Crock Pot Cooking Versus Traditional Cooking
People often wonder what the real differences are between cooking with a crock pot and using the more traditional methods of cooking, like grilling, oven roasting and baking and stove-top sautéing, not to mention the age-old method of going down the block to neighborhood fast food joint or steakhouse—secretly, you know it’s your favorite, too. What people don’t realize is that each of these types of cooking has its own unique and tremendous qualities, but that none is as easy or as safe as cooking with slow cooker recipes. Let’s review some of the major concerns and ideas that come up when we’re talking about these traditional methods of cooking versus using a crock pot to do our cooking.
Safety concerns- We all know that with every type of cooking there are safety concerns and you must take precautions not to let harm come to you, your family, or your food. When you’re cooking on the stove you have to worry about the pot boiling over, scorching the pans, the pots and the food and you have to worry about burning your hands on the burners. With grilling, you have to worry about flame-ups, charring the food and of course, grilling disasters. But with a crock pot you can just set it and forget it. Sure, if you’re crock pot is older, you need to test it before you use it, but you can always count on your crock pot to never boil over, scorch or flame-up. And that’s a beautiful thing.
Sealing in the flavor- When you’re making a meal you want it to be flavorful and satisfying. Take pork chops for instance. If you make them correctly you won’t have to worry about spices and sauces because the full, natural flavor of the pork chops would be enough. In grilling, stove and oven cooking, there’s always the worry that you may dry out your pork chops and other meats. But if you use specially written crock pot pork recipes, you won’t have to think about it twice. Cooking on the grill, in the oven and on the stove are relatively quick methods with high heat that drain the natural fats, juices and tenderness of the meat. But when you cook with a slow cooker, you are cooking with a safe, prolonged heat that penetrates the meat and cooks it without draining its natural fullness and flavor.
Health concerns- have you ever noticed when you cook on the stove that you have to coat the pan and the food in non-stick cooking spray, butter or oil? And even though there are more choices in the fats and oils department than ever before, they still can’t be healthy for you. But with some of the easy chicken crock pot ideas out there, you can find healthy alternatives to the regular fare. No more cooking your chicken in butter just to keep it from scorching on the outside and no more worrying about it being black on the outside and frozen on the inside.
Time to prepare- Let’s face it. Time, and a real lack of it, is the main reason you find a million other excuses to roll into a fast food restaurant and pick up a meal for your family or yourself rather than eating at home.
Ease of preparation- Next to time, the ease of preparing a meal is second to none in deciding to go to the burger joint down the street instead of rolling up your sleeves and making a meal that has flavor, is healthful and fulfills your hungry desires.
Cost of a single meal- With every fast food joint offering a dollar menu or super value menu now, it’s hard to resist the temptation to hand over that little, nearly meaningless piece of paper and coins to get the satisfaction you want right on the spot. Especially when you consider the fact that the pound of potatoes in your pantry that also cost you a dollar must be cut and boiled or fried, and if you can’t figure out why that might tempt you away from your own kitchen, go back to numbers 4 and 5.
A family that eats together stays together- If you had one of those functional families growing up, then you’re different than about 90% of all people and you’re lucky. But even those of us with dysfunctional families remember when Mom and Dad forced us to sit at the table and have a family meal together at least once a week, if not every night. You hated it then, but now that you’re older, you realize it wasn’t so bad after all because it just may have kept you close to your family. And just because the world is getting busier and you’re getting busy too, doesn’t mean that you still can’t have that time together. Unless you’re choosing to cook on the grill, on the stove, or in the oven. In that case, you’ll either have to cook all day and heat it up when you’re ready to eat, or you’ll have to sacrifice family time to get to your family meal and who wants to do that? That’s probably yet another reason why we choose to head for the fast food joint and local restaurant chain than stay at home.
But that’s why crock pot cooking is different. Pick out your most difficult recipe, like apples and pork that you would normally cook in a skillet or in the oven and have to watch to add water or turn down the temperature or add the vegetables, etc. etc. Now turn it into a crock pot apple and pork recipe. Throw in the ingredients in the morning when your family is still asleep and when it’s getting close to dinner you’ll actually be in the room to hear your children say, “Wow, that smells good,” for a change. And if you’re single, you might actually be able to read a few pages of that book you checked out from the library six months ago.
Tags: rock pot, slow cooker recipes, crock pot pork recipes, chicken crock pot recipes, crock pot apple and pork recipe, easy cooking, simple cooking, quick cooking, save time in kitche | rock pot, slow cooker recipes, crock pot pork recipes, chicken crock pot recipes, crock pot apple and pork recipe, easy cooking, simple cooking, quick cooking, save time in kitche