Slow Cooker/Crock Pot: Recipes and Techniques

[marie-louise]

Not a cookbook, but there have been some good threads on eGullet:

This one references a Mark Bittman article that you might want to pay a few bucks to read: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST&f=2&t=16076

And another thread about Gourmet Slow Cooker recipes: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=17342&hl=

[andiesenji]

Check the little cookbooks at your local market check-out stand or at Wal-Mart, also as the check-out.

Look For Taste of Home's Soups and Slow Cooker recipes.

I picked this up about a month ago as my housekeeper wanted to try some slow cooker recipes and I couldn't find any of my other cookbooks without a time-consuming search.

She wanted to make a potato soup similar to those from her home (in Hungary) but want to try the crockpot method.

This cookbook has a recipe for Potato Chowder that is excellent. Anka was thrilled with the way it turned out. (She made dumplings too.)

She also made Taco Soup when her friends came to visit a couple of weeks ago.

She is going to make another one tomorrow. When she gets back from the market I will let you know which it is.

I read through the book and it packs a lot of recipes into a very small package.

76 recipes on pull-out recipe cards.

[NulloModo]

I completely forgot, I have a huge .doc file full of crock pot recipes on my personal storage site, here is the link:

Crockpot Recipes

Edited December 18, 2004 by NulloModo (log)

[fierydrunk]

Thanks--I have to open .doc files at work as I have a Mac...but we will check it out!

[Curlz]

Haven't opened it yet, but I just got a copy of Slow Cooker Cooking by Lora Brody, as I saw it recommended in a few places. One suggestion: do a search in this forum for Crock Pot ® or slow cooker and you'll find a TON of discussions and ideas! And of course, let us know if you make something wonderful...

Nullo, thanks for sharing your recipes...I'm going to save those for future use!

Curlz

[Mabelline]

There's so much stuff you can do with a crockpot. I really love using mine for steaming puddings. It does a great job and the kitchen doesn't resemble a rain forest anymore.

Good luck and here's to a happy relationship between youall.

[fifi]

The new Molly Stevens book All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking, comes highly recommended. I bought copies for the kids since I gave them a little Le Creuset earlier this year. I bought one for me but I have only flipped through it so far. Seems a bit more adventurous than some that I have seen. A site friendly link is below.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/039...3/egulletcom-20

[monavano]

Cakes!! Crock pot cakes are the most moist cakes ever. So dense too. I'd recommend getting an insert for your slow cooker in which you can make them. Ebay has them usually. My favorite is the Harvey Wallbanger cake....

http://baking.about.com/od/crockpotbaking/...eywallbange.htm

[fierydrunk]

Well, well, well!

Anyone who snobs you out about using a crockpot is a fool.

We made buffalo stew meat, marianated in red wine, thyme, garlic and pepper, then thrown in with sauteed bacon, onion, mushrooms and garlic. Throw everything including the marinade in and cook on low for 8 hours...WOW! It was unbelievably flavorable and tender...not to mention convenient.

I am sold.

[Wolfert]

Anything you can braise on the stovetop or in the oven, you can do in a slow cooker. Sometimes better! Besides the aforementioned onion confit, I've used mine to make duck confit, chili, congee, braised lamb shanks, beef stew, pozole, etc. etc. The only time it has been less than great is the most recent: I was braising a duck, totally skinned, cut into pieces (including hacking the bones into pieces with meat on them), and overcooked it by several hours. Tastes fabulous, but almost completely dissolved the shreds of meat on the bones. 

←

Don't blush, Suzanne. I think you just discovered a great way to make duck rillettes.

How many hours did you go over?

[Suzanne F]

No, really, it was a mistake, however delicious! Cooked about 6 hours -- but this was just naked duck (browned first in clarified butter), chunks of carrot and rutabaga (ditto), peeled whole small onions and large garlic cloves (ditto). With wine, chicken stock, dried thyme, and S&P. And when I say naked, I REALLY mean it: I slipped off the entire skin before cutting up the duck, so just about the only fat was the butter. Did this for several reasons: 1) I didn't want to have to defat later; 2) I don't like to eat duck skin unless it's crisp crisp crisp, and this way it couldn't be; and 3) I need to rebuild my collection of renderable fat for future confit.

But since you mention it, with less liquid and sans vegetables (only keeping the garlic, of course), it could very well be a way of making a "low-fat" version of duck rilletes. If that isn't too much of an oxymoron.

