Slow Cooker/Crock Pot: Recipes and Techniques

[LoriZig]

After hearing from some American friends about the advantages of a crockpot (apparently it's simply a matter of dumping everything in, going to work and having a complete meal afterwards) I succumbed and I've just paid for one from Ebay. Slow cookers aren't used in Spain, where I live, but there is definitely a long tradition of slow cooking.

Trouble is, I've been looking for slow cooker / crockpot recipes on the web and mostly they seem to be bland casseroles made out of canned soup and chunks of meat. Is any of you giving this appliance a more gourmety type of treatment? Could anyone give me some tips on what I can do with the my new kitchen toy?

Thanks a lot,

Mar

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Oh, do I have a recipe for you! We make this whenever pork roast is on sale.

Pulled Pork in a Crock Pot

-boneless pork roast (about 2 pounds) with the layer of fat removed

Rub:

-1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper

-1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

-1 tablespoon paprika

-2 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mop:

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper

1 tablespoon coarse salt

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Mix together the rub ingredients, and rub all over pork, pressing to make sure it sticks. Throw mop ingredients into Crock Pot, and add the roast. Cook on low for 8 hours, turning once. Take out of pot and shred with forks. Mix with a little bbq sauce and serve on buns.

[Jaymes]

We've had several threads on slow cookers and one thing that everyone seems to make with great success is caramelized onions. You just can't beat the crockpot for long slow simmering of those onions.

Also, I make Tacos de Lengua in mine.

Here's a link to a thread where I give the recipe: Gourmet slow cooker recipes -- do they exist?

Oh, y Mar....

Another thing crockpots are great for is serving hot beverages. I'm sure you've been to Germany and sampled the gluwein. When I have parties in the wintertime, I usually have a crockpot full of the stuff simmering away, and another of mulled cider (with a bottle of Tuaca and a bowl of whipped cream alongside) for guests to help themselves.

Edited September 20, 2005 by Jaymes (log)

[sugarcookie]

I have a sweet potato chili recipe that loves the crockpot. I have also successfully done lasagna in it! My crockpot is older than me, and I love it.

[Jaymes]

I have a sweet potato chili recipe that loves the crockpot.

You have a "sweet potato chili recipe"? Man, does that sound interesting. Care to share?

[Mar Calpena]

Hi, thanks to everyone for pointing me on the right direction. Silly me, I managed to miss the wealth of info available on Egullet.

My mother suggested trying fabada, which is a white bean stew typical from the north of Spain, and also escudella i carn d'olla, which is stock and meat and veggies we Catalans often eat on Christmas day (we cook it all together but then have the stock with some pasta as hors d'oeuvre and the meat - chicken and chuck and butifarra- and the veggies as main).

[rooftop1000]

Another thing crockpots are great for is serving hot beverages.  I'm sure you've been to Germany and sampled the gluwein.  When I have parties in the wintertime, I usually have a crockpot full of the stuff simmering away, and another of mulled cider (with a bottle of Tuaca and a bowl of whipped cream alongside) for guests to help themselves.

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Lots of fun foods for parties can be set out in the crock pot from Chile or a saucy vegetable dish to pulled pork for sandwiches.

I do my pulled pork using a small bottle of Frank's hot sauce, onion and garlic powder and a big handfull of brown sugar or maple syrup. After it cools you can defat the drippings and mix with some BBq sauce to add back to the pulled meat. Just leave it next to a basket of buns and let everyone have at it.

tracey

[Curlz]

My mother suggested trying fabada, which is a white bean stew typical from the north of Spain, and also escudella i carn d'olla, which is stock and meat and veggies we Catalans often eat on Christmas day (we cook it all together but then have the stock with some pasta as hors d'oeuvre and the meat - chicken and chuck and butifarra- and the veggies as main).

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Ooooh, these sound great! If you have recipes to share, please do!!

Curlz

[Mar Calpena]

Ooooh, these sound great!  If you have recipes to share, please do!!

Curlz

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You can find two fairly accurate recipes for fabada here and here- These days most people buy canned "fabas", like in recipe number one, because they take so long to prepare, but I'm definitely going to give traditional fabada a try once I receive my crockpot (and the weather gets colder).

By the way, regardless of what the first recipe says, "Fabas" is the term people use in Asturias, where the dish comes from, to refer to big white beans. In Spanish they would be called "judías", as opposed to "habas", which are the Catalan Faves and Italian Favas.

As for escudella i carn d'olla, I have to say this is a very forgiving recipe, and each family cooks it in a slightly different way. I also found two versions of it - along with a great explanation - here and here- , but my mother's doesn't include chicken's livers, lamb, onions or pork feet, while she may throw in some slices of Catalan sausages (botifarra blanca, botifarra negra, or fuet) and a quartered chicken or chicken carcass. What you definitely don't leave out is the huge meatball, the veggies and the chickpeas in stock. It's lovely winter fare...

