Slow and Steady Wins the Cooking Race
Green Flag
Everybody hates when the house gets all hot and smoky while dinner is cooking. That’s just one of the many pluses of using a slow cooker. The design keeps the heat around the food and the smoke in the crock instead of filtering it throughout the house.
A lot of foods benefit from being slow cooked. A good example would be those “cheaper” cuts of meat. They are more suitable for being simmered because long slow cooking will soften not toughen the meat.
Another plus with slow cooking is that it eliminates overcooking foods and keeps food from becoming bland. With a crock pot it’s off to work while your dinner is cooking at the same time. Talk about multitasking.
In today’s work crock pot cooking is the norm for many. Just a few ideas of things that can be made in the crock pot include: Pot roasts, meatballs, ham, turkey, stews, soups, chili, dips, vegetables, fruits and even desserts.
This is also a safer method of cooking. Since you’re using a lower temperature to cook the food it’s not going to be such a hazard. The lid stays over the food so there is no popping, sizzling or chances of someone being burnt. There are times when slow cookers aren’t always safe. There is a possibility that the ceramic could crack or steam can escape but that is a very low possibility.
Yellow Flag
When you slow cook food many of the vitamins and nutrients get lost. This occurs mostly when cooking vegetables. Slow cookers cook below the boiling point. More often than not vegetables have already been exposed to some form of water. Sitting them in more water and cooking them slowly can promote the loss of the nutrients our bodies need.
Another downfall of slow cooking is that is does take a long time until your food is ready to eat. If you’re looking for something quick then a slow cooker isn’t going to be your best bet.
It also presents a challenge when trying to cook all your food equally although there is a way around this. When cooking stews and soups there are many ingredients involved and everything is cooking at different speeds. Vegetables take longer to cook than meat, since the crock pot is a long slow cooking process the vegetables should be added in first then the meat second. This will give vegetables a head start and keep them cooking right along with that cut of meat.
Checkered Flag
There are highs and lows when it comes to slow cooking foods. No matter which way you look at it there’s something to be said about throwing it all into one pot and walking away only to have a delicious meal waiting on you hours later. Try slow cooking and determine if the highs are worth the lows at the end of the day. Win your race on creating delicious meals at a slow and steady pace.
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