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Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Wonder Cooker
The Wonder Cooker is an all in one cooker which enables you to cook a wide variety of meals so you can easily eat something different every night. Plus you can cook enough for several meals at a time - just put what you don’t need right away in the fridge or freezer and reheat later. This means you might only have to cook twice a week but you’ll have a healthy home cooked meal every night.
If you’re anything like me, you want to prepare healthy, tasty meals for your family but it just doesn’t happen often enough. You know fast food is bad for you but you lead such a busy life that you simply don’t have time to cook. You want to be sure your children are eating the required servings of vegetables every day but it’s hard to find recipes they love. You want to prepare gourmet meals for your family and friends but you don’t know how. When you do finally get the time to cook you’re then left with a massive pile of dishes to wash. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be so difficult.
The Wonder Cooker can solve all these problems and make your life easier.
If you’re anything like me, you want to prepare healthy, tasty meals for your family but it just doesn’t happen often enough. You know fast food is bad for you but you lead such a busy life that you simply don’t have time to cook. You want to be sure your children are eating the required servings of vegetables every day but it’s hard to find recipes they love. You want to prepare gourmet meals for your family and friends but you don’t know how. When you do finally get the time to cook you’re then left with a massive pile of dishes to wash. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be so difficult.
The Wonder Cooker can solve all these problems and make your life easier.
Joy of Cooking
The Joy of Cooking is one of the United States' most-published cookbooks, having been in print continuously since 1936 and with more than 18 million copies sold. It was privately published in 1931 by Irma S. Rombauer, a homemaker in St. Louis, Missouri who was struggling emotionally and financially after her husband's suicide the previous year. The book was illustrated by Rombauer's daughter Marion Rombauer Becker, an art teacher at John Burroughs School. Irma Rombauer had 3,000 copies printed by A.C. Clayton, a company which had printed labels for fancy St. Louis shoe companies and for Listerine, but never a book. In 1936, the book was picked up by a commercial printing house, the Bobbs-Merrill Company. While Joy is considered a bit daunting for beginning cooks, it is the backbone of many home cooks' libraries (and is commonly found in commercial kitchens as well).
Slow Cooker Hazards
Because these cookers are hot, easily moved, contain large quantities of hot food and water, and are left unattended during long cooking times, they are dangerous to small children and exploratory pets, who must be kept away by reliable means. Electrical failures can cause problems, including fires. Although slow cookers have few parts that can fail in a dangerous way, and failures are rare, unattended slow cookers must be treated with respect and caution. For instance, they are best used in a kitchen placed on a tile or similarly reduced flammability surface, and not near flammable materials such as papers or flammable fluids since the outside of the slow cooker becomes hot during operation. Fire risk is minimized by keeping the appliance away from surrounding flammables.
Some slow cookers may contain a lead glaze[2]. As lead is a dangerous toxin that is stored in the body, one should avoid the risk of exposure by only purchasing models that have been tested by a regulatory agency. FDA regulations still allow a small amount of lead - to ensure a product is totally lead-free, you should contact the manufacturer.
Some slow cookers may contain a lead glaze[2]. As lead is a dangerous toxin that is stored in the body, one should avoid the risk of exposure by only purchasing models that have been tested by a regulatory agency. FDA regulations still allow a small amount of lead - to ensure a product is totally lead-free, you should contact the manufacturer.
Food Safety
Food safety
Slow cooker temperatures are lower than in most other cooking methods, and cooking times are correspondingly longer—typically 5–9 hours. Food must be heated to a temperature of at least 140°F (60°C) for safety; a properly functioning slow cooker must heat food to this temperature. As with any cooking method, cooked food must not be left at warm temperatures for long.
Frozen food should be defrosted before slow cooking. Defrosting should either be done at a low temperature to inhibit bacterial growth (i.e., in a refrigerator), or done quickly (i.e., in a microwave oven). Otherwise bacteria may multiply while the food is heating but has not yet attained a safe temperature to inhibit growth. Some bacteria produce toxins that remain in the food after the bacteria themselves are killed. Most, but not all, toxins are destroyed at high temperatures; the toxin produced by bacillus cereus is one important exception, although the micro-organism itself is killed by heat.