In terms of plating, you are supposed to drain the stock you get at the end, and then boil some pasta (galets, no idea what the italian term for this is) or rice in it. In the unlikely case you have leftovers, you make caneloni out of the meat and eat them on Boxing Day (San Esteve). However, due to my families' appetite and the fact we often have roast turkey filled with sausages, prunes, dried apricots and pine nuts in Christmas (another Catalan classic), my aunt has to make them from scratch every year.

I'll try and post my mum's recipe soon, but the crockpot experiment will take longer with this, as it is a bit too labor intensive to cook only for myself.

Edited to includ the "faba", "haba" explanation.

Edited September 20, 2005 by Mar Calpena (log)

[pounce]

I use a slow cooker a lot to make lunches for work. My current favorite slow lunch is a very basic beef and paprika dish.

5 lbs. beef stew meat (browned)

4-5 tablespoons HOT paprika

1 large sautéed onion

2 lbs. of sliced mushrooms

2 cups stock

1/4 cup veg oil

..some wine if there is an open bottle around

...sometimes garlic

..sometimes parsley

I put this on low for 8 hours. After it's finished I remove the meat and other solids, pour off the fat and reduce the liquid adding salt and more HOT paprika to taste. I then mix the solids back in and set in the fridge. The next day I mix in sour cream or Greek style yogurt and pair with egg noodles or schpetzle. I'm a big fan of vacuum packing so I portion everything along with the noodles and freeze. I grab a pack on the way out the door and by lunch time the meal is slightly thawed, but still cold, ready for a little radar love.

Edited September 20, 2005 by pounce (log)

[deltadoc]

Try Delta Doc's Garlic Beef

It was published in the Blues-L Cookbook entitled Come On in My Kitchen.

http://members.aol.com/debjerky/cookbook/Garbeef.html

doc

[sugarcookie]

I have a sweet potato chili recipe that loves the crockpot.

You have a "sweet potato chili recipe"? Man, does that sound interesting. Care to share?

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Be warned. I have won hearts with this chili.

4 sweet potatoes (one male, one female), peeled, parboiled and cut up

2-14 oz. cans diced tomatoes (juice and all). I prefer the Muir Glen fire roasted ones, with chiles in them

3 tbsp tomato paste

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 onion, diced

1-14 oz. can chickpeas (drained)

1-14 oz. can black beans (not fully drained)

2 tsp curry powder or to taste

couple dashes hot pepper sauce

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp dried oregano

¼ cup raisins

1 bay leaf

1 cup vegetable broth or water

toasted slivered almonds and plain yogurt to garnish

Mix everything but the garnishes into a slow cooker. Heat on low for 4-6 hours. Remove bay leaf.

Serve with a dollop of yogurt swirled in, and a tablespoon or so of toasted almonds.

Can also be made on the stove: low heat for 30 minutes or until hot and thickened.

[daniellewiley]

What I'm wondering is when you cook meat in a crockpot, do you take skin off chicken, etc, or trim fat? I always get a bunch of fat pooled in the pot. Or do you just cool it and skim?

In the many many books I've been looking through, trying to get ideas, all generally agree to ditch the skin before cooking.

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I sometimes cook chicken in the crockpot WITH the skin. I cover the bottom of the crockpot with loosely packed balls of foil. Then, I season the chicken and place it on top. The fat drains down to the bottom, underneath the foil balls. It's a neat trick. I especially like using chicken made this way for chicken salad, but it's good hot too.

[Jaymes]

Be warned. I have won hearts with this chili.

4 sweet potatoes (one male, one female), peeled, parboiled and cut up

2-14 oz. cans diced tomatoes (juice and all). I prefer the Muir Glen fire roasted ones, with chiles in them

3 tbsp tomato paste

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 onion, diced

1-14 oz. can chickpeas (drained)

1-14 oz. can black beans (not fully drained)

2 tsp curry powder or to taste

couple dashes hot pepper sauce

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp dried oregano

¼ cup raisins

1 bay leaf

1 cup vegetable broth or water

toasted slivered almonds and plain yogurt to garnish

Mix everything but the garnishes into a slow cooker.  Heat on low for 4-6 hours.  Remove bay leaf.

Serve with a dollop of yogurt swirled in, and a tablespoon or so of toasted almonds.

Can also be made on the stove: low heat for 30 minutes or until hot and thickened.

Wow. I have never heard of anything like this. I can hardly wait to try it out. Where did you get this recipe?

[sugarcookie]

Ever heard of Chicken Country Captain? Well, I took out the chicken (was dating a vegetarian), added yams, and increased the heat and made it more chili-like. I've tweaked it a LOT over the years. It's truly my own, now. Take, and do with it what you will!

[Andy Lynes]

We have just purchased a slow cooker here in the UK and my wife prepared a brisket of beef with onions, mushrooms, potatoes and carrots - boiled beef and carrots as the old music hall song goes! She didn't sear the meat or sweat off the veg, the only liquid was water and seasonings were limited to a bay leaf or two, salt and pepper.

