# Slow Cooking Benefits and Tips

You can buy a Slow Cooker for cheap, but it is still one of the most precious tools you can have in a kitchen.

## Benefits

- It's cheap: slow-cooking turns the toughest and cheapest cuts of meat into that "fall off the bone" goodness. Chuck steak and pork shoulder/Boston butts are some of the cheapest meats and are sure hard to eat, but put them in a slow-cooker and it's gourmet stuff.
- It is easy and low-effort: ingredients take very little time to prep and the cooking happens overnight or while you're at work.
- It's an objective science: a lot of people have a hard time developing the best techniques for kneading or pan-frying or other culinary skills, but slow-cooking just requires you put the ingredients in. No magic, just follow directions.
- It's relaxing: by the time your food is done, you've had plenty of time to clean up, so you can serve and eat your meal without having to worry about cleaning up afterwards.
- It's portable: you can cook for an event or your friends because you load up your slow-cooker and go.

## Tips

- Things that need more cooking should always go at the bottom. For example, potatoes take forever to cook, so put them under your meat. They'll get the extra cooking they need while getting marinated in juices.
- Only slow-cook dry herbs, not freshly-picked herbs, although you can add freshly-picked herbs in the last 10 or 20 minutes for some extra flavor.
- Only take off the top to check how things are doing in absolute emergencies. It loses a lot more heat than you might expect when you open that.
