Sneaking A Look In The Slow Cooker

You are making dinner in the crock pot and it smells sooooo yummy. Every now and then you stop by the pot, open the lid and take a sniff.

The crock pot is a lot like a little oven. When you lift the lid a lot of precious heat disappears. It is estimated that the crock pot will loose about 20 degrees of heat if the lid is left off for 2 minutes.

Try not to lift the lid until you absolutely have to. When you do have to lift the lid to add ingredients, have them prepared and ready to go so that you don't loose as much heat.

MORE CROCK POT HINTS

When cooking food in your crockpot remember that items like carrots, potato's and other root vegetables take longer to cook.

Make sure that you place them in the bottom of your pot so that they will get full benefit of the heat to cook.

If they are larger, you may want to cut them up into smaller pieces to help them to cook faster.

Less expensive cuts of meat are tougher and generally will benefit the most from being cooked in a crock pot.

They will have more time to tenderize as they cook.

Sometimes seasoning ingrediends like herbs, citrus and vinegar will loose it's flavor when cooked for a long time in a crock pot.

If at all possible, wait to add these items about an hour or so before you are ready to serve.

If you are cooking larger cuts of meat that are not fully submerged in the liquid, try to turn them about half way through your cooking time. This will ensure that the meat is more thoroughly and evenly cooked.

While your food is cooking, it is very tempting to lift the lid to check on it and see how it is doing. Remember that the same rules apply as when you are grilling or smoking food, if you lift the lid important heat escapes and this can slow your cooking time.

CROCK POT TIPS

When using a crock pot for preparing your meals, keep in mind a few basic tips so that will help minimize your risk of food poisoning.

Only use refrigerated foods. Do not use frozen or partially thawed food.

Only cook pieces of meat that have been cut up.

Don't cook whole roasts or chicken as it may not allow for thorough cooking.

Don't use your crock pot for reheating leftovers.

When filling up your pot make sure that you fill it at least 1/2 full or there may not be enough contact with the sides to heat all food to full temperature.

Make sure that you have enough liquid in your recipe. The crock pot relies on the liquid for producing steam.