The Costly Lid Mistake That Could Render Your Crockpot Useless

Slow cookers are the saviors of the kitchen. If you're a busy stay-at-home parent wrangling toddlers, slow cooker recipes make for an easy dinner. If you need a reliable item for the family potluck, slow cookers give you a no-fuss, one-pot option. If you work from nine to five and are exhausted afterward, slow cookers can save you from a fast food meal you don't really want. Nowadays, these appliances come in every color imaginable, and some come with handy features, such as timers or locking lids. While both these features are helpful in their own way, one of them – the locking lid — can actually ruin your meal, and worse, could render your slow cooker completely useless.

The locking lids on slow cookers, including brands like Crock Pot, Hamilton Beach and Black & Decker, are a useful tool, but they are to be used only after cooking is complete. In other words, the lids are for transportation only. If the lid is locked during the cooking process, the lack of available air (normally ¼ inch between the pot and the lid) can create enough pressure to break the lid or even the entire pot. And even if your lid has a small steam hole, you still shouldn't lock the lid, as this may not provide enough airflow to prevent breakage.

While having a spill-proof lid for transportation is a plus, it isn't the only thing to look out for in a slow cooker. A more fundamental thing to note is the material of the pot. The inner dish can come in a plethora of materials, including ceramic, aluminum, and stainless steel. Metal dishes heat up and cool down quickly which can lead to hotspots that burn or too-cold, too-fast food; however, they can be used on the stovetop, making them more versatile. Ceramic is a common choice for the inner dish, as it heats up and cools down more evenly, but ceramic should stay away from the stovetop.

If you want some more advanced features on your slow cooker, start with a timer. The simplest slow cookers come with one knob labelled, Off, Low, High and Keep Warm. But many today come with buttons to choose a cooking time, usually between four and 10 hours, while others offer digital faces, with the ability to program whatever time you'd like on the clock. No matter the timer, the slow cooker will stop cooking and switch to Keep Warm to avoid burnt food while you're away from home. Another much newer feature is the sear function, which, as the name implies, allows you to sear meat right in the dish before turning it to slow-cook mode. Whatever your slow cooker and whatever features it has, be sure to keep the lid unsealed while you're cooking.