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Choosing a Slow Cooker
Appears in
Published 2008
Although all slow cookers operate similarly, there are differences, more often between models than between brands. When choosing a slow cooker, you will need to consider:
- Size Slow cookers range in size from 1 to 8 quarts, although most are between 3 and 6 quarts. If you have a large family or like to plan on leftovers, you will want a large cooker of at least 5 quarts. Smaller models, between 3 and 4 quarts, will make fewer portions (no more than 6), or they will hold a dip for a crowd. Most people who use their slow cookers frequently have both a large and a small model. You should always use a slow cooker that fits the amount of food you are cooking. For best results, the crock should be at least one-third, but no more than three-quarters, full.
- Shape Small slow cookers are usually round, and large cookers are usually oval. Given those basics, there can be countless differences in dimensions, which don’t matter much unless you are planning to bake in your slow cooker. In that case you will need a slow cooker with a minimum interior width of 7 inches to accommodate a medium baking pan. You will also find many specialty slow cooker shapes: shallow rectangles for casseroles, football-shaped ones for Super Bowl, basketball spheroids for March Madness, and filigreed gravy boat–shaped slow cookers that can be brought to the table.
- Controls Basic slow cookers have three settings: low (heats between 185°F and 200°F), high (heats between 250°F and 300°F), and off. Many models also have a warm setting, which holds the contents at about 165°F. Most manufacturers recommend not holding food on warm for more than 2 hours. I have used the warm setting for up to 6 hours, however, without any problems. None of these conventional cookers keep track of time; once you set them up and turn them on, they stay at one setting until they are manually turned off or switched to warm, which is preferable to holding food at low. Several years ago, programmable slow cookers were introduced; these automatically switch to warm at a set time. The early versions have four time settings: 4 or 6 hours on high, and 8 or 10 hours on low. Now several brands of programmable slow cookers allow you to set the timing by half-hour or minute increments (from 1 minute to 20 hours). At the set time, they will switch to warm, but they cannot switch from high to low or switch off automatically. These machines tend to cost three to four times more than nonprogrammable models.
- Heating Although all slow cookers say that their low setting is 200°F and high is 300°F, the truth is that there is a wide range. To test how well your slow cooker heats, put 2 quarts of room temperature water in the cooker, cover, and turn to low. After 3 hours the water should be hotter than 140°F, and after 6 hours it should be at least 180°F. Older slow cookers will tend to top out on low at around 185°F, while newer ones will get slightly hotter than 200°F. If, after heating the water for 6 hours, your cooker is hotter than 205°F or lower than 180F°, adjust your cooking times accordingly. If it is much lower, buy a new cooker; the one you have is not heating fast enough to ensure that the food you are cooking is safe.
- Appearance Slow cookers come in a variety of cases and finishes. You can get them in colors coordinated to your kitchen, decorated with a country motif, clad in stainless steel, or emblazoned with a NASCAR collage—none of which has anything to do with performance.
- Brands There are more than a dozen major manufacturers of slow cookers, and most of them have several models, making the choices seem endless. In my experience, no brand is categorically better than another, and since they all introduce several new models every year, it is impossible to predict what the future will hold.