Life in the slow lane: how the slow cooker changed the world

https://longreads.com/2022/11/17/life-in-the-slow-lane/

99 162 4 years ago

So this is all about one pioneering brand: The Crockpot.

Is the subtext that this is marketing - the gifting season is upon us, and the competition from newer brands e.g. Instant Pot, fierce?

benplumley• 4 years ago

I didn't really notice until the last paragraph, which was egregious. "Even if you've already got one that works fine, it might be a bit worn out, buy a new one".

dtgriscom• 4 years ago

Oy. Consume for consumption's sake.

smaccona• 4 years ago

We bought an Instant Pot two years ago because everyone seemed to be raving about them, but we only used it a handful of times - we tried recipes that came with it, recipes online, recipes from friends who had one. They were all hugely underwhelming. The one pot roast we tried was dry and flavorless. It didn’t seem to matter what seasonings we tried, the result was subpar.

We do have a couple of other crock pots / slow cookers which we use to make great dishes like pulled pork etc. It’s just the Instant Pot which hasn’t worked out for us.

Other Instant Pot users: what am I missing? Is the main advantage supposed to be that you can prepare meals fast because it’s a pressure cooker? Or should I pull it out and give it another shot?

SideburnsOfDoom4• 4 years ago

This is exactly my worry: My heart says "get an instant pot, they're so cool, so versatile, you could cook so much with so little effort"

But I don't get one, since my head says: "Where would you put it in the small apartment? And anyway you're well fed already. It doesn't fill a gap."

I guess if you're really busy and/or have a lot of mouths to feed then they're better value?

walthamstow• 4 years ago

My IP is used solely for cooking soaked beans, which it is brilliant at. It also does brown rice very well, better than my rice cooker.

That's it, though. Don't use it to cook real food.

causi• 4 years ago

I gave up on trying to do anything useful with an Instant Pot when I realized I couldn't see the food cooking inside without opening the lid.

chpatrick• 4 years ago

I think the pressure is the best thing, you can just chuck food into it that normally takes a long time to cook and it'll be done in a fraction of the time, then it'll just keep it warm until you're ready to use it. It's great for rice and yoghurt too. I use mine all the time.

d4rti• 4 years ago

I pressure cook with the Instant Pot, as well as using it as a rice cooker (which I consider to be worth it in itself, we eat a reasonably large amount of rice).

Best sources are the pressure cooker recipes on Serious Eats [1], I especially recommend the Pho Ga [2], the Mushroom Risotto [3] and the Bolognese Ragu [4].

Another good source is hippressurecooking (I use the book[5] rather than the website [6]) - the book is worth it for the of method and time alone for e.g. beans, and the recipes are not as good as the Serious Eats ones, but many are good (I like the Filipino Chicken Adobo). I've used it in combination with other sources, as a way to adapt to the faster pressure cooking times (Urad Dal, using the ingredients from Ottolenghi, but method from Hip Pressure Cooking. Mind you if I have the time, I tend now to make the Dishoom House Black Dal).

1: https://www.seriouseats.com/pressure-cooker-recipes-5117325 2: https://www.seriouseats.com/30-minute-pressure-cooker-pho-ga... 3: https://www.seriouseats.com/pressure-cooker-mushroom-risotto... 4: https://www.seriouseats.com/pressure-cooker-ragu-bolognese-s... 5: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hip-Pressure-Cooking-Laura-Passagli... 6: http://www.hippressurecooking.com/

askvictor2• 4 years ago

This instant pot is for when you haven't got enough time to slow cook your slow-cook-meal. Also really good for rice, grains and legumes. Depending on the model, can be good for fine-temperature control things like sous-vide. I use mine to make yoghurt a lot (paid itself off within a year just from that)

aqfamnzc• 4 years ago

The main thing is the quick pressurized cooking. But for me, and I use mine regularly, it's the repeatability. Boiled eggs are super easy once dialed in, and rice cooking too. The slow cooker part has worked better for me after buying a slow-cooker style lid for it (rather than the locking pressure lid, or no lid.)

gwd2• 4 years ago

Other Instant Pot users: what am I missing? Is the main advantage supposed to be that you can prepare meals fast because it’s a pressure cooker? Or should I pull it out and give it another shot?

