LenS wrote:
> I recently acquired a West Bend 3-1/2 qt. Crockery Cooker to replace
> my ancient cooker, the brand of which I don't recall.
>
> I've had some problem with overcooking even though I prefer to cook
> for long periods (8-10 hours) on LOW.
>
> A chicken stew I cooked for 9 hours, following West Bend's own recipe,
> tasted fine, but the chicken was mushy, although the potatoes and
> carrots were fine.
>
> A small pork roast cooked on LOW had an internal temperature of 170
> after 5 hours. According to my thermometer instructions, that's
> cooked! I should have taken the roast out then, but I left it in
> another 4 hours. It was very tasty and tender, but was dry and clearly
> overcooked.
>
> Some "country ribs" were tasty and tender, but really overcooked after
> 8 hours.
>
> So, I found some tests for slow cookers online and tried one, but I'm
> not positive what the results mean because I don't know what the
> temperatures for LOW and HIGH _should_ be except that temperatures
> below 140 aren't safe.
>
> Anyway, following the test instructions, I put 2 quarts of 70F water
> into the slow cooker and turned it on LOW. I have two meat
> thermometers, a digital and a dial type.
>
> Times and temperatures for LOW:
> 3-1/2 hours 185
> 7-1/2 hours 190
> 8-1/2 hours 190
>
> For HIGH:
> 2 hours 192
> 4 hours 199
> 7-1/2 hours 203
>
> It seems to me that the maximum temperatures for LOW and for HIGH are
> awfully close to each other.
>
> I can adjust cooking times easily enough, but I wonder if anyone has
> or can lead me to authoratative information about what the
> temperatures ought to be. In the meantime I'm e-mailing West Bend and
> asking them. If I get a response I'll post it here.
>
> Thanks,
>
> -Len

3 1/2 quarts? Cooking for one? Mine is 7qt and just about every time I
use it, I wish it were 10qt. (Of course, if it were 10qt, I'm sure I
would wish it were 12.)

In any event, mine has four settings: off, warm, low, high. The
documentation that came with it said that low and high would ultimately
reach the same tempeture, but low would just take longer to get there.
I'm pretty sure mine is a Hamilton Beach.

b.