There are Plenty of Rivals in My Family
Written: Jun 01 '04
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: The best $25.00 you'll spend in the kitchen.
Cons: If this wasn't a required field, it'd be blank. There are no cons.
The Bottom Line: The Bottom Line comes clean in a Rival Crock Pot
|
|
|
| laryan's Full Review: Rival 5 qt. Removable Crock-Pot Slow Cooker |
It was in the early 70's when I first heard the term "crock pot". A man at church was telling my mom and aunt about them--how they could take the cheapest cut of meat and turn it into a succulent meal--then he stopped embarassed. I was never sure if it was because he admitted to cooking or admitted to buying the cheapest cuts of meat.
At seven or eight, I was only thinking of "crackpot" jokes. My mother, however, was thinking: "A new kitchen gadget!" which translated into "K-mart!" I come from a family that knows how to cook. By Christmas, everyone in the family had a crock pot sitting in their kitchen. It became my mother's favorite wedding gift (with enough money to assure dining out or buying the best cuts of meat for a while).
With my first apartment, I got my first crock pot. It was a rite of passage. Of course, I used it. I worked and a crock pot will slow cook your meals but not over-cook them. However, there were drawbacks. It was small. And it was a pain in the butt to clean. You couldn't submerge it and you had to be careful at all times not to get water close to the bottom.
Then Rival decided to take a good product and make it better. The Rival 5 quart Removable Crock Pot Slow Cooker is bigger making it a lot easier to place large cuts of meat in it. It's also is wider which makes it easier load it up full of goodies.
However, the best part is that the crock is removable! (okay, so that's why they call it the Rival 5 quart Removable Crock Pot Slow Cooker). Not only does that make clean-up a snap (as you can soak the crock), you can also serve from it. The four designs (Blue Tile, Fruit Orchard, Herbs and Grape) will all look good on your table. And when you're through, you can top it off with the glass lid and pop it in the fridge.
My instruction booklet did say not to wash the crock in the dishwasher, but the lid is dishwasher safe. It doesn't matter at both clean up very easily. Of course, you should not re-heat a meal that's been refrigerated in the crock pot--the cold then hot might crack the crock.
It's basic principal is slow cooking which keeps meats from drying out. I should emphasize slow. There are two settings--low and high (as well as off, but that's not really a setting, is it?). Figure a dinner on low being 6-10 hours or on high from 4-6 depending on the meat used and the recipe.
Don't have a recipe? One rule of thumb is meat plus liquid. Put in a roast and add a 1/2 cup of liquid. I usually use a little sherry, a little worcheshire sauce, water, and seasoning. The amounts don't really matter. Then I cook for 8 hours. If you want, you can speed it up by cooking on high for 4 hours. You virtually can't overcook food.
Besides meat, you can also add vegetables to the pot. Instead of water, add gravy for a hearty beef stew. If you don't want your veggies in the gravy, you can make little aluminum foil packets and place them on top of the meat. I usually add a pat of butter. Be careful removing these because they can be hot. If you make little aluminum foil boats, the vegetables will have a meaty taste without being bogged down in sauce.
Besides cooking, crock pots can also be used as a food warmer during the holidays. I'd advice cooking the food to almost done (like vegetables, sauces, cheese dip, mmm cheese dip, or meats) then adding them to the crock pot set on low. At Christmas, our family looks like an advertisement for Rival with all the crock pots sitting on the counters.
Okay, I've given my testimonial, added in some product details, and given tips on cooking. But I have to share my "Gee, you cooked this stroganoff?" recipe. This is the main one I use and I play with it a lot. There are several ways to prepare it, but this one is the easiest. And having a crock pot means some easy cooking after all, right?
Lisa's "Gee, you cooked this stroganoff?"
2-3 pounds stew meat (or cut up round steak)
1/2 bermuda sweet onion chopped
2 cans mushrooms
2 large cans cream of mushroom soup condensed
1/3 cup of sherry
dash of worcestshire sauce
seasonings of your choice (but no salt)
8-16 ounces of sour cream
Add all ingredients except sour cream into crock pot and cook (low about 8 hours; high about 5). 30 minutes before serving, add sour cream to taste. It usually takes about 12 ounces in my family. Stir well and allow to cook for 30 more minutes which gives you time to make the rice or noodles or whatever you want to serve it over. I'd suggest salad, green beans and french bread to accompany it with a nice red wine.
Now, as I said, you can play with recipe. Use fresh mushrooms, sliced and sauted in olive oil with the onions and a generous dash of sherry. You can use hamburger if you brown it first and drain the grease. Play with it to your heart's content and make it your stroganoff recipe!
Just remember to cook it in your Rival 5 quart Removable Crock Pot Slow Cooker; serve it in the removable crock, store the leftovers in the fridge and when you clean it easily with no fuss, remember me.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
laryan
|
|
Member: Lisa Ryan
Location: Louisville, KY
Reviews written: 281
Trusted by: 249 members
About Me:
Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt, moved on, reviewed it all. Made 7 cents.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.