Ever since man tamed fire, slow cooking has been employed as a way to soften and tenderize tough slabs of meat and fibrous rooty vegetables. In prehistoric times wild root plants were cooked in a slow-burning fire pit for a full 24 hours. Our grandmothers slow-cooked in a big iron pot that sat on the stove most of the day.

In today’s world when we speak of slow-cookers, better known as Crock-Pots (which is a trademark), we are not using a new method of cooking, just a better method. The pot is an electrical appliance which maintains a relatively low cooking temperature compared to other cooking methods.

In the year 1970, Rival Industries purchased Naxon. With the rights for the Beanery (a bean-pot cooker), Rival began exploration into the world of slow-cookers. The company soon found that many types of foods cooked wonderfully in these appliances. In 1971, 25,000 cookers were brought out for sale to the public as the first official Crock-Pot.

Although slow-cookers today a...