Before you pop onto Amazon and decide which crock pot you require as your next Christmas gift , it is important that you look into what a crock pot is , how to use it , and if it indeed is what you are looking for .

So , without much ado , let me tell you what a crock pot exactly is .

A crock pot usually , by the general public , is considered to be the same as a slow cooker , and it may seem the same to you .

Crock pots and slow cookers utilize clammy warmth to prepare food over an extensive stretch of time. Both are utilized to cook similar kinds of nourishments and dishes , and both produce similar delightful outcomes . These great , little kitchen devices even contain similar , constituent three parts :

• • A Pot
  • A Glass Top

• A Warming Component

However , if you would ask a high grade chef or an expert , they would tell you that even though these two items look similar in the ways they function , but they are very different to each other in a lot of ways .

To understand what it is and how it works , let us look into the details of a crock pot .

Branding :

Crock-Pot was the first moderate cooker made in this style , and it is the brand name for the moderate cookers made by Rival Manufacturing Company, despite the fact that there are numerous different brands — including KitchenAid , Cuisinart , Hamilton Beach , Bella, and numerous others — that sell Crock-Pot-style moderate cookers. ” Crockpot ” has become a conventional word for moderate cookers.

Development :

Crock-Pot and Crock-Pot-style moderate cookers have a ceramic or porcelain pot that sits inside the warming unit. A few, in spite of the fact that not every , slow cooker of this sort are warmed from the base just as around the sides of the pot . The pot can likewise be round or oval , and comes in different sizes .

Temperature settings :

Crock-Pots have only two warmth settings — LOW wattage ( getting them to temperatures the scope of 200 °F ) and HIGH wattage ( acquiring them to temperatures the scope of 300 ° F ) . Some additionally have a third , lower-wattage , warming choice .

Cooking:

While fuelled on, Crock-Pots and Crock-Pot-style moderate cookers cook persistently . A few models likewise have a clock to permit cooking for a particular measure of time .

How do I optimize my crock pot to its maximum capacity ?

Cut down your preparation time :

The preparation time for a dish which is to be prepared in a crock pot is almost non existent . This is one of the most appealing factors of a crock pot .

Prepare for slow cooking the night before :

Most of us , including you and I , have a busy schedule in which we probably work long hours and do not have time throughout the day . Hence , an easy and go to solution is to prepare whatever you have to the night before the grand finale .

Choose cheap cuts :

Meat is preferred over vegetables as they blend in more easily and slow cooking enhances the flavour more in meats than in vegetables .

Trim fat from meat before slow cooking : Frying meat reduces the fat content from it . Most of the fat drains down when any meat is heated . But cooking it in a crock pot would not give you that luxury . So , it will be advised that you should trim fat from meat .

Reduce liquid when using a slow cooker :

It is strongly advised against adding liquid or water in a crock pot . This is because crock pot does not lose moisture content as other cooking techniques do .

Use flour to thicken sauces :

Corn starch should be added to thicken gravies and all the other types of sauce that you could possibly cook !

Use the slow cooker low setting :

Cooking on the low temperature setting would help you to enhance and extract the flavours from your dish . Using the crock pot in the high temperature setting would save you some time but quality over quantity , right ?

Does the size of the crock pot matter ?

Indeed, the size of the crock pot issues a great deal in light of the fact that moderate cookers work best when 66 % to 75 % full . Utilizing a huge moderate cooker to cook a little cluster of food brings about ineffectively prepared food .

For this situation , you have to know the perfect size for your family and friends . The manner in which you intend to utilize the crock pot , what number of individuals to take care of will prompt the privilege simmering pot size .

What are the different crock pot sizes available in the market ?

Crock pots come in all shapes and sizes ( just kidding , about the shape thing ) . The quantity of the crock pot has seen the lowest of 1 quart and highest of 12 quarts ( this is based on the fact that customers have had very few complaints till this size , otherwise there are sizes available which are larger than this ) .

So lets dig deep .

• 1.5 quart – 3 quart crock pots : The 1.5 quarts to 3 quarts are ideal for little cooking like for a solitary individual or two . In case you’re cooking for one to two individuals and you’re not a devotee of extras , or essentially don’t have the space to stash them in the ice chest or cooler, a 3-quart ( or 3 1/2 – quart , as they’re sold by certain brands ) slow cooker is perfect for you . It’s not extensive enough to fit a major meal , yet this size moderate cooker will work with pretty much all different plans , after a little adjustment . While many moderate cooker plans are composed for bigger cookers , most can be downsized or sliced down the middle to be made in a 3-quart moderate cooker.
• 4 quart and 5 quart crock pots : Regardless of whether your family incorporates three or four individuals or five , best case scenario , or you’re a couple who really love extras ( do not need to prepare brunch the next morning ) , a 5-quart moderate cooker is a perfect size for you . The moderate size obliges everything from soups and stews to bean stews and goulashes .
• 6 quart – 8 quart crock pots : On the off chance that your moderate cooker plans are about enormous cluster cooking or taking care of a huge potluck team , you’re going to need a 6 – quart moderate cooker (or something much bigger) . This huge model does everything , and can suit those twofold groups of soup , sauce , and shredded chicken when you need to load up on cooler suppers . You can even make littler plans in your enormous moderate cooker by utilizing an extra stove safe heating dish.

The 6 to 7 quarts can take care of an enormous family and the medium families can utilize these sizes in the event that they incline toward extras . The 6 quarts is the standard size where a lot of plans are made explicitly for this size .

Slow cookers over 7 quarts are huge to prepare tremendous clusters of food immediately taking care of a huge group .

• 8 quart – 12 quart crock pots : You can’t really describe this big of a slow cooker / crock pot . It is essentially for joint families ( whatever’s left of them anyway , everyone wants to move out of their parents’ home these days you know ) . 8 quart crock pots can feed upto as big as 10 members while a 12 quart crock pot is for a small gathering of around 15 – 20 people .