One of the items that narrowly escaped the garage sale purge last week was my 15-year-old Rival Crockpot. (Yeah, green and white, with little purple flowers on the side. One knob, three choices: “off,” “low,” “high.” I’m talking old school, here.) It was gamely simmering four quarts of Fifteen Bean Soup at the time, though, (Spouse’s idea) so it got a last-minute reprieve.
It’s not like it sits around gathering dust. I use it at least twice a week. It’s cooked in every home I’ve had since college, which includes two U.S. states and two continents. But it’s old, the plastic lid has a permanent filmy cloud, and instead of “low” and “high” the actual settings are more like “high” and “higher.” I had been secretly flirting online with younger fancier cookers, with their seductive ‘keep warm’ settings and timers.
But, in the end, it was there. It cooked the soup perfectly. And since then, I’ve found new appreciation (and uses) for Old Faithful.
Last Monday, I did a version of this Tom Kha Kai. I could eat this three meals a day for pretty much the rest of my life. The rest of my family liked it, though probably not that much.
Later in the week was this recipe for Charros Beans, soaking the beans the night before then cooking all day on high. They were awesome.
I just discovered Stephanie O’Dea‘s blog A Year of Slow Cooking, and might not ever turn on my stove again. We’ve had this Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup, and I’m dying to try her recipes for Apricot Chicken and Chile Verde.
My other new favorite blog is Freeze Happy, which though not totally about crockpots, has a lot of crock-friendly recipes and great advice about preserving leftovers and cooking in bulk to use later.
I guess I’m saying what I’ve learned from these past few days is: Old doesn’t equal worthless (hello!!), and younger may have more tricks, bells, and whistles, but it’ll still take time to figure them all out. Sometimes it’s better to stay with what you know.
