I love slow-cooking, and I love the types of foods that benefit from the process. Given a choice between a braised meat and a more expensive cut, I'll go with the braise for the flavor.

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Slow-cooking has many advantages. First, it can make an inexpensive cut of meat into a wonderful, savory and delicious meal. Second, it's economical; because you can make large amounts of food with inexpensive ingredients and lots of flavor at one time. It's a classic money saving technique. Beans, stews, soups and other dishes are typical of slow-cooking cuisine. And slow-cooking is the only way to make real baked beans. The first time I made baked beans in my slow cooker; I swore I would never buy another can of baked beans again. Slow-cooking is one of the best ways to cook.

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I have to agree. Given the choice between a pricey cut of a meat, and a slow cooked lesser cut, I'll opt for the slow cooked lesser cut. My mother's on a budget, and she can't grasp the concept of slow cooking. She thinks beef is steak. Pork is chops. And chicken is skinless breast. I can't pull her away from these constraints, but I try.

She doesn't even have a job! If I didn't have a job, everything I did would be slow cooked long prep... I just don't get it.

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Slow cooking is a great way to add a lot of flavor to a dish without much fat. Instead of ham-hocks or salt pork add in some smoked turkey and you get just as much flavor. Or you can trim those less expensive cuts of meat and still have great flavor because the slow cooking keeps everything moist.

I made a spicy black bean, vegetable and turkey soup in the slow cooker today, it came out awesome.

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Give me a choice, $3/lb. Short rib or $11/lb. Filet, I'll take the short rib. Slow cooking is an art. It's wonderful that it's beginning to gain popularity and I can only hope that it continues! Not only is slow cooking wonderful, but slow processing (think 12 month aged parm-reggiano, 20 year balsamic), and the beauty of a large meal served over several hours with friends or family, even better, both.

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I love slow roasting meat. Quick (erm, slow) rough results are still brilliant. I post photos of some experiments over here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oliwood/52984582/in/set-1148999/

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Slow cooking is definitely one of my favorite ways to cook, even when I'm not making meat. (Meat dishes are rare for us because we keep kosher and kosher meat is very pricey!) I even follow a blog where this woman has been using her crockpot every day for a year: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ (Ok, only 358 days so far. She only has a week to go, though.)

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I've had a slow cooker since the 70s and have always found that cooking meats especially to be the best way to keep them tender and juicy.

My favorite food though cooked in the slow cooker is soups. They are brilliant cooked this way.

I also agree with Samme that slow cooking is a great way to cook with less fat.

If you are looking for recipes I have have some great ones that have been tested by me at http://crockpotmeals.myreviewguide.com/recipes

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I just posted about my second attempt at slow cooking Daal Makhani http://www.hungrydesi.com/2009/02/07/9998-slow-cooked-daal-makhani/ While the slow cooking process seemed to have a (positive) impact on the flavor, I was a little disappointed that I had to still use the pressure cooker afterwards.

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