Could a crockpot replace my rice cooker? And what about oatmeal? (ingredients, grill) - cooking, cuisine, meat, vegetables, restaurants, diet, prices, allergies... - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

Caligula1 · 12-23-2010, 07:22 AM

You can do both in a crockpot, it just takes a very long time.
Just look up crockpot rice in a search engine.
Alton Brown has a recipe for 8 hour oats in a crockpot also.

JustJulia · 12-23-2010, 07:31 AM

Crock pots do make stew-y stuff, but they are also good for roasts. Pork roast, pot roast ... some people roast chicken but I've never done that. They are also very helpful for keeping food warm. For our big (day after) Christmas feast, I'll have my big crock full of mashed potatoes, my medium crock full of stuffing, and a buffet server (three small crocks) keeping the veggie dishes warm. They are also good for mulled wine and hot cider and punches.

I don't use my crock pots a lot (once or twice a month), but I'm glad I have them. My big one is programmable, so I can set it to warm for eight hours, or hot for three hours, or whatever. After the time is up, it switches back down to "keep warm." It's nice to be able to put something together in the morning and have it ready by the evening with practically no additional work.

DawnMTL · 12-23-2010, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caligula1

You can do both in a crockpot, it just takes a very long time.
Just look up crockpot rice in a search engine.
Alton Brown has a recipe for 8 hour oats in a crockpot also.

The "very long time" won't work for us. We decide at dinner time if it's something that we need to make rice for. My husband woke up this morning and decided he wanted oatmeal for breakfast. So waiting two hours -- or worse, overnight -- is not an option for either rice of oatmeal, sadly.

Thanks for making the decision a bit easier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustJulia

Crock pots do make stew-y stuff, but they are also good for roasts. Pork roast, pot roast ... some people roast chicken but I've never done that. They are also very helpful for keeping food warm. For our big (day after) Christmas feast, I'll have my big crock full of mashed potatoes, my medium crock full of stuffing, and a buffet server (three small crocks) keeping the veggie dishes warm. They are also good for mulled wine and hot cider and punches.

I don't use my crock pots a lot (once or twice a month), but I'm glad I have them. My big one is programmable, so I can set it to warm for eight hours, or hot for three hours, or whatever. After the time is up, it switches back down to "keep warm." It's nice to be able to put something together in the morning and have it ready by the evening with practically no additional work.

You have multiple crockpots and still only use them once or twice a month. Hmmm. I suspect that's exactly what would happen with our single crockpot. And if everything comes out stew-y, then I'm thinking it will go down to once or twice a YEAR.

This is helpful information. The crockpots aren't expensive, but I don't want to spend the $50 if I absolutely KNOW that we won't use it.

I'm edging towards "no" now.

Thanks!

masonsdaughter · 12-23-2010, 07:42 AM

I know the feeling, DandJ. Another thing I did was cook extra meals on the weekend. I would cook meat slightly underdone and under browned and stick in the fridge or freezer to finish cooking the night I planned to eat it.

Debsi · 12-23-2010, 07:47 AM

I try not to buy more machines, so when I got a crockpot a couple of years ago I got a Hamilton Beach model with 3 removable crocks so I could have 2 qt, 4 qt, and 6 qt. Unfortunately I hate the thing! Everything burns to the side of the crock even when I run it on low. I won't even use high. I'm going to give the thing to goodwill this year I think. It makes mediocre stews and pot roasts - you really need to get another dish dirty to sear the meat first, and if I'm already going that far, I'd MUCH rather spend the time on the weekend slow cooking something, seasoning it just right as it goes, and heat up superior leftovers during the week.

Caligula1 · 12-23-2010, 07:51 AM

Debsi, I have never used them myself but they do make crockpot liners. You just pull out the bag and toss. I agree on the searing and dirying another dish for roasts. I think they are mostly good if you want to make a dinner and go out for a few hours..Or even to work.

DawnMTL · 12-23-2010, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by masonsdaughter

I know the feeling, DandJ. Another thing I did was cook extra meals on the weekend. I would cook meat slightly underdone and under browned and stick in the fridge or freezer to finish cooking the night I planned to eat it.

