January 25, 2015

"The unfulfilled promise of the Crock-Pot, an unlikely symbol of women’s equality."

That's a Washington Post headline for a piece written by Max Ehrenfreund — "a blogger on the Financial desk [who] writes for Know More and Wonkblog." Didn't you assume they'd have a woman writing such a thing? This promise-of-the-Crock-Pot stuff is under the heading "Wonkblog," which I think of as Ezra Klein, but Ezra Klein relocated to that place that I've forgotten the name of... oh, yes, Vox. I wonder what's... cooking at Vox?

I have no idea who ever took the Crock-Pot seriously as a "symbol of women’s equality," and the idea that it made a promise — like a political candidate — is truly silly, though I feel as though I've seen political cartoons depicting a candidate for office as an inanimate object, a toaster perhaps. In Bill Bryson's wonderful memoir about growing up in the 1950s, he talks about the simple, post-war enthusiasm for household appliances that took on a certain anthropomorphism:
Suddenly [Americans] were able to have things they had never dreamed of having, and they couldn’t believe their luck. There was, too, a wonderful simplicity of desire. It was the last time that people would be thrilled to own a toaster or waffle iron. If you bought a major appliance, you invited the neighbors around to have a look at it. When I was about four my parents bought an Amana Stor-Mor refrigerator and for at least six months it was like an honored guest in our kitchen. I’m sure they’d have drawn it up to the table at dinner if it hadn’t been so heavy.
But what did the refrigerator say? Did it make any promises, like the upstart appliance from the 1970s, which aped the spirit of the time and boasted of its activism in the Women's Liberation Movement?

The Wonkblog piece is kind of all over the place, not focused on the "unfulfilled promise" and "unlikely symbol[ism]" in the silly headline. There's quite a bit about how much men like to use slow-cookers. But the most interesting thing about the Crock-Pot is its origin in Judaism:
Nachumsohn, who went by the surname "Naxon," invented the slow cooker to be able to cook cholent, a traditional stew eaten by Jews in eastern Europe on the Sabbath. Since they were forbidden from cooking, the Jews would bring pots of stew to a nearby bakery the day before. They would cook slowly in the residual heat from the ovens, his daughter Lenore told NPR last year.
So a Crock-Pot was immensely useful for people with a religious need not to work during the part of the day when they wanted a nice, hot meal. With no such need myself, I never believed fussing with an appliance and dinner foods was a good use of time in the morning. You can cook quick dinners in the evening right before you want to eat — all that pasta and stir frying. Come on. That was easier than paying attention to what you were going to eat long before you were going to eat it. I like stew and pot roast too, but that was always easy to make the night before and then reheat.

I never bought a slow cooker in my life. I always thought of it as another junky appliance to clutter up the counter. The 1970s were the heyday of countertop appliances — a device that did nothing but heat hot dogs, the ludicrous "Salad Shooter," the (cannibalistic?) "FryDaddy." Who believed these things would fulfill any promises of liberation?

Does The Washington Post think we women of the 1970s imagined that smoking a menthol cigarette would change the weather?

63 comments:

Bob Boyd said...

It was that strange time in America when women burned their bras and over cooked everything else.

great Unknown said...

Great. Now every Muslim country will ban Crock-Pots.

Ron said...

"Crack Pots ban Crock Pots"

Scott said...

The best way to wreck a nice piece of beef is to put it in a crock pot for eight hours.

Laslo Spatula said...

By moving the preparation of food until the morning it gave the wife time to greet her husband's return from work by answering the front door adorned in nothing but Saran Wrap. Women did that in the Seventies.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

From wiki:

The Total Woman sold more than ten million copies and was the bestselling nonfiction book of 1974.[1] Grounded in evangelical Christianity, it taught that "A Total Woman caters to her man's special quirks, whether it be in salads, sex or sports,"[2] and is perhaps best remembered for instructing wives to greet their husbands at the front door wearing sexy outfits, or draped in transparent saran wrap, with nothing (but herself) underneath. "It's only when a woman surrenders her life to her husband, reveres and worships him and is willing to serve him, that she becomes really beautiful to him," Morgan wrote.'


I am Laslo.

sojerofgod said...

Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, Children!

Take a whole chicken, stuff it with a carrot, and onion and a stalk of celery. Rub with olive oil, season outside with rosemary, salt & pepper. Or other seasonings if you prefer. place in the much maligned crock-pot with just 1/2 cup of water or broth. set on low and go. At night you have a bird so tender, you can disarticulate the legs with just the thumb and third finger of your left hand.

So the moral of the story is, it ain't the appliance; it's the operator that makes the meal.

