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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]They all taste exactly the same.   Gross.  No matter what I try - it has that "slow cooker" taste. UGH[/quote]
Are you doing "dump" meals?  The kind where you pack a bunch of raw ingredients into the slow cooker?  If this is what you do, then yeah, you will end up with that weird metallic boiled onion taste to everything.  You need to first brown/saute your ingredients before putting them in.  You also need to cook for the correct amount of time.  Very few types of foods need more than 4-6 hours on low.  Crock pots are marketed as dump it in and forget it devices, but they really aren't.  They are a great device when you want to take advantage of a moist, low-temperature environment to cook tough cuts of meat or dried beans.[/quote]

This.  If you're using recipes from a cookbook like The Fix It and Forget It Cookbook that involve dumping a bunch of ingredients (such as canned cream soups and such) into the slow cooker and then leaving it to cook all day long, then you will not get a good result.  Soups, stews, tough cuts of meat, chili, beans, and such are slow-cooker friendly to begin with, but it really helps to take the extra time to prep your ingredients properly, brown your meats, and mind your cooking times.  I understand that this defeats the purpose of the slow cooker in a way, but it really does make a difference.  Dump and go is definitely more convenient, but the tradeoff is that you may end up with a sludgy flavorless mess, which is what puts people off the slow cooker.

Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker is a really good resource, as is The Complete Slow Cooker by America's Test Kitchen.  Here are a couple of go-to slow cooker recipes that turn out great for me every time.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/corsican-chicken/

https://damndelicious.net/2014/10/10/slow-cooker-pork-carnitas/

US Senate navy bean and ham soup from America's Test Kitchen

The NY Times cooking section has a lot of great slow cooker recipes too. https://cooking.nytimes.com/68861692-nyt-cooking/950138-34-amazing-slow-cooker-recipes?ds_c=71700000052595478&gclid=CjwKCAiA8ov_BRAoEiwAOZogwSGu2mOYVWjTZdyUvKPiAnGI2Z4th0D7hprkD85fkLPTClNvK9f5nRoCpOkQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

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