I don't like to use the pressure cooker for meat, for exactly the reasons you state. For one, higher heat of an oven produces different chemical changes, which generally taste better; for two, with pressure cooking, a lot of the fat seeps out of the meat and ends up in the broth, leaving it tough and tasteless. I feel the same way for potatoes and sweet potatoes -- I much prefer the flavor which the higher temperature of the oven brings.

That said, my wife actually prefers chicken / potatoes / sweet potatoes cooked in the pressure cooker; so when we buy a chicken, if I get to it first it's baked, and if she gets to it first it's pressure cooked. :-)

Where the pressure cooker shines is cooking grains and beans: quinoa, freekeh, chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, lentils, etc. They all take a really long time to cook on the stovetop; but take quite a reasonable amount of time on the pressure cooker. (In fact, we bought our pressure cooker when we were experimenting with a "plant-based" diet.). But then you're not done: you still have to add fat and flavoring.

charlieyu1• 4 years ago

Instant Pot is great for Asian soups/broths, you can get a soup done in an hour where it would have taken 5 hours using traditional cooking. In fact I haven’t really used it for anything else

nickd20015• 4 years ago

Its all too easy to overcook meat in it. hence why flavourless. Have you tried Brisket? That's more difficult to overcook, simply because it takes longer to cook so if you put it in in the morning, by dinner you'll be hungry before its overcooked ;)

dools• 4 years ago

So far I’ve done a brisket in the instant pot with good results, made a whole chicken stock, and use it regularly as a rice cooker. I haven’t expanded beyond that yet but so far it’s served me well in the instances I’ve used it just by looking up a couple of quick recipes

orev2• 4 years ago

New tools should be looked at as opening up new things you can cook. Pressure pots excel at dry beans, soups, and stews. If you don’t cook those, you won’t see the benefits. 1 hour in a pressure pot vs 8 hours in a crock pot is a game changer.

Pot roast seems like a bad fit since with a roast you’d typically want the roasted outside in the dry heat of the oven. You also need things that have enough water that will generate enough steam to build up pressure, so low moisture things won’t turn out well either.

ska8• 4 years ago

On pressure cookers: in general they are the most helpful for taking a recipe that you would simmer/braise for many hours and shortening the time. If your meat is coming out dry, you may have cooked too long, but more likely it's the wrong cut - stews can work really well.

Other things: it will make a really decent stock in less than an hour. It can do wonders with dry beans. If you want to try again, these guys are mostly pretty reliable as a starting point: https://www.seriouseats.com/pressure-cooker-recipes.

nickd20015• 4 years ago

As an owner of a Crockpot, I'd recommend a different brand! The first one failed and was replaced under warranty. The second one, the "time left" LCD is broken. My parents have same model, same fault. when you think how people have 30-yr-old calculators with working LCDs, failure after 2 yrs on a Crockpot is unacceptable. 15 yrs ago though, we had a Morphy Richards. The element on that failed, probably just put of warranty. I don't know if there's actually a quality make of slow cooker. Seems like to some extent they're throwaway devices like kettles or toasters. which can negate electricity cost savings to some extent.

stephen_g2• 4 years ago

I got given a slow cooker for Christmas a few years ago, have only ended up using it twice or so since… It’s actually the air fryer that really revolutionised my cooking, I use it almost every day.

gadders• 4 years ago

What are you cooking in that? I see they are popular, but I don't really eat a lot of fried food.

Jedd• 4 years ago

Not the person you asked, however I picked up a multi-function oven earlier this year - a benchtop model from Sunbeam, runs off a standard power point (AU - I think we have slightly more power available at the plug?).

