Hamilton Beach 33443 4-Quart Programmable vs Hamilton Beach Temp Tracker 6 Quart Slow Cooker

I kept reading about crock pot cooking. I bought a recipe book of 1001 Recipes for Crock pots. I decided to give it a chance. I researched the many pots for sale and decided on this one

However, I did come across an awesome blog called a year of slow cooking that presented me with a bunch of easy-to-make recipes in very little time. (Since then I have found other blogs with other recipes: Get Crocked and 365 days of slow cooking for example but a year of slow cooking is still my favorite.) The recipe problem solved, I started cooking using my small, old, and very basic crockpot. And that crockpot was doable but some recipes call for cooking on low for 9 hours; others for 6 and really all I want is to throw the ingredients into the crockpot and forget about it

In my opinion, this lid should have survived the tumble; it landed on carpet. At most, one might expect a crack in the glass; not complete obliteration. Update: Hamilton Beach customer service was extremely cooperative and thorough in investigating the incident. Their first concern was my well being, and if I required medical attention

The silicone ring on the lid starts off pretty tacky and can be tricky to seat. After the first couple times using it though, that wears off and works great, creating a nice seal. The biggest annoyance for me is the beeps when turning it on or adjusting settings is a bit obnoxious and can't be disabled. Overall though, it cooks like a crock pot should (low and slow) and has held up so I recommend this one!

Our frequently asked questions page on the Hamilton Beach website said this is for food safe purposes to kill off the bacteria in the food quicker. bo...

I feel using the cooking bags help with my peace of mind, as well as with cleanup. The wire clamps to secure the crock for travel seem like they would work fine, but I don't travel with food, so I have only found them a bit annoying because they don't fold completely away from the side of the crock and you cannot use them while cooking. Another model is probably the same, but without the clamps. I was just overwhelmed with all the reading I did and picked this one without considering that I might not want the clamps

There's no need to monitor the cooking process, The wraparound element provides even heating that doesn't require stirring. That would be all for this...

So after about 5 hours, I took the lid off and let it cook on high. This did the trick. The watery sauce began to change into the thicker sauce I wanted. After this, I returned the lid and put the pork on low for another 1 hour and again removed the lid for the final hour

I’ll make small adjustments next time. Cleaned up easily after being sprayed with Pam. I like it.

The face of it is already starting to come off. The crock insert is much harder to clean than the original so they definitely changed the finish on that as well.