NuWave as a Slow Cooker

wca01 wrote:
Well, I don’t know anything about the air space in a slow cooker and don’t know what its purpose is, but do know something about heat. In another life, long ago, I was a partner in a consulting engineering firm and designed all sorts of heating/air conditioning systems.

As I understand it, liquid always covers or mostly covers the product in a slow cooker. If that is true then the heat from the liquid does the cooking, unlike frying in a pan where the heat for cooking comes from the heating surface and either heats oil of some kind or the food itself by heating the bottom of the pan.

If an air space is used between the heating element and the cooking container, there will be a decrease in efficiency because of the losses generated as the airspace is heated. If an air space is added between the cooking container and its housing, it could have an insulating effect.

My test demonstrated that all of the liquid and the entire product stabilized at the same temperature in time – really a very short time. That means that it doesn’t make any difference where the heat comes from – bottom, top, side. The important thing is to keep the liquid and product at the desired low temperature.

A slow cooker or any other container where the heat can be controlled will do it. The only consideration is can the heat be controlled at the desired temperature. The NuWave demonstrated it can control the liquid and product at the desired temperature for long periods of time. The important result of the test was just how closely the NuWave did that.

Note, the test was made in a hard aluminum Circulon stock pot. Aluminum is, of course, one of the best conductors of heat that we have. The heat transfer from the source to the product is very high. Heat loss from it to the atmosphere is very high. The difference in the temperature setting and the product final temperature demonstrated that.

Cast iron is very popular and is a very poor conductor of heat. If used here, the final temperature of the product would take longer to obtain, but its losses to the atmosphere will be less. It might be that the final product temperature, using cast iron, would be closer to the temperature setting on the NuWave.

Note that the final temperature of the product covered with liquid where the heat energy isn’t thermostatically controlled will be influenced by the surrounding air properties – temperature, humidity, air movement as well as the heat input (wattage) of the source. That influence will stop when the liquid reaches 212F. At atmospheric pressure, you can’t get water above 212F. After that temperature is reached, boiling will occur.

An induction capable trivet placed between the NuWave and cooking container will just reduce the efficiency of the system.

Good Luck!
Wil

Does the "hard aluminum Circulon stock pot" have a stainless steel bottom or something? My TFal hard anodized aluminum pots and pans do not work on my NuWave. I bought a stainless steel trivet and it is useless with the TFal cookware. I had the TFal cookware before I bought the NuWave.

Thanks