Anyway, it's great for crisping things in a way that frying (deep or shallow) might otherwise do, but with very little oil required.

Examples - lightly cornflour'd chicken or pork to give a little crunch in sweet & sour pork / chicken. Butcher-prepared chicken kievs that would otherwise need a lot of oil and be a mess to cook. (Sweet) potato wedges, usually heavily herbed. These can be done with a a very light coating of oil, typically sprayed rather than tossed.

The carbohydrate aspect of these foods is a bigger concern to me than the oil, but nonetheless.

stephen_g2• 4 years ago

It doesn’t actually truly fry things, it’s just a tiny fan forced oven really that cooks things faster than heating up my real oven.

I do salmon fillets in it now instead of in the pan, or roasting up some chicken breast, even steak if you’re in a real hurry.

skrause• 4 years ago

From experience with my family members the common steps with an air fryer are usually these:

1. Buy an air fryer.

2. Try it a few times.

3. Tell everyone in the familiy, at the work place and on social media how awesome an air fryer is.

4. Never use it again.

tejohnso• 4 years ago

Air fryer owner here. Mostly used for not so healthy things like individual sized pizzas, french fries, burger patties, hot dogs. Works very well for quick, small meals.

surfpel5• 4 years ago

I bought one recently. It’s a game changer for me. It’s really just an oven that solves the main problem with ovens: being slow to heat / under powered. It’s really mind boggling that these took so long to hit the market!

ilyt• 4 years ago

Main problem with ovens is really that the "typical" size is just bad. I never used full size of it, I don't think I even used half the size of it, and it just makes it heat slower.

Double ovens are a thing but you rarely see apartments outfitted with those and if you already have an oven, air-fryer makes more sense than replacing single oven with double oven.

hyencomper• 4 years ago

Have you tried a toaster oven. It heats up almost instantly, and makes great toast so you don't really need a toaster either.

ClassyJacket• 4 years ago

I've thought this many times.

There's nothing about an air fryer that they couldn't have made them in the 50s. How did they take so long to exist??

twic• 4 years ago

That sounds like a halogen oven to me [1]. Those have been around for quite a while - although apparently only since the late '80s [2]. You can cook a good variety of things in them [3].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halogen_oven

[2] http://www.lamptech.co.uk/Spec%20Sheets/TH%20SP%20IR%20Thorn...

[3] https://dengarden.com/appliances/Halogen-Oven-A-Review

poloniculmov2• 4 years ago

What kind of oven is underpowered? Most ovens for sale in the EU go upto 250C-300C. Sure, it takes 15 minutes to reach the max temperature, but that's to reduce energy use and the ovens I've seen have a setting for fast preheating.

Mistletoe2• 4 years ago

They didn't take so long to hit the market, they are just convection ovens with a rebrand and marketing.

GeekyBear3• 4 years ago

Give slow cooker pulled pork a try one weekend. The results are stupendous.

I follow this recipe and cook for eight hours in the crock pot on low.

https://www.kcet.org/food-discovery/food/weekend-recipe-pull...

the_gipsy• 4 years ago

Yes! I just made some yesterday. The only other thing I tried is Spanish lentils with chorizo. My gf made some meatballs but she hd to sear them in the pan.

alliao• 4 years ago

how do you clean the damn thing? My philips one appears to be impossible to disassemble to clean the grease hidden, as result over time the grease build up starts emitting serious air pollution whenever it's on

jasonwatkinspdx3• 4 years ago

Croc pots have their place, but I'd also encourage people not to underestimate the simple cast iron dutch oven in your well... oven. It's more versatile than a croc pot while being nearly as hands off.

mettamage• 4 years ago

How is it more hands on? Not fully following, not an amazing cook either :)

jasonwatkinspdx3• 4 years ago

I think there's a fair number of people ok with leaving the house when a croc pot is going vs a gas stove. Otherwise they're the same, but with the oven+dutch combo giving you better temp control as well as a wider range of temps. Like when I make carnitas I do it at 325F so that it fries off in its own rendered fat. The croc pot version is tasty but can't duplicate that.

