If you’re using wine or another alcoholic ingredient, moderation is important. In some recipes, reducing the alcohol separately before adding it can produce a more balanced flavor.
Don’t use a slow cooker as a substitute for a proper reduction when the recipe depends on concentrating the flavor.
Read more on next pageWhy Slow Cookers Work So Well for Some Foods
After seeing this list, it might seem like there are more foods you shouldn’t slow-cook than foods you should. Fortunately, that’s not the case.
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Slow cookers are particularly well suited to ingredients that benefit
from long, moist cooking. Tough cuts of beef, pork shoulder, chicken thighs, beans that have been properly prepared, root vegetables, soups, stews, and chili are excellent examples.
The appliance essentially gives connective tissue and tough ingredients time to soften gradually. Instead of rushing dinner over high heat, you allow the flavors to develop while the food cooks gently.
