Are you a slow cooker fan?

I've been cooking for my family for 55 years. A slow cooker is just another tool. Most of this advice is spot on. Exceptions are: Peeking won't make a difference if not done every 10 minutes. Liners not needed, it's ceramic, cleans easily. Frozen foods, not ideal, but no big deal. Searing is preferred for better depth of flavor, but it will be fine regardless. Bottom line, it is hard to screw up a slow cooked meal. It will always come out edible. With some experimentation it will come out fantastic. Just have fun with it and don't worry.

I take care of my 92 year old granny who still likes to cook for everybody, but she's the ultimate slow cooker.

You ABSOLUTELY have to sear the meat. If you don’t sear it, you are stuck with something that tastes like boiled meat. I hated slow cookers for the longest time, but my husband loved them and grew up having slow cooker meals all of the time. I finally got the idea to sear a pork roast on all sides and then I put them in the crockpot. The pork roast tasted like carnitas. It was incredible! I finally found a way for both of us to be happy.

Common mistake: not turning on the slow cooker.

Don't lift the lid to peek - not even for a second! - but remove the entire lid long enough to add fresh herbs XD

I read somewhere that to thicken gravy in a slow cooker use cornstarch not flour. I tried it and it is a better result. I do it about 20 min before it is done. I also always add a pat of butter because it really makes gravy taste better. ( A tip from my Italian mother.)

"Every time you lift that lid you add 30 minutes . . .." No.

Common mistake: thinking your slow cooker cooks slow when set on slow. New ones cook much faster, I think because of liability issues. Check the heat of your crockpot dish occasionally with a thermometer. If it's much above about 200 you can opt to lower the temp by cracking the lid off a half inch until the temp goes down (a couple of minutes.) The old crockpots cooked truly slowly and the dishes tasted better. (Some people put frozen foodhh in their slow cooker, and that may cause a health issue, I think.)

Opening the lid does not add thirty minutes cooking time as the air does not contain that much heat compared to the thermal mass of the food and the crock pot itself. You might lose some moisture but the contained air will quickly be re-saturated once the lid is put back on. This is a myth.

Searing is so key! Flavor is taken up a level, and the drippings make your gravy so much more rich.

Last mistake I made was not turning it on before leaving for work. Came home looking forward to dinner and was greeted with an uncooked meal 😂😂

If you want the skin on the chicken crispy put a tea towel under the lid as it reduces moisture thus making the chicken crispy.

I like to make Coq au Vin in my slow cooker, which usually involves adding a whole bottle of red wine. It has never come out "too boozy." Always delicious.

never had a problem with mine. we put frozen meat in all the time & never gotten sick. we usually use dried seasonings anyway cuz its cheaper so idk bout that one. never used a crock pot bag cuz theyre expensive & i dont relish the idea of cooking my food for several hrs in plastic. my crockpot is my best friend & nobody will change my mind. oh, and it doesnt use that much electricity! my bill has never gone up & i use it several times a week.

You can cook with wine in the slow cooker as long as you cook it down before putting it in. After you've browned your meat in whatever pan you use, you can deglaze the pan with the wine which will cook off the alcohol. Normally you'd be adding aromatics anyway (carrots, onions, celery) to soften them up. Deglazing after cooking the aromatics and allowing the wine to reduce a bit will give you some amazing flavor.

I appreciate that you added time-codes in the video description.

I make rotisserie style chicken in my crock pot all the time; There is no need to remove the skin. The only rule to follow is that the chicken must be lifted slightly during the cooking process so it won't soak in its own fat. To do this you must line the bottom of the crock-pot with aluminum foil balls about 2-3 inches in diameter. 6-8 aluminum foils balls should be enough. some people use those small red potato's but the aluminum foil is more versatile. The trick is to lift the chicken up but you still want to be able to close the lid. Hope this trick helps.

I agree on everything except using a slow cooker liner, as with the long cooking process; u don't know what side effects cooking on a plastic base might have on ur health. I noticed I would have more frequent headaches and abdominal pain when I use slow cookers liners, I just cook the food inside the slow cooker now, don't care about tough cleaning afterwards, as long it doesn't affect my health.

