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A slow cooker (also known as a crock-pot after a trademark owned by Sunbeam Products, but sometimes used generically in the English-speaking world) is a countertop electrical cooking Small appliance used to simmering at a lower temperature than other cooking methods, such as baking, boiling, and frying.Gisslen, Wayne (2011). Professional cooking, 7th ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 71 This facilitates unattended cooking for many hours of dishes that would otherwise be boiled: pot roast, soups, stews and other dishes (including beverages, desserts and dips).
The Naxon Utilities Corporation of Chicago, under the leadership of electrical engineer Irving Naxon (born Irving Nachumsohn), developed the Naxon Beanery All-Purpose Cooker for the purposes of cooking a bean meal. Naxon was inspired by a story related by his mother, how in her native town his grandmother made a traditional Jewish stew called cholent, which took several hours to cook in an oven. A 1950 advertisement shows a slow cooker called the "Simmer Crock" made by the Industrial Radiant Heat Corporation of Gladstone, New Jersey.
The Rival Company of Kansas City, Missouri, bought Naxon in 1970, acquiring Naxon's 1940 patent for the bean simmer cooker. Rival asked inventor Alex MacMaster, from Boonville, Missouri, to develop Naxon's bean cooker into a large scale production model that could cook an entire family meal, going further than just cooking a bean meal. Alex also designed and produced the mass-production machines for Rival's manufacturing line of the Crock-Pot. The cooker was then reintroduced under the trademark "Crock-Pot" in 1971. In 1974, Rival introduced removable stoneware inserts, making the appliance easier to clean. the Crock-Pot brand belongs to Newell Brands.
Other brands of this appliance, past and present, include Cuisinart, General Electric, Hamilton Beach, KitchenAid, Magic Chef, West Bend Housewares, and the now-defunct American Electric Corporation.
The "crock", or ceramic pot, acts as both a cooking container and a thermal reservoir. Slow cookers come in capacities from to . Because the heating elements are generally located at the bottom and often also partway up the sides, most slow cookers have a minimum recommended liquid level to avoid uncontrolled heating. Some newer models have coated aluminum or steel "crocks" which, while not as efficient as ceramic at retaining heat, do allow for quicker heating and cooling, as well as the ability to use the "crock" on the stove top to brown meat prior to cooking.
Many slow cookers have two or more heat settings, e.g., low, medium, high, and sometimes a "keep warm" setting; some have continuously variable power. Early slow cookers had no temperature control and delivered a constant heat to the contents. The temperature of the contents rises until it reaches the boiling point, at whereupon the energy goes into gently boiling the liquid closest to the hot surface. At a lower setting, it may just simmer at a temperature below the boiling point. While many basic slow cookers still operate in this manner, newer models have electronics for precise temperature control, delayed cooking starts and control via a computer or mobile device.
The heating element heats the contents to a steady temperature in the range. The contents are enclosed by the crock and the lid, and attain an essentially constant temperature. The vapor that is produced at this temperature Condensation on the bottom of the lid and returns as liquid, into which some water-soluble vitamins are leached.
The liquid transfers heat from the pot walls to its contents, and also distributes flavors. The slow cooker's lid is essential to prevent the warm vapor from escaping, taking heat with it and cooling the contents.
Basic cookers, which have only high, medium, low, or keep warm settings and must be turned on and off manually. More advanced cookers have computerized timing devices that let a cook program the cooker to perform multiple operations, such as two hours high, followed by two hours low, followed by warm, and to delay the start of cooking.
Because food cooked in a slow cooker stays warm for a long time after it is switched off, people can use the slow cookers to take food elsewhere to eat without reheating. Some slow cookers have lids that seal to prevent their contents from spilling during transport.
The low temperature of slow-cooking makes it almost impossible to burn even food that has been cooked too long. However, some meats and most vegetables become nearly tasteless or "raggy" if over-cooked.
Food can be set to slow-cook before leaving for the day so it is ready on return. Many homeowners with rooftop solar panels switch to slow cooking because it draws under 1 Kilowatt of power and can therefore be powered entirely by 1–2 kW panels during the day. Some models include timers or thermostats that bring food to a given temperature and then lower it. With a timerless cooker it is possible to use an external timer to stop cooking after a set time, or both to start and stop.
Cooking the meal in a single pot reduces water waste resulting from cleaning multiple dishes, and the low cooking temperature and glazed pot make cleaning easier than conventional high-heat pots.
Slow cookers do not provide sufficient heat to compensate for loss of moisture and heat due to frequent removal of the lid, e.g., to add and remove food in , (pot-au-feu, olla podrida). Added ingredients must be given time to cook before the food can be eaten.
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