Slow Cookers

[andiesenji]

Don't be too concerned about the lead in your older slow cookers. 

The "lead" thing has been blown way out of proportion.  A researcher at UCLA, who is the son of a friend, tested a large number of ceramic cooking vessels, including slow cookers, as part of his doctorial thesis in 2004. 
I contributed some of my old (cracked or chipped) bean pots, casserole dishes and a couple of slow cooker liners. 

Unless cooking with very high acid foods, they don't leach at all and if they have been used for several years, there is so little lead remaining that it won't be a problem. 

He both cooked in them with various types of food and afterward broke them up, ground to a powder and burnt the stuff in a crucible and measured the gases produced.  Very scientific, I didn't understand half of what he told me and his mum. 

The amounts found in all but a few ceramic cooking vessels (none of them slow cookers) were about the same as found in "background" amounts in most areas.  There is more lead blowing around in the air in China and parts of the American west - around old silver mines, for instance - than in these vessels.   And many vegetables, especially root vegetables, contain minute amounts of lead if grown in these areas. 

In one test, vegetables cooked in a stainless steel pan had only slightly less lead than in the ceramic and probably was in the vegetables to begin with and was nowhere near the minimum allowable. 

You could breath in ten to one-hundred times that amount on a windy, dusty day where I live.
Nine miles north of me is a "mountain" of tailings from an old silver mine and the stuff that blows in the wind is pretty nasty stuff.  The town up there had to relocate an elementary school because of the lead, cadmium and arsenic in the soil on the playground.
The wind often blows from there to here. 

Anyway, as I said in the beginning, unless your ceramic liner was made in Mexico or China prior to 1980, it should be perfectly safe.

[Cornish Cream]

Thanks Andie.I will keep my slow cooker for the time being,I value your knowledge and you have put my mind at rest about the problem.

[Frozzie]

thanks andie 

however if you were to buy a new one would you still buy a ceramic one or glass or stainless still or you really dont think it matters?

Im always a bit iffy about cooking materials in general 

[andiesenji]

thanks andie  

however if you were to buy a new one would you still buy a ceramic one or glass or stainless still or you really dont think it matters?

Im always a bit iffy about cooking materials in general  

I would buy the ceramic.  I have a "few" slow cookers - the Cuisinart 5-quart that has the liner that can be used on the stovetop, an 8 quart West Bend "Crockery Cooker,"  a 4 quart Rival CrockPot, a 2 1/2 quart Rival CrockPot and a 1 quart Rival CrockPot "Fondue/Chocolate Pot"  as well as a few others that are "collection" pieces, being rare discontinued models that appeared for only a brief time on the market.  One has inserts to cook multiple things at the same time, works okay.   One is a "programmable" slow cooker/steamer combination with a ceramic line AND a stainless steel liner with a stacking steamer for use when turned on "Ultra High/Steam."   The latter was made by Panasonic in Japan and was only sold in the U.S. for a few months back in 2003-2004 - it was too expensive as one could buy a rice cooker, a slow cooker and another appliance for the same price as that not-too-efficient combination.

I only used it once.  Even on the lowest setting any liquid would boil, thus defeating the purpose of a "slow" cooker.  Bad design.  

The ceramic liners work better because they also insulate as well as transmitting the food, allowing the appliance to use less electricity to maintain the desired temperature. 

[judydawn]

Andie you can always be relied upon to come up with the right information and I applaud you for that.  I tried to google slow cookers with a stainless steel bowl and didn't come up with any at all.  I thought maybe there might be one with a pyrex insert but nothing along those lines either.  That doesn't mean they don't exist, just that Mr Google is a bit slack on this one  He could have said there are none, instead of proceeding to show me all types of slow cookers with ceramic inserts.

[Meagan]

Just check the lining of the metal ones too, some have a non stick coating which can have nasties too

[Frozzie]

thanks andie....really love your contribution and input to this forum....you are a world of information....how lucky those close to you must be...i hope they realise how lucky they are!

JD I have found a few in both treated glass (they call it trempé here which is basically put in a really hot oven then rapidly cooled to strengthen the glass) and some stainless steel and obviously alot ceramic but they are mainly european brands...