Danno said...

Ann said ".... I wonder what's... cooking at Vox?"

Mostly stupid-splaining of things they know nothing about!

sojerofgod said...

Laslo;

We are experiencing what I have grown to call "Generational Madness" Where every so often culture undergoes an upheaval where old mores are cast aside for new ones. In the 70's women were told to discard their corsets: Happiness achieved through self-fulfillment. Lately it appears culture wants young women to strap those corsets back on, and sew them shut against the predations of "Men" Whatever happened to Free Love?
I say swing that pendulum hard enough, it hits you in the face.

Bob Boyd said...

@Laslo

Did you hear about the guy who showed up at the psychiatrist's office wearing nothing but Saran Wrap?

The psychiatrist took one look and said, "I can clearly see your nuts."

Laslo Spatula said...

Things 'Rugged Seventies Man' heard in the Seventies:

"The pork loins have been simmering all day, and so have mine: take me, Rugged Seventies Man."

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

Things 'Rugged Seventies Man' heard in the Seventies:

"I've come along way baby: Rugged Seventies Man, make me come a lot more."

"I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

Things 'Rugged Seventies Man' heard in the Seventies:

"There are more ways than Newport cigarettes to make me 'Come Alive with Pleasure', Rugged Seventies Man'.

"I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

Things 'Rugged Seventies Man' heard in the Seventies:

"When it comes to you, Rugged Seventies Man, I'd rather Fight than Switch."

I am Laslo.

robinintn said...

I've never had a crockpot because those long, slow dishes work just as well in the black iron pot with the glass lid.

Laslo Spatula said...

Things 'Rugged Seventies Man' heard in the Seventies:

"Rugged Seventies Man, you make my Crock Pot tingle -- and it's time to add the onions!."

I am Laslo.

Strick said...

My wife noticed that I was using her crockpot, which I've always hated, more and more lately. Of course, I'm using it to power my poor man's sous vide gear...

Ann Althouse said...

"I've never had a crockpot because those long, slow dishes work just as well in the black iron pot with the glass lid."

The black iron pot works better! With a crock-pot, you don't have a way to sear it to get it started and you can't turn it up to speed things along if you want.

Also the black iron pot goes on the stove and therefore occupies no counter space.

In the 60s, my mother had an electric frying pan, which seemed a dumb use of counter space, but at least you had a whole range of temperatures and you could fry or turn it down and braise. She made a lot of chicken and dumplings on that thing. Also: pancakes. Try making pancakes in a crock pot.

Ann Althouse said...

I think the liberation part had to do with the idea that you could leave the house for hours with an appliance running.

You might not want to do that with a gas stove. I've got an electric stove, however, and I think it's at least as trustworthy as a plug-in slow cooker.

Laslo Spatula said...

"I think the liberation part had to do with the idea that you could leave the house for hours with an appliance running."

But does Meade greet you at the door wearing only Saran Wrap?

I bet Meade was a 'Rugged Seventies Man.'


I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Try making pancakes in a crock pot."

There is always Pancake Stew.

I am Laslo.

robinintn said...

Also, for even, slow heat, after you brown it, put it in the oven at 275 degrees. You can't get low enough heat now with a crockpot because some consumer "protection" agency decided we're too stupid to cook with low heat. We might poison ourselves. Older crockpots go for a premium on eBay now.

Anonymous said...

I think Bryson is wrong about the "wonderful simplicity of desire" ending in the 1950s. What about the wonderful simplicity of desire embodied in the electric vibrator, whether plug-in or battery-powered? A simple electromechanical device that promises reliable solution of a problem in the owner's life? That emerged into popularity long after the 1950s were past, but it seems to convey the same sense of technological optimism.

Ann Althouse said...

@whswhs

Yeah, but it doesn't take up counter space.

Original Mike said...

"I've never had a crockpot because those long, slow dishes work just as well in the black iron pot with the glass lid."

Yeah, if you're home.

sojerofgod said...

RE: whswhs:

No sir. the electric vibrator was one of the very first "appliances" created after the invention of the electric motor. It was used as early as the 1880's by physicians to induce "Hysterical Paroxysms" in ladies of some stature who suffered from "Women's complaints"
now, in the 1950's perhaps the battery powered unit became more of a popular item.
Neither one took up counter space as far as I can determine.

Mark Caplan said...

I guess that also rules out other specialized indispensables like the Electric Egg Cooker, the Microwave Corn Cob Steamer and the Microwave Bacon Tray (dishwasher safe).

William said...

Jewish cuisine first developed in primitive conditions where there was no take-out Chinese food.

pst314 said...

