Tips for slow cooking

The slow, moist heat of a slow cooker is ideal for stews, sauce-based dishes and for tenderizing inexpensive cuts of meat. It will bake beans evenly and produce fall-off-the-bone pulled pork. It also turns out a mean chicken stock.

Slow cookers will not produce crispy chicken, and nicer cuts of meat, such as pork tenderloin or filet mignon, will be ruined. Pastas can be tricky (they can turn mushy), and delicate cream sauces and white fish require careful timing.

Slow cookers come in various sizes; pick the one that is best for you. When deciding, know that slow cookers work best when two-thirds full, said Phyllis Pellman Good, author of "Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook." Also, for roasts and whole chickens, an oval cooker might be better than a round one.

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Follow the recipe's advice on how to arrange the vegetables in the slow cooker. If they'll take longer to cook than the meat, they usually go on the bottom.

Don't add more liquid than the recipe calls for, even if it looks as if you'll need it, said Ellen Brown, author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Slow Cooker Cooking." Slow cookers retain their liquid, so you'll need less than you would in traditional cooking.

If the recipe suggests it, brown your meat before it goes into the slow cooker. This can be done in a skillet on the stove or, as Brown does, under the broiler. The slow cooker alone won't get hot enough to brown the meat.

Save yourself time in the morning by prepping your ingredients ahead of time. But, for food-safety reasons, Brown cautions against combining everything, especially partially cooked meat and other items, until you start the slow cooker.

Don't program the cooker to turn on several hours after you leave the house; you risk contaminated food. If you'll be gone longer than the cooking time, start the slow cooker when you leave and let it switch to warm for the last hour or so.

A slow cooker can do more than cook beef stew in the cold months. It cooks at around 200°, which means using it also can help keep your kitchen cooler in summer. It also can turn out appetizers and desserts as easily as main courses.

Don't peek. When you lift the lid, the temperature drops significantly and your cooking time will be off, said Amy Golino, a culinary analyst for Jarden Consumer Solutions, the Rye, N.Y.-based maker of Crock-Pot.

Let your slow cooker save you money. Golino suggests buying chicken breast in bulk and cooking enough at once for two or three meals. It might be chicken salad one night and chicken enchiladas the next.

Use your slow cooker to get your kids in the kitchen. Good says the slow cooker's low heat and forgiving cooking times make it a safe way for children to start cooking.