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Slow Cookers

The smell of stew or soup wafting from a slow cooker on a cold winter’s evening can’t be beaten. But benefits are also reaped from slow cookers in the summer months. The advantages of preparing your evening meal before you leave for work, to have it ready on your return, are priceless. The small appliance can also avoid introducing heat from a hot oven into your kitchen. No matter what the time of year, a slow cooker can make life a little more convenient, because by planning ahead, you save time later. And it can save you money too, as it takes less electricity to use a slow cooker than a conventional oven.

What are Slow Cookers?

A slow cooker is a homely, yet time-saving, cooking device consisting of a pot made of fired clay. It is surrounded by a metal housing that contains a thermostatically-controlled electric heating element. The pot acts as both a cooking container and a heat reservoir. Many slow cookers have two power settings and slow cookers also have loosely fitting lids to retain moisture and heat.

Cooking in slow cookers is done at atmospheric pressure, and internal temperatures can rise no higher than the boiling point of the fluid.

You place the food inside the pot, cover it with water, close the lid and switch the unit on. Cooking times vary according to the recipe and the quantity of food used, but food is typically cooked over several hours. The cooking process is so slow and at such a low temperature, that if you don’t remove the food promptly at the specified time, it is very unlikely to be ruined.

Slow Cooker Recipes

Recipes for these cookers must be adjusted to compensate for the nature of the cooking method. The quantity of water normally used must often be decreased, as the cooking process involves little evaporation. Most slow cookers come with recipe booklets, although there are also many cook books available with slow cooker recipes, as well as numerous recipes on the Web.

There are some cookbooks that provide recipes for making complete dishes in a slow cooker, using fewer than five ingredients. There are others that offer recipes for gourmet meals in your slow cooker. With some experience, you can successfully make adjustments to timings and recipes for many conventional recipes, not just those intended for slow cookers.

Further Information

You can find out more about some of the top models of slow cookers available on the market on our Top Slow Cooker Models page.

You can also find some hints and tips on what to look for when choosing a slow cooker on our How to Choose a Slow Cooker page.

If you want to buy a slow cooker, you can find out more about some of the top online slow cooker suppliers including details of their delivery times and postage and packaging costs in our Where to Buy section.

You can learn more about other types of cooking appliance in our Types of Cooking Appliance section.

You can find out about specific cooking appliance manufacturers and brands in our Brands of Cooking Appliance section.