Inexperienced Crockpot User Asks: How Reliable is a Recipe's Cooking Times on a Crockpot?

[luxuria_oceanus]

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

Comments

[kamomil]

Rice is very easy to overcook in a crockpot. When experimenting, I put brown lentils and jasmine rice in my slow cooker and the resulting mixture was like glue - the rice had dissolved. Some types of rice withstand overcooking a bit better, but it's better to add rice towards the end of your cooking time

[captain_havoc]

Agreed! Cooking rice in the crock pot is like "advanced level" crockpottering. I cook things I serve with rice in my crockpot -- beans, meat, vegetables -- but always cook the rice separate, closer to when I'm planning to eat (or in advance!)

[malnpudl]

I second the recommendation for a rice cooker. Couldn't live without mine. Perfect every time.

[eclips1st]

Your cookbook should tell you what size crockpot the recipes are for. The size of the crockpot and quantity of food need to be right or everything will be off.

[drgaellon]

Newer crockpots (after 1995 or so) run hotter than older models; recipes created for older models will not take that into account.

Most crockpots are designed to work best when filled between 2/3 and 3/4 full - less full, and they'll run too fast, more full and they'll overflow or cook too slow. Make sure your recipe is scaled for the size pot you're using.

"Low" and "high" are actually misnomers - "slow" and "fast" would be more accurate. All crockpots will eventually get up to 200-210F; it's just a question of how fast. Ingredients that don't handle boiling for long periods (rice, couscous, dairy products, etc.) should be cooked on low, cooked separately, or added at the very end of cooking.

[of_salfarro]

I find that when they switched to making crockpots hotter in the 90s they didn't adjust the recipes in the cookbooks so.. If I recall, I reduced the time by an hour or two. I had to set up some experiments.