Crockpot DuraCeramic Digital Saute Slow Cooker with Hob-Safe Pot | Digital Timer | Anti-Stick & Easy Clean | 5L (4-5 people) [CSC026]

Product Information

The CSC026 has three settings – high, low and warm. We filled it with two litres of water then tested each of the settings in turn.

Slow cookers are also brilliant for less-than-confident cooks, easily creating all those meals that seem a bit scary on the hob. That’s because slow cooking develops the flavours of food for richer, tastier results. It’s not just dinners that slow cookers excel at making either. They make great porridge, granola, stewed apples, bread and butter pudding, fudge and dips. You can use your slow cooker to melt chocolate, as a Bain-marie. How much should I spend on a slow cooker?When we tested its slow cooking mode we found that it's almost too good at retaining moisture. Recipes that came out more saucy in some slow cookers were a little less rich because it's also designed to be an airtight pressure cooker. That can be remedied though by adding less liquid or taking into account the liquid that will come out of meat and veggies when you add them. Most slow cookers will have similar standard controls – high heat for meals cooked in less than a few hours, low heat for all-day cooking. A 'keep warm' mode should hold food at a serveable temperature without actually cooking it. Some cookers will switch to 'keep warm' automatically after an elapsed cooking time, while more basic models need this altered manually.

The removable bowl can be used on any hob – including induction – for sautéing your ingredients before long, slow cooking and is, of course, easy to clean afterwards.We love that the cooking pot is hob-safe, meaning if a recipe requires pre-cooking or searing ingredients (for example a slow cooker roast beef) – you don’t need to use a separate pan! Once your preparation step is complete you can simply lift the pot into the slow cooker. Sadly there are no rubber handles on the cooking pot, so you’ll need oven gloves to transfer the pot from the hob to the slow cooker. Slow cookers range in size from a compact 1.5 litres to a 6.5-litre bowl, so be sure to choose the right size for the way you intend to cook. As a rough guide, 1.5-3 litres will feed one or two people, 3-5 litres, three or four people and anything over five litres should suit a large family, with six litres or more ideal for batch cooks who like to fill the freezer. Alternatively, a larger cooker is great for those who like to eat what’s leftover for lunch the next day. I have a NEFF induction hob and was very worried that I wouldn't be able to use the sauté function, having read a review posted by another NEFF induction hob owner. Happy to say that mine works perfectly. And if it does lose the induction connection occasionally, I just give it a little shake and the connection resumes.

Refitting the lid to the base and lowering it created a secure seal around the rim. As the contents cooked, there was noticeably less smell of bolognese in the air than other machines tend to produce. So while you won’t be coming home to a house full of intense cooking smells, it’s likely to make for more tender, moist meals. The hinged lid design is brilliant. You don't realise what a ball-ache it is to be lifting a dripping wet lid off the slow cooker until you have a lid that is fitted. It really does make life a bit easier. I read a review on here criticising the fact that you need to take the lid off before you can pop the sauté pot into the unit. But that takes nano-seconds and is no inconvenience at all.The advantage of this is not leaving all that lovely seared flavour behind in a pan, and it reduces washing-up. Finally, look for a slow cooker with a transparent lid, so you can keep an eye on your food’s progress. Lifting the lid of a slow cooker while it’s in use lets out heat and steam, prolonging cooking time. It’s always best to be able to see what’s going on without doing so. Are slow cookers easy to clean? Slow Cooking Perfection: slow, gentle heat produces delicious meals with minimal effort; ideal for soups, stews and meat joints, as well as puddings, cakes and more What’s more, the unique hinged lid means no condensation on your worktop, no lost lids, and even makes serving easier too! Features and Benefits Ready When You Are: Ideal for busy lifestyles, this slow cooker can be set up to 12 hours in advance with expertly cooked results every time Removing the need to sauté in a pan before transferring to the pot, the Sage Fast Slow Go is as useful for slow cooking converts as it is to experienced cooks. Functioning as both a slow cooker and a pressure cooker, it includes sensors at the top and bottom to monitor temperature. This makes inconsistently cooked stews a thing of the past.

Does your slow cooker have good heat distribution? Some can suffer from hot spots that cause drying out in corners or at the base. Uneven heat is something that’s more likely to occur in larger bowls.

Crock-Pot CSC026 Features

Does the Hard Work for You: The Schedule Meal feature sets the optimal cooking process based on desired meal time, food type and quantity Some things can deter us all from cooking. Having to transfer food from a pan to a pot, cleaning up or that annoying puddle of water you get from putting the lid down on the worktop when it comes to the best slow cookers. If that's you, you need this model, which can act as a cooker and a serving pot that you can plonk down straight on the dining table. When testing these slow cookers we were keen to try out each of their main cooking settings, so while a more simple manual slow cooker was used to make a stew or simple curry, we pressure cooked meat and steamed fish in the more complex slow cookers on the market. When slow cookers came with digital settings we attempted delay-start recipes and tested how easy they were to use. The Ninja Foodi Multi-Cooker is certainly mighty, but if you like your gadgets it could be a great investment. You can of course just use this multi-cooker as a slow cooker, for which it has a generous 6 litre capacity, but you can also take advantage of the sear setting to brown meat and veggies before slow cooking for a more rich flavour.