Thanks, I'm new to slow cooking and this video has been really helpful.

love these tips especially about the denser, longer cooking items to be placed at the bottom like root veggies! great tip that i'll use today! ty!

Being an older lady and using my crock pot for years, it only takes a few moments to search the meat.Doing so seals in the inner flavor and juices as it slow cooks,and makes for a thicker savory au jus cooking liquid at the end that is rich and delicious.Well worth the effort.

These are very helpful tips, thank you! I love adding maple syrup, fresh from home, to pork and other roasts and slow cooking with root vegetables for rich, deep flavor.

Wow I've been using slow cookers for a long time but I just learned some things I didn't know so thanks . You have a very great channel thanks for sharing it with the rest of us , because we never stop learning .

useful video thank you! I only have a slow cooker since yesterday so I am really happy to see this video before I try something bigger then cooking a portion of rice :)

As someone who has been cooking with a slow cooker since the 1980's - The 30 minute per every time you open the lid is false, also cooking a whole chicken with the skin on is easy and preferred, just put some onions sliced in half cut part down on the bottom and put the chicken on top - turns out perfect

Not sure I agree about the part about not throwing fresh herbs in until towards the end...I've done pot roast with thyme, rosemary, and a bayleaf, all fresh, and I put them in at the start. The leaves on the first two tend to come off and you're just left with the sprigs by the end, but the flavor just penetrates the meat and liquid in a great way, so I'm sticking with this method.

Wow. I love my slow cooker. I didn't know there were rules. Now I know and they make sense. I will follow them. Thanks for sharing them and helping my be a better cook.

Love this ...great info on slow cooking..

I LOVE my slow cooker. I've never had a problem with cleaning it, everything rinses right off.

Once the contents of the slow cooker have reached high temperature, lifting the lid doesn't cool the temp. Unless you forget to replace the lid for a bloody hour.

I needed this as I bought my crocktop yesterday :)

Thanks for this great Info !

I agree with every single one of these, except for one. I don't find the process of cleaning the slow-cooker liner to be a cumbersome one at all. I don't let it soak. Rather, I just fill it with hot soapy water, then take a scouring sponge and really just wipe down the sides and bottom with it. Pretty much everything will come right off, and I don't use a liner or resit at all, unless I'm making something in there that will have a tendency to stick, like pasta. But these are all very good tips that people should know. Allow me to add a couple more that a lot of people do not know. Most of your aromatics, you're strongly flavoured ingredients that lend a good deal of flavor to your dish, such as garlic and onions, have a lot of liquid in them that needs to be driven off before you start the slow cooking process. If your recipe calls 4 onion, use a hell of a lot of it, and cook it down with your other flavor base ingredients before you put it in the slow cooker. Let me explain. One of my favorite slow cooker recipes is a basic marinara sauce that makes about three quarts. The recipe starts out with two large yellow onions and about eight cloves of garlic, some tomato paste, and some dried oregano. If I was to just dump all that stuff in the slow cooker with the Tomato products, I would end up with something so watered down that it would not be pleasant to eat. So you add a little olive oil to your large Skillet, cook those onions and other things down until the onions shrink and give up a lot of their liquid, delays with about a 1/2 cup of dry red wine and let it reduce a bit, then add it to your slow cooker along with crushed tomatoes and tomato puree. The flavor concentrates down and the sauce is a lot thicker and richer. This goes for any other recipe for soup or stew or pasta sauce. In slow cooker recipes then you would for stovetop dishes. Greatly over cook their chicken in the slow cooker. I have some rules on this. I never ever make a whole chicken in the slow cooker. I only use boneless skinless chicken breast boneless skinless chicken thighs in the slow cooker. And when using these, the cooking time should never ever go past about 3 and 1/2 or 4 hours. Any longer than that, and you're going to ruin your dish.

UPS delivered my first crock pot yesterday . so this video really helped me to no the do's and don'ts before I start using it.. Thanks

Thanks for the advice. I will be showing this video to Ms Judith ASAP. She is my heart and soul but we need help!