"though I feel as though I've seen political cartoons depicting a candidate for office as an inanimate object, a toaster perhaps."

The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Washington?

Wince said...

So essentially you're saying the "promise of the Crock-Pot" was a crock-of-shit?

chillblaine said...

Crock pots are good for turning a $0.99/lb pork shoulder into carnitas. After slow-cooking, the meat is then pull-shredded and roasted.

Since I do all the cooking for my wife and I, I have found the crock-pot has liberated me from much daily drudgery.

Ann Althouse said...

"Yeah, if you're home."

Why do I have to be home if the pot is on a burner on very low heat on my electric stove?

Ann Althouse said...

"Crock pots are good for turning a $0.99/lb pork shoulder into carnitas. After slow-cooking, the meat is then pull-shredded and roasted."

Do you sear it in a pot first or do you just put it raw into the cooker?

Seems to me a stove top pot would make tastier meat.

Ann Althouse said...

People used to have to worry that a low flame on a gas burner would go out and gas would fill the room.

I don't think that's really a problem with gas stoves anymore, but it's certainly not a problem with an electric stove.

Christy said...

Althouse, I thought you'd lost your sense of taste. Did I misinterpret a joke?

whitney said...

I love my crock pot. It still requires work. Meat needs to be browned, veggies sautéed but I love coming home to the smell of a chuck roast after I've been gone. It's delicious and it feels like someone else cooked for me:)

Original Mike said...

"Why do I have to be home if the pot is on a burner on very low heat on my electric stove?"

I wouldn't leave a burner on for 10 hours while I'm at work. When I was working, the crock pot was a great tool for me. Come home, tired, to the aroma of a hot dinner.

Birches said...

I use a crock pot occasionally. But I am an unliberated SAHM who has time in the morning to get dinner prepped, but often doesn't have time after school to do the actual cooking.

More often than not I make dinner after lunch, even if I'm not using a crockpot. But the crockpot can be convenient. I go back and forth between the crockpot and the dutch oven...

Christy said...

Anyone who cooks, by choice, on an electric stove top has no standing to opine on cooking methods.

Big Mike said...

If women didn't fall for those ads, they wouldn't have been run.

FWIW I used to use a crock pot as a single male graduate student back in the day. When the wife and I were married we got 3 more as wedding presents.

Brian McKim and/or Traci Skene said...

@Scott: One shouldn't put a nice piece of meat in a crockpot. The crockpot works its magic on cheaper cuts of meat, making them tender and delicious.

@Prof. Althouse: Electric stoves are the work of the devil.

I answered a question correctly and I was the first caller on an afternoon television show (circa 1972) and my choices for the prize were a Hot Dogger or a Crock-Pot. Selflessly, I chose the latter. My mother was a nurse and she worked outside the home. The Crock-Pot changed her life. (I exaggerate, but not much.) We own two. Both of which have fancy timers built in. Makes a spectacular lamb chole masala stew.

Original Mike said...

"Electric stoves are the work of the devil."

When we replace the kitchen countertop, we're putting in a gas stovetop. I've already plumbed in the gas.

Rusty said...

Easy Spicy pork recipe.
3 or 4 pounds of pork tenderloin, frozen. Dump that in a crock pot with 3/4 cup of water. 3/4 tablespoon of cyanne pepper 2 tablespoons of chile pouder and a can of green chiles. Put you crock pot on low and go to work.
When you get home you can have tasty tacos.

traditionalguy said...

A Crock Pot goodie is a stew of lamb chunks, potatoes, carrots, in 4 cups of beef stock and on low for 6 hours.

Original Mike said...

"I never bought a slow cooker in my life. I always thought of it as another junky appliance to clutter up the counter. The 1970s were the heyday of countertop appliances — a device that did nothing but heat hot dogs, the ludicrous "Salad Shooter," the (cannibalistic?) "FryDaddy." Who believed these things would fulfill any promises of liberation?"

Lumping the crock pot in with those other appliances is realy kinda crazy.

Deirdre Mundy said...

I used to shun the crockpot. And then we moved to Southern Indiana, the land of the potluck, where at least twice a month I'm expected to show up somewhere with a 'hot dish' like potatoes, green beans, soup, etc.

So now I cook on the stove, but use the crockpot to transport and keep warm for the potlucks!

Crockpots make a robust, tightknit community life possible! The mistake was thinking that they promised an escape from the communities of old instead of a support for them.

Quaestor said...

Attaching the tags "things not to be believed" and "WaPo" to the same blogpost is a redundancy, no?

Wilbur said...