The result was very good indeed. The "liquor", once reduced, was very flavourful, the veg beautifully cooked and not mushy as often happens in the oven cooked equivilent (I usually have to cook a second batch of veg seperately and throw out what was cooked with the meat). The only problem was that the meat had dried out slightly, but that was down to over cooking which we put down to inexperience with the kit. I'll be interested to try cooking chicken, pork and lamb as the idea that everything tastes the same from a slow cooker is a very intriguing one.

[Steven Blaski]

A couple times a month in the winter I make a sublime, simple pot roast in my bright red Rival slow cooker.

Saute 1/2 c each of onions, carrots, turnips/potatoes, and celery till soft. Dump that into the cooker. In the same pan, brown a 3-pound chuck roast that you have presalted -- a la Judy Rodgers -- by at least one day. Place that on top of the sauteed veggies. Deglaze the pan with 1/2 c red wine, reduce till slightly thickened. Pour that into the cooker, along with a cup of boiling water. Turn on low. Cook for 8-9 hours.

Strain sauce, and refrigerate overnight *separate* from the roast. Next day remove the layer of congealed fat from the sauce and any fatty bits from the roast. Pour a bit of sauce into a large saucepan and place roast on top. Cook, covered, over low till heated through. Meanwhile, heat sauce, thicken if necessary with a bit of potato starch slurry (I don't find it necessary). Steam some root vegetables to serve with the roast. Soul-satisfying!

A chuck roast is essential for a flavorful, meltingly tender result. A flat, steak-shaped one with plenty of marbling is best and easiest (only two sides to brown). Avoid anything from the round -- its lack of marbling makes for a dry flavorless pot roast in the slow cooker. Brisket is too chewy for the kind of meltingly tender texture I want.

[Katie Nell]

There are several excellent cookbooks on the subject

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What are these cookbooks, in your opinion? I bought one at the book fair at my work because it was for a good cause, and well... it is a cause in itself!

[Pam R]

I'll be interested to try cooking chicken, pork and lamb as the idea that everything tastes the same from a slow cooker is a very intriguing one.

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I've been experimenting recently with my new slow-cooker and have cooked chicken, lamb and beef. I didn't think that anything tasted like the others, but the other flavourings in the recipes were radically different. I'm in favour of browning the meats (and some veg) before placing in the crock - and I find that the recipes take a little more seasoning than they would using a different cooking method.

So far I like it - for fall and winter it makes very 'homey' meals. Must try a brisket in it.

Edited October 25, 2005 by Pam R (log)

[howard88]

I use my slow cooker for many dishes a few times per month

This weekend I put together homemade beans on low for about ten hours and the result was very good.

I have used it for whole chicken with a traditional mirepouix, no liquid added. The result is a tender offering with a good amount of liquid broth to be defatted and used for a gravy or a multitude of other recipes.

Sourkraut, onions and pork ribs seasoned with wine, chicken base and pepper comes out succulent.

The slow cooker is convenient basically forget about cooking for those of us working and is really great for those comfort food dishes.

[Andy Lynes]

One of the problems we had was that the liquid came to a fairly fast simmer after around 6 hours (when the meat was not yet tender) and as we cooked the dish for a total of 8, this was almost certainly the cause of the dried out meat. I did think of putting the lid ajar on the cooker, but as the idea is to leave the dish to cook by itself overnight or when we are out of the house, I wanted to see what the result would be if we just left it. The cooker has just four settings - off/low/high (for reducing sauces) and warm for warming through already cooked dishes. Any ideas how to rectify this? The liquid came up around 7/8 of the way up the meat which I think may have been too much. Would there be any benefit in reducing the amount?

[jefferyc]

I thought about a slow cooker but I'm in an apartment and I can't see taking up the space when I have my dutch oven. Also I love the heat and smell that comes out of the oven in the fall and winter months.

[touaregsand]

"Steamed" chicken in a crock pot

There is not much liquid in that recipe. And I don't think that any flavor was taken away by cooking in crock pot.

We made a lamb with olives dish in the slow cooker. Hmmm, it did not taste at all like the delicate chicken dish.

[kalyson]

Just wondering which slow cookers you are using. We've tried some that have been awful. One Rival pot gets so hot it is dangerous to touch and it spews hot water out of the lid while it cooks.

The other cooks unevenly. Another one was recalled by Rival -- not sure why but maybe because the construction of its handles was unsafe.

Thanks,

Kris

[touaregsand]

I have a Rival stoneware crockpot. I've only used it twice so far. Both dishes were very good. I haven't gotten around to posting the lamb recipe yet. I don't really see how either dish would be improved using the stovetop or oven.

We used lamb ribs and chicken legs, both obviously fattier pieces of meat which might explain the success of the dishes.

[Natho]

My folks have just taken off overseas for 6 weeks leaving me to fend all for myself. Being the busy type (work study etc) i was thinking that the crock pot looked like it may be a good friend for the next month and a half. So if anyone has any good crockpot recipes I would love to hear them, especially anything hot/very spicy!

Lay it on me.