Thanks for the crockpot ideas

Best spaghetti sauce I ever made was in my old crock pot my Aunt gave me in 1979, I still have it and it still works great.

Been using a slow cooker for years and years. Booklet with cooker stated, "You don't have to sear meat." Not a problem!

What a BRILLIANT video!!! Although I knew one or two of these tips, there were some I had no idea about so thank you for a fantastic upload!! Also, I had no idea you could get slow cooker liners!

Thanks, great tips!

Don't put wine in a crock pot? Pfffft. Don't come to my house then.

I love my slow cooker. Most of the recipes I prefer has the meat cooking 8 to 10 hours. Makes it so nice and tender!!!

Thanks for the tips.

That was great!! Thanks so much!

A liner?? You can't clean your pot? So you are going to cook in a trash bag? 😦

How do I throw my fresh herbs in towards the end of the cooking process if I'm not allowed to open it until its ready????

Excellent advice. I learned a lot.

Many thanks for sharing!!!

Searing. Searing Searing. People don’t get that searing is NOT about cooking the meat. It’s purely about adding flavor, texture and color

You can cook from frozen. You just have to keep in mind that it could take longer and probably should not cook it on low. I do it all the time when i make pulled chicken for my enchiladas. It usually is done in about 6 or 7 hours. I have never gotten sick from it and I am pretty sensitive to things like that.

I can't believe it was 5 yrs since you did the previous slow cooker video! Time passes so fast! Good to have your hair up in the kitchen, very Foodsafe! You look lovely. Good tip to use dried pulse and beans and to check the salt in broth. You have to wash between the leaves of leeks very thoroughly as dirt can stay in there. I'm going to check those recipes. xx

Great information, thanks for sharing.

Oxtail and Chili are perfect in the slow cooker

Great advice!

I cooked full milk dishes from start and have had no problems and again frozen no deal either. Elk Hunter is spot on with their advice.

Very helpful - Thanks!

The frozen food thing is kind of on a case by case basis.... whenever you're using frozen food, ALWAYS put the slow cooker on high. This will minimize the amount of time the food spends in the temperature range where bacteria grows the most. I wouldn't put huge chunks of frozen food in there either. Chicken cubes? Sure. Frozen veggies? Awesome. Big chicken breasts? No. A large chicken breast will spend quite a bit of time in the danger zone, giving that bacteria lots of time to produce toxins that make us sick 👍 Just thaw it in the microwave if you're short on time. Thawing something in a microwave is 100% cool as long as you cook it immediately

FYI you can actually do slow cooking without a specific slow cooker, use a large enough pot, put on low heat with lid on, works great especially for those tougher meats!

thank for the tips, many I did not know.

Liners are the best invention ever for slow cookers, cleanup is so much easier. Good video.

I make chicken & dumplings in mine I just add the dumplings at the last 30 minutes,i make pinto beans for 8hrs with a beef broth, jalapenos,onions,& garlic,butternut squash & pumpkin soup cooks great in my slow cooker I have the crockpot brand

My venison roasts always go in frozen and spend all day in the "spa". Never had an issue. Always turn out moist, tender and delicious. I have tried thawing them overnight first, but they then turn out dry... Frozen is the way to go!

Very helpful information!

Great tips! Thanks!

I reduce red wine on the stove top and transport it to the crock pot, for beef bourguignon. It comes out delicious 😋

RE: Dry herbs Some herbs dried lose their flavour in the industrial drying process, others are fine alternatives to fresh herbs. Regardless, if you have the extra change/fresh herb to add, you won't be depriving yourself of anything, add freshness for that extra kick in flavour. Alternatively, you can also garnish with fresh herbs (cilantro, parsley, etc.) after cooking.

Great sound track !

Cool tips I use mine sometimes often especially in Summer and select meals Winter,I do check my liquid make sure does not get low too low

no way I'm cooking food for hours and hours in a plastic bag - that just can't be healthy.