Meagan Im not a fan either of non stick anything even though i have some pots and pans non stick but will start slowly replacing them after christmas...just too many projects going on before!!  .my thing is that each individual item may have very few nasties but its the additional of so many nasties that do harm...I just try to minimise as much as possible without getting freaky about it....someone once said to me and its quite true that if you look how much most people put into or onto their body these days on a daily basis and not just food but also what we cook with, what we wash with, such as toothpaste, shampoo, soap or washing gels, makeup, perfume, deo etc etc etc plus whatever is around in the soil and air...I just think you need to be sensible and not go overboard but be aware all the same what your adding into that 'pile'..im very aware that specialists say something isnt dangerous...their right its not...but add up everything you have with even minimal baddies in it and thats where the problem starts...one example is I can get alot of cooking stuff for free, mainly plastic moulds etc and I dont take any of it as I just dont trust it

again thats just me and my crazy ways lol!

[fundj&e]

just got this email from simlpy savings

TURN A STYROFOAM BOX INTO A SLOW COOKER!

Slow cookers (aka crock pots) can be expensive to buy but my version works
just as well and is free.  It doesn't even use any electricity!  I make a 'Hot
Box' using a styrofoam vegie box with a lid (you can get these for free from
supermarkets or greengrocers) and two old pillow cases full of polystyrene
packing chips, like the ones used for packing parcels. First, make your stew,
soup, curry or whatever you want to cook in the morning as usual and simmer
for five minutes, then turn off heat and cover with a lid.  Place one stuffed
pillow in the bottom of the box, then place your cooking pot on top of the
pillow in the box. Take the second stuffed pillow and tuck your pot into
'bed'. Put the styrofoam lid on and leave to gently cook all day.  Come home
tired, open the box and you will find the pot is still hot.  Simply place it
on the stove, bring to the boil for three minutes and serve.  That's it!  I
have been using my 'Hot Box' once a week for the last 22 years!

  ciao

[judydawn]

  I like saving up to a point but I think this one is going a little too far - they are not that expensive afterall 

[Meagan]

Fundj that reminds me of a friends mum who makes slow cooker bags for families in Africa who have no electricity etc. It is a fabric thing like a bean bag with a space for a lidded pot and has the poly balls like a bean bag has inside. And a top and it insulates the food and cooks it like a slow cooker would  great charity thing she did.

[andiesenji]

Unless you absolutely know that the temperature is not going to fall below 140° F., or 60° C., this is a chancy method. 
I have a couple of the insulated hot dish carriers and have experimented with stews, chilies and soups, using a remote probe thermometer with an alarm. (The one I use for yogurt.) 
The problem is, even with the best home insulating material, with the food starting at 190° F., 88° C., the temp will drop into the danger range within at most, 5-6 hours, depending on how dense the food is.  Thick chili will retain heat longer than stew with chunks of meat and veg in a thinner gravy.   You certainly can't cook chicken or meats under these conditions without a constant heat source.

There are commercial hot containers that will retain heat for several hours but they are very expensive.  When I was catering I had several but I also had two electric "hot carts" when there was a possibility I would have to keep food hot longer than 5-6 hours.  I had plenty of insurance but my business depended on not having any "accidents" with food safety. 

Every year here in the U.S. there are reports of outbreaks of salmonella following church or other social potlucks because hot foods do not remain hot enough long enough or cold foods don't remain cold enough - below 40° F., 4.4° C. 
It's a lot easier to keep foods cold than it is to keep them hot without an outside heat source. 

The very young and the elderly and people with other health problems are the most at risk. 

In my opinion, it is cheaper in the long run to spend the money on one of the inexpensive slow cookers, without all the bells and whistles of the programmable ones, than risk the health of family and friends. 

[maddy]

I love my cuisinart 6.5L programmable, with auto keep warm



It is big, but great for joints, and large capacity amounts.  I love slow cooking Mexican beef for at least 12 hours on low, and then shred it.
Great for leaving and forgetting, and cooking tough meats.
Choose a smaller one (3-4 litres), if you are not making large quantities.
Smaller ones are fab for keeping gravies warm if you have people over.

[Meagan]

Maddy what is the bowl made of?

[judydawn]

That's the one I bought my DD for her birthday.  I see it everytime I'm down there but have never taken any notice of what the bowl is made out of - mind you after this thread I was definitely going to next time I'm there

[maddy]

It's ceramic.
I had looked at the stainless steel versions, but I have read reports that people complained their food had a metalic taste   and I thought it would a P.I.T.A to clean after several burnt-on hours