Crock Pot and Slow Cooker Recipes

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Where exactly does the crock pot fit in kitchen history? In the 1950s, the great time-saving device for the harried housewife was the pressure cooker. This gadget did not allow the steam from the heated food to escape, which raised the pressure in the cooker and allowed the temperature to get higher than it would in conventional pots, where escaping steam carries off much of the heat.

The Emergence of the Slow Cooker

The laid-back, 'stop and smell the roses' sixties and seventies saw the invention of the slow cooker, which allowed food to cook all day. This was advertised as a great advance for working mothers, since they could start dinner before they left the house in the morning, and when they returned that evening, dinner - having been simmering all day - would be ready for the table.

The Rival Crock Pot

The original slow cooker was the Crock Pot (TM), by Rival, and only a Rival slow cooker is allowed to be called a crock pot. The food, a stew, soup, casserole or other dish, cooks inside an earthenware pot which itself sits inside a metal outer pot. The heating element is in the outer pot, and the crock can be removed to be served from at the table.

Slow cookers cook food at lower temperatures than a pot on a stove's heating element, but they do reach the boiling point, so any micro-organisms will not survive the cooking process. The lid must be tight-fitting, not to seal, as in a pressure cooker, but to keep the steam condensation inside the pot - without this, the dish would dry out and burn over the long cooking period.

Crock Pot Recipes

Many of your favorite traditional recipes can be modified to use with a slow cooker, but will need significantly less water or other liquids due to the fact that the water in the steam is returned to the pot. Your pot will probably have recipe modification tips in the booklet that comes with it - if not, or if your cooker is inherited or bought used, check the manufacturer's website or find recipes specifically designed for slow cookers.