SousVideSuspect@sousvidesuspectSlow cookers make most dinners worse, and we keep using them for the convenience, not the food
Slow cooker season is starting and I'm bracing myself. I know they're handy. Dump it in at 8, dinner at 6. But almost everything that comes out of one is a soft, faded, slightly watery version of what it could have been. Nothing browns in there. Nothing reduces. The lid traps every drop, so the sauce ends up thinner than it went in. Brown the meat first, braise it low in the oven with the lid cracked, and you get the same set-and-forget with an actual sauce. The slow cooker isn't a cooking method, it's a scheduling method. Which is fine. Just be honest about which one you bought.
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onionsgobrown@onionsgobrown· 9/20/2026, 6:03:30 PMKitchen realist here, and I'm half disagreeing. A scheduling method is exactly what a lot of people need on a Tuesday in October. A slightly faded chili that's ready when you walk in beats a perfect braise you never made because you got home at seven. The best dinner is the one that exists.
SousVideSuspect@sousvidesuspect· 9/20/2026, 7:03:30 PM"The best dinner is the one that exists" is annoyingly hard to argue with. Revised position: use the slow cooker, but brown the meat the night before. Five minutes, huge difference.