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Thread Number: 42339
/ Tag: Small Appliances
Hamilton Beach Crock Watcher Auto Shift |
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| Post# 445470 9/1/2021 at 18:21 (960 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
So I walked through Goodwill yesterday and found a vintage appliance I simply couldn't pass up—a Hamilton Beach Crock Watcher six-quart slow cooker with 'Auto Shift' technology. Made in about 1976, the thing looks like it's hardly been used. It has the usual two power settings—high and low—plus a third setting called Auto Shift, which automatically switches the setting from high to low after a couple of hours. Pretty nifty, especially for that period.
What initially attracted me to this appliance were the graphics, which are just so period cool, but then the $5.00 price tag sealed the deal, especially when I got ten percent off with my school ID. I have no idea why it was priced so cheap. Slow cookers at Goodwill usually start at about twice that. I'm giving it a test run right now with a batch of chili. It's definitely got the house smelling good. The proof will be when I serve some up in a little while. It's been cooking for almost three hours and I usually let it go for four, so I may go ahead and eat some because I'm getting hungry but let it cook a little longer before I put the rest in containers. The link below is a period TV spot for this model. CLICK HERE TO GO TO human's LINK | ||
| Post# 445471 , Reply# 1 9/1/2021 at 18:29 (960 days old) by luxflairguy (Wilmington, NC) | ||
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If you want to know more about these go over to AW. There are several threads about this! Greg | ||
| Post# 445479 , Reply# 2 9/1/2021 at 19:44 (960 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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So I had some of the chili a little while ago and it was good but it needed to cook a bit longer. I've turned the pot from Auto Shift to High and will let it roll for a couple more hours before I put it into containers. That said, I was able to verify that the Auto Shift function works as it should because it was very warm standing next to the pot an hour after I first turned it on to the Auto Shift setting but it was less warm when I dished up my bowl of chili. When I went back to the kitchen to put my dish in the sink, it was noticeably warmer as I walked past the crock pot.
Since it's not possible to let you sample the chili I made, I'll do the next best thing and give you the recipe and let you make some yourself and try it: Ingredients: 1 pound lean ground beef 2 15-ounce cans of diced tomatoes 2 15-ounce cans of chili flavored beans 2 15-ounce cans of black beans 1 medium sized onion (finely chopped) 1 green bell pepper (finely chopped) 1 tbsp minced garlic (aka 'jarlic') 2 tbsp chili powder (I prefer Badia) 2 tsp ground cumin -Empty the cans into the slow cooker, juice and all and turn it on high. -Chop the pepper and onion in the food processor and saute with jarlic and olive oil in a skillet until the onions are translucent, then add to the slow cooker. -Brown the ground beef and add to the slow cooker. -Add the chili powder and cumin, if you haven't done so aready. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or until the chili has been bubbling for at least an hour. Set slow cooker to low for at least another hour or until you just can't stand it any longer. Honestly, the longer it cooks, the better it gets. I've let it cook overnight and eaten it for breakfast. This is a fairly mild but flavorful chili. If you like it a little more 'el scorcho', feel free to chop a fresh jalapeño pepper and add to the bell pepper, onion and jarlic mixture and/or add cayenne pepper to taste. | ||
| Post# 445481 , Reply# 3 9/1/2021 at 20:17 (960 days old) by luxflairguy (Wilmington, NC) | ||
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WELL EXCUSE ME! | ||
| Post# 445500 , Reply# 4 9/2/2021 at 08:39 (960 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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Greg,
Sorry if my chili recipe was somehow offensive. I did check AW, as you suggested, but I didn't see any posts relating to Hamilton Beach slow cookers. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right place. Cooking the chili a couple of extra hours on high did indeed help last night's batch immensely. Obviously, I'm going to need to learn the intricacies of this particular device (should be a fairly gentle learning curve) but all in all, I think the Crock Watcher was a good buy for what I paid and it has thus earned a permanent place in my kitchen. | ||
| Post# 445526 , Reply# 5 9/2/2021 at 18:35 (959 days old) by suckolux (Yuba City, CA) | ||
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| Post# 445555 , Reply# 6 9/3/2021 at 09:49 (959 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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Odd name...
I would have been about 13 when they came out but the funny thing is I don't remember these slow cookers when they were new and I certainly don't remember the name. While the TV spot I found had a very familiar feel as an artifact of its era, I can't say that I actually remember seeing it. What I do vaguely remember is the alternate exterior graphics that looked like red bricks. Somebody I knew must have had one of those.
When I first saw this one at Goodwill, I actually had to look twice at the label on the front to recognize that it was a Hamilton Beach product and not a genuine Rival Crock Pot. I'm sure the lawyers helped come up with the 'Crock Watcher' name to make customers think 'crock pot' without actually saying it on the label. With that in mind, I probably saw them on store shelves and the 'Watcher' part of the name just didn't register. It just makes me wonder how many people got them home without realizing it was a knock-off--a good knock-off, but a knock-off nonetheless. | ||
| Post# 445590 , Reply# 7 9/3/2021 at 20:40 (958 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA) | ||
I've seen a Dominion by Hamilton Beach version that had a gingham pattern, as well as that brick version, as Hamilton Beach-Scovill had bought out the Dominion Electric Company in the early 1970s.
