Slow cooker recipes are wonderful because you can make the most delicious and easy meals in a crockpot. However, you might wondering about food safety. If you have been unlucky enough to experience food poisoning from undercooked meat or fish, you might be doubtful about the relatively low cooking temperatures a crockpot uses.
It is a good idea to invest in a food thermometer. Food should be hotter than 165 degrees F in order for it to be safe to eat. If you have been out all day and you left the crockpot on, you do not know whether there was a power cut which would have affected your crockpot dinner.
How a Slow Cooker Works
The cooker must cook food at a high enough temperature to make it safe to eat while keeping the temperature low enough so you can leave the machine unattended all day. The low setting on a crockpot is around 200 degrees F and the high setting is around 300 degrees F. This means the food will be between 170 and 280 degrees F as it cooks. Cooking food on such a low heat means that the flavors blend gently while cheap, tough cuts of meat soften and become really tender.
The steam released by the act of slow cooking, the long cooking process itself and the direct heat released in the crockpot all work together to make slow cooking a safe food cooking method, destroying bacteria and heating your food up sufficiently. It is also important to keep your work area and utensils clean, as well as the slow cooker itself.
Tips for Safe Slow Cooker Recipes
Keep cold ingredients refrigerated until it is time to add them to the slow cooker and handle them correctly. A lot of food safety involves using common sense and you will already know about how to handle foods like chicken and fish, and how to avoid cross contamination by using different cutting boards and utensils for fish, meat and vegetables.
You should thaw chicken or meat before adding it to the slow cooker. Do this overnight in the refrigerator for the best results. Choose high moisture content slow cooker recipes, like sauces, soup or chili in order to distribute the heat in the crockpot best. Turn the slow cooker up to the highest setting for the first hour, and then turn it down to finish cooking your dish.
When making slow cooker recipes you might want to cut food into small pieces, one inch chunks for example, to encourage thorough cooking. This is especially important with meat and a crockpot is not suitable for cooking a whole chicken, for example, since the inside might not reach a high enough temperature to stop bacteria from reproducing and this can lead to food poisoning.
You can use a crockpot to keep soups and dip recipes warm but if you switch off the heat and use it to keep meat, poultry or fish warm, you are taking a risk because a lukewarm temperature encourages bacteria to multiple.
If you are not going to eat your cooked food right away, transfer it to another container and refrigerate or freeze it. Do not use a crockpot to reheat food. Use the microwave, oven or stove for this job.
As easy as slow cooker recipes tend to be, it is always worthwhile learning a few slow cooker safety tips, in order to make your meals safe to eat as well as delicious. Most food safety tips are just about using your common sense but crockpot safety is important, especially in regard to making sure your food is sufficiently heated through.
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