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"  Temperatures have really dipped here in the Northeast and for me that&amp;#039;s beef stew weather. My favorite recipe comes from Patricia Wells at Home in Provence and contains a full bottle of white wine that&amp;#039;s reduced to a small amount and a good dollop of Dijon mustard. As today&amp;#039;s a work holiday and Inauguration Day, I have every intention of staying inside and watching TV while the stew simmers slowly in my decades-old cast iron Dutch oven, giving off tantalizing odors. But other good options for stew-making are the pressure cookerr and the slow cooker and which cooker is best is one of the questions I&amp;#039;m asked the most. Well, when you have the time to hunker down and woman the stove, I do think my favorite option is the one I&amp;#039;m using today...a heavy casserole. My second choice: the pressure cooker. Some food experts believe that the high temperature inside these cookers actually gives more intensity of flavor than a slow braise but my very personal opinion is that when you pressure cook, the meat doesn&amp;#039;t have quite the tenderness and the sauce quite the depth of flavor that you get from traditional cooking. However, they do come close and you can&amp;#039;t beat the convenience of being able to get beef burgundy, short ribs, or chicken soup on the table in under an hour from start to finish. Which brings us to the slow cooker. We know how much you love them, especially for their ability to let you come home from a day at work to a corned beef or spicy chili or pulled pork that you simply wouldn&amp;#039;t have had the time to cook otherwise. But full disclosure: Slow cookers excel in giving you a really full-flavored broth or sauce but can overcook meat if not used carefully. And even more than with Dutch ovens or pressure cookers, which model you use can make the difference between stringy overcooked meat and perfection. The best ones maintain a true simmer, the worst boil steadily. On our favorite cookers, the keep warm setting does just that..keeps food at temperatures that are hot enough to be safe and ready to eat but not so high that they just continue to cook. Some advice: Avoid anything like chili or meat sauce that involves ground beef..I think it comes out with a tasteless, spongy quality that reminds me of cotton. For these types of dishes, try using small chunks of meat instead. Whichever method you opt to use, Dutch oven, slow cooker, or pressure cooker, be sure to see our top picks, tips, and recipes. Happy Martin Luther King Day and enjoy the inaugural festivities! Want to learn how we put consumer products to the test and keep you safe? Sign up for a tour of the famous Good Housekeeping Research Institute. If you visit, be sure to say hello when you come by the Kitchen Appliances &amp;amp;amp; Technology Department.   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/a21427/pressure-cooker-slow-cooker-or-dutch-oven-which-is-best/>