolf that down.  No more smell after.  Keep warm setting is a little hot – in fact almost boiling.  This is tricky as all new slow cookers now must comply with FDA requirements for food safety and hence the higher temp.  Be careful of the dish inside.  Extremes of temperatures may crack it.

The aspirational slow cooker!

KitchenAid KMC4244CA Multi-Cooker with Stir Tower – Candy Apple

OK, I am including this little beauty – the Kitchen Aid Multi Cooker with its buddy, the Stir Tower -because it comes in Ferrari red and also there’s a Porsche black model so that’s got to be worth something.  There are so many teams that feature red and black that these will look like you planned the whole kitchen around your fandom.  But I digress.  It is also genius when it comes to cooking as they do all the standing and stirring for you.

It doesn’t totally fit the mold of Slow cookers as it is high tech with over 10 cooking methods, 4 step-by-step modes with a stir tower that agitates the food during the process. The temperature is perfect throughout and the food is flipped and stirred to perfection.  What does it do?  It slow cooks at the same time as the stirring process to eliminate the cold spots in your old fashioned crock pot.  You can make risotto without even being in the room.

The Kitchenaid Multi Cooker’s  settings are basically risotto, rice, sear, sauté, simmer, soup, yogurt , boil/steam, slow cook high and low, keep warm – all programmable over 24 hours but there are many variants in between.

Capacity, 4 quarts.  This is enough for 4 meals or a 4lb roast.

Shape: round.  Plus the stir tower at one end. Stir tower, roasting rack, steam basket.

Materials –Tempered glass lid. Silicone flip and stir paddle, silicone flex edge blade.

Programmable control – Digital display.

Temperature – food safe. Has an impressive multi-function digital display and is   easy to control and always within food safety range.

Suitable for frying, roasting or baking and deep frying.

Weight of the Unit.  16.5 pounds. Ships at 22.4 pounds. (Includes recipe book). Pot itself is not heavy, just the stirrer.

Pros: Great color.  Sort of Ferrari red. Even though the interior can get up to 450 degrees, the exterior is still cool to the touch.  Ideal for taking to the tailgate party with a mass of chili within its ‘cooking chamber’.  The pot is super easy to clean – just wipe with soapy water and rinse. Makes great custards and ice-cream bases as it does the stirring for you. No more split/curdled mixture. Sears and cooks pot roast in the same pan perfectly.

Cons: Stay tuned.  Let’s see if Ms. Tailgater can find any!  So far she loves it …  It’s a different method of cooking so be sure to read the manual. You can even make *shudder*  …. yoghurt. If yoghurt is here, can quinoa be far behind?  Well, not at my tailgate party. Not sure my buds would agree to that as an accompaniment to beer.  The stirring tower is a bit noisy, but that’s to be expect.  So am I when stirring risotto or mac’n’cheese and that’s just the Blake Shelton repertoire.  While it is supposed to be dishwasher safe, I probably would not.  I don’t put any Teflon type non-stick substances in the dishwasher but hand-wash for longevity and integrity of the coating. No cookbook except an E-cook-book which you only get by contacting Kitchenaid to register the machine.

But that’s not a hard yard.

Slow Cooker Accessories

Crock-Pot Travel Bag for 7-Quart Slow Cookers, Black

 

Keep your slow cooker looking schmick by transporting it to the tailgate party in this specially designed travel  bag.  The pictured one is designed for the 7 quart, but you will find quite a few different sizes.

The zipper closure keeps the cold air out and it’s made of tough nylon so should give you a few years of service.

Crock Pot leads the way in all these slow cooker accessories and this bag is highly recommended!

 

Make the Slow Cooker experience easy! Use a liner.

Crock Pot Slow Cooker Liners

I only recently discovered these great Crock-Pot liners that fit any sized slow cooker from 3 to 7 quarts.  Wow, they save a lot of cleaning!  Note that they are BPA free and will hold anything from soups to roasts and there is no taste imparted to your food during the cooking process.  They don’t melt and will fit either oval or round slow cookers.