bell-cot• 4 years ago

For many dishes, dutch ovens work pretty well on the stove top. You gain more & faster heat control, lose some evenness of heating (important for some dishes, meaningless for others), and may need to fiddle a bit more with the heat controls to get a really slow simmer. And it easily does things like browning onions or searing meat, where a crock pot is useless.

papandada• 4 years ago

I haven't used a slow cooker for years once I got a dutch oven. First a Lodge, then a used Le Creuset 5.5 quart for less than a quarter of the price new. It looked like it got used on campfires, but it cleaned up nice. I have no reason to believe the LC won't last the rest of my life, but if it didn't, I wouldn't hesitate to pay full price to replace it, for the versatility and sheer joy it brings me. (I can't compare it to the other big names, but compared to a Lodge the straight sides/larger cooking surface are a "no going back after having" improvement.) It may be my favourite physical thing in my possession.

marssaxman• 4 years ago

Dutch ovens also make great bread.

kzrdude3• 4 years ago

Adam Ragusea's brief recipe for that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI2-6Ps2Hcc (video)

kieckerjan• 4 years ago

I understand the attraction of slow cooking. It ties neatly into our desire for authenticity and even mindfulness. However, the last piece of kitchen machinery that changed my life is the opposite: the pressure cooker. It allows you to go from raw beef or even dried (unsoaked!) beans to a meltingly soft stew in less than an hour. It saves time and energy and, by doing so, opens up whole swaths of culinary possibilities.

nickd20015• 4 years ago

+1 to pressure cookers. We find owning both pressure cooker and slow cooker to be very useful. Pressure cooker is particularly good for pulses that would otherwise take ages to cook. Seems to reduce cooking time by roughly 2/3 .e:g beetroot takes 15 mins at pressure instead of 45 to boil. Only problem with it is its all too easy to overcook stuff. needs timing carefully.

xattt4• 4 years ago

The marketing around pressure cookers (MAKE TANTALIZING MEALS IN 15 MINUTES!) always overlooks the time it takes for prep (~ 45 minutes), the times it take for the vessel to come up to pressure (~ 30 minutes) and time it takes to depressurize (~15-30 minutes).

Ultimately the results are better, but it’s lead to a couple of one hour delays on meal time in my household because I forgot to take into account the extra time. These often involved a “rapid depressurization procedure” of taking the Instant Pot to the deck, and holding the release valve up with a long wooden spoon.

GeekyBear3• 4 years ago

Slow cookers are good for people who plan ahead. Pressure cookers are better for people who like to put things off until the last minute.

Low and slow yields better results for dishes like a pot-roast, but for many other things, a pressure cooker is a must have. I never buy canned beans anymore.

ska8• 4 years ago

There are very few things you can do in a slow cooker without compromises that affect the taste, mostly because of the limited temperature range (mostly they don't get hot enough) and the fact that most of the time you don't want all of your ingredients in for that long. This can be mitigated of course, but once you are pre-cooking some things and adding others later, you lose the primary appeal of them.

Most low-and-slow is better done in an oven, so the main thing you are left with is fire safety (e.g. if you want to leave it going and go to work). If you aren't careful you trade that off for food safety, anyway.

I see the appeal for convenience if the mediocre results don't put you off.

zoklet-enjoyer2• 4 years ago

Buying an Instant Pot was life changing. I filled it up with chopped sweet potatoes, set it for an hour, and they were perfectly cooked to make mashed potatoes. Dry beans cook so fast. It makes rice as well as a rice cooker does. I love it

klyrs• 4 years ago

I'm with you on the beans, but mashed potatoes take about 20 minutes on a plain old electric stove.

zdragnar3• 4 years ago

I'm going to have to dispute the rice - my instant pot has never produced rice at the same quality as my rice cooker.

