Slow cookers time to temperature

K

kyldyer

New member
Omelet's thread has taken on a life of its own, so I thought I would
post this separately:

In her "Crockery Cookery," Mable Hoffman's co-author Howard Fisher
measured the temperature vs. time for some 20 slow cookers, at both
the low setting and the high. He filled the pots with cooking oil to
extend the curves above the boiling point of water.

Anyhow, set to LOW, it took roughly 2.5 to 3 hours for the (Rival)
Crock Pots to reach the boiling point of water. After 1 hour on LOW,
the original Crock Pot only heated the oil to 140F.

So quite possibly her food was under safe temperature the entire time
it was in the Crock Pot.
 
On 2/17/2011 10:52 AM, Omelet wrote:

Unless I am cooking enough chicken soup for an army (which I do for our
congregation for Passover and I also do around the Jewish New Year so I
can freeze containers for the flu season for us and friends, I use the
pressure cooker for all soups.

I think the soups taste better when made in the PC. You lose less
vitamins. You extract more flavor from the veggies. You extract much
more protein from the bones and beans and barley cook, IMHO, to a better
texture.

My mom worked even back in the 1950's. She used a PC for all soups. I
learned to use one when I was 11 or 12 and have been making home made
soup in them for over 50 years.

I do not think one has to boil the hell out of food to make a good pot
of soup or a rich stock. Demi glace is something else.

JMTCW
--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.
 
On Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:16:47 -0600, Janet Wilder
wrote:


WTF do you think a pressure processor does other than boil the F'n
hell out of food, and they literally destroy vitamins. Stocks, soups,
and stews should never be boiled... cook long and slow at temps under
a simmer... those hellish things are for the impatient who can't cook
a lick. Actual cooking *requires* time and constant intervention...
those fire and brimstone time saving gadgets do not cook, they
process... canned stocks, soups, and stews are better... much
better... you got your taste in your ass fer sure... you've never
eaten properly cooked food, never even once.
 
Brooklyn1 wrote:

Correct, all a pressure cooker does is increase the temperature that the
boiling occurs at so you are not only still boiling the food, you're
doing it hotter.
 
"spamtrap1888" wrote in message
news:225d12fb-dd78-485c-9758-ae4a408667d1@b15g2000pra.googlegroups.com...
Our Rival Crock Pot is on LOW and is 6 hours into tonight's dinner, "Marie's
Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast"
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/maries-easy-slow-cooker-pot-roast/Detail.aspx
The meat is cooked in a liquid containing Lipton's onion soup mix, along
with a lot of veggies. On the internet there are multiple almost identical
recipes for onion soup mix and pot roast in the crockpot.

At the moment the temperature of the liquid in the pot is 194F. The 3lb
piece of beef chuck is at 185F. The meat is still very firm. I'm hoping it
will start to tenderize at hour 8 to 9.

Have any done this? Do you have any hints for success? Could you add wine?
The alcohol might not cook off. Do you thicken the sauce?

Kent
 
On Feb 17, 6:07?pm, "Kent" wrote:

Resist the temptation to take off the lid -- that will prolong the
cooking time.

You still have four hours for the alcohol to cook off. You could
thicken the sauce by mixing some flour with water, taking out the meat
and veggies, and stirring it in. Then turn the pot on high for 10-15
minutes, stirring to both thicken it and drive off any alcohol.
 
?
"spamtrap1888" wrote

I doubt it. 140 is considered safe and that was 1 hour. Who cares how long
it takes to reach boiling because crock pot cookery does not need boiling?
If you follow Dept. of Agriculture guidelines, food can be between 40 and
140 for a couple of hours. Other factors do play into it, the mass,
starting temperature, and possible contamination before it reached the
cooker.

From the USDA
Bacteria grow most rapidly in the range of temperatures between 40 ? and 140
?F, doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes. This range of
temperatures is often called the "Danger Zone." That's why the Meat and
Poultry Hotline advises consumers to never leave food out of refrigeration
over 2 hours. If the temperature is above 90 ?F, food should not be left out
more than 1 hour.
 
"spamtrap1888" wrote in message
news:225d12fb-dd78-485c-9758-ae4a408667d1@b15g2000pra.googlegroups.com...
Must be Crock Pot model dependent. I've got a smaller Rival Crock Pot model
3215 and the water is simmering within 90 minutes whenever I am making chili
or soup. The model 3215 only has one heat setting when plugged into the wall
outlet (no buttons or dials), and the manual states it is the equivalent of
the Low setting.

[snip...]
 
On 2/17/2011 6:36 PM, Pete C. wrote:

....and taking less time and allowing less vitamins to be lost in the
steam...

It takes about 20 minutes under pressure to do what it takes a couple of
hours to do in a regular pot. Don't tell me they are at all the same.