Some of these also, had a crock that was sealed to the unit and couldn't be removed. Not sure what that was about, as it is a lot less convenient for cleanup. I guess those might be older, as I seem to recall the earliest Rival Crock Pots are the same. I see those pretty often in avocado or red-orange in thrift stores. | ||
| Post# 445594 , Reply# 8 9/3/2021 at 21:45 (958 days old) by suckolux (Yuba City, CA) | ||
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| Post# 445598 , Reply# 9 9/3/2021 at 22:19 (958 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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I had one of those early Rival Crock Pots in avocado with the non-removable crock. It was the base model. My mom got it new when I was in elementary school but she seldom used it and passed it on to me when I was in college. It worked really great but it was a pain to clean since it couldn't be immersed in water. I had that thing for some 20 years until about 2005 or 2006 and used it regularly until I donated it to a family my church was helping out who had come to town from New Orleans with nothing after Hurricane Katrina.
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| Post# 445601 , Reply# 10 9/3/2021 at 23:40 (958 days old) by suckolux (Yuba City, CA) | ||
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| Post# 445645 , Reply# 11 9/5/2021 at 11:58 (957 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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After I got rid of the avocado Crock Pot, I found one slightly newer, maybe late '70s or early '80s vintage, with a removable crock but a cheap plastic lid that was clouded from repeated runs through the dishwasher. As luck would have it, my neighbor across the street had a yard sale one Saturday, mainly to get rid of her dead husband's massive collection of golf clubs. On one table, I found the crock and lid to the same Crock Pot, which she had saved after it "just quit working one day". The lid was perfectly clear, unlike mine, so I bought it for the princely sum of a dollar. As far as I'm concerned, the other great bonus of the one I just got is it has a nice, heavy glass lid.
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| Post# 446512 , Reply# 13 9/26/2021 at 10:11 (936 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA) | ||
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Yeah the crock pot reminds me of some of that pottery that was popular in the 60s or 70s. In fact, I think those crock inserts were made by some such company, if I remember right.
I've seen some of those Crock Pots with the clear plastic lids and never got why they did that instead of the glass. They just don't hold up. I don't believe any of them on the market now are like that, but I could be wrong. | ||
| Post# 446573 , Reply# 15 9/27/2021 at 10:28 (935 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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Billy,
Glad you tried the recipe. I've cooked it on Low overnight before and then awoken to that aroma in the morning. I've even been known to eat a little of it for breakfast. It's actually quite good in an omelette. Enjoy! Fanoffans, I agree. Today's slow cookers lack character. They're usually either black or silver with a black or white crock. The lids seem to all be made with thinner (tempered?) glass, rimmed with metal and with a small vent hole, again rimmed with a metal grommet. I'm not sure when the brown crocks disappeared. Maybe the 1990s? I know Rival continued to make the original Crock Pot with the non-removable crock well into the 2000s and maybe still makes it today. The newer ones had white crocks and less dated graphics but were otherwise the same exact design. There was a Hamilton Beach outlet somewhere in eastern N.C., where my dad traveled for work. One time, he came home with several crocks that my mom used as planters. I don't remember whether we drilled holes in them or not. | ||
| Post# 446609 , Reply# 17 9/27/2021 at 21:36 (934 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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A time honored recipe...
Hey, I'm glad you liked it. This recipe's got some history to it. I found it in an old cookbook my mother had called 'Secrets of Southern Cooking' when I was probably in my early teens. The book was seriously old, outlining traditional hearth cooking and wood stove methods. Mom helped me adapt it for the Crock Pot (and canned beans as the original called for using dry beans, soaked overnight before cooking). I've been experimenting with it and tweaking it ever since.
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| Post# 446825 , Reply# 18 10/5/2021 at 21:09 (926 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA) | ||
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Never knew the non-removable ones were made that long!
I visited my grandmother over the weekend and noticed she had gotten a new small Rival crock pot. It was black with a black crock and that rimmed glass lid. She had made some beans in it. She's also got a larger white GE (Walmart) branded Crock Pot that she's had for a while. At one time she had one of those Presto type that's an actual metal pot that sits on a heated base, and you can also use it on the stove to get things cooking initially before simmering. I think she might still have it, not sure. She loved that one, but I seem to remember it might have burned out. Maybe not. The knob had long since broken off but it still worked. In fact, I don't remember it ever actually having the knob. lol | ||
| Post# 446890 , Reply# 19 10/7/2021 at 10:02 (925 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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I'm giving the Crock Watcher a second run this weekend. This time it'll be eastern N.C. style pulled pork barbecue! I got a Boston butt pork shoulder roast (I've never understood why they call it a 'butt' when it comes from the shoulder) on sale yesterday. Gotta get the rest of the ingredients together today to make that and some slaw to go with it. Granted, it would be better if I had the facility to actually smoke the meat, but that's one area where my gas grill falls woefully short. The finished product from the slow cooker is mighty good, though. The recipe linked below is pretty close to what I do.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO human's LINK | ||
| Post# 446919 , Reply# 20 10/8/2021 at 09:07 (924 days old) by suckolux (Yuba City, CA) | ||
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| Post# 446922 , Reply# 21 10/8/2021 at 11:11 (924 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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Liquid Smoke...