That said, it makes a better pork shoulder than anything else I've ever done!

ska8• 4 years ago

I filled it up with chopped sweet potatoes, set it for an hour

FWIW I have trouble imagining needing more than 10 minutes at high pressure for anything like potatoes. Maybe even a few less.

Cooking them for an hour would be similar to boiling stovetop for 3+ hours!

boosteri• 4 years ago

Not sure I quite understand why chopped up sweet potatoes need an hour in an instant pot. It takes about 15-20 minutes in a pot on a gas burner.

gautamdivgi• 4 years ago

The pressure cooker has been an Indian cooking staple for a really long time. However, it does get noisy :). The instant pot has been an excellent improvement. We use the instant pot for everything - meat gravies/curries, beans and my wife even found a recipe to make jam from frozen strawberries and chia seeds.

We've never owned a slow cooker. But I'm pretty sure I'd be in a load of culinary discomfort without my instant pot (or the back-up Indian pressure cookers).

hinkley• 4 years ago

My ex befriended her Indian coworker and then his wife. Turns out the pressure cooker is the secret to some Indian cuisine as well.

It and this reminded me of a different hack I heard about at one point, using whip cream dispenser to do herbal infusion. Seems the pressure helps transfer the flavors. Just open a window unless you want to get high while cooking (sharp instruments and hot surfaces are better employed by a clear mind)

The slow cooker entered into a world of working mothers, it was a Have Your Cake and Eat It Too invention, because like the automatic timer on a coffee pot it let you be elsewhere while the food prepared.

The instant pot partly solves that problem but also solves another: The slow cooker requires forethought and stable dinner plans. The instant pot lets you make last hour decisions. For long commuters, the person stuck at the office can tell you they're on their way home and the food is hot shortly after they get there (though to be fair, slow cookers have a forgiving window of edibility). If you're a space cadet you can still prepare a fancy meal even if you didn't think about it in the morning. And even if have to run to the grocery store for ingredients.

dragonwriter5• 4 years ago

We've never owned a slow cooker. But I'm pretty sure I'd be in a load of culinary discomfort without my instant pot

Among other things, the InstantPot is a slow cooker.

quickthrower22• 4 years ago

Does the pressure cooker get rid of the bean toxins?

vram22• 4 years ago

In India people soak dry beans (and other legumes, such as chana, rajma, etc.) for a few hours or even overnight, even if using a pressure cooker to cook them. And they usually get done in 30 minutes, max.

dekhn2• 4 years ago

Steel cut whole oats in 1 hour.

I use an instant pot which does slow and pressure cooking

cmclaughlin• 4 years ago

I totally agree. I use my Instapot all the time.

Another game changer for me is the Anova Precision Oven. Baking with steam and the ability to quickly and precisely switch between different baking methods is great.

bowsamic4• 4 years ago

I'm not a fan of the flavour of food cooked in a slow cooker. I feel like it has a specific quality to it. Like, I can tell it is slow cooked, and everything loses its definition of flavour. If I cook a stew in a dutch oven the carrots still taste like carrots, but in a slow cooker the carrots kind of taste like the rest of the stew in a vague way.

I don't know how to describe it but there is definitely a noticeable "slow cooker flavour"

i_am_proteus3• 4 years ago

The substantial difference is that slow cookers use a ceramic/porcelain vessel, and dutch ovens are made (usually) out of enameled cast iron. Gives a different kind of fond.

A dutch oven on a standalone induction "burner" is a fine slow cooker.

bowsamic4• 4 years ago

That is absolutely not the reason. It's because slow cookers generally cook at a high temperature for far longer, resulting in far more muted flavours. People generally don't leave a stew to cook for that many hours when using the stovetop, since they pull it when it's ready. The weird "slow cooker flavour" is simply due to overcooking.

micwag• 4 years ago

As an ESL speaker I always incorrectly assumed "dutch oven" referred to clay pots:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_pot_cooking#In_European_c...