"Don't open the slow cooker while cooking because each time you do it adds an extra half hour to the cooking time." "Add your dairy products one half hour before your dish is done so they won't curdle." Wouldn't doing that add an extra half hour to the cooking time? If you added it a half hour before it was done wouldn't you have to cook the dish an hour longer and wouldn't that make the cream curdle? Or, should you wait until it's done, then add the dairy products and then cook it for an extra half hour and wouldn't that over cook the dish? And what do you do if you add fresh herbs? At that rate you may end up eating pizza for dinner.

WOW! I'm amazed and guilty of many of those mistakes.

There are some useful tips in this video. But I have a Crockpot Express which is like an Instapot. I can tell you that either of these two are much easier to clean up when you have finished cooking in them then the traditional slow cookers due to the non stick surface of either a Crockpot Express or Instapot.

I'm never going to get this 5 minutes back. :-(

Some of these make sense, some of them are common sense or totally optional, and some are nonsense. Not gonna lie, it seems like they're going entirely off blog data rather than first-hand experience. The peaking claim that removing the lid even once adds 30 mins to cook time each time lifted is total and 100% bullshit. Although my girlfriend claims the same thing, I routinely, but not excessively, stir and check my slow cooker meals and never had several hours added to cook time. That part made zero sense. I think they meant, "Don't fuck with it too much." I've worked in kitchens too long, where we cooked stews and the like low and slow, to believe that shit. We didn't even use slow cookers and had equally tender and fully cooked proteins and veg.

You just corrected several things I would have done wrong in my next dish, thanks.

Mashed Thank you for taking the time to produce and upload the video, very interesting as well. I have a slow cooker /pressure cooker combo, just wonder if you have a ''Mistakes Everyone Makes Using The _Pressure_ Cooker'' video

Great Information ! 💪👏💖 I'm looking for the largest crock pot I can find ? 😊

Great information. Thanks 😊

I added red wine to a savoury casserole but as you said, it did not cook out properly and I ended up with a very "winey" casserole. It was so alcoholic tasting I ditched it for the magpies and crows to eat. Your other hints were very useful, thank you! I learned a lot.

Every time you lift that lid somewhere a fluffy kitten 🐱 cries out in pain!!

How bout adding too much liquid... For example i went to make beef stew and added about a cup of chicken stock.. It turned it into soup. The next time didn't add any liquid at all and a little flour slurry and it came out perfect.

Great tips..thanks

Great TIPS Thanks

The first time I used a liner, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! It made cleanup SOOOOO much easier! I have a bad back and can't be standing at the sink forever...

I don't think slow cooking a meal in a plastic bag is very healthy. Stop being lazy and clean it after..

Mom taught me seer first bought a lot of these tips were helpful especially for soup

Good tips. Loved the random M. Bison clip lol.

I use aluminum foil instead of the lid when it comes to cooking chili or spaghetti sauce with meatballs. I'll cook it half way on high then turn to low. It's comparable to a stovetop pot without the lid. This way you don't have condensation to water down the chili or spaghetti sauce.

I always cook frozen food in my Crock Pot. So does everyone I know. It is not a problem!

I agree M. Bison. Leaving the skin on and finishing in an oven makes the slow cooked whole chicken 10000% more superior.

great info i don't use one but am thinking about it

No, searing does not "caramelize" meat. It creates the Maillard reaction.

"So, grab a low cost cut..." Have you guys priced skirt steak lately? lol

Thank you!

Great thanks! X

I can't stop peeking in there when my whole house smells like BBQ :')

You forgot an important one!....You can still overcook meat in a sliw cooker

Merci pour cette vidéo ! 😀💐

Yeah, I realized with with a pork roast I made over the weekend. It wasn't bad, but as I was eating it I was thinking of the wasted opportunities to make it better before I tossed everything in. I dredged the roast in flour and browned it like I always do, but I was thinking I could've like drizzled some olive oil and seasonings over my vegetables and partially roasted them. And then it probably wouldn't have tasted so under-seasoned at the end. A couple extra steps of prep and I might've really had something special. I made some meat sauce in it a few months ago and TOOK my time and doctored up every part of it before I added it to the slow-cooker, and it was EXCELLENT.