Give me your crock pot wisdom

Thx...if boneless breasts aren’t dry, then my pork roast should be fine.

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with a little flower

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There's nothing wrong with a crock pot, but Kenji did a pretty good write up about how crock pots are inferior to your existing kitchen tools. LINK

Give it a read. I have found that braising in a Dutch oven is superior to a crock pot personally.

Of course it’s inferior. Crockpots are useful because they’re easy. You don’t have to baby them.

I use mine weekly for roast or tacos. With any pork roast searing it first makes a world of difference. It does make a lot of liquid on its own as others have said, and without a sear I’ve had them come out like boiled meat basically.

I usually season and sear, add 2 sliced onions to pan with a little liquid to get the gratin up, then add onions + roast to the crock pot. Low over night or while at work.

Another advantage is that it will switch itself to warm after the allotted cook time. Very convenient if you can't be there at the end of the cook time!

Thanks to everyone for the crock pot tips. I own one simply because they're a convenient way to keep something warm for an office party--I use it maybe once or twice a year for an office potluck if I bring gumbo, crawfish bisque, etc.

I'm more of a stovetop braise fan than oven braise, but I thought that the crock pot might work just fine for a shredded pork kinda dish....normally, I'm a fan of a good sear & fond to build flavor, but I actually *like* boiled pork (and beef, for that matter). The non-browned meat can be tasty in its own way...my mother makes a boiled dinner variation, cooking potatoes and carrots with pork or beef. She serves it with various sauces (a cocktail-esque remoulade cousin, and a basic horseradish-mayo sauce). It is admittedly a retro sort of dish.

I'm gonna give it a whirl and report my results. I'll probably saute some onions and four or five of the 300 bell peppers in my garden, brown the roast, and dump it all in the crockpot...will lard the bitty roast w/garlic, rub w/ancho, and let it go at low all day long. Gonna skip the sear and see how it goes. I can always crisp it up in a skillet post-crock if the results are insipid.

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Mine is one of the $25, Rival, off/low/high analog knob crock pots. It most definitely does not switch itself off. It's basically a heating element and a ceramic crock. As low tech as it gets....

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That's pretty much what mine is. Even though I don't use it often, I've thought about going a little higher tech as the auto switch off or switch to warm is very appealing to me. I really didn't start using one until maybe about 5 or so years ago. I used the big roaster much more often for overnight stocks.

A friend of mine does pulled pork in the crock pot and it's quite good for a crock pot version especially with a good blue cheese or other type of slaw.

A few years ago, I was pretty sick with the Winter crud and wanted a bean soup. I didn't feel well enough to do very much. I threw in the Hurst 15 beans pack with some Picsweet frozen chopped veggies, some smoked sausage, herbs and seasoning and turned it on. Took all of about 5 minutes and the result was a really tasty bean soup. I was shocked.

I use the slow cooker for chicken and pork enchiladas. You can keep it simple, but I like to use the drippings to make an enchilada sauce. I generally use wither a 3-4 lb Boston butt or a whole hen.

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PS simply planned to stick it w garlic, rub w salt and a little ancho chile and let it go.

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Add 1-2 tsp cumin and 1 Tbs of onion powder.