I love slow cooking, but I love sleep more. Everytime I've tried cooking at night the smell keeps me awake. My favorite slow cooker dish is beef barley stew! Yum!

I have never cooked anything in a slow cooker that I did not love the smell of. Even overnight meals.

I usually make stock overnight in my slow cooker - it's weird to wake up to but it's not in the way when I'm making other stuff.

...I'd just end up eating brisket for breakfast. And no, there's nothing wrong with that!

Is that crock-pot on the floor??

My problem with slow cooking overnight is that I wake up at 3 and 4 a.m because I'm worrying that things are burning in the kitchen. I check. nope not burning. I wake up again..not burning. I had a bad experience burning the apple butter in the crockpot and I think I am still have pts about it.

I like to cook beans overnight, since I won't be eating them right away and they don't really smell up the house.

last week i did a chicken stock and we couldn't sleep because my husband kept rolling around half awake thinking something smelled like it was burning and then i did beans and it just made our small apartment feel stuffy all night. so 2 lost nights of sleep in 1 week = sick people right now! i think i'm going to keep the crock pot to daytimes only - giving us enough time to air everything out before bed. our small upstairs only has a small window in the bathroom - not enough air circulation to prevent stifling, stuffy lack of air flow! funny and timely post for us!

I generally do that kind of cooking in the oven and during the day (weekends).

I do chicken stock on a regular basis. I begin it friday night, by roasting a couple of chicken breasts. We carve the meat on one of them for our dinner that evening, with whatever we choose to do with it, and then remove the bulk of the meat from the other and bag it. We then return both birds to the stock pot, where the giblets that we removed before roasting have been simmering. Once we're boiling we let that go for all day Saturday and until about noon on Sunday.

The house has a decidedly dinner-time aroma. It is odd to wake up at 1 to pee and smell this delicious odor wafting through the house. Morning is momentarily abrupt with that aroma -- I agree -- but once coffee has brewed it becomes a part of the household thing, and it's welcome in my kitchen.

But -- for this, I require a gas range. Somehow it doesn't seem right to leave an electric burner on all night.

in my last comment I said "chicken breasts" when of course I meant pollo entero.

i always have to remember to take any jackets off the hooks near the door in the kitchen -- don't want them absorbing the smell of chicken broth or bbq pulled pork during the night!

@mollybcapp - ha, yes. My breakfast nook is currently in, errr, construction mode, and there is no counter space for the slow cooker. So it goes on the floor in the dining room, in a corner out of the traffic area. It doesn't hurt the floor, and it's actually safer there since there is no chance of it getting pulled or tipped off a table. (We don't have pets or kids, so I figure this is fine for now.)

(Trivia note: That's why slow cooker cords are extra-short, to minimize trippage and spillage of, you know, 6 quarts of hot brisket.)

I've never slow-cooked overnight but I'd be willing to try it. I doubt the smell would keep me up because I generally sleep like the dead anyway. I actually haven't used my slow cooker in years and I'm inspired to pull it out again, so thanks for this post!

I love waking up to the smell of yummy stuff.. Why wouldn't you? ><

I do a lot of holiday cooking overnight in the crockpot, especially pinto beans. I have cooked brisket in a crockpot, but I prefer to cook it overnight in the oven, but still---those smells are maddening and delicious at 5 o'clock in the morning.

Does anyone here do crockpot oatmeal?

"but there was something slightly...strange about smelling pork first thing in the morning."

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned cooking bacon, which, unless of the turkey or tofu/veggie/whatever-faux-meats-are-made-from variety, is a pork smell that most people love in the morning.

More on topic-Does the cooking overnight save time the next day? I understand that food can stay hot in a slow cooker without drying, but doesn't cooking and then holding it for 8-10 hours lose something in the wait? Also, pot roast, chili, stews and braised meals seem to cook in three to five hours on high or six to eight on low. Unless not everyone in the house sits down to eat together, (shift workers, students, insomniacs) why choose overnight rather than during the day?