Some foods contain toxins naturally. Many, but not all, of these are destroyed by cooking at slow cooker temperatures. However some legumes are toxic when cooked at slow cooker temperatures, especially kidney beans, and can cause food poisoning.[1] To avoid this problem, such ingredients should be boiled for 10 minutes beforehand.
Perpetual stews (pot au feu, olla podrida) should never be maintained in slow cookers, as slow cookers do not typically provide sufficient heat to compensate for frequent additions and removals of food; nor do they cook quickly enough to cook newly added food thoroughly before the next withdrawal becomes likely. This relatively slow recovery of temperature after an addition or withdrawal may cause safety problems. Removal of the lid lets heat and moisture escape, prolonging cooking time and giving microbes the chance to grow.
Slow cooker temperatures are lower than in most other cooking methods, and cooking times are correspondingly longer—typically 5–9 hours. Food must be heated to a temperature of at least 140°F (60°C) for safety; a properly functioning slow cooker must heat food to this temperature. As with any cooking method, cooked food must not be left at warm temperatures for long.
Frozen food should be defrosted before slow cooking. Defrosting should either be done at a low temperature to inhibit bacterial growth (i.e., in a refrigerator), or done quickly (i.e., in a microwave oven). Otherwise bacteria may multiply while the food is heating but has not yet attained a safe temperature to inhibit growth. Some bacteria produce toxins that remain in the food after the bacteria themselves are killed. Most, but not all, toxins are destroyed at high temperatures; the toxin produced by bacillus cereus is one important exception, although the micro-organism itself is killed by heat.
Some foods contain toxins naturally. Many, but not all, of these are destroyed by cooking at slow cooker temperatures. However some legumes are toxic when cooked at slow cooker temperatures, especially kidney beans, and can cause food poisoning.[1] To avoid this problem, such ingredients should be boiled for 10 minutes beforehand.
Perpetual stews (pot au feu, olla podrida) should never be maintained in slow cookers, as slow cookers do not typically provide sufficient heat to compensate for frequent additions and removals of food; nor do they cook quickly enough to cook newly added food thoroughly before the next withdrawal becomes likely. This relatively slow recovery of temperature after an addition or withdrawal may cause safety problems. Removal of the lid lets heat and moisture escape, prolonging cooking time and giving microbes the chance to grow.
Nutrition
Nutrition
Cooking with a slow cooker does have some disadvantages. Vitamins and other trace nutrients are lost, particularly from vegetables, partially by enzyme action during cooking. When vegetables are cooked at higher temperatures these enzymes are rapidly denatured and have less time in which to act during cooking. Blanched vegetables, having been exposed to very hot water, have already had these enzyme rendered largely ineffective. Since slow cookers work at temperatures well below boiling point and do not rapidly denature enzymes, vegetables tend to lose trace nutrients. Green colors are retained better when vegetables are cooked quickly as plant cells are less likely to lose acids.
Cooking with a slow cooker does have some disadvantages. Vitamins and other trace nutrients are lost, particularly from vegetables, partially by enzyme action during cooking. When vegetables are cooked at higher temperatures these enzymes are rapidly denatured and have less time in which to act during cooking. Blanched vegetables, having been exposed to very hot water, have already had these enzyme rendered largely ineffective. Since slow cookers work at temperatures well below boiling point and do not rapidly denature enzymes, vegetables tend to lose trace nutrients. Green colors are retained better when vegetables are cooked quickly as plant cells are less likely to lose acids.
Cooking with a Slow Cooker
Recipes intended for other cooking methods must be modified for slow cookers. Often water must be decreased, as cooking at higher temperatures requires enough liquid to allow for evaporation. Some slow cookers are supplied with recipe booklets; many slow cooker recipes are to be found in cookbooks and on the internet. A small number of cookbooks seek to make complete dishes in a slow cooker using fewer than five ingredients, while others treat the slow cooker as a serious piece of culinary equipment capable of producing gourmet meals. With some experience, timing and recipe adjustments can be successfully made for many recipes not originally intended for these cookers. The long, moist nature of the cooking method gives good results even with cheaper (and tougher) cuts of meat—in fact, cheaper cuts often have more flavour.
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