Another slow cooker question! -Auto setting?

Jasminda

Hi, sorry, I have yet another slow cooker question: Was looking at some today and I'd been under the impression that most of them have an 'auto' setting. However it seems this is a feature only on the more expensive ones.
A book I've been reading seems to recommend using 'auto' when cooking meat as it is necessary to get it to a high temperature quickly.
What do slow-cooker owners think? Is the auto setting really a necessity? Or do you find you get on fine without it?

Also, seems the cheapest slow-cooker on the market is the Cooksworks one £16.99, currently reduced to £8.49 at Argos (wow!), does anyone have this model and if so how have you got on with it?

ivyleaf

Mine hasn't got an Auto setting at all, but I don't know if I'm missing anything or not as I'm not sure what the Auto setting is meant to be for. Mine does have a "keep warm" setting though, which is handy if not all the family are ready to eat at the same time. I pre-heat it on High setting before putting the ingredients in. It's a Rival Crock-Pot slow cooker. I bought it in John Lewis and I think it was 14.99, that was about a year ago though.

HTH.

Jasminda

According to "Slow Cooking Properly Explained" by Dianne Page, the Auto setting starts off cooking on High then switches to Low when the temperature has reached a specific temperature -useful as it's important to get meat hot quickly to destroy any harmful bacteria.
(well so the book says!)

ivyleaf

Thanks for that Jasminda, I've actually got that same book but I must have ignored the explanation about "Auto" because of my own Slow Cooker not having it :rolleyes:

Jasminda

Ah, well you obviously get on fine without it, that gives me some idea

Jolaaled

Jasminda wrote: »

Hi, sorry, I have yet another slow cooker question: Was looking at some today and I'd been under the impression that most of them have an 'auto' setting. However it seems this is a feature only on the more expensive ones.
A book I've been reading seems to recommend using 'auto' when cooking meat as it is necessary to get it to a high temperature quickly.
What do slow-cooker owners think? Is the auto setting really a necessity? Or do you find you get on fine without it?

Also, seems the cheapest slow-cooker on the market is the Cooksworks one £16.99, currently reduced to £8.49 at Argos (wow!), does anyone have this model and if so how have you got on with it?

Mine's a cookworks one and has an auto setting. I've had it for about 3 yrs now and it's quite useful, althoug the plastic handle on the glass lid has cracked a bit.

Jolaaled

THis is the one ive got..you can jsut about see the settings...auto..high...low on the dial.

Jasminda

Jolaaled, thanks so much for that! Looks like that one is just what I need

GusstheGorilla

The description we have for Auto is as follows
Your slow cooker will cook on High until the desired temperature is reached and then maintain a constant temperature. A dish which will cook for 5-6 hours on High will cook for about 8-9 hours on Auto or 10-12 on low. hope this is of some help.

Pollycat

I've had a smallish cookworks one for about 6 years.

It looks just like the one in the photo above but mine has low, high and warm (not auto).

It's been pretty good.

Pollycat

Oh wait a minute.

This thread was started in 2008 and for some unknown reason Gussthe Gorilla decided to provide advice to the OP today.

I'm sure Jasminda decided years ago which slow cooker to buy.

In fact, Jasminda hasn't been back to MSE since Feb 2008 so a complete waste of time. :mad:

Why do people do this?