Havoc• 4 years ago

I've stopped using slow cookers. Partly because I don't have the time but also I don't think safety around them is adequately communicated to users. e.g. FDA specifically warns that they don't get up to sufficient temp to make dry kidney beans safe (Phytohaemagglutinin toxin). Only found out about that years after I got mine (pure luck that I never made a dry bean dish)

Pressure cookers on the other hand are awesome. Fast, energy efficient and results in a similar outcome for the most part.

mosquitobiten• 4 years ago

Just want to add that slow cooker does get to boiling point, albeit very slowly(3-4h on high setting). So a dry bean dish would need to be cooked for at least 5h.

dennyabraham• 4 years ago

To be clear this varies between slow cookers. As a rule they will top out at a simmer rather than a true boil.

kkfx• 4 years ago

I suggest another thinking: ALL our appliances are designed with the idea of minimizing peak consumption preferring a constant load since that's the best for power grids.

It's about time to do the opposite: offer aside appliances that maximize all possible energy production peaks for self-consumption. It's more neurotic than calm, far more expensive for various reasons, but far cheaper for those who have p.v. etc. So crafting a "two systems" it's needed in transition terms...

bearmode• 4 years ago

The slow cooker is a very handy appliance for people who feel they have little time to cook, but it's not one I ever find myself using. I have never had anything that could be described as a quality meal out of one.

anjel2• 4 years ago

1800 watts x X hours of cook time is a comparatively ridiculous value proposition on its face

martyvis• 4 years ago

The duty cycle is going to be 25% at most

kazinator• 4 years ago

I would say that what actually changed the world was slow cooking on a large, industrial scale, and putting the food into tin cans.

mdorazio• 4 years ago

Seems I'm not alone here based on other comments, so honest question for people who consider themselves good at cooking and also like slow cookers / pressure cookers: what are you making in them that you think is actually good? I gave away my crockpot years ago and am going to do the same with my instapot because everything I have tried except chilis and stews comes out extremely "meh" and definitely inferior to traditional cooking. For chilis and stews, all I'm really saving is some time since cooking on the stove still works just fine.

ebiester• 4 years ago

The instant pot is great for grains. Rice comes out consistent, as do other grains. It also frees up a burner which can be useful.

Stock is so much quicker to make and is completely different than store-bought.

Otherwise the key for slow cookers is that anything that needs to taste fresh (like peas) are added in the last half hour. But it’s about time saving otherwise.

googlryas• 4 years ago

I haven't had much luck cooking just rice in a pressure cooker, but I make a mushroom risotto that everyone seems to go crazy for. No idea if it would be scoffed at by Tom Colicchio or not, but it only takes about 10 minutes before I'm bringing it up to pressure, and it is ready 20 minutes later without much work:

Saute 1-1.5lbs sliced mushrooms + 1-2 onions w/ 4 tbsp butter until soft, add 2 tbsp chopped herbs(thyme, oregano, something like that). Add 2 cups arborio rice + 2 cups veggie or chicken stock, pressure cook for 6 minutes, quick release, stir in 1 cup peas, big handful of spinach, a boatload of shredded parm, and serve with even more parm shredded on top.

Broken_Hippo• 4 years ago

Beans.

Cooking beans in the pressure cooker is fairly quick and easy, even if I don't soak them. I package the beans in packages that are a bit smaller than a can and freeze them. I'd probably do this more often if I had more freezer space.

My crock pot's inner "pot" is also stovetop and oven safe: I can saute the onions and things before starting the slow cooking if I want without using extra dishes. This is the thing that crock pots are often lacking: The bits of cooked food adding flavor. Of course, I'm also the type to roast potatoes for potato soup. And I'm probably partial to some soups (and spaghetti sauce and pot roast) in the slow cooker as we had one growing up.

qup3• 4 years ago

My best friend is the best slow cooker guy I know.

He mainly just cooks meats in it. He does the sides when he gets home from work.