[Gifted Gourmet]

the article from Slate Online

I set out to sample eight different slow cookers, both low- and high-end: four very different Rival Crock-Pots, and the others from West Bend, Farberware, All-Clad, and Cuisinart. I spent approximately 119 hours slow cooking, made more than 15 different dishes from braised lamb shank to rice pudding to pot roast to chicken soup

and the results? Read her findings to see which features make for the "best of the best"!

and note that spending more money on a slow cooker is no guarantee of top notch quality ...

[Toliver]

It's unfortunate that she tested only crock pots.

All crock pots = slow cookers but not all slow cookers = crock pots.

As I've posted before, I use the West Bend Oblong 5-Quart Slow Cooker and it works quite well. The "crock" (separate from the base) can be used on the rangetop, too, which makes it versatile.

Her winning crockpot got some pretty mixed reviews on Amazon.com.

[Sartain]

I guess she hated the Westbend. If I remember correctly Cook's Illustrated actually liked that one. I was going to try it but man that sounded like a mess.

Is there someone out there who've had better experience with the Westbend?

[peter_nyc]

I just purchased the Westbend Versatility 6-qt. So far, it's been great. The only drawback is the silly design of the lid, which can fall into the pot a little too easily. But on the whole it's a solid product.

[andiesenji]

I have several Rival Crockpots and other "slow cookers" including the Cuisinart.

I use them for cooking syrups, candying fruit, making preserves and other things that usually require standing over a stove to monitor them fairly constantly.

with these appliances I can just look in now and again.

The smallest is a 2 quart and the largest is an 8 quart made by Magic Mill.

I have a West Bend but not the one she mentioned. I also have Hamilton Beach, Proctor-Silex, Farberware and Toastmaster. I had a Russell Hobbs but gave it to a friend and neighbor who had broken the insert in her big crockpot and needed one instantly, early on a holiday morning, - the one I had was a gift and I had never used it.

Some of them do "dribble" a bit but I always place them on trays so they don't mess up the counters if they should happen to boil over.

I only plug them into outlets that have integral circuit breakers - fire safety is first with me!

They do the job I want them to do and are relatively easy to clean, except for one old round one, soon to be retired, that does not have a removable insert.

Oh yes, I also have something called a "Chef's Pot" made by Dazey, that doubles as a deep fryer and which has a ceramic insert that "sings" - I think it has a crack in it that doesn't show but it makes a funny innnnnnnnnnggggg noise when it is cooking. We don't use it much, except for keeping stuff such as chili warm out by the barbecue, becaue if it breaks I won't care.

It heats up very rapidly and the heating coils are only in the bottom, not on the sides.

I use one crockpot for melting chocolate when I am going to need a lot, since my old chocolate temperer is no longer reliable - - and I haven't gotten around to getting a new one. ( I ordered one but when it came I didn't like the looks of it and sent it back.)

I simply took the crockpot to my appliance repair man and had him set the rheostat to a lower setting so it will only get so warm and no warmer. I think he charged me $20.00 for this bit of technical work....

I also have three of the giant, original "slow" cookers known as electric roasters which serve the same purpose and which is where the idea of the slow cookers actually began, before West Bend produced the hot plate with a bean pot atop it in 1959 (I have one of these in my collection of "vintage" appliances) known as The Beanery and occasionally seen at yard sales and on ebay.

The electric roasters have come back into fashion and are again seen in many stores after a lapse of many years.

The newer ones do not come with the inner cooking containers that were an integral part of the olds ones, along with a rack to hold them. In the Westinghouse they actually offered a set of 5, one large one and 4 smaller ones. The 4 smaller ones could be stacked 2 and 2 so that an entire meal could be cooked at one time, theorectically.

Rather than just high and low settings, the electric roasters have variable temp thermostats that can be set to any temperature and they are very good at keeping the temperature even.

I cook large batches of candied ginger in these big cookers. It makes it very easy.

[designchick88]

I have the Rival Crock-Pot 4-Quart Round Slow Cooker, which was rated #2 on her list. (I have another larger one, almost identical to this, that can hold a whole chicken, but I rarely use it - with just 2 people, the 4-quart is fine most of the time. The large one was a wedding gift and I've never had the heart to get rid of it.) The pot works fine. Never had a problem with it. Frankly I had never really thought about it - I guess that means it was working well. The funny thing was that I had actually considered upgrading to a crock-pot with a timer but seeing those reviews, I think I'll just stick to the one I have. I can't see spending $100 on a slow cooker, we don't use it that often, and I already have 2.

