My experience with crockpots has taught me to seek out antique ones from the 1970's, because ALL the new ones available in the USA, anyway (not sure about where you are) are, heat to a boiling temperature even on low setting, which ruins a roast, and many other foods.
I looked into it, and the reason is not that they are malfunctioning, or that people aren't using them right. The reason is new food safety standards that the makers are forced to keep to. In other words, the one benefit of a slow cooker, that it would NOT boil a roast and therefore ruin it, that it cooked for long periods at low temperatures, has been destroyed, by "slow" cookers being turned into "fast" cookers by new regulations.
So, after getting tired of finding out that everything I tried making in the new ones was coming out terrible or burnt or worse, I researched it, found out why, and saw that indeed, vintage ones from the 1970's and 80's were selling for quite a price on Ebay. Luckily, no one in my area had heard of any of this, and there are always several for cheap at the local thrift stores. The added bonus is, they last for decades if not longer, whereas modern ones are built to fail within whatever period the manufacturer thinks they can get away with and still have you buy another of their brand to replace the last one.
So I acquired 3 70's era ones, plus a 70's era cookbook for it, and they work wonderfully.
The rule of thumb is to put raw veggies, on the bottom (carrots, potatoes, turnips, etc on the very bottom, and softer faster cooking ones like celery and onions next up) and seasoned meat on top of that. Don't add liquid unless you want soup. The meat and vegetables emit a good rich broth of their own, without adding water.
For dry beans, soak overnight, then drain and place in crockpot. Fill just to cover the beans, no more, with water, add onions and other spices. Best when cooked on low overnight plus through the next day into lunch or dinnertime. Done that way, they are truly scrumptious.
Pea soup with or without carrots, ham, etc is also quite good, and no soaking is required; simply add more generous amounts of water.
In this way, I have had pot roast, barbecue, chicken-in-a-pot, soups, chili, beans, etc ready when I get home with the kids from an afternoon outing, or had hearty soup ready when I had no time that day to prepare anything.
Modern crockpot recipe books really dismay me; it seems they expect you to simply precook everything anyway, and add beans straight from a can... so I can't see the point of even having a slow cooker in that case. Far too much trouble and hassle, no convenience, and poor results. I went through about 4 since the 90's, of the new ones, trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, thinking each time it was defective because it cooked too hot and too fast even on low... and the problem was that it was built to do that, and completely undermined the whole idea and advantage of slow cooking in the process.
Antique ones are the way to go.
Hope this helps!
our fave is beef roast...quarter potatoes and an onion and halve carrots in the bottom. Rub the roast with pepper and paprika, throw it in with broth, or water and boullion, cook all day. For a second meal we simply thicken the liquid and presto! we have stew!
