Inexperienced Crockpot User Asks: How Reliable is a Recipe's Cooking Times on a Crockpot?
I'm a new crockpot user thanks to my boyfriend's mom who bought me a crockpot recipe book for Christmas. Before then, I wouldn't have even touched one (though my boyfriend owns one) because I couldn't come to terms with the idea of putting something on to cook and not tasting/touching it until done. The recipes looked so good...and now I'm converted, especially since it makes dinner plans easier to work with when it comes to my work schedule.
But now I've hit a bit of a problem. The crockpot I've been using tends to overcook rice (and one time, we came home to overcooked potatoes, even though the setting was on low, and the time was followed just as the recipe said) and it undercooked a cake once...we thought it was the crockpot (it was old, he didn't understand the settings, neither did I, so we bought a new/simpler one that has a timer, just the low/high setting and it switches to warm when it reaches 0 on the timer). And I tried one recipe I had tried in the old one...aaaand it overcooked the rice. Not by a lot. I did manage to take it out an hour before the recipe said to (by this point, it wasn't mush, just a tad bit overcooked).
Does anyone have this problem with crockpots?
Any suggestions in terms of how to adjust cooking times on a recipe? At this point, I may have to not use the crockpot unless I'm at home to watch it (which kind of defeats the purpose...but it'll beat overcooked/undercooked food!) so I can modify the times on the recipe based on my crockpot. I do have a lot of good recipes, though, some of which I plan to post here :-) except the cooking time...well, not so reliable (with rice, potatoes and cakes, mainly).
But now I've hit a bit of a problem. The crockpot I've been using tends to overcook rice (and one time, we came home to overcooked potatoes, even though the setting was on low, and the time was followed just as the recipe said) and it undercooked a cake once...we thought it was the crockpot (it was old, he didn't understand the settings, neither did I, so we bought a new/simpler one that has a timer, just the low/high setting and it switches to warm when it reaches 0 on the timer). And I tried one recipe I had tried in the old one...aaaand it overcooked the rice. Not by a lot. I did manage to take it out an hour before the recipe said to (by this point, it wasn't mush, just a tad bit overcooked).
Does anyone have this problem with crockpots?
Any suggestions in terms of how to adjust cooking times on a recipe? At this point, I may have to not use the crockpot unless I'm at home to watch it (which kind of defeats the purpose...but it'll beat overcooked/undercooked food!) so I can modify the times on the recipe based on my crockpot. I do have a lot of good recipes, though, some of which I plan to post here :-) except the cooking time...well, not so reliable (with rice, potatoes and cakes, mainly).