[Cusina]

I bought my rival oval slow cooker at Wal Mart for I think, a whopping $5. The lid does jiggle a bit if you don't get the seal right, but it's fine. For the cost, I'd say it is downright amazing.

[Blondelle]

I was an avid follower of the braising class and thread, and I've just realized that with all the cooking vessels that were compared, no one tested the recipes in a slow cooker. I've never used one before, and was never interested as all those cutesy designs, and flowers turned me off. I've always thought of slow cooking as white trash cooking...lol! Now All-Clad has come out with one, which I guess makes slow cooking respectable to me ;-). I've just won one of Ebay. Has anyone tried the same recipe in Le Creuset and a slow cooker? I just can't stay home in the afternoon for all the hours it takes to braise in the Le Creuest. And when I get home at night I'm too tired or hungry to start a multi hour braise, so the slow cooker looked like a good solution. I was just wondering how it compared in terms of quality of the finished product to a braise made in LC.

[fifi]

You ask a good question. I have a larger slow cooker and a smaller one. I also have all of the LC one could want. I alternate between the two . . . LC in the oven and slow cooker. I also have some clay pots now that I am just beginning to experiment with. As far as final results, I think the slow cookers can compete. And I use them often. I typically use them if I am going off for the day and don't want to be bothered. A LC in the oven will give you the desired results a little faster. (That is relative BTW as nothing good happens real fast.) Anyway, if you are into braising, either will serve.

One dissenting note. I am beginning to think that clay pot cooking raises things to a whole new level but that may be slicing hairs. All methods make for good results.

[TJHarris]

I kind of hate to admit it but, I have become a bit of a slow cooker fan for some dishes. I think that the biggest advantage comes in not having to fire up the oven and heat up the house.

[helenjp]

Using the oven is an expensive business in Japan, and I believe that's been so for most of humanity for most of history (so Tokyo Electric Power Company is just keeping us true to our roots with their punitive charges!). Nuthin wrong with stove-top/slow-cooking methods, unless you think that the characteristics of oven-baked food are the *only* ones admissible. Slow-cooked or stewed foods, in all their glories, have different textures...if you can't make a tasty meal using these techniques, get out your slates and start studying, don't blame the problem on the tools! (Boy am I in a bad mood today!)

When in New Zealand, I use an oval slow-cooker with a heavy ceramic insert. In Although it cooks whole chickens without water in a very tasty way, it's pointless to think of it as a variation on roast chicken. Chicken pieces with frozen veges, a pack of soup, and water isn't going to take you far either - toss out those slow-cooker manufacturer publications, and look at middle eastern and north african cooking methods, for a start...

In Japan, I use my rice-cooker to cook rice-stuffed squid and a few other dishes - it cooks a bit hotter than a slow-cooker.

However, clay-pot cooking has a lot going for it too. It must be into it's nth fad in 2-3 decades by now, which ought to tell us something.

(exits, stomping moodily, to left...)

[godito]

I've done BBQ pulled pork (exact same recipe) for sandwiches as a braise and in the slow cooker. Funny story, we used the slow cooker because we had to go to class and we wanted just wanted to leave the cooker going for when we came back. Well, my friend's landlord was a sweet old lady (92 years old) and had never even heard of a slow cooker. She was affraid the house would catch on fire, so she didn't let him use it. We ended up doing the pulled pork at my place.

Anyway, we had more control over the braise because we were there to adjust it as we saw fit. Plus it feels better, I guess. More hands on, plus you have the pan and you get to brown the meat and the veggies. I don't know, I just liked the end result better.

However, the slow cooker wins hands down in convenience. It's slower, but that can mean smoother cooking, and you can just forget about it for several hours. I think, if you're looking for the pleasure of cooking, braising is the way to go. I mean, even the flavor of the sloow cooker pulled pork was about the same because of the bbq sauce we used. But the craft gives pleasure... and that's what I like about cooking

[rooftop1000]

I use mine for ... Pork butt in the winter 1 bottle durkees hot sauce and a hand full of brown sugar.....sauerbratten.....and chili sometimes.... BUT the coolest is to take a whole deli pastrami and some pickle juice(commercial) and let that go all day....oh man is that moist and tender

tracey

its great for serving at paries too

Edited May 28, 2005 by rooftop1000 (log)

[Wolfert]

I sometimes use a slow cooker for duck confit and stock.

Many carefully seasoned stews cooked in the crockpotr never seem to deliver the deep flavors of oven or stove top braises. It all ends up tasteless and monotonous, no matter the flavoring.