It’s not your imagination. Your old slow cooker, or your mom’s, really did cook more slowly and gently. Their settings were raised about ten years ago because of safety concerns.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard or read comments from slow cooker veterans that their new cooker just gets too hot and food doesn’t come out the way it used to. They blame the brand, buy another, get the same results and ask if anyone knows of a brand that’s not “too hot.” Stop searching. They’re all that way now.
Arthur Schloss, author of Art of the Slow Cooker, is cited in the Washington Post saying slow cooker temperatures are about 15 to 20 degrees higher than they were a decade ago. The Slow setting now ranges from 185 – 200 degrees and High is 250 – 300. They heat up faster and cook food quicker in the interest of food safety. Bottom line: your older recipes in newer slow cookers need to be adjusted.
My slow cooker is not 10 years old and is the first I’ve owned so I have nothing to compare it with, but when I wrote about slow cookers last year, I looked for High and Low temperatures. They used to be one number for each, stated in cookbooks with assurance, but every manufacturer’s website I looked at gave the temperatures as a range, not absolutes. If they gave more information it was usually that temperatures vary by model, with no further help or specification.
Now I know why and now we all know why those tried and true recipes of yesterday cause frustration in the slow cookers of today.
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