Crock-pot Thread

[Grub]

Another thing to mention is that it is also a rather cheap way of slow-cooking as the ceramic retains a lot of heat and the heating never goes overly high unlike a stovetop and oven which saves on the energy bill compared to cooking the same way with the alternatives. Breaking down bones for stock or a cheap cut of lamb/pork/beef/game in a slow-cooker is a bit cheaper than the other ways.

That's a good point. I used to have a ceramic coated cast iron pot. That thing was great for making soups and sauces. It was old as fuck though. It came from my grandma. The coating all started wearing away and I eventually had to stop using it. The shitty aluminum ones I replaced it with suck so hard by comparison. I hate them. They don't even boil water properly.

 

[Mordecai "3 Finger" Brown]

The shitty aluminum ones I replaced it with suck so hard by comparison. I hate them. They don't even boil water properly.

Not to get too off-topic, but stockpot & saucepan quality & thickness become so apparent & important as you gain experience cooking. Particularly the thickness & quality of the metal at the bottom of the pot.

I went through a phase where I loved popping fresh popcorn from the kernels on the stove in a little bit of oil.

I used the technique where you heat the oil first to close to the popping temp while leaving only a few test kernels in the thin oil layer to indicate when it's ready for the full batch.

The cheap aluminum stockpots with thin flimsy bottoms would take forever and burn the oil before any kernels would ever turn. I actually ruined a few cheap pots this way because the black char would never fully come off.

I assume it has something to do with better quality & thicker metal on the bottom allows more evenly distributed energy transfer.

It was very apparent by trying different pots which sucked & which didn't.

 

[Grub]

Not to get too off-topic, but stockpot & saucepan quality & thickness become so apparent & important as you gain experience cooking. Particularly the thickness & quality of the metal at the bottom of the pot.

I went through a phase where I loved popping fresh popcorn from the kernels on the stove in a little bit of oil.

I used the technique where you heat the oil first to close to the popping temp while leaving only a few test kernels in the thin oil layer to indicate when it's ready for the full batch.

The cheap aluminum stockpots with thin flimsy bottoms would take forever and burn the oil before any kernels would ever turn. I actually ruined a few cheap pots this way because the black char would never fully come off.

I assume it has something to do with better quality & thicker metal on the bottom allows more evenly distributed energy transfer.

It was very apparent by trying different pots which sucked & which didn't.

They were free pots I got from some grocery store give away. They're the kind that retail for stupidly expensive but are always on sale for stupid cheap so you know they're actual garbage. They were a good size though.

Different metals have different thermal properties. Aluminum absorbs and releases heat quickly. That's why aluminum pots heat up fast but don't retain heat for very long after removing them from heat. Steel and cast iron take longer to heat up but hold heat for longer. Thicker gauge metal will also retain heat for longer.

My favourite frying pan is a stainless steel pan with an aluminum bottom I ended up acquiring off a chef friend of mine. I fucking love that pan. It heats up quickly and evenly, holds the heat well. It doesn't have any plastic so I can pop it in the oven if I need to. I cook almost everything in that pan. But I guess this is getting pretty wildly off topic now so I'll stop rambling about cookware.

 

[WhoDaresWhoCaresWhoKnows]

That's a good point. I used to have a ceramic coated cast iron pot. That thing was great for making soups and sauces. It was old as fuck though. It came from my grandma. The coating all started wearing away and I eventually had to stop using it. The shitty aluminum ones I replaced it with suck so hard by comparison. I hate them. They don't even boil water properly.

For sure, good cast iron is always fantastic, coated or not! I very much avoid any and all aluminum in the kitchen, including foil and utensils, as it very easily leeches into foods, especially any acidic food will eat away at any aluminum cookware and foil.


Anti-Aluminum sperging below:
Aluminum serves absolutely no function in the biology of the human body while at the same time competing for the same chemical pathways the human body uses to absorb essential minerals like magnesium, calcium, iron, etc.. As such even with a good and balanced diet aluminum can make you lack essentials you are consciously making an effort to include in your diet.

Aluminum cookware is genuinely to cookware what margarine is to butter, basically satan. And just like margarine exposure to aluminum is pretty bad for the body long-term with it being to linked to its own series of health issues. In aluminums case, neurological issues like Alzheimer's, dementia, hormonal issues, and some cancers. etc..
The human body is also not that good at disposing aluminum, especially as you age and kidney functions keeps lowering. Tons of companies sneak it into lots of foods, cosmetics, and some drugs.

The classic trick is of course that each and every product is considered safe for daily use on its own.
However, when you fry your breakfast in an aluminum pan, use a deodorant and/or cosmetics with aluminum every morning, unwrap aluminum foil from your sandwich during work lunch, boil your dinner vegetables in aluminum pots, maybe boil water for your evening tea in another aluminum pot, and take necessary prescription drugs with aluminum in them, you are very much setting your long-term health up for failure.

Aluminum sperging ends here.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

I went through a phase where I loved popping fresh popcorn from the kernels on the stove in a little bit of oil.

I used the technique where you heat the oil first to close to the popping temp while leaving only a few test kernels in the thin oil layer to indicate when it's ready for the full batch.

The cheap aluminum stockpots with thin flimsy bottoms would take forever and burn the oil before any kernels would ever turn. I actually ruined a few cheap pots this way because the black char would never fully come off.

tbh I've been dreading trying to do popcorn again after we moved to a place with electric instead of gas
online bro turned me onto stovetop popcorn and I've become a picky bitch about it like how I am about unpasteurized OJ