Crackpots do a good job on meats like oxtail, short ribs or pork shoulder. As mentioned above, it's important, if not vital, to brown them first.

It's a tool. To put it down if you've never used one is a bit narrow minded

Mary Beth said...

"You've come a long way, baby."

I'm making chicken and dumplings in my slow cooker today.

Freeman Hunt said...

The best way to wreck a nice piece of beef is to put it in a crock pot for eight hours.

Yes.

I bought a crock pot a long time ago. I thought it made meat taste weird, so I tried a different crock pot. Meat still tasted weird. No crock pot here.

I did like a crock pot several years ago at a casual party where someone was using it to keep spicy cheese dip warm. Makes an easy chafing dish.

Freeman Hunt said...

This isn't about a crock pot, but it is about another counter-cluttering appliance:

When we got married thirteen years ago, someone gave us a very nice toaster. It worked wonderfully and looked beautiful for over a decade. Then it broke, and I bought a new, cheaper toaster. It was hideous. I hated to look at it. And it didn't work as well either. The toaster we had originally is no longer in production, so I was mildly peeved.

Then I cleaned out an outdoor storage room. Most of the things in the room were destroyed by a small, unnoticed leak in the roof, but way up high on a metal shelf there was a box. Inside the box I found a brand new toaster identical to the one we received as a wedding present, a duplicate gift we'd never returned.

Looks beautiful on the counter now.

Original Mike said...

"The toaster we had originally is no longer in production,"

I've learned that if you have a product that really works well for you, buy two (at least), because sure as hell when you go to replace it they won't make it any more and the new product will be inferior.

Obviously, this isn't practical for a lot of things, but it is possible for a lot of small things and you will be happy you did it.

ken in tx said...

Ann let Chillblaine get away with using I where Me would have been correct. Standards are slipping.

BudBrown said...

When you forget about what's cooking the crockpot is usually easier to scrape out then the pot on the stove. IMO.

Brando said...

We use crock pots all the time--great for slow cooking chilli, stews, cocoa, sauces--and you can get a flavorful meal ready for you when you get home from work. I can see it being a big time saver.

Dad said...

Men in shorts.
Roadside memorials.
Space-traveling rich people.
Crock pots.

The list goes on and on.

Edmund said...

Crockpots are only as good as the recipes you use. Many of the crockpot cookbooks are along the lines of put chicken parts in crockpot, add cream of mushroom soup and cook for a while. The results are terrible.

Cook's Illustrated has a couple of very good crockpot cookbooks, and I also Like the "Not Your Mother's" series of cookbooks. The key is to use it for braises, soups, stews, chilis, and other long, slow recipes.

It's a great fire and forget appliance.

Ann Althouse said...

"Ann let Chillblaine get away with using I where Me would have been correct. Standards are slipping."

Oh, I'm not going to badger Chilblaine. If he were running for President and needed my help, I'd have helped him.

Ann Althouse said...

"It's a great fire and forget appliance."

Why is such a thing needed?

Seems to me a pot on the stove does everything better and does more.

Original Mike said...

"Why is such a thing needed?"

Because we are not home! I had an electric burner short out and throw sparks all over the kitchen. Thank God I was home at the time.

mikee said...

Nobody tell Ann about Japanese rice cookers that start themselves at a preset time, so the rice is done perfectly just as Dad arrives home from work.

The movie Tampopo had a scene describing a domestic Japanese dinner, where the nearly dead wife is called back from the edge of the dark abyss by her husband's demand that she make dinner for him & the kids. Which she does, then falls over dead. The father and kids, tears streaming down their faces, eat the last meal made for them to honor her and all her hard work.

RonF said...

It's all a matter of how you want to organize your time. My 28-year old son uses a slow cooker to set up his dinners in the morning because he wants to eat as soon as he gets home from work.

RonF said...

"It worked wonderfully and looked beautiful for over a decade. Then it broke, and I bought a new, cheaper toaster."

I had a Mirro popcorn popper that I was given as a birthday present when I was 15. It was all metal (except for a small piece of glass so you could see inside at the top). It worked for 20 years. Then it broke.

Did I throw it out? Hell, no. Back then things were built so that when they broke you could fix them. I opened it up and saw that the nichrome element has broken near an electrode. I undid the screw, pulled out the 1/4" of broken wire, screwed the rest of the wire back down and used it again.

There's still a lot of stuff that can be fixed if you have some simple tools and a modicum of mechanical ability. If the thing is riveted together, drill out the rivet and replace it with a bolt, nut and washer once you fix it. For things like dryers, washers, lawn mowers, etc. you'd be amazed at the service diagrams and part numbers you can find on the web.