Crock Pot Express Crock Multi-Cooker

My wife came home with this item today. It is a crockpot/steamer/pressure cooker appliance.




We had 2 crock pots but after 30 years of use they gave up the ghost.
I also own 3 pressure cookers that I have NEVER cooked food in. They were used for canning when we made spaghetti sauce.

So this new gizmo intriqued me. I figured if I did not like the pressure cooking feature I could simply use it as a crock pot.

I searched the freezer and the only likely candidate for pressure cooking was a pork roast. I decided to make a pot roast. To me the convenience of the crock pot is the all in one pot meals. Most of the recipes I found on-line called for doing the meat and veggies separately. The total time would still be half of using the oven for a pot roast. But I did not want the inconvenience. My wife found one where everything was pressure cooked at once. I was a little leary thinking the potatoes and carrots might be mush. But went ahead anyway.

The cooker allows you to sear the meat and did much better than I was expecting.



While the meat was searing I prepped the veggies.



I added the veggies and some canned beef stock.


I set it to cook for 60 minutes on "high Pressure". The appliance has 2 steam vents. One is the weighted vent found on traditional pressure cookers. It serves as a safety feature. While holding the steam in the weigh just sits in a hole. The unit can never overpressurize as the excess steam escapes pass the calibrated weight. The weight also serves as an interlock - you cannot open the unit whilst under pressure. There is also a release vent to use to get back to atmospheric pressure once done.

The unit took 18 minutes to reach pressure. I heard the weight click into place. A moment later the time started counting down.
Once the 60 minute cook time elapsed I waited 10 minutes and turned the release valve. That vented for 3 minutes before the safety interlock released and I could open the lid.

So total time was 90 minutes. Less than half of the 3 to 4 hours I would slow cook a pot roast in the oven.

This is dinner. It was fork tender and delicious. The vegetables retained there shaoe and were not mush.


ML said clean up was a breeze. The unit has a removal lightweight teflon coated liner.

All in all I am pleased with our initial use. I look forward to cooking with it more.

Interesting. Our pressure canner (older than I am by 1 year) is also usable as a cooker but I have to admit I have never used it for that. I also have no more room for sizeable cooking implements.

We have had one for quite a few months, now, and they greatly facilitate cooking time. Nonetheless, the flavour isn't as lovely as baking or barbecuing.

We have had one for quite a few months, now, and they greatly facilitate cooking time. Nonetheless, the flavour isn't as lovely as baking or barbecuing.

Interesting. Never thought of that. I guess "wet cooking" will never develop the flavorful charred bits.

My daughter's young man uses his to make pulled pork barbecue. It is delicious and much much faster than the traditional slow simmer.
But again that is a wet style of BBQ.

Phil, if he isn't using it have him look up America's Test Kitchen method of wet cooking ribs. They looked really good. He'll need to join, and pay, for the printed recipe, but he can do what I do and transcribe the show into a recipe. It involves a lot of starting and stopping the video.

I have yet to use one of their recipes that wasn't superior to what I had been doing on my own. Except for family recipes that are traditional.

Phil, if he isn't using it have him look up America's Test Kitchen method of wet cooking ribs. They looked really good. He'll need to join, and pay, for the printed recipe, but he can do what I do and transcribe the show into a recipe. It involves a lot of starting and stopping the video.

I have yet to use one of their recipes that wasn't superior to what I had been doing on my own. Except for family recipes that are traditional.

Brian,
He has a subscription to Cook's Illustrated from us. Most if not all of the ATK recipes are in CI. The goofy looking guy from VT was the mag editor and show host but has left.

I will have the young man look into it.

Phil, if he isn't using it have him look up America's Test Kitchen method of wet cooking ribs. They looked really good. He'll need to join, and pay, for the printed recipe, but he can do what I do and transcribe the show into a recipe. It involves a lot of starting and stopping the video.

I have yet to use one of their recipes that wasn't superior to what I had been doing on my own. Except for family recipes that are traditional.

My wife uses America's Test Kitchen all the time. Fantastic pulled pork / shredded beef / and ribs all cooked in the slow cooker. The meat comes out very soft and tender. Ribs get broiled in the oven and look and taste like they came off the BBQ. I'm not much of a cook,, but as someone who enjoys eating, I can 100% endorse America's Test Kitchen. My wife's caveat is that you have to follow the recipe and the preparation and cooking instructions 100%.

There is a resurgence in the art of pressure cooking with the advent of machines such as these. I got the Instant Pot version recently which is pretty much the same thing. I think they're great for making the cheaper cuts of meat palatable in a much shorter time frame. I did a corned beef brisket yesterday and learned that I need to pay closer attention to the weight when setting the time. It came out tender, too tender. I'll be making corned beef hash tonight!

Phil, I also get CI and CC and don't recall having seen it in either one yet.

Brian,
You and Nuki Man mention of BBQ and those mags inspired me to:

1. Start a THREAD on cooking mags.

2. Make some BBQ - pulled chicken as I had no pork. It was delicious. We ate it in Tortilla wraps.



I spoke with Amy's young man. He has a digital subscription to CI already. He has been perusing it for ideas.