I used to imagine only dishes like you mentioned--the whole meal is in the cooker.

Pulled pork is really good out of the slow cooker. Not as good as smoked, but pretty close, and anyone can do it with about ten minutes effort, vs a lot of effort on the smoker.

sixstringtheory• 4 years ago

Ex-professional chef here. I used my slow cooker a lot more before getting an instant pot. I was a holdout on that for the longest time, but the first time I made hummus from dried garbanzos in under an hour, I was sold–and while I pride myself in my stovetop rice cooking abilities, it really is a great rice cooker. I now use the slow cooker primarily for tough meats like goat. It also makes a great stock: fill 2/3 with bones, fill with water and let it go overnight on the high setting, and you have perfect meat jello the next day. I’m sure I’ll eventually dial these tasks in to the instant pot and then the slow cooker will be passed on.

gibspaulding• 4 years ago

We use our crock pot mostly for cooking meat to go in other things. We'll cook a pork butt or a whole chicken over night then shred it up and make a few meals out of it for the week.

It's also nice for keeping things hot over time. We took mashed potatoes to Thanksgiving dinner in one today so they'd be easy to keep hot until the meal without monopolizing stove space.

jononomo• 4 years ago

One thing that has dramatically simplified my entire cooking/eating/kitchen routine has been switching to only eating beef. I just eat exactly the same thing, a steak, for every meal. I never have to go grocery shopping (I have a freezer with scores of steaks), I never have to chop vegetables, I never have to clean up more than the one cast iron pan that I seared the steak in. And since steak is so satiating I only eat twice a day. The time and money savings have been absolutely extraordinary, but even they pale in comparison to the benefits to my health since I've begun this diet. I feel alive again. It is so fantastic when you stick to only eating the most nutrient-dense food on Earth.

slothtrop• 4 years ago

You hijacked this to talk about the carnivore diet?

dsr_• 4 years ago

The cultures which survived on all-meat diets did so by eating organ meats along with muscle; they usually had either seafood or dairy, as well.

quickthrower22• 4 years ago

I am guessing you are fussy about where you get your steak, what it wad fed and which cut.

kmstout• 4 years ago

I find the slow cooker is most useful for making lots of food ahead of time. Two slow cookers, a good freezer, and a stack of cheap containers are excellent tools for keeping people well fed when time is short.

CrypticShift• 4 years ago

A relative was remodeling his kitchen recently (an appartement).

I looked at all those super-sized integrated oven, microwave and countertop holes, and I wondered: Why are we still designing small kitchens like this? isn't a Do-it-all multi cooker enough 90% of the time?

The slow cooker may have changed the world, but it did not change our kitchens.

willbw• 4 years ago

Depends if you cook. A lot of people are going to want a stove. I would never consider renting an apartment without a stove and oven and I am willing to wager that nor would a large percentage of the population. So you are kinda forced to have one if you own an apartment you are renting.

If you own it and live in it sure you can not have a stove or oven if you want. But then if you ever sell it and the next person wants one... its going to hurt the value I imagine.

orestis• 4 years ago

I’m curious - here in Southern Europe we have been using pressure cookers for ages. They’re meant to be used on the stovetop (usually electric). The newer models (like in the last 20 years) are also quiet (no revolving noise maker). They also double as a plain deep pan.

Isn’t that common in North America? Why do you have to buy an extra appliance?

cricalix• 4 years ago

A slow cooker is not a pressure cooker. Slow cookers don't have pressure seals, unless you buy one of the hybrid ones (InstantPot being one example brand) that do both functions.

With a slow cooker, you don't leave the hob on for 8 hours; they have a low wattage (relatively speaking) heating coil that won't even get a pot of water up to boiling point (generally).

avidphantasm• 4 years ago

If the crock pot is for those with foresight and discipline, but not a lot of time, to cook, I suppose the instant pot is for procrastinators without a lot of time.

Life in the slow lane: how the slow cooker changed the world

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