Slow cookers have been on the kitchen scene since the early 1970s, when home economists raved about how slow cookers revolutionized the way Americans cooked for their families.

Electric stoneware cookers, first marketed by Rival under the trademarked name Crock-Pot, maintain relatively low temperatures for several hours without human attention. This convenience, along with the ability to provide nutritious, economical meals, made slow-cooking a popular preparation method for generations of home cooks who churned out stews, soups, roasts and meatballs galore.

After nearly 40 years, the enduring popularity of slow cookers is surging again, thanks to renewed interest in economical home meal preparation and healthy eating.

The slow, gentle heat doesn’t beat up what you’re cooking, making slow cookers ideal for meat cuts like beef or lamb shanks, beef pot roast and pork roasts. Recipes featuring beans, lentils and other legumes also turn out tender and tasty when prepared using a slow cooker.

Any type or size slow cooker can get the job done, although newer models with automatic temperature shut-off controls and “warm” settings are more convenient than basic, manual cookers. Even the largest slow cooker model uses just a few cents’ worth of electricity over 10 hours, and slow cookers don’t overheat your kitchen!

Slow Cooker Tips
Here are some tips to get the most out of your slow cooker and slow-cook recipes:

• Vegetables – Cut vegetables and meat into similar sizes so that they cook at the same rate as each other in the slow cooker. Root vegetables cook more slowly than meat so they should be placed along the sides or at the bottom of the slow cooker.
• Beans – Dried beans must be cooked and softened before combining them with sugar or acidic foods in a slow cooker as sugar and acid prevent beans from softening.
• Meat – Lean meats cook faster than fatty meats and bone-in meats take longer to cook than boneless meats.
• Liquids – It is not necessary to use more than one-half to one cup of liquid in a slow cooker because the juices in meats and vegetables are retained more than with conventional cooking.

Ocean Mist Farms created a recipe book dedicated to slow cooking. The digital cookbook is available for download, free on our website. In addition, our culinary team has several other slow cooker recipes available on the website, that can be accessed by clicking on the slow cooker icon or by doing a recipe search using the words “slow cooking.” Try our delicious slow cooking recipes and then tell us what you think! Enjoy!

Sources:
The Voice of Agriculture from the American Farm Bureau
Crock-Pot: The Original Slow Cooker. Recipe Collection.