What we found was interesting: Traditional slow cookers performed well and were consistent. We assessed the “keep warm” function, the tenderness of the meat and the flavor development of dishes. We also evaluated each slow cooker’s design, safety features and ease of use without the help of an instruction manual. We do this by coating the pot with shortening and a thin layer of flour and then heating the slow cooker until the flour browns the level of browning is then evaluated against a standardized chart. We tested each cooker's heat distribution ability to see if there were hot spots (when parts of food cook faster than others). We put thermocouples in the cooking liquid as well. We inserted thermocouples (sensors that measure temperature) into the breasts and thighs of whole chickens so they could transmit data to temperature-tracking software on a laptop. We assessed temperature control and consistency during cooking by measuring the temperature of the food and liquid throughout the cooking process. We made more than 100 servings of stew and cooked up more than 30 whole chickens.

During our side-by-side analysis, our culinary experts tested slow cookers by making beef stew and chicken soup.

Crock pot pot luck