I mentioned in my recipe, Soup-Corn and Carrot Soup, the western and the Chinese slow cooker have many differences. I have been looking up Amazon and ebay these days and I found several models of Chinese slow cookers. After comparing their price, volume, watts and design, I choose to recommend the New SANYUAN's Natural Purple Clay Slow Cooker 5.5L found on ebay.
Maybe I should firstly introduce why I suggest using this BIG guy to cook soup and help you figure out the differences between this and the western stainless steel ones.
Soup OR Stews
In China, especially canton (Guangdong), we usually cook soup with clay pots, for example, the purple clay (zisha) pot slow cooker. This kind of cooker can better preserve the flavor and nutrition of stuffs after a long cooking time. If we can’t stay near the gas stove and watch how things cooked, we use this slow cooker to set cooking time and save energy.
In US, I once came to one of my friends’ home and have dinner. I realized that the western one can be used to stew but rarely cook soup for the soup itself differs in the two cultures. The western one is for stews, which help the taste of seasoning to seep into the meat.
Strengths & Weaknesses of this slow cooker
1. The New SANYUAN's Natural Purple Clay Slow Cooker 5.5L is not of low price as I always considered in my former product reviews. It is $55 while others may be $50 like the follow, which is of 6L.
2. However, for I really want the long-time cooked soup to be prepared in a high quality cooker. I choose the new model which has the micro-computer controller. Every time we start to use the new functions of an appliance can be not so easy but I think this worth the effort for it is really automatic and intelligent. Also, this kind of pot can be used for years and the prices not vary so much, so I still choose the new one. Moreover, you know, the design is of traditional Chinese flavor.
3. You may also see clay pot slow cookers that can cook rice but I prefer the functions should be professional. Yes, the soup part. The rice cooker will do the rice part.
Uniqueness
For the Chinese soup is so diverse with the western one, I wonder if any of you will try this. Because famous brands like West Bend, Crock-Pot, Rival and Hamilton Beach don’t have this kind of product. Maybe they have those unglazed pots but they certainly have no purple clay pot for it is uniquely embedded in China. Purple clay is also used to make teapots. I think it is easy for you to think of how famous Chinese tea is. Is the clay Mysterious? I should say yes.
{Purple Clay —— A precious mineral resource found indigenous in China, contains 16 natural elements, including Iron, Potassium, Calcium which are beneficial to human body. }
I choose this also because of the in-depth introduction posted on ebay. Luckily, I refer to their official website selling the same product for less.
Any comments and suggestions are WELCOME to share!
I found this so interesting! I use my western slow cooker alot, because I love to cook, like that it saves energy, like that it makes cheaper "tough" meat tender, and in the summer, doesn't heat up the kitchen.
ReplyDeleteYour shown Chinese model is much more beautiful than my western plain steel looking one though!
You mention the clay and all the minerals in it - I wonder do any of these get into and add nutrition to the food?
Just found your site, so interesting, hope these aren't too many questions, thanks for all your information!
LOL! the Chinese one is certainly amazing! You can click those links to see which kind of them suits u most!
ReplyDeleteThe clay has very good effect on heat tranfering so that the food may taste a lot better. also, it is with various kinds of minerals that benefit our bodies.
I think it worths to try! really!