I personally possess no doubts that the Rival Crockpot slow cooker long ago became a ‘must-have’ domestic device for lots of North American domestic kitchens,  however I honestly believe that most faithful, fervent crock pot users are in all probability not awfully conscious of one of the more recent Rival Corporation innovations, the Rival Crock Pot BBQ Pit.  Considering the unusual nature of this innovative base unit – it is being marketed as an indoor option to the long-established outdoor grill after all – I am not at all shocked that it brings with it somewhat of a learning curve, and should maybe not be used right out of the box without as a minimum a percursory browsing of the included instruction manual.  I have not personally conceived of any likely circumstance which would compel a Crock Pot BBQ user to abandon the included meat rack, but I found that it really worked well and that you will fare better by using it than by cooking without it since you might find that the results without the included rack are more stew-like in nature.  One more issue that I have found is that you will almost certainly boast superior results with any meats that you desire to grill if you make the effort to dry them out some before you cook them.

After trying out the Crock-Pot BBQ Pit a few times I found that, like most other kitchen appliances, it has a number of design highlights and weaknesses.

The counter-top design of the BBQ Pit is an understandable chief advantage.  That point makes the base unit especially user-friendly and also makes the conception of indoor barbecuing all the more appealing since it is giving a potential neophyte bbq chef the option of being able to practise barbecue-style cooking right there on their counter top.  And really, isn’t that what this appliance is all about? Isn’t it promoting the concept of being able to simply, and with minimum effort, bring an outdoor tradition and practise indoors – at least to some degtree? A further plus would be the aforementioned included meat rack which can be  adjusted to two distinct positions which you choose depending on whether you are likely going to be slow cooking something like chicken, ribs, steak or something else. One other feature of the Crock Pot BBQ Pit’s design that I really liked is that the stoneware liner insert is not only easily removable (like with all Rival Crock Pots) but that it is also claimed to be both oven and dishwasher safe. That is something that cannot help but make such a kitchen appliance more adaptable and appealing to the buyer.  To be honest, I think that Rival has been making a concentrated effort to establish these features into a number of its more recent slow-cooker offerings.

And of course, I did say that the BBQ Crock is not without its own number of design weaknesses.  I am conscious of the fact that the Crock Pot BBQ is being marketed as a workable indoor alternative to an outside barbeque, and in order for it to fulfill that function it would likely have to be of some size to adequately accomplish its ambition.  Nonetheless, this is an appliance that will require some serious space on your kitchen counter top when it’s being used and when not in use you would likely want to store it somewhere out of the way, and if you are at all strapped for space in your home then this could be a potential problem.  An additional weak point of the appliance – although to be fair this may just be the nature of the beast, is with the stoneware insert, or to be more precise, how dirty or messy the insert surface can get from burned on foods after cooking and how grueling it can be to clean it all off afterwards  Getting the insert clean is no problem if you just put it in your dishwashing machine, however if your machine is too small then you might not be able to fit the insert into it. If you find yourself in the situation of hand cleaning the oversized insert, one thing you can try is to clean the insert with a paste of wayer and baking soda – an effective, yet less abrasive solution. I have read that if you coat the insert with cooking oil spray then it might make clean up afterwards easier. Anything else? Well, there is one more thing that I consider to be something of a downside with the appliance; there are no outside handles on the lower half of the exterior of the heating unit, and this can make for an awkward situation if you should decide that you actually need to move the BBQ Pit once it gets hot. Because of this you need to be sure that it is okay for it to stay where it is before you get cooking.

The Crock Pot BBQ unit measures in at about 20 inches by 16 inches so as I made reference to earlier, you will find that it takes up a fair bit of your kitchen’s counterspaceI can imagine that this barbecuing appliance will – in some small way, let some home cooks get a taste and feel for something that maybe is not too far renmoved from the real culinary experience of home barbecuing. Nevertheless, I don’t actually foresee many conventional barbecue enthusiasts adopting this manner of barbecuing when their usual outdoor propane or charcoal bbq grill is an available option. Although because of the Rival Corporation’s winning track record with slow-cooker appliances It will be interesting to see how keenly this new Rival Crock Pot BBQ Pit catches on with Crock Pot enthusiasts in particular and shoppers in general.