You know what makes it even more of a reason NOT to buy a crockpot, now that I'm thinking in terms of meat? I'd love to cook a roast in one of these suckers, but my husband doesn't eat red meat. Something about heart disease running in his family, blah blah blah.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Debsi

I try not to buy more machines, so when I got a crockpot a couple of years ago I got a Hamilton Beach model with 3 removable crocks so I could have 2 qt, 4 qt, and 6 qt. Unfortunately I hate the thing! Everything burns to the side of the crock even when I run it on low. I won't even use high. I'm going to give the thing to goodwill this year I think. It makes mediocre stews and pot roasts - you really need to get another dish dirty to sear the meat first, and if I'm already going that far, I'd MUCH rather spend the time on the weekend slow cooking something, seasoning it just right as it goes, and heat up superior leftovers during the week.

AH! Exactly what I was thinking when scanning some recipes -- many of them called for pre-cooking some of the stuff, like browning ground beef (in our case: turkey) before throwing it in the crockpot. If I'm going to do that, I might as well make the recipe the old-fashioned way.

Wilson513 · 12-23-2010, 08:10 AM

No one hates a crock pot more than I do. The best use for a crock pot was posted here last month by someone who was making cat food for the finicky cat. A crock pot will turn what could have been a beautiful roast chicken (or almost any dish) into cat food while you are at work or whatever. But, I must confess, I do have a crock pot and I do use it pretty regularly because there is nothing like the crock pot to make dried pea and bean soups in general and yellow split pea in particular. And, you can take a couple of packages of Bob Evans mashed potatoes and dump them in the crockpot with a half a stick of butter while you are making the turkey and gravy and three hours later they are piping hot and delicious without all the mess of actually making mashed potatoes. Other than that, its a good tool for making cat food for the finicky cat.

DawnMTL · 12-23-2010, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wilson1010

No one hates a crock pot more than I do. The best use for a crock pot was posted here last month by someone who was making cat food for the finicky cat. A crock pot will turn what could have been a beautiful roast chicken (or almost any dish) into cat food while you are at work or whatever. But, I must confess, I do have a crock pot and I do use it pretty regularly because there is nothing like the crock pot to make dried pea and bean soups in general and yellow split pea in particular. And, you can take a couple of packages of Bob Evans mashed potatoes and dump them in the crockpot with a half a stick of butter while you are making the turkey and gravy and three hours later they are piping hot and delicious without all the mess of actually making mashed potatoes. Other than that, its a good tool for making cat food for the finicky cat.

Do not -- and I mean DO NOT! -- tell this story to my finicky dog! Ever! I mean it!

Tigerlily64 · 12-23-2010, 08:29 AM

I love my crockpots (I have a small, medium and large!) - stews will only taste the same if they have the same ingredients. I make everything from pot roasts, coq au vin, to steak & ale, lambs shanks in red wine, redcurrant and rosemary, Spanish chicken and chorizo, chilli, bolognaise, all manner of soups, curries (both Indian and Oriental style), any custard based desserts that suit bain-marie style cooking e.g. creme brulee, creme caramel, "steamed" puddings - savoury or sweet like steak & kidney pudding (i.e. suet pastry) and golden syrup sponge pudding etc. You can make chutneys, even cakes in them - seriously! No doubt at all that of course you can do these things conventionally but I like the fact I can get it started then forget about it, go shopping, do the housework, go to work etc and there is no danger of boiling over or boiling dry. I use the large crock to make batches of say italian style minced meat so that I can freeze into smaller portions and can then make bolognaise, lasagne, canneloni, pasta bake, chilli etc with just a minimum of further preparation at the drop of a hat. I also use the crock to make large amounts of things like curry or chilli so that when doing casual entertaining I can keep the food warm for a couple of hours safely for buffets and people can keep going back to help themselves, or the family coming home at different times doesn't find that dinner has congealed or has dried out sitting at less than safe temperatures (for bacteria growth) in a warm oven....

My advice would be to go to a library and take out some good slow cooker books and have a read through at all the possibilities and then make a decision. Crocks are not just for stews at all. I guess it is a bit like microwaves, some people use them to do lots of things - me, I use mine to defrost and reheat only!