Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Well, I recently bought a slow cooker (and, no I am not writing from 1985) and have been searching for recipes. I tried a Thai flavored pot roast that was good, chili was awesome (or more correctly, a chili-esque concoction containing beans) that was awesome, a bean and ham hock recipe that I had to stick in the pressure cooker for about 5 minutes but was then perfect, and a tomato sauce with sausage, also good.

So what else can I do with this thing? It is not very big, because we apparently only need small things in Switzerland (should move this to the rant thread). 3.5 liters so I will not be stewing any large game in there. I think it was too full with the beans. It also only has hot/warm settings; no timer or sear function. I have also seen a bunch of recipes for slow cooked chicken breasts they look good but, really, chicken breasts? Has anyone tried this?

I would also like the same kind of chart that Fuzzy wanted for the PC. How long for what food to adapt the recipes I have. I have done so thus far by reducing the liquid a bit and then cooking for as long as possible.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Mary

Mary,

Avoid chicken breasts as they will overcook and get dry. I will dig up some of my favourite slow cooker recipes for you when I get home, but most are for a larger cooker (6 qts).

The rule of thumb for converting your own recipes is to use about 1/2 - 2/3 the liquid that a normal recipe would use, as meat and veggies will throw off a lot of liquid that will not evaporate during cooking. Braised dishes (beef stew, pot roast, and the like) usually need 8 hours on low or 5 - 6 on high. But beef is usually much more tender if cooked on low. Chicken thighs usually take about 4 hours on low or 2 - 3 hours on high, so it's not something I usually use my cooker for. Vegetables cook more slowly than meat, so put them towards the bottom of the cooker with the meat on top if you can. Most people brown everything on the stove-top first before putting it into the cooker (like the meat, the aromatics and onion, etc.). Most recipes have you add flour in the beginning to thicken, but you can do a cornstarch slurry at the end as well. A flour slurry will never get quite hot enough to thicken if added at the end.

I use mine often for making chicken stock from the carcass. I toss in an onion, a carrot or two, a celery stalk or two, and some peppercorns, and cook on low overnight. By morning you're good to strain and go.

I found this page online which might be useful (it has a chart at the bottom of the page):http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/blcrocktips.htm

Thanks Carey, that is just what I was looking for. Williams Sonoma had a recipe for pork with apples and sauerkraut that looked good, I may try that this weekend. And I would love your recipes, I can just reduce them to itty bitty Swiss portions.

The vegetarian chili I mentioned I wanted to make in the other thread (hope Frank is not a slow cooker) has bulghur, cooked black beans and butternut squash as its main ingredients. Is this worth making in the slow cooker? I like the idea of things just waiting for me but I am not sure if something like this would be improved by the long cooking time.

Mary

Mary

The black beans would work well for sure...I've never made bulghur or butternut squash in a slow cooker before. If they can handle long slow simmering, they should be fine, but if they are more time sensitive they might not. I'm thinking that the bulghur might blow out like rice does if cooked too long, and that the butternut squash might disintegrate into a puree.

So not the effect I was gong for. I will stick to the Dutch oven.

Mary

A very proud moment being had by Da Bull Man!

I try to be respectful. And do you really live in a place called Six Shooter Junction? I hope so.

Mary

We use the slow cooker for braises (many times just the meat, stock and flavorings made the day before, chilled, defatted, and then the veggies added the next day for another long cook), soups and curries. I have two slow cooker cook books I actually use regularly:

Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker cookbook (I have the "for two" version)
The Southwestern Slow Cooking cookbook

While I love fancy and complicated cooking, I also work a lot of hours and I love my slow cooker.

--Lisa

Oh thanks, Lisa. I was waiting for someone to enable my cookbook buying addiction! Question: when you do a braise one day and with veggies the next (love that idea) do you put the meat back into the slow cooker cold or do you need to warm it up?

I like complicated cooking AND easy cooking. There are days and then there are days.
Mary

My favourite slow cooker cookbook is:America's Best Slow Cooker Recipes which looks like it is now out of print but still available on Amazon. (As an aside, my version is called "Canada's Best Slow Cooker Recipes, and I suspect that the author is actually Canadian, but it got changed for the US market....it's the exact same cover as my book, just with a different title).

The new version likely has the bulk of the same recipes here: 300 Slow Cooker Favorites.

My favourites from it are the Burgundy Beef with Wild Mushroom Stew (a beef burgundy that is my all time favourite, whether I cook it in the slow cooker or in a dutch oven), and the Beef Pot Roast. I have made other recipes and all have turned out, but these are in my regular rotation.