What's the difference between a slow cooker, crockpot and pressure cooker?!
What's the difference between a slow cooker, crockpot and pressure cooker?
Are they the same thing or are they all different? Which is most useful?
Answers:
slow cooker and crock pot are just different names for the same thing.
A pressure cooker is different...The lid locks on tightly and pressure builds up inside the pot to about 15 pounds. Foods cook much faster this way and and keeps the flavor in.
One is not "better" than the other. They just do different things.
Use a slow cooker if you want to be able to put dinner on in the morning and come back to have it cooked. It is safe to leave it. Use the pressure cooker if (for instance) you didn't soak the beans overnight but you need them in a couple of hours. You can't leave a pressure cooker un attended and you should read the instructions carefully, as they are all different. (DO NOT take the lid off a pressure cooker until the the indicator says the pressure is COMPLETELY down. The pressure can blow the metal lid and hot liquid on you and cause injury).
they are all the exact same thing.... just different names
a slow cooker and a crock pot are the same thing just by a different name; it cooks things long and slow just like the name says so you can put things in your pot and go to work or clean house, do errands whatever and in about 8 hours you have dinner all ready made. now a pressure cooker is something completely different. it cooks food by pressure making your food more tender and cooking faster. I have made a cornbeef in a pressure cooker in about 45 minutes.
I believe a CrockPot is just a brand name for a particular slow cooker. A pressure cooker is definately different. A slow cooker is useful if you are going to be away for the day, but want something ready when you get home. It cooks at a preset temperature for a long period of time. (I have left it unsupervised for hours, but I'm sure thats not reccomended!) A pressure cooker is NEVER to be left unattended. It uses steam pressure to cook foods more quickly. (My mother makes a kick-butt pot roast meal in it!) Both are useful, but for different uses.
The first two are the same.
"A slow cooker, often referred to as a Crock-Pot?, is a countertop electrical home appliance that is used to cook stews and other dishes containing water at relatively low temperatures, with correspondingly long cooking times (several hours). Many recipes simply call for the ingredients to be put in the crock, with little preparation. The slow cooker can then safely be left to run unattended, making it a convenient cooking method."
"Slow cooker" is the generic term. "Crock-Pot" is the most popular brand of slow cookers.
Pressure cookers are very different from slow cookers in my opinion.
"Pressure cooking is a method of cooking in a sealed vessel that does not permit air or liquids to escape below a preset pressure. Because water's boiling point increases as the pressure increases, the pressure built up inside the cooker allows the liquid in the pot to rise to a temperature higher than 100 °C (212 °F) before boiling.
Pressure cookers usually look like regular metal pots. But they have lids that actually clamp or screw into place, keeping the steam inside. They often have pressure guages on the lid, too.