In ancient times, women would start cooking dinner at noon because there was a trend of slow cooking. The slow cooking brings out the deepest of the taste and essence of the meal. However, people aren’t free enough to opt for slow cooking since they have tight schedules to follow. But the advanced technology has got everything covered, and they have designed the crock pots for slow cooking.
With these pots and low temperatures, the users gain high nutritious values from the food because slow cooking locks in the nutrients. Usually, the crock pots are designed with a lower temperature range of 190-degrees Fahrenheit, and the highest temperature is around 300-degrees Fahrenheit. As far as the optimum crock pot temperature is concerned, it ranges from 200-degrees to 205-degrees Fahrenheit.
For reaching the high-temperature range, four hours are required, and with low temperature, the duration will increment to eight hours. Once this temperature has been harnessed, it will have hours of retainment, so that the cooking time is reached. For more information about slow cooking temperatures with a crock pot, we have rounded up this article!
Best Temperatures For Slow Cooking
The optimum or best temperatures for slow cooking depends on the recipe that you are following because recipes tell if you need high-temperature cooking or low-temperature cooking. The low-temperature setting is 200-degrees, and the high-temperature setting is 300-degrees in Fahrenheit. However, you need to heat the pot for four hours to make sure it reaches the proper temperature.
Even more, you can check the pot’s temperature with a thermometer. However, you need to be quick while checking the temperature because around ten to fifteen degrees of temperature is lost once you open the lid. With the thermometer, the high-temperature setting should range from 285-degrees Fahrenheit to 290-degrees Fahrenheit.
For the low-temperature setting, you need to heat the pot for eight hours. After that, you can check the temperature with a thermometer, and it should range from 185-degrees Fahrenheit to 190-degrees Fahrenheit.
Which Is Better – Low Or High Temperature?
The prime difference between the low and high temperature is the time essential for crock pot to reach the simmering point. We have already shared the optimum temperatures for heating up the pots. It is essential to add at this point that slow cooking will take a longer time, but it is best for taste and flavor development. On the other hand, fast cooking will compromise on taste.
With this being said, it is important that you follow the exact recipe rather than taking shortcuts because shortening the cooking time will only lose the flavor. However, if you have to run some errands or cannot attend to the food for any reason, the temperature can be adjusted according to the cooking time, so there is no over-cooking or under-cooking.
Guide For Cooking Time Adjustment
In this section, we have added the time adjustments for Crock Pot according to the temperature, such as;
- Three hours high temperature of seven hours of low temperature
- Four hours high temperature of eight hours of low temperature
- Five hours high temperature of nine hours of low temperature
- Six hours high temperature of ten hours of low temperature
- Seven hours high temperature of eleven hours of low temperature
With these points, you will be able to improvise the cooking times to ensure there is no overcooking. In addition, if you used the advanced models of Crock Pots, they come with timers, so it will switch off automatically on the set time.
The Cooking Temperatures for Crock Pot
The minimum or the lowest cooking temperature for crock pot is around 165-degrees Fahrenheit, which ensures slow and safe cooking and simmering. With a high cooking temperature, the temperature ranges from 195-degrees to 200-degrees Fahrenheit. At that high temperature, the food will start bubbling because it’s the signal of regular cooking.
On the other hand, you can always switch to medium cooking temperature because it offers temperature in-between high and low. As for the cooking pots, every crock pot has a different temperature setting because every slow cooker works differently.
Additional Guidelines
If you want to cook something in a Crock Pot, we have added additional guidelines in this section;
- The meat shouldn’t be thawed and frozen
- The pot should at least be half or ¾ filled for proper cooking
- You should try one hour of high-temperature cooking for meat and then move to low cooking temperature
- During slow cooking, the lid should be on always, so there is no heat loss
- If you’ve to cook meat, always use chunks rather than using large cuts
The Suitable Meat Cuts For Slow Cooking
To be honest, any meat is suitable. However, the beef, pork, and lamb cuts, along with veal back and fillet are suitable for barbecue. As for the slow cookers, you can cook cartilage, tendon, and connective tissue (affordable cuts) in them. To be honest, these low-quality meat types will become tastier and juicier!