by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
The crock pot, aka slow cooker, is the ideal cooking pot for those that have electricity of mains voltage and who would like to save energy costs and, at the same time, obviously, emissions.
The power consumption of most crock pots is said to be extremely low and is often reckoned to me no more than that of a 40-60W light bulb (of the incandescent kind) on low and that of a 100W one, if that much, on high.
This makes a slow cooker extremely efficient and the beauty is that you can start it in the morning and by time dinner time arrives at, say, 6pm, it is all done and absolutely delicious.
Having seen some of the official ratings of most I am not all that sure about those statements. However, still a very efficient and green way of cooking.
It is not, really, necessary to get hold of special recipes for use with such a crock pot, but it is, obviously, a cooking pot that is ideally suited for the one-pot meals such as stews, hotpots and such like.
However, using it just for roasting meat also works well and makes for some of the tastiest and tenderest pieces of meat that one can but imagine.
A slow cooker will, obviously, work equally well with vegetables and they too become absolutely delicious in this process though for vegetables, often, I might prefer the use of a steamer.
A slow cooker, a crock pot, is the ideal cooking pot for the single person household as, turned on in the morning, one can happily go out to work, when using the low setting, and return in the evening to a ready home-cooked meal. It can also, though, be used in a multi-person household and this, I should have thought, goes without saying.
There is no danger, though many people think that there might and would be, of the food burning as the juices are recycled in that they drip from the lid.
I personally know of people who have been using such pot for ages and never have burned food on in them as yet.
The lovely thing, aside from the fact that you can come home after work to a ready home-cooked meal even if you are on your own and have been out all day, is the fact that a slow cooker has such a low energy consumption.
Only, probably, a microwave oven might be a little more efficient but, well, you can't do everything in a microwave.
While I do have a microwave the only time I ever use it is for heating up something in rather a hurry, reheat something, and especially for the making of jacket potatoes.
Otherwise, however, I rather cook in a normal way on the stove top when the job calls for skillet or such, such as for steak and burgers – and in that case it is black cast iron that is then in use – or in the crock pot.
It has taken me a while to discover the joys of crock pot cooking having had the pot, given to me some years ago by a colleague, sitting at home unused, but I certainly can now understand why people praise those pots so highly.
If you consider getting a crock pot, a slow cooker, ensure that the crock can be removed and is not solidly part of the device. Cleaning of a crock pot of the former kind is extremely easy and you will rarely find that you will have to use any force in cleaning.
I am sure that, should you decide to get such a pot you will not regret it. It is definitely an investment worth each and every penny.
Sausage Hot Pot with apple (for the crock pot)
2 good pork sausages (Bratwurst also works great) per person
1/2 an eating apple per person (cut into wedges)
2 potatoes – maybe 3 (depending on size) – per person (cut into wedges)
2-3 onions (ideally sweet one) (cut into wedges)
a pinch or two of salt
course ground pepper
a couple of sprigs of Rosemary (optional)
3 tablespoons of Olive oil
&
if you want to be “decadent” then 1 glass of red wine (everything tastes better with the addition of some read wine
and
some dried wild mushrooms.
Put all the ingredients into the crock, add the salt and pepper (do not use too much salt) and toss with wooden spoon. Then pour over the Olive oil and toss again. Then turn on crock on low if you have around eight hours or more time, otherwise use the hot setting.
For even better results add a small glass of red wine – this can me cheap stuff – and you can also add tomatoes, courgettes, and beans, for instance, to this.
While it can be served, when ready, as is with just the juices I would recommend to add a little bit of beef stock, such as OXO. This will make this dish irresistible to most.
Bon Appetit! Enjoy!
© 2009
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