Pros and Cons of Slow Cooking

Slow cooking can really amplify the juices and flavors of food. A crock pot cooks your food very slowly, infusing the flavors and all the while being left unattended.  This allows more free time. But is everything about slow cooking good? Let’s check out the pros and cons and see if we can figure it out.

Pros of Slow Cooking

Everybody hates when the house gets all smoky and hot while dinner is cooking. That’s just one of the many pluses of using a slow cooker. Because of its design it keeps smoke in the pot and the heat around your food not around your house.

A lot of foods benefit from being slow cooked. A good example would be those “cheaper” cuts of meat. They are going to be more suitable for being stewed because long slow cooking (simmering) will soften not toughen the meat. Boiling takes away all the muscle and enhances the meat giving it that mouth watering taste.

Another plus with slow cooking is that it eliminates overcooking foods and keeps food from becoming bland. With a crock pot it’s off to other activities while your dinner is cooking at the same time. Talk about multi tasking.

Just a few ideas of things that can be made in the crock pot include: Pot roasts, meatballs, ham, turkey, stews, soups, chili, dips, vegetables, fruits and even desserts.

This is also a safer method of cooking. Since you’re using a lower temperature to cook the food it’s not going to be such a hazard. The lid stays over the food so there is no popping, sizzling or chances of someone being burnt. There are times when slow cookers aren’t always safe. There is a possibility that the ceramic could crack or steam can escape but that is a very low possibility.

Cons

When you slow cook food some of the nutrients are lost. This occurs mostly when cooking vegetables. Be sure to drink the broth that your slow cooker creates as it is very nutritive.

Another downfall of slow cooking is that is does take a long time until your food is ready to eat. If you’re looking for something quick then a slow cooker isn’t going to be your best bet.

It also presents a challenge when trying to cook all your food equally although there is a way around this. When cooking stews and soups there are many ingredients involved and everything is cooking at different speeds. Some dense vegetables like carrots take longer to cook than meat, since the crock pot is a long slow cooking process the vegetables should be added in first then the meat second. This will give vegetables a head start and keep them cooking right along with that cut of meat.

There are pros and cons when it comes to slow cooking foods. No matter which way you look at it there’s something to be said about throwing it all into one pot and walking away only to have a delicious meal waiting on you hours later. Try slow cooking and determine if the highs are worth the lows at the end of the day.  Win your race on creating delicious meals at a slow and steady pace.