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tracebook... tracebook...
 
December 17, 2008 01:39 AM

Peeking in the crockpot--how much time does that set it back?

I had to open the lid of my slow cooker today when I realized I'd left out an ingredient. I've read this sets it back, but I don't know by how much. How much more time should I add? Is there a rule of thumb?
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sskram3 sskram3
 
 December 17, 2008 01:49 AM
The good thing about cooking with a crockpot is, you can't overcook anything in them, the ingredients just mix flavors more and more as time goes on. I think to accurately answer the question at hand, you'd need to know a little more information. For example, was the food in the crockpot already up to temperature? How much new food was added? In my experience, if I have to open the lid for a minute or two in the first 5 minutes of cooking, I usually just restart the time. I would recommend you add double the amount of time you had the lid open for as a place to start, check the food at that time, and if you still feel the flavors need to meld some more check again in 5 minutes. When in doubt, let it cook some more, because you CAN'T overcook food in a crockpot. Cheers!
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tracebooks tracebooks
 
December 17, 2008 02:46 PM
I think I had it open for about 10 seconds to add the bay leaf. I didn't know if there was some kind of pressure or something that contributes, as well as the heat.

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sskram3 sskram3
 
December 17, 2008 10:58 PM
Pressure doesn't really have anything to do with the cooking, it's just the temperature. Opening the top just lets out some heat, if you only opened it for like 10 seconds I wouldn't be that worried about adding time. I'm assuming that because you were adding something small like bay leaves, you didn't pull the cover all the way off while you were doing it. Also, bay leaves are fairly light so they would have minimal impact on the temperature of the overall mixture. Enjoy your food!

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ssharon ssharon
 
December 17, 2008 01:47 AM
I don't think it sets it back more than a few minutes at most. Most of the heat is retained in the ceramic of the pot itself or in the food and not in the steam being retained by the poorly insulated (usually glass) lid. You can tell by seeing how fast the lid cools off when you take it off and then how quickly it gets hot again when you put it back on.

Couple this with the already long times of a slow cooking crock pot and I don't think you should worry at all if it was open for less than a minute. If you added cold ingredients add a minute or two and if you lost a lot of steam consider adding a drop of water to make up for it.

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tracebooks tracebooks
 
December 17, 2008 02:48 PM
I forgot to add some bay leaf and realized it about an hour into the cooking, so the food was pretty hot already.

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kgusano kgusano
 
December 17, 2008 01:53 AM
According to some, every time you lift the lid you have to add 20-30 minutes. Personally, I think that's a bunch of crap. I don't think it's more than 10 minutes, even if you have the lid off and are stirring everything around for a minute or two.
Source(s):
http://www.farmersalmanac.com/recipes/a/slow-cooking-hints-and-recipes-for-...


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smsmnc smsmnc
 
December 17, 2008 02:34 AM
6 hours.... but only if you are talking about the All Day Mac n Cheese recipe I have. If you open it, it will never set and you are stuck with with really bad mac n cheese stew.
Source(s):
Experience. I accidently took the lid off once!


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carriep carriep
 
December 17, 2008 02:35 AM
So long as the crockpot was already up to its full temp, I wouldn't worry about it. I don't know what kind of crazy recipes are timing crockpot dishes to the 10 minute or 30 minute mark. Crock pots (or slow cookers, if you want to be generic), are the original "Set it and forget it."

You should be cooking hearty foods and veggies that don't mind being cooked for long periods of time at somewhat high heats.

The only time to worry, maybe, is if you are putting frozen meat into the pot. I've done this with chicken breasts and pot roasts on occasion when I've forgotten to thaw. Those will take more time to thaw and take longer for the whole shebang to cook.

I use my slow cooker about once a week and have for the past 5 years and have NEVER had a problem with undercooking.

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tracebooks tracebooks
 
December 17, 2008 02:49 PM
Yep, I do a lot of slowcooking, almost every night in the winter. I rarely put frozen stuff in, unless I forgot to thaw it ;-) I almost always brown things to improve flavor and texture.

I did have an undercooked pork roast last week, but I think it's because it was twice the size the recipe called for and just needed an extra couple of hours to cook all the way through.

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wboswell wboswell
 
December 17, 2008 11:13 PM
I wouldn't worry about it. I cook with my crockpot all the time and peek into it every hour or so to make sure nothing crazy is happening. Just make sure your "peeks" aren't more than a few seconds at a time, with at least an hour in between peeks, otherwise your crockpot won't cook your food properly.

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