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.
 
Janet Wilder wrote:

Vitamins are not lost in steam.

All the pressure cooker is doing is allowing you to boil the soup at a
higher temperature which is likely to cause more vitamin loss and
damage. The temperature the soup will be boiling at will be well above
the nominal 212F of plain water at 1 atmosphere, since you have both
increased pressure as well as salt and other compounds in solution in
the soup which all raise the boiling point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_Point
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling-point_elevation
 
On Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:33:30 -0600, Janet Wilder
wrote:


Only pure water evaporates... steam is pure water, steam contains only
water, no vitamins, no minerals.

The vitamins are not "lost", they are *destroyed* by the excessive
heat. I don't know why people can't comprehend that cooking at high
temperatures destroys nutrients. The best cooks are those who cook
with the lowest temperatures, not the highest.
 
Brooklyn1 wrote:

Absolutely.


Absolutely.


I can't agree on this one. Cooking at high heat is ideal for things like
burgers and steaks to get a nice well done and flavorful exterior while
leaving the item rare to medium rare inside.
 
In article
,
spamtrap1888 wrote:


I have a 1975 version of "Crockery Cookery. Her "All-Purpose Barbecue
Sauce" is outstanding. After a while, drop in browned meatballs and
sliced Kielbasa. Cook on low forever. Now that's Superbowl fare!
[ObThread] I don't have a "Warm" setting on my old Rival.

leo
 
On Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:02:20 -0800, Leonard Blaisdell
wrote:

Geeze Louise, don't leave the rest of us hanging about the recipe!

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
 
In article ,
sf wrote:


I wish I hadn't posted something so stupid. I hit google after yapping
like a small dog and am uncomfortable posting her recipe. Every recipe
I've posted here has been mine in the past and in my own style. I'm
sorry sf. I can't.
But in the spirit, I'll now divulge "Laura's Christmas Cheese". It has
been produced and distributed for sixty years to family and friends by
mom, then me. It was my mother's recipe and a big secret. Whenever I
croak, I'd like my friends to find it online.

1 pound Gorgonzola
1 pound Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1/4 pound salted butter
1 very heaping teaspoon minced and rinsed yellow onion (use a food
processor if you have it to chop it finely)
1 medium clove of garlic crushed (I use a garlic press)
10 to 14 shakes of Tabasco
8 shakes of Worstershire

Yeah, shakes. These are hefty shakes, not taps or drips. FWIW, it's hard
to get wrong.

Crumble the gorgonzola, add the cream cheese and butter and start the
mixer[1] on one of the lower settings until you can kick it up to more
than medium. Whir it for a couple of minutes and stop it. Add the rest
of the ingredients and start the mixer at your last used setting until
everything is blended well[2]. Put in suitable containers [8 oz or
better] and give them out. The recipe scales well. I start out with 4
pounds of gorgonzola and 4 times the other ingredients.
This is great with wheat thins. I suppose there are other uses, but I've
never been able to get past the wheat thins. If you don't like blue
cheese, you won't like this. I've personally made it for a quarter
century. It'll last for more than a month in a clean container. The
better the gorgonzola, the better the cheese spread[3].


[1] Mom used a powerful Sunbeam mixer. I use a KitchenAid with beater
blade. A food processor isn't optimal in my experience for the actual
mixing of the cheese. It's just OK.
[2] Do not refrigerate the blended cheese before putting in containers.
It will get stiff and hard to work with.
[3] The cream cheese and butter quantities give a good base for a
cheddar spread too, using one pound of cheddar. I'd discourage using the
rest of the ingredients unless you know what you're doing and more than
I do. Maybe sweet wine/sugar. I made a cheddar spread once. It was OK
but not giftable.

leo
 
On Fri, 18 Feb 2011 21:45:47 -0800, Leonard Blaisdell
wrote:




(laughing) You're so funny! Thanks. ;)

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
 
On Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:30:23 -0800 (PST), spamtrap1888
wrote:


Thanks for the link, spamtrap! I think I'll try it sometime, but I'll
definitely heat it up a bit more.

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
 
In news:rec.food.cooking, spamtrap1888 posted on
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 07:51:05 -0800 (PST) the following:


I'm glad we have a crock pot with an actual temperature setting. There is
no "high" or "low". You can set it at a temperature up to 400 degrees. It
*can* be used as a deep fryer without the crock in it, but it's never been
used to fry. This thing is at least 21 years old and still works
perfectly.

I haven't seen a crock pot with a real temperature setting on a store
shelf in ages, but then I haven't really paid that much attention since I
like the one we have.

I wonder if it would be better to put water in the fryer part to create a
steam environment around the crock insert. I've always just put it in
dry.

Damaeus
 
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