Crock-Pot problems? We've got the answers for you!

Crock-Pots are still hot, but not everybody loves them and not everybody trusts them. When we asked folks to share their slow-cooker hesitations, we got quite a few questions. (Click here for our tips on slow cookers and chicken.)

We decided to contact the manufacturer of Crock-Pot (the first and largest brand), and get some professional help. I spoke with Shannon Baxley, a marketing director in charge of slow cooking for Jarden Consumer Solutions, which bought the Crock-Pot brand five years ago from the Rival company (and eliminated Rival from the product name).

So without further ado, here are your questions and here’s what we learned:

Question: Kate Orf wants to know if she should follow the estimated cooking times on a slow-cooker recipe, (8 to 10 hours for a roast, for example), or remove the food when it reaches food safety recommended cooking temperatures?

“My slow cooker seems to cook things really fast, but when I try to do roasts and remove them when they have an internal temp of 130-150 degrees, they come out tough,” Kate says. “ I'm wondering if I left them in for longer if they would soften up?”

Answer: You absolutely should keep cooking your foods for the full time indicated in the recipe!

“Lean meats need to simmer,” Shannon said. “The flavors will infuse and the meat will start falling off the bone or falling apart. This is when you know it’s ready.”

Be aware that bone-in meats take longer than meats with no bone. Leaner cuts also cook faster than cuts with more fat.

Question from Jeff: I’m scared of leaving the Crock-Pot on all day! Is it time I tried to slow-cook despite this fear?

Answer: Definitely! The first Crock-Pot came out in 1971, and even those first pots are still safe to use.

“Slow cookers are designed to run all day with no risk,” Shannon said. “They have such a low wattage that they couldn’t possibly catch on fire. It wouldn’t even matter if something fell over on it. They still wouldn’t catch on fire.”

Question from Janice Bennett: In my newspaper this week there was an article for a Slow-Simmered and Savory Pot Roast (click here for the recipe). Someone gave me a five-quart Crock-Pot for Christmas and I have used it a few times. Is it normal for the food to boil even when the setting is put on "Low"?

Answer: Yes! But actually what will be happening is that the liquid will be simmering. (One person’s simmer is another person’s boil, of course!)
“It’s absolutely normal for the liquid to simmer, as we like to call it, toward the end of cooking,” Shannon said.

Question/comment from Lisa: What don't I like about Crock-Pot cooking? Handling raw meat at 6:44 a.m. EEEEWWWW!!!!

Answer/suggestion: It’s perfectly safe to complete your recipe the night before to the point where you’d start the slow cooking, but then refrigerate the loaded crock, covered, until the next morning. Put the cold crock into the base, turn it on and walk away.

It will not crack, and the food will not develop any harmful bacteria, Shannon said.

You’ll still have to deal with raw food, but maybe you’ll find it easier at night!

Any other questions? Leave them in the comments section following this post. Any other Crock-Pot tips that we didn’t mention here? Put those in our comments space, too!