Yes, I use that in the slow cooker; in fact, I just bought a brand new bottle yesterday in preparation for this weekend's cooking. It's an okay substitute but it doesn't really infuse the meat with smoky flavor the way actual smoke does.
I use wood chips in a stainless steel smoke box on my gas grill and it works reasonably well for smaller cuts of meat like chicken or pork chops but at best, I can only get about a half hour of smoke with that setup, which is not nearly enough for a seven-pound Boston butt roast. Part of the problem with the slow cooker in this respect is a lot of the fat is dissolved into the liquid and ultimately discarded; whereas on a grill or in a smoker, the fat is where most of the smoke flavor is absorbed. The recipe I use for the slow cooker uses a lot of vinegar, a little red pepper and brown sugar, which infuses the meat with a very different flavor profile but the liquid smoke tends to get lost in that mix. | ||
| Post# 455498 , Reply# 23 8/5/2022 at 17:09 (622 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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I mainly make chili in the fall and winter, so I haven't looked for any chili flavored beans lately. I'll make a point of doing so next time I'm at the grocery. I've noticed that the stores around here are stocking smaller quantities of things, as well eliminating slower moving SKU's from inventory. I think that's one way they're coping with persistent supply chain issues. While it's not too surprising, it can be somewhat frustrating. That said, I'm pretty brand agnostic when it comes to canned beans and usually just grab the store brand or whatever's on sale. I looked in my cabinet and what I have on hand is "Dakota's Pride," chili flavored beans, which is an Aldi store brand.
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| Post# 455574 , Reply# 24 8/8/2022 at 01:53 (620 days old) by kirbyklekter (Concord,Ca.) | ||
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Thanks Edgar I'll keep an eye out for them. I mean I've made it with just doubling up on the other beans in the recipe and it's still the same good chili.Thanks for responding! | ||
| Post# 455814 , Reply# 25 8/13/2022 at 16:49 (614 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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| Post# 456701 , Reply# 27 9/12/2022 at 10:55 (585 days old) by Human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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Saturday was a dreary, rainy day with highs in the mid-to-upper 60s, cool for this area this time of year, so I decided to break out the Crock Watcher and make some chili. I had ground beef and all the necessary seasonings on hand, but I needed a bell pepper, an onion, and cans of beans and tomatoes, so I headed out to Aldi in the rain. They had everything I needed, including the chili flavored beans, but not the diced tomatoes with green chili peppers (it's always something), so I substituted fire roasted tomatoes, which worked out just fine. On a whim, I also added a pinch of red pepper flakes, which gave it a subtle bite, but not really enough to qualify as a 'kick'. This ended up being just right for my palate. I ended up with about three quarts of chili, two of which are headed for the freezer today. I'd rather enjoy it when I'm in the mood than burn myself out on it, simply because it's there. At this point, I have to say the Crock Watcher is now my favorite of the three slow cookers I own.
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| Post# 456841 , Reply# 29 9/17/2022 at 21:51 (579 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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Two different manufacturers...
Crock Pot brand slow cookers are made by Rival and the Crock Watcher was made by Hamilton Beach. It was their upper end model back in the '70s. Its unique feature is a timer setting that would start it off on 'High' and then drop it to 'Low' after a couple of hours. Hamilton Beach also sold them under the Slow Cooker name without the automatic setting. They still use the Slow Cooker name today.
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| Post# 457238 , Reply# 31 10/4/2022 at 19:29 (562 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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I have not checked it for accuracy but it definitely does get hot to the touch on the outside and it does bubble/boil on high, but it can take a while to get there. The first time I used it and I tried the 'Automatic Shift' setting, it cut back to low before things came a boil. I could tell it had shifted to low because it didn't feel as warm in close proximity as it had when I previously checked it. After I turned it manually back to high, it reached a boiling/bubbling point within roughly another half an hour.
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| Post# 457521 , Reply# 34 10/22/2022 at 21:17 (544 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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Thrift Store Returns... | ||
Post# 462395 , Reply# 36 4/18/2023 at 10:50 (367 days old) by gottahaveahoove  (Pittston, Pennsylvania, 18640) |
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Once I had a 'brunch' | ||
| Post# 462402 , Reply# 37 4/18/2023 at 19:49 (366 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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