West Bend 84866 6-Quart Slow Cooker Review

I love the way my West Bend Versatility slow cooker cooks! I don't use it often; maybe 3 times a month to make roast beef with veggies or slow cooked spaghetti sauce with pork steak but I love the results.  Once in a while my husband makes some country ribs or beef barley soup in it, but roasts and sauce are the norm around here. The Versatility has done a terrific job with all of the tasks I've assigned to it.

The first thing I love about the Versatility is that you can cook directly on the stove. I love being able to sear and brown a roast or pork steak right in the cooking pot on the stove and then move it to the cooking base to cook slowly and not have to dirty (or wash!) another pan.

I also love that I can put it directly into the oven if I want. One time I waited too late to add the potatoes to a roast I had cooked and they didn't cook in time for dinner.  So I cranked up the oven really high and put the cooker right in there to finish the cooking quickly. 

The heat selections couldn't be easier. Low is great for keeping food warm for a family member that won't make it home in time for dinner but will want hot food the second they walk in the door. It's also good for keeping food warm for a party. My cousin borrowed my slow cooker for a party where he needed to keep lots of marsala meatballs warm for the duration and it worked perfectly.

I mostly use the medium and high settings for cooking my roasts and sauces. The pot heats up very quickly using these settings. I usually set the temp to high until I can smell the food throughout the house which takes a few hours. Usually by this time it is boiling and juicy and well on its way to being cooked or is actually fully cooked. After that I bump it down to a level between low and medium for the rest of the day to allow the meat to become tender. Using this method I can put a roast and veggies in the slow cooker on high at noon and it will be fully cooked, tender, and falling apart by three or four in the afternoon. Sometimes I'll start the cooker up before work in the morning at medium and when I get home around 4pm it's finished so I bump it down between medium and low until my husband gets home and we're ready to eat.

Another nice thing is that you can set the temperature between low and medium and medium and high so you're not just stuck with the three settings. This is nice because depending on what you've got cooking in the pot, you can play with the temperature like you can with a gas stove until you find the perfect setting.

This slow cooker also comes with a small roasting rack which is good for lifting meat off of the bottom of the pot and out of the cooking juices. Juices run out of cooking meat and condensation from the pot does not escape during cooking so it tends to build up at the bottom. The rack is good for keeping things out of those juices. I never use the rack though as I like everything to remain juicy and flavorful.

The Versatility slow cooker is really easy to clean. I have left it out overnight and gone back in the morning to clean it thinking it will be a mucky mess however it washed clean with warm soapy water and a kitchen sponge. I haven't had a need to put it in the dishwasher as it's so easy and quick to clean in the sink.

I bought the Versatility to replace an old and ugly slow cooker and I really love it.  If this one ever gives out on me, I'd buy another in a NY minute.