Slow Cooker/Crock Pot: Recipes and Techniques

[mgaretz]

I do a lot of things in my slow cooker - check my blog for some ideas.

I also like the Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Slow Cooking book - looks like WS has a new book to replace it which I have not seen, but the one I mentioned is still available on Amazon. It has a lot of nice sounding recipes in it - I have only tried a few but they were enjoyable. The chicken with shallots and balsamic vinegar has been a family favorite. It has slow cooker and stove-top instructions.

Edited April 11, 2011 by mgaretz (log)

[Paul Bacino]

I like this website a lot: A Year of Slow Cooking

I book marked that one.. Thanks

[Jaymes]

Tacos de Lengua

1 1-lb (or so) beef tongue

5 small cloves garlic (or 3 large ones), smashed & chopped

1 onion, quartered

salt & pepper to taste

I have a beef tongue in my freezer that I'd love to try this out with, but I'm sure it's bigger than 1 lb. Should I just cook it longer?

Weigh it and see how much larger it is, then adjust time and ingredients accordingly.

And be sure it's completely thawed before you put it into your crockpot. If it's really large, you might even want to cut it into halves.

[Corinna]

Tacos de Lengua

1 1-lb (or so) beef tongue

5 small cloves garlic (or 3 large ones), smashed & chopped

1 onion, quartered

salt & pepper to taste

I have a beef tongue in my freezer that I'd love to try this out with, but I'm sure it's bigger than 1 lb. Should I just cook it longer?

Weigh it and see how much larger it is, then adjust time and ingredients accordingly.

And be sure it's completely thawed before you put it into your crockpot. If it's really large, you might even want to cut it into halves.

Thank you, Jaymes. I have found so many interesting recipes that I want to try, I may end up cutting it in half anyway!

[newbie]

Thanks for this link! I've been meaning to dig out my slow cooker....especially with my kids' busy soccer schedules. I barely have time to get in the door, make dinner and feed the family before we've got to be out the door and off to soccer. I haven't been overly enthusiastic about any recipes I've found for the slow cooker though, but the Year of Slow Cooking blog link that was posted is great.

Edited April 14, 2011 by newbie (log)

[HungryC]

The "Joe Simmer" series of slow-cooker booksare full of tasty recipes; the Creole Slow Cookin' book is probably the best of the series. Simmer's recipes aren't plagued by the blandness of so many "quick-n-easy" slow cooker books. The chicken mole recipe from the website is pretty good.

[slschnur]

There are a number of good recipes in The Italian Slow Cooker by Michele Scicolone. Everything I've tried has been very good. Ditto for WS Esssentials of Slow Cooking. There's also Slow Cooker Revolution from America's Test Kitchen. Haven't tried anything from there yet.

[Crouton]

There's also Slow Cooker Revolution from America's Test Kitchen. Haven't tried anything from there yet.

I've got mine on order from Amazon. From what I'm hearing it's a must-have.

[annachan]

Lora Brody's book Slow Cooker Cooking has recipes that would pass "gourmet" muster.

Took a look at the book inside on Amazon. Great to see that caramelized onion recipe in there. I've been doing that for years to make the base of my onion soup.

[Corinna]

Tacos de Lengua

1 1-lb (or so) beef tongue

5 small cloves garlic (or 3 large ones), smashed & chopped

1 onion, quartered

salt & pepper to taste

This is a delicious preparation of tongue to be used as a base for tacos, or so many other possibilities. Thank you, Jaymes!

[Jaymes]

Tacos de Lengua

1 1-lb (or so) beef tongue

5 small cloves garlic (or 3 large ones), smashed & chopped

1 onion, quartered

salt & pepper to taste

This is a delicious preparation of tongue to be used as a base for tacos, or so many other possibilities. Thank you, Jaymes!

Thank you Corinna, for letting me know.

I've been making that for many years, but don't usually tell my guests that they're eating "tacos de lengua" until after they've polished off a few. Some folks find that a bit off-putting.

But I'm so glad I passed the recipe along, and that you like it!

[mig]

i get so many useful crockpot ideas from that site - not everything, but many winners.

[MsDivinaLoca]

I keep forgetting my days in Austin and how omnipresent queso is. Even at steak houses!

- One good (Texan and vegetarian) friend loves his queso so much, we refer to him as the queso-vegetarian.

Back to slow cookers/crock pots... I don't use mine so much for meals as I do for ingredients or parts of recipes: beans, yes huge batches of caramelized onions, the first steps to my carnitas, etc. A recipe at which it excels is in the making of fruit butters - low, low temperature and no burning.

-Nancy.

[Emily_R]

Its funny this thread popped up today, as I'm making mashed potatoes in the crockpot. So long as I have the time, its my favorite way to do them -- foolproof and delicious, not to mention allowing me to keep them warm so it doesn't require perfect timing with the rest of the meal.

[kayb]

Just read back over the final two pages of this thread, and wondered -- Katie, did you ever try duck confit in the crock pot? I have just learned to confit duck and I'm thrilled with this new trick....but being that it was 97 today, I'd much prefer to do my next batch in the crock pot as opposed to the oven! And being that my local gourmet store had HVFG duck leg quarters on sale for half price, and being that I bought a dozen of them.....well, you know.

[SpaghettiWestern]

Today at goodwill i found an OLD ( and i mean OLD) crockpot from the 70's .... new in box that someone must have gotten for a wedding present and never used. 3 1/2 quarts in harvest gold. its JUST lovely. lol

anyway..... i am visiting my mom and i would LOVE to impress her with something REALLY tasty. she loves a good beef recipe. has anyone got a really great recipe using wine or beer as the marinade for cooking the beef? a nice rich sauce that so good you cant stop eating it is what i am looking for.

she does love french food ALOT.

if you have something you love to make..... please share it with me.

