Once you have started cooking with a slow cooker you will soon realise its convenience and economy. The slow cooker is a low-fuss appliance that is also a low energy user - once the cooker reaches core temperature the mass of the food helps to retain its own heat and very little extra heat is needed to maintain temperature. Flavours are trapped inside the cooking environment and each component imparts its character and takes on the flavours of what is around it. Good quality stocks, fresh vegetables, citrus rinds and robust flavours such as rosemary and thyme are the winning elements to beautiful old-fashioned cookery. One of the labour and time-saving elements of this style of cooking is the fact that you can create the ultimate cooking short cut by cutting up your meats and vegetables and adding them to the one pot (your slow cooker), with the only dishes to wash being your cutting board and knife. The rest is taken care of, from cooking to serving, leaving you with only the ceramic insert and the dinner plates for the after dinner wash-up. There are few simpler and more fundamental ways of cooking.
