La mijoteuse, or "slow cooker"

The first time I ever used a slow cooker, called une mijoteuse (a "simmerer") in French (or, sometimes, un mijoteur), was in 2014. I decided to order one from amazon.fr. It was a Kenwood appliance with a capacity of 6 liters. The porcelain insert or cuve (vat or pot) that you cooked food in was heavy and, as it turned out, fragile. In other words, it was made of crockery (stoneware or earthenware), and that's why slow cookers are sometimes called crock-pots (Crock-Pot is actually a brand name).

After about three years of use, the porcelain cuve developed a hairline crack. I'll never know if the crack was simply caused by temperature changes, or if I cracked it when washing it in our porcelain sink. The vat, while it worked well as a cooking vessel, was simply too big and heavy to be practical. Once the cuve developed its hairline crack, which was basically invisible, it starting leaking cooking liquid into the slow cooker's heating unit (the "housing"), which was messy and dangerous. Prematurely, I had to get rid of the Kenwood cooker. The one in these photos is the one I use now.

So when I ordered a new mijoteuse, I looked for one with a light-weight cuve. On amazon.fr, I found a Russell Hobbs model that has an aluminum cuve with a non-stick cooking surface. It's great. Its capacity is also 6 liters (same as 6 quarts, basically) and a cooking vessel of that size works well for us because we usually make large quantities of simmered or slow-cooked dishes and plan on having leftovers. In addition, the aluminum pot is light-weight and unbreakable, so it's very easy to wash in the sink, despite its size. (I'm not sure if Russell Hobbs slow cookers are sold in North America...)

The other great thing about the aluminum insert is that you can put it on the stove over a gas flame or on an electric burner and cook in it. That's it above, as it looks when you put it on the stove top. In other words, you can brown meats and vegetables in the metal "crock" and then set it, hot, in the slow-cooker's electric heating unit, add just a little bit of liquid, and let everything braise or simmer slowly. You have just one pot to wash when the cooking is done. Besides, it has high sides so fat doesn't spatter all over the stove when you brown ingredients in it. (Reminder: it's made of aluminum so won't work on an induction burner.)

Actually, I find that meats brown in the slow cooker anyway if you don't add too much liquid to the pot. Let the food make its own liquid. For example, the two turkey legs above cooked in the mijoteuse for 8 hours and came out browned. The key is to add very little or no liquid, and in this case the liquid I added was just a splash or two of white wine (Chardonnay) vinegar and a couple of splashes of Worcestershire sauce. I of course put in herbs (thyme, bay leaf) and spices (cumin, cloves, hot red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt...) too. It's easy to take the meat off the bones of slow-cooked turkey legs and thighs and then make it into pulled meat (that's what we call "barbecue" in North Carolina).