Thanks SO much.

[Alex]

I'll assume "OLD" doesn't also refer to those of us who were alive and cookin' in the 70s.

I'll also assume you've checked, or will check, that the cooker still works appropriately

Beth Hensperger, in Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two, has a couple of extremely simple recipes for 3# of short ribs cooked in wine. In both, you cut the ribs into serving pieces of 3-4 ribs; stack the ribs if it's a round cooker (I assume yours is); pour the sauce over the ribs; cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours; remove the ribs then cool and de-fat the sauce; then just before serving, reheat the ribs in the sauce in a 300°F oven.

For the sauce, one recipe calls for:

8-oz can tomato sauce

2/3 c red wine, preferably Zinfandel

1 large shallot, finely chopped

2½ T balsamic vinegar

1 T Dijon mustard

4 drops hot sauce, e.g., Tabasco

½ t salt

The other uses:

1 c Cabernet Sauvignon

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2/3 c coarsely chopped dried apricots

1½ T Dijon mustard

1 t salt

Of course, you can tweak these recipes however you like.

[ScoopKW]

I second the short ribs.

I would substitute a light-bodied merlot for the zin. Not as many tannins to concentrate.

PS -- The pyramids are OLD. (And I mean OLD.) The 70s is the decade that brought us the good music.

[Norm Matthews]

One way to assure success in a slow cooker is to get the best kind of beef for crock pot cooking. This one is very good and makes a lot of au just.

BRAISED (SLOW COOKED) BRISKET

3-5 lbs. FRESH BRISKET, BROWNED IN OLIVE OIL

3 CLOVES GARLIC, PEELED AND MINCED

1 ONION , PEELED, RINGED

1/2 BOTTLE SOY SAUCE

6 oz. BEER PLUS 6 oz. WATER

3 CARROTS, PEELED, CUT 1/2 INCH

2 STALKS CELERY, CUT UP

1 T. FRESH GROUND BLACK PEPPER

1 BAY LEAF

1/2 TSP THYME

PLACE IN SLOW COOKER, BRING TO BOIL, SIMMER, COVERED 3-6 HOURS.

[Corinna]

This Balsamic & Onion Pot Roast recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen is great and I make it often. That is saying a lot since I usually don't have the attention span to make anything more than once. The prep is simple, the resulting meat tender and the sauce wonderfully flavorful.

I usually use a top round, since I find it on sale a lot, and I haven never used a steak rub in this recipe.

[SpaghettiWestern]

HAHAHAHA ! yeah ! i mean an OLD crock pot because they came out in the 70's and they are not the newer versions.

i'm addicted to crock pots and this old one is just lovely.

i was alive in the 70's and that was the best decade ! but it does seem old to me. hell i seem old to me.

thanks for the recipies..... my mom has never cooked with a crock pot and i really want to show her how wonderful they are. this old pot is clean and ready to go.

thanks for your suggestions !

[dividend]

I couldn't find a single topic devoted to crock pot cooking, so I figured I'd start one.

I inherited mine when my best friend moved accross the country. It sat unused for a year or so, when I finally decided to try it on one of the hunks of meat lurking in my freezer. I cut some onions into thick rings, set a 4 lb chuck roast on top, covered it all with a jar of Herdez salsa verde, and walked away. The end result was some pretty great shredded beef, which we used for tacos, quesadillas, and salads.

Since then, I've tried other recipes, all of which are variations of meat + seasonings - carnitas, coconut pork, and most recently, a dead easy version of kalua pork. They've all been delicious, really much better than the minimal effort would have led me to beleive (I'll share the recipes if anyone is interested). I'd love to branch out beyond just hunks of beef and pork (and I'm hoping it's not just all the pork fat that makes these recipes magical). I like these recipes because they're so easy, and produce a ton of good food that reheats great, without any compromise in ingredients or flavor.

What else do you guys make in your crockpots?

[Porthos]

Tonight I will put appox 10 lbs of corned beef on a rack with 2 bottles of Guinness in the bottom. I use a turkey roaster in place of a traditional crock pot. Cooks at 235 degrees F for 7-8 hours. It will be part of a Renaissance Faire feast-style lunch tomorrow for my fellow guild members.

[Lisa Shock]

Beans, I cook up a large pot then use them all week or freeze some. I think that canned beans are slimy and don't like them. But, I do have several kinds of cooked beans in my freezer.

I also use mine to make flat enchiladas.

[MelissaH]

I floored my parents a few years ago when I was dogsitting for them. The morning of the day they got home, I unearthed the crock pot from deep in the garage and put a thawed mass-market turkey breast (not so easy to find in early fall!) on top of some halved onions, peeled carrots, celery stalks that I'd snapped in half, a few whole peppercorns, probably a bay leaf or two, and a small splash of water to get it all started. I turned it on, and the dog and I drove the 2 hours to the airport to pick them up. They wanted to go shopping for a few things they can't get in their small town as long as they were out, so it was another couple of hours before we even started to drive home. But when we did get back, finally, they were most impressed by the way the house smelled. The turkey generates lots of juice, which is easy to thicken up for gravy. All I had to do was boil some potatoes and make a salad, and dinner was ready.

The downside of crockpot turkey breast is that the skin is flabby and pretty much inedible. Lucky for me, my parents won't admit to being skin-eaters.

MelissaH