Better Cooking for Rookies
Written: Nov 26 '00 (Updated Nov 26 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great food preparation
Cons: None
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| pambo's Full Review: Hamilton Beach 33625 Meal Maker 6.5-Quart Slow Coo... |
Maybe it was the low price, its availability, or the fact that cold rain had been coming down for hours, making me think of warm food, but I went and bought a crockpot the other day. What I don't know about kitchen equipment could several books, so maybe I should have done a little research, like, read some epinions on the matter? But no, impulse prevailed.
Not to say that I'm unhappy with the decision, just a touch disappointed, most of which stems from my own expectations.
Crockpots offer a great chance to prepare dinner, go off to work or wherever you need, and return to a ready to eat meal.
My problem is this: having gotten used to rice steamers and microwave ovens that shut themselves off, I assumed the crockpot would do the same.
I go to work and get home on an inconsistent schedule, determined by events way outside my control. I envisioned loading up the pot, setting it for, say, 6 hours of cooking or whatever a recipe called for, and then returning to it ready to go. But no, it doesn't do that. You simply cook for as long as the recipe calls for, then shut it off. There's no timer. There's also no indicator light, another handy device I'm accustomed to, to keep me from burning myself if I forget that it's on. To be fair, if food remains in the crockpot longer than originally anticipated, it doesn't lead to a disaster. I just like it when electrical devices shut themselves off.
Those complaints aside, this crockpot is pretty darned good.
It comes with a handy set of directions designed for both rookies and experienced crockpot users. Best of all, in my rookie status, are the dozen or so recipes designed to get a new user started and comfortable with the idea of a crockpot. Some of the recipes are: broccoli and cheddar soup, Texas Chili, Italian-style beef stew, New England boiled dinner, Hawaiian chicken and more. We've tried three of them so far, and have never had a misfire.
We especially like the way it cooks beef and pork, rendering meat much more tender than we get from our oven and certainly from our microwave. We've managed to create some flavorful stews and what could only be called hodge-podge meals that are juicier and tastier than anything we've gotten from a can.
This particular model comes in three parts, two of them washable in the dishwasher, the third needing a hand wash. This is easy to do, and we've had no problems with food sticking to the container if we use a little non-stick spray on it first.
The booklet accompanying the crockpot offers good advice and a repeated reminder about cooking food correctly, not substituting the warm-up setting for real cooking, as I'm guessing from the tone of the booklet some people have done. In fact, the booklet is clearly aimed primarily at people who have never used a pot before, which I find a great idea because, for a generation used to microwaving, all advice is helpful.
There are two settings for cooking, beyond the warmup setting, which allows a little flexibility in how long you want to prepare food.
All in all, we have found this a good product, capable, with a little planning on our part, of producing tasty meals.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
pambo
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Pam
Location: Long Island
Reviews written: 442
Trusted by: 231 members
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