# Slow cooker question...



## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

Is this the same as the crock pot? Is there any non electric way to slow cook something like a pot roast?

I can certainly get a crock pot which will be great as long as I am on grid so to speak, but what about after? Thanks in advance, sis


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

I have always considered the crock pot to be a slow cooker. To get away from that, a gas oven turned down low with a roasting pan will work nearly the same. I see no reason you couldnt even use your crock in the oven... not the whole unit, just the insert. A very good friend of mine built a slow cooker/smoker out of a whiskey barrel and small wood heating stove. It pulls the hot smoke out of the stove and circulates it through the barrel, where the food is cooked. You can see it in the background in this photo taken at our wedding. It sure made itself useful that day!


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## dkhern (Nov 30, 2012)

ive seen post and threads about solar ovens that sound a lot like a slow cooker ive never used one might do a search


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

A dutch oven and some campfire coals can be a slow cooker. 

Digging a pit in the ground, then lining it with rocks, and finally building a fire in the pit for several hours. Once the fire is out or just coals place your food in the pit and then bury it. Allow it to cook underground over night in the pit. Next day unearth it. You can slow cook an entire pig like this. Or as we do during a summer festival, cook big calderens of baked beans underground during Pequot Lakes Bean Hole Days.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

"Crock Pot" is the name of the Rival brand of slow cooker. Since it was one of the first brands, it's name became generic. There are many others, but Rival has (had) a trademark on the name "Crock Pot".

If you have ample sunshine, a solar cooker is the way to go for "off grid" cooking. Here is a picture of a pot roast I did in mine last fall.










Dh is making me a large solar cooker that is going to be 32" x 24" and is mounted on a wagon so I can move it around as needed. The larger it is, the hotter it will get. I will post pictures when it is finished.


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## Raven12 (Mar 5, 2011)

Please post pictures and share what you are cooking in the solar cookers.


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## Mountain Mick (Sep 10, 2005)

Try a pressure cooker on very low heat, I'll try it and let you know. MM


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

Thanks all!


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

Here is a neat way to make an nonelectric slow cooker:

http://www.countryfarm-lifestyles.com/hayboxes.html


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## Elffriend (Mar 2, 2003)

When I make brisket I wrap it up in a couple of layers of heavy duty aluminum foil and bake it at 200 all day. I would use my crockpot, but the briskets I get are usually too big for the crockpot.


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## Raven12 (Mar 5, 2011)

Speaking of brisket, I was wondering if would be possible to smoke one in a solar cooker. I am going to have to google the things.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

You could use liquid smoke, but then everything you ever fix in the cooker will smell like smoke - cookies, rice, ect. I don't think I would attempt it.

As for "real" smoke, then - no. In order to work well the cookers need to be air tight.


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## Raven12 (Mar 5, 2011)

I was considering using wood chips if the temp of the solar cooker could be at a constant temp. I spent an hour or so looking at solar panels and 12v batteries. Lol. Heck, hooking up an electric grill/smoker to one of those might be a possibility??? Lol. Oh, I don't have enough time for this today.


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## wally (Oct 9, 2007)

suitcase_sally said:


> You could use liquid smoke, but then everything you ever fix in the cooker will smell like smoke - cookies, rice, ect. I don't think I would attempt it.
> 
> for "real" smoke, then - no. In order to work well the cookers need to be air tight.


 Okay I did this, cooked some brisket in a dutch oven, then used the oven to make a cherry pie, thus making the first time for a smoked cherry pie...the hogs ate it any way


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## Txsteader (Aug 22, 2005)

I've never owned a slow cooker.....I've always used my old 4 qt Presto canner/cooker as a 'slow cooker'. Just leave the weight off the top so it can vent and turn the heat as low as possible. Pot roast to die for.


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## Franzia (Jul 13, 2004)

A crockpot is a slow cooker but a slow cooker is not necessarily a crockpot. If it has a crock insert, it is a crockpot, if it doesn't, it is a slow cooker. I have both crockpots and slow cookers. My slow cookers are by West Bend and have a separate base that can double as a griddle and a metal pot that can also be used on the stove or in the oven. Crockpots, per se, cook slower than slow cookers. I can see the advantage of having both. I also have a Sun Oven solar oven which is AWESOME! It can be a slow cooker but it will also bake bread! I would not want to be without either of them. I like the idea to use a pressure cooker as a slow cooker and I wouldn't want to be without on of those, either. I just like slow cooked food...has more flavor and requires much less 'hands on' time in the kitchen. I also have a honkin' Weber grill that I bake bread in and make killer pizzas using an add-on pizza stone placed on 2 bricks set on their side to hold it up off the heat so that when I close the lid to preheat, it is a lot like an oven... along with everything else you can do with grills is sufficient to prepare most things I like to eat. 

I'm on the grid and will probably stay on the grid due to my age and my health but I _could _be off the grid if I chose because I live in a 40' 5th wheel...


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

I have three of the West Bend slo cookers and love them. One is the small 4 qt. and two are the large 6 qt. I like them because of their shape (rectangular). I also have 7 "crock pots". I like the West Bends the best.

Pictures of my new solar cooker:


http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/ge...ons/483513-my-new-solar-oven.html#post6562599

Although this one is not so "portable", I can cook enough for a crowd - meat and three!


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Cabin Fever said:


> A dutch oven and some campfire coals can be a slow cooker.
> 
> Digging a pit in the ground, then lining it with rocks, and finally building a fire in the pit for several hours. Once the fire is out or just coals place your food in the pit and then bury it. Allow it to cook underground over night in the pit. Next day unearth it. You can slow cook an entire pig like this. Or as we do during a summer festival, cook big calderens of baked beans underground during Pequot Lakes Bean Hole Days.


 
When I poured my back patio I buried 2-5 gallon buckets with lids at the top level of the concrete. Bottom was rock up a couple of inches to let any water drain. Broke out the plastic buckets, nice little pits. I have one of those briquette stacks to light the coals. I push 6-8 into the hole, lower the dutch oven with lid and put 3-5 on top of the lid. I have heavy iron circles that set on top of the concrete patio. It is amazing how they cook, many great meals out of them. One for main course 1 for dessert. I wish I had done 3 or 4....James


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Wow, James, I like that idea! Any pics?


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Sorry I don't own a camera. I use to do a lot of cowboy action shooting and reenactment stuff. We cooked a lot outdoors, the old way. Have gotten pretty good at it. I have a little cart, front looks like a little covered wagon, back has the chuck wagon, built on an old farm wagon rear axle. A club I was in did tractor rides and we did camping during the summer and fall. Camp fires and cast iron cooking. The original slow cookers. It was a lot of fun....James


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