I like the idea-I'm simply trying to understand the reasons others have for using it? (Stock, beans and "staples" cooking for adding to other dishes make sense-I'm just confused about other recipes.)

@SunnyBlue:

I do whole oats for oatmeal in the slow-cooker. I usually soak them in water with a splash of buttermilk for 4 hours and then drain, cover with water and cook them. I don't do it overnight, though, as it only takes about 2.5 hours in my cooker for them to be done.

Ohh grosses me out.

My mom always wakes up at the butt crack of dawn, so when I'm home for holidays, she's cooked several things by the time I've gotten up.

When I haven't yet brushed my teeth and had some coffee or tea, the smell of some kind of savory beef dish is a little nauseating.

I did this with a bean chilli, and we woke up in the middle of the night to the delicious smell and the dog howling about it.

I have the same question as Jodeha here....

Sure you can cook overnight, and in some ways it's easier than having to wake up early to throw everything in the cooker (and browning meat too!) before you go to work.

So is there anything lost, taste or safety-wise, with slow-cooking something like a pork shoulder overnight, and then leaving it on warm for 8 - 10 hours?

I have a favorite Italian Beef recipe that cooks for 18 hours (!). So, it has to be done overnight. The smell used to wake me up, too, worrying that something was burning.

Now, i put it in my basement. I still can smell it in the morning, but it's not strong enough to wake me up. I thought if the basement didn't work I'd consider the garage next! lol.

My boyfriend and his friends play football on Sundays. They prefer dark meat chicken and usually come home with a big appetite. I like to use that day to clean and I'll throw something in the crock pot to be ready when they get home. Their favourite recipe is shockingly one of the easiest--for 6-10 chicken thighs it's something like 1 cup Coke (that's right, coca-cola), 1/2 cup ketchup and a cut up onion (don't remember the exact proportions, but easily Googleable). It takes me 2 seconds and I have enough delicious food to feed an army! One of those great recipes that's more than the sum of its parts.

I also make creamed spinach or artichoke dip in the crock pot (instead of using the microwave as my recipes call for) and have some some amazing memphis roast chickens. Frankly that smell is half the reason that I use it--depending on the recipe, it creeps up on you and is so fragrant, strong, and lovely.

I once made split pea soup overnight with a few ham hocks. I figured that since it tends to taste better the next day, the time in the fridge during the day would make it delicious for that night's dinner. I awoke in the middle of the night thinking that my boyfriend was having some major stomach issues as the smell was horrible. It was really hard to get back to sleep. I think I'm going to keep my crockpotting during the day until I live in some place bigger than a 3 room condo.

I like cooking foods overnight (vs. while I'm at work) because I typically have to de-fat whatever broth/liquid is in the pot and I need the time during the day for it to cool in the fridge. It's also easier to slice a cold roast (if I'm making, say Italian Beef or something that needs to be thin).

Plus, many dishes benefit from sitting for a while (cooled) after cooking. Reheating to temperature is super-simple once I'm home from work.

@ Maggiemoo123 - In my experience, split pea soup is one of those soups that actually doesn't get better the longer you cook it... something in the beans, maybe?

The Vegetarian Split Pea Soup recipe over at 101 Cookbooks is really good and doesn't have to simmer all day!

I frequently make vegetable stock in the cooker overnight, then stick it in the fridge and strain it the next day. It works out well generally, but I am always confused when I wake up for work and the house smells like celery.

I have 3 crockpots and sometimes have all of them cookin' at the same time. I'm a vegetarian and make gallons of stock, I cook my sweetpotatoes in the cp, all my soups, big batches of hard shelled squash and other staple items: beans, split peas, bulgar, lentils, oats, etc.

I like it as it uses next to nothing energywise and I've never burned up a crockpot, whereas range top infernos have been known.

The crock pot food smell is the reason our crock pot got it's name. My sister christened it the, "doggie torture device" after we left it going for a day with 10lbs of beef in a herbed tomato broth and she found the dog in the kitchen staring longingly at the crock on the counter every time she came by that day!

What is the brand of the slow cooker in this picture?