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Post by chrisg on Apr 21, 2014 21:58:24 GMT 10
I don't know the answer to this wondering if someone does. I was introduced to slow cookers via the Monier Crock Pot. Just how a cement company got into cookers is, interesting, they just wanted to  My dad used to paint their chimney at their works in Port Augusta whenever the big bosses were visiting and like as not came home with an extra pot, so all the family had one. My larger one eventually died and in the end so did the small one but when I went to buy a replacement discovered "Crock Pots" don't seem to be around any more - slow cookers are. So, get a Sunbeam oval one, the old Moniers were round and deep, but this is very different in shape. It's fine but honestly not as set and forget as the old Moniers, you really have to be aware of how long its been on or you'll overcook. It still gets a deal of use and maybe I should open it up and see if the thermostat is adjustable but what I wonder changed ? Temperature or surface area or both ? The most consistent thing ours does is make stock. Accumulate veg peelings and scraps for a week or so, a chicken carcase and some seasoning, a whole onion, that gets discarded but soaks up the excess fat, top with water and it can run a day or so to produce a week's worth of good home made stock. But the old Moniers would do that but also make great soups, stews etc without much attention, this thing I have to be much more aware of and my schedule is erratic, no guaranteed home time Cheers |
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Post by smokey on Apr 24, 2014 12:19:15 GMT 10
I've never seen a monier crock pot, Was it electric ?
I think the crock pots around now days suffer from thin crock walls and no way to measure the actual temp of the food.
Its just low med or high.
I have a cheap Kenwood with mechanical control switch and use that with a sous vide controller that over rides the thermostat via a temp probe in the food and controlling the cooker via its mains power on or off.
Only works for Liquids or actual sous vide though
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Post by chrisg on Apr 24, 2014 16:35:35 GMT 10
Yeah, Monier's were electric, came out in the seventies. Had a really thick ceramic pot, some had a temperature dial, some had just low and high. Have not done anything with sous vide, sounds interesting. The Sunbeam that I have is not bad, just not as good as the old Moniers Cheers |
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Post by smokey on Apr 24, 2014 17:06:19 GMT 10
Yeh, sounds like the old boy being better built. Sous Vide is a blast, I'll get you into it yet Basicly it cooks meat for many hours until done,, say 55c and hold it there for many hours more. Take it out and flash grill and you get that pink meat all the way through but totally butter tenderness Is your sunbeam digital control or do you turn a switch? |
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Post by chrisg on Apr 25, 2014 12:04:18 GMT 10
I'm very interested in Souse Vide but have some other BBQ expenditures to get past SWMBO first In particular a rotisserie for the kettle which is more likely to fly than SV at the moment My Sunbeam is just a cheapy, has a simple switch for "Keep Warm "High" and "Auto." The manual says that Auto has it on a high setting for a measured amount of time, not to temperature, then it drops to the Keep Warm, I think, it's a bit vague about that, Auto may include dropping to a lower setting that is not manually selectable. Whichever the case the lower setting(s) are on the high side it seems. If I'm doing something like lamb shanks I don't use Auto, I give them a browning in butter then a couple of hours on High then down to Keep Warm for about another four hours. They come out very good indeed, but nothing I couldn't do on the kettle, just a useful way to cook indoors if mother nature is being a bitch As I said it doesn't get used for actual cooking too much, more a long and slow stock maker. It's kinda difficult to mess up stock The only other thing I've ever cooked regularly in it is Apricot Chicken being the kids love it so much. Very early on, I've had it quite a lot of years now, I gave up on making soups in it. The old Moniers you could just leave go with something like a Minestrone or Leek and Potato and never be over cooked, not so with the Sunbeam. Cheers |
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Post by gatsby on May 18, 2014 6:10:24 GMT 10
Hi Chris,
I had a similar issue with a simple slow cooker - that one just had selections for low or high. I always had problems doing a weekday cook - the low setting was too much for 10 hours. I looked at the ones with Auto & from memory they just are set to be high for 3 or 4 hours & then goto low.
I ended up spending some more & got a programmable one. Again does low or high but allows you to specify the time & once the timer runs out it goes into "keep warm". That one work well - allows a little more control - i.e. I can set it to low for 8 hours & it just goes into keep warm for the rest of the time until I get home. Just a pity I can't program it to be on high for a time & then go low for a while, etc.
Cheers
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Post by chrisg on May 18, 2014 17:41:17 GMT 10
Hmm, I need to go browse-shopping, did not know programmables existed Mine is currently making some stock but, I just found a Monier in a garage sale, will see if it is ok, it actually looks new. If that's the case the Sunbeam may be about to become a science experiment Cheers |
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Post by chrisg on Jun 1, 2014 18:21:13 GMT 10
Hmm, Having had one of THOSE couple of weeks only made it back to look at the Monier I found this weekend. Given it a good going over, had a date stamped inside the bottom, 1978, but I don't think it has ever been used, whatever you do with any slow cooker you get some food stains in the element area, not a mark. The power cord was the old fabric stuff, looked a bit suss so replaced it, otherwise it's like new and after some boiling water treatment to the crock, and a good squirt of WD40, it has a variable temp dial which really just means at that vintage a bi-metallic strip thermostat and a spring It's cooking up a chicken vegetable soup just now, picked up some chicken frames for nix at a butchers yesterday, not the one I posted about but a nice guy and I think I probably gave him his biggest sale of the day - meat looked good I had the frames reducing for stock in the old Sunbeam then figured since we have a bit of a surfeit of fresh veg and the weather is very soup here atm, that I'd dispose of the bones, skim the fat and transfer the stock and meat to the Monier. Pretty healthy amount of meat on the frames. I diced up some onion, garlic, potato, carrot, parsnip and pumpkin and fried them off in butter and oil, seasoned and just tossed into the Monier and set it for medium. It is sitting the way the old Moniers used to, hot but not simmering, and smells good. Stab mixer in the am and adjust as required, I would not be leaving the Sunbeam overnight like that but it seems to be set fine. Shall see. Cheers |
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Post by smokey on Jun 1, 2014 22:13:22 GMT 10
I've never seen one of these bloody things, and you just "Find one" Id love a pic or a reference as I want to find one too. |
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Post by chrisg on Jun 2, 2014 10:54:50 GMT 10
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My dad used to paint their chimney at their works in Port Augusta whenever the big bosses were visiting and like as not came home with an extra pot, so all the family had one.