Anything that makes the tailgate party experience easier for the host is fine by me.

Pulled Pork Shredder Claws

STRONGEST BBQ MEAT FORKS – Shredding Handling & Carving Food – Claw Handler Set for Pulling Brisket from Grill Smoker or Slow Cooker – BPA Free Barbecue Paws

These are a really good buy at the moment.  Must be tailgate season!  Or pork season?  Anyway, these make shredding that melt-in-your-mouth pork a breeze instead of the messy chore that you know it can be.  Normal forks don’t do justice to the pork, making the pieces too small.  Tailgate parties don’t do much. These are just right.

They are bear claw shaped so that you can scrape the pork into soft, melt-in-your-mouth chunks then pick up the shredded meat and serve without dropping it in the parking lot.  BPA free, naturally.

Food safety with your slow cookers

For food safety, consider buying one of these to add to your tailgate party kit.

Particularly with the small slow cookers, it’s worth checking the temperature throughout the day.  If the temperature drops below 135 degrees, discard the contents.

And finally, a couple of essential…

Slow cooker recipe ideas

Make the Slow Cooker experience DELICIOUS.  You can buy many recipe books and here are a couple of classics involving wings and pork.

Buffalo Wings, Slow cooker style.

Ingredients

2 lb wings.

1 cup buffalo wing sauce

1 pkt Ranch seasoning and a pinch of salt, pepper and some chives for garnishing.  Ranch dressing also for serving/dipping.

Directions

Throw chicken wings in a large slow-cooker then mix together buffalo sauce and ranch seasoning, salt and pepper in a bowl and pour that mixture over chicken wings stirring to coat.

Put the lid on and cook on high until cooked through, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

After wings are cooked, transport to your tailgate party on baking sheets lined with foil or parchment. Heat the grill. Grill until crispy, 5 minutes. Garnish with chives and serve with ranch dressing as a dip.

Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas – someone gave me this recipe so apologies to whoever wrote it as there was no source quoted..

Yield: Serves 6-8 as a meal but at a Tailgate Party – up to 20

Ingredients

pounds boneless pork butt roast, trimmed of excess fat and cut into large chunks

1 onion, peeled and quartered

3 (2-inch) strips orange zest and lime zest. Do with a veggie peeler and make them large enough to find and remove at the end.

1/2 cup orange juice

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

5 garlic cloves, finely minced not crushed.

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon dried oregano leaves

2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

2 bay leaves

Directions

Place the pork in the bottom of a 4- or 5-quart slow cooker. Add everything else and toss the pork pieces so the spices are evenly distributed.

Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours (or high for 5 to 7 hours).

Remove the pork from the slow cooker to a 9X13-inch or similar-sized oven-safe dish. Use two forks to shred the pork.

Pour everything (solids and liquid) from the slow cooker into a strainer set over a bowl to catch the liquid. Discard the solids and reserve the liquid.

To crisp the edges of the pork (this is optional but delicious), preheat the broiler to high and position an oven rack about 6-8 inches away from the heating element. Pour about 1 cup of the reserved liquid over the pork in the pan. Broil the pork (watching closely!) for a couple minutes until it is brown and crispy in spots. Give the pork a good stir/turn and broil again until some of the edges crisp up a bit. You still want the pork to be nice and tender so don’t overcook it here – and keep an eye on it as a broiler can take food from beautifully browned to burned in seconds.

Season the pork with salt and pepper to taste and transfer to a serving plate or platter, if desired. Use additional liquid from the slow cooker to moisten the pork as needed. Serve with lime wedges, tortillas, fresh cilantro and other toppings of your choice. At this point it can be covered with foil and transported to the tailgate party in a hot bag. Heat tortillas on your grill flat top and fill with the pork or alternatively, use baguettes cut to size for individuals.

Happy tailgating!

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