Most people are completely unaware of it, but in the Deep South pot cooking is a specialty.
Soups just don't fit into a southerners diet.
Rather they prefer stews that can be eaten alone with a nice big hunk of warm bread or ladled over a plate full of rice.
In fact if you were walk into any restaurant in the French Quarter of New Orleans, back in the kitchen they will have someone who carries the title of "pot cook".
This will be the chef that's responsible for anything that is slow cooked in a pot and there is a veritable cornucopia of dishes prepared this way down there.
The one thing that too many crock pot cooks fail to do, is to prepare a rue to base their stew off of.
This is done by pouring about a half a cup of veritable oil into a pan and than adding about a half a cup of plain white flour to it.
Carefully stir the rue on light heat until it's a nice dark golden brown but "not burnt".
A nicely prepared rue is why so many of the simpler crock pot recipes such as leek & potato stew that you will find in the south will leave you wanting to lick your plate.
Now making a perfect rue does take a little practice, so if yours has burnt taste when it's done then toss it out.
A rue should have a nice nutty flavor.
If beans aren't your cup of tea then you haven't tried beans the way they're cooked in Southern Louisiana.
They take beans seriously down there and the finished product reflects this well.
You're going to have to cook your beans all day in a crock pot until they are the consistency of a gravy.
Also don't forget to toss in some bacon or pork fat.