Slow cooker is a large electric pot that is especially used for cooking food at a relatively low temperature over a long period of time. Crock pot is a brand name of a slow cooker. This is the key difference between slow cooker and crock pot.
Both slow cooker and crock pot are electric appliances that use moist heat to cook food over a long period of time. Although most people assume that slow cooker and crock pot are two different types of appliances, they are not. Crock pot is only a type of a slow cooker.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Slow Cooker
3. What is Crock Pot
4. Side by Side Comparison – Slow Cooker vs Crock Pot in Tabular Form
5. Summary
What is Slow Cooker?
Slow cooker is a large electric pot that is especially used for cooking food at a relatively low temperature over a long period of time. This is a countertop electric appliance that can prepare a wide variety of food. You can make soups, stew, pot roast, various beverages, desserts, and dips using a slow cooker.
A slow cooker has three main parts: outer casing, inner pot and lid. The round cooking pot is made of glazed ceramic or porcelain, enclosed by a metal housing, containing an electric heating element. The lid is made of glass.
Figure 01: Parts of a Slow Cooker
In order to prepare cook using the slow cooker, you have to place the raw food and a liquid like water or stock in the pot. Then close the lid and turn on the device. Therefore, basic slow cookers have only high, medium, low and warming settings. Some cookers can automatically switch from cooking to warming after a fixed time. Advanced or modern cookers have various computerized settings that allow the cook to perform various operations; for example, to keep the temperature high for the first hour, then set it for low setting in the second hour.
What is Crock Pot?
Crock pot is a type of slow cooker. To be more specific, it is a brand name or trademark name owned by Sunbeam Products. Introduced in 1970, and originally marketed as a bean cooker, it has gone through several redesigns to evolve to the model we know today.
Figure 02: Crock Pot
Crock pot is also a generic name used for slow cooker in many countries. However, many companies manufacture slow cookers today under different brand names.
What is the Difference Between Slow Cooker and Crock Pot?
A slow cooker is an electric appliance that is used to cook for slowly over a long period of time. On the other hand, Crock pot is a type of a slow cooker. To be specific, it is a brand name of a slow cooker.
Summary – Slow Cooker vs Crock Pot
The key difference between slow cooker and crock pot is that a slow cooker is a large electric pot that is especially used for cooking food at a relatively low temperature over a long period of time whereas a crock pot is a brand name of a slow cooker.
Image Courtesy:
1.”Crock pot parts”By Kowloonese at the English language Wikipedia, (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2.”Crock pot”By Janine from Mililani, Hawaii, United States (CC BY 2.0) via Commons Wikimedia