Is the Slow-Cooking Craze a Crock?

The latest trend in culinary gear is the crock pot. From stews to simmered pot roasts, will chefs be convinced that a slow cooker is something to use on a regular basis?

Why Some Chefs Can't Warm Up to Slow Cooking

Why isn't a crock pot ideal for some chefs? Consider:

High or low. You'll need to know whether your recipe should be cooked in four hours or eight.
Because you can't rush a slow cooker, you have to plan carefully in order to eat on time.
Yielding to the temptation to for a peek at your dish often necessitates longer cooking time, since lifting the lid causes substantial loss of heat.
The bulky appliance takes up a lot of counter space.
A heavy dutch oven on top of the stove or in the oven does the trick for many chefs.

Some Positives of Slow Cooking

Slow cookers work on the "set it and forget it" principle. You can walk away from a full pot of plum tomatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, herbs, broth and meat, returning in a few hours later to a delicious, piping hot.

But there are other benefits. According to Betty Fussell, chef and author of The Story of Corn, "I am in every way a Slow Foodie. Time is one of the essential ingredients of cooking, as in the flavor blending, as in texture manipulation, as in fermentation of grain or grapes."

And Andrew Zimmem, host of the Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods agrees, "I would take a slow cooker every night of the week, even if the week was 10 days long. Slow cookers provide 12 to 16 hours of mouthwatering aromas and offer simple one-touch culinary solutions to complex problems."

The jury may still be out on crock pots, but a culinary degree from an accredited institution can help you form a more educated opinion on the slow cooker phenomenon.

About the Author

Sue Booth is a freelance writer and a former panel taste tester for Good Housekeeping magazine.

Source(s)

The Chronicle Herald
ANew cookers perfect choice for busy chefs, Kane County Chronicle

Chef School Features

California Culinary Academy

Get your Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts or Hospitality & Restaurant Management degree at the acclaimed California Culinary Academy in beautiful San Francisco, CA.

The Art Institutes

Turn your passion into a four-star career. At The Art Institutes, you'll explore traditional, fundamental cooking skills and get hands on training in our student-run restaurants.

Western Culinary Institute

Western Culinary Institute (WCI) offers world-renowned Le Cordon Bleu Programs in the heart of one of the nation's most beautiful and culturally-thriving cities — Portland, OR.