New Takes on Slow-Cooking Tech
(From WIRED Magazine, Issue 19.09) There isn’t much you can do with a slow cooker that you can’t accomplish with a Dutch oven on a stove top. You still have to brown your meats and sauté your onions ahead of time. You still have to chop, dredge, and deglaze. But there is one important thing a slow cooker will let you do: walk away. However, there’s more than just convenience going on here. Stewing meat for long periods over low heat breaks down collagen and other connective tissues. And those low temperatures make it pretty difficult to overcook your ingredients. Come home a bit late and you’ll still be greeted with delicious, fork-tender cuts. So a slow cooker is the perfect piece of throwback gadgetry for the busy modern chef—which might explain why companies from All-Clad to the original Crock-Pot are constantly coming out with new takes on this 40-year-old tech. New models vary widely in price, functions, and features. Some heat the cooking vessel on all sides, while others heat only from the bottom. Basic cookers go for less than $30, while multiuse models, which double as griddles and steamers, can cost more than $200. After testing several, here’s what we found: The most important feature of a slow cooker is what you put in it. When it comes to this category of kitchen gadgetry, low-cost and simple wins.
