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Books I am lifting information/recipes from: Taste of Home Magazine's Slow Cooker Classics Rival Crock Pot slow cooker recipe card collection Smart Crockery cooking, by Carol Heding Munson The Gourmet Slow Cooker, by Lynn Alley This is, as you might have guessed, the thread where we talk about Slow Cooking. I'm always honestly amazed when I get into a cooking discussion and people know very little about cooking with a Crock Pot. Knowledge always tends to vary, so I'm writing the basic information first, and will go into detail as the thread moves on. What the hell is a crock pot and why should I cook with one? Slow cookers, or crock pots, have been around for a very long time. They came into style for a bit in the 70s, and opinions always vary as to what good they are. This thread is very biased in saying that crock pots are awesome. They're low-temperature heating elements, usually with a low setting of 200 degrees (f) and a high setting of 300 degrees (f). They come in several shapes, usually round, elliptical, and rectangular. You can get them with metal and ceramic bowls, removable or non-removable. My advice is to get one with a removable bowl for easy cleanup and storage of leftovers. They're also very large, 3-6 quarts in general. They also contain a metric fuckton of advantages. They're energy efficient, taking up no more of your precious electricity than if you were to leave a lamp on for a while. For summer cooking, your kitchen won't heat up, leaving you nice and cool and your food nice and warm. And if you're the type to forget that something is on the stove, no need to worry. Cooking times can vary, and an extra half-hour won't kill your dish. And despite the name, it doesn't take that long to prepare your food. You chop, pour, and on occasion sautee, and then dump it all in the pot and set it up. If you aren't a morning person, you can prepare an 8-hour (or however long you sleep) recipe before you hit the hay and have a delicious, no-effort breakfast in the morning. Or conversely, you can prepare your ingredients and head off to work knowing that when you get home, you'll have something hot and delicious that you can eat immediately. Slow cookers, due to long amounts of time and heat and large amounts of sauce are also ideal for taming the toughest of meats. Actually, it's better to start with a tough cut so you don't overcook your meat. Okay, so what kind do I buy? My current brand of choice is Rival Smartcookers. I have a 6-quart elliptical with a ceramic removable bowl and a glass lid, and it's pretty drat awesome. I can't give you much on other brands, but I must advise once again to get a removable bowl. Seriously, this will save you so much trouble come cleanup time. There's various advantages to your different bowl materials too. Both ceramic and metal bowls are oven-safe, but your ceramic won't stand up to a broiler and you can't put your metal in the microwave. Ceramic bowls also aren't stove-safe, so you'd have to use a skillet to sautee your meats beforehand. Once you have one, it's probably going to work for you. Have fun experimenting with it, as any hurdles you encounter short of "HALP! My slow cooker starts an electrical fire every time it turns on!" or demonic possessions can most likely be overcome. Now that I have this crazy thing in my kitchen, what do I do with it? Well, there's a lot of things you ca-OH poo poo RECIPES! I'm really scared this looks hard I'm no good in the kitchen, give me something that I couldn't possibly screw up. Shekfester posted:THE EASIEST CROCK POT RECIPE IN DA WOILD: Holy crap that was easy. Next you're going to tell me that I can make good BBQ with this crock pot. Oh wait-- http://www.goonswithspoons.com/Pulled_pork Every time a slow cooker thread appears on GWS, this recipe crops up. Without fail. I'm befuddled as to why it hasn't been entered yet. This recipe is crock-pot nirvana. It is nearly foolproof and is quite delicious. Do it Friday/Saturday night before football and you've got a gameday treat. People tend to discard the released liquid at the bottom of the crock pot. I say this is a mistake. It easily becomes a wonderful sauce to the pork you just made. Take an additional 20 minutes and try the "advanced" recipe below. Ingredients - 5 lb of boston butt/pork shoulder - 1 onion, peeled and quartered - 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar - ~1 cup dark brown sugar - Worcestershire Sauce - Salt & Pepper Optional Ingredients - 1/2 cup ketchup - 1 tablespoon liquid smoke - Garlic Powder - Cayenne Pepper - 1.5 tbsp cornstarch BASIC PULLED PORK 1. Take a ~5lb pork shoulder and coat it with brown sugar. Place the quartered onion in the crock pot, place shoulder on top, and 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar over top it. Dump in copious amounts of Worcestershire sauce, maybe 1/4 of a cup. 2. Cook on low for 8 hours. Flip it over half way thru if you remember, but this isn't critical. 3. Shred the meat with a fork. Toss any bone, fat, or gristle encountered during the shredding. Salt and pepper to taste. ADVANCED PULLED PORK 1. Do all of the above. Set aside the shredded pork 2. Take the juice at the bottom of the pot, ladle off the fat, and put it in a sauce pan. Discard the onion. Heat over medium till it simmers. 3. Add 1/2 cup ketchup and 1 tbsp liquid smoke. Stir/whisk till combined. 4. take 1.5 tablespoons of cornstarch, and mix well with 1 cup cold water (DO NOT ADD DIRECTLY TO HOT JUICE OR IT WILL GET CLUMPY) Whisk into saucepan. 5. Let it simmer till you like the consistency. Now it's time to season. Salt and pepper to taste. With no salt it will taste like blandness. Add garlic powder and cayenne pepper to taste (~1/2 teaspoon each). Don't salt it till you like the consistency or it will be too salty after it reduces/thickens. Pour the sauce over the shredded and seasoned pork, mix it all up. Okay, okay, I've got the main event down. How about soups? From the Taste of Home Slow Cooker Classics: Mexican Chicken Soup: Cook time 3-4 hours 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed 2 tsp Canola oil 1/2 cup water 2-3 Tbsp Taco seasoning 1 32 oz can v8 or other vegetable juice 1 16 oz jar of salsa 1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained 1 10 oz package frozen corn, thawed Sour cream Cheddar cheese, grated Fresh cilantro, chopped In a large nonstick skillet, sautee chicken in oil until no longer pink. Add the water and taco seasoning, simmer until chicken is well-coated. Transfer to your slow cooker, add everything but the sour cream, cilantro, and cheese. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours or until heated through, serve garnished with a dollop of sour cream, chopped cilantro, and cheese. Serves 6. I literally just finished eating this soup, and it's pretty drat awesome. What else can we make with a slow cooker? What's that you say? Sides? From Taste of Home Slow Cooker Classics: Lemon Red Potatoes: Cook time 2.5-3 hours 1 1/2 lbs medium red potatoes 1/4 cup water 1/4 cup butter, melted 1 tbsp lemon juice 3 tbsp fresh parsley 1 tbsp fresh chives salt and pepper to taste Cut a strip of peel from around the middle of each potato. Place potatoes and water in slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 2-5 to 3 hours, do not overcook. Drain and return to cooker, now set on "keep warm". Combine the rest of the ingredients well and pour over the potatoes, season with salt and pepper. Serves 6. Well, that was fun. I mean, you still have to use your stove to cook Vegetables, right? Right? From The Gourmet Slow Cooker: Baked Eggplant Cook time 2 hours on high OR 5 hours on low 1/2 cup olive oil 3 eggplants, peeled and cut into cubes 3 cloves garlic, pressed 1 lemon's juice salt to taste Garnish: extra virgin olive oil, drizzled 1/4 cup fresh parsley 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves 4 oz feta cheese, crumbled (1 scant cup) pour 1/4 cup olive oil into the slow cooker and rotate to coat the bottom. Add the eggplant and remaining 1/4 cup oil and toss. Cover and cook for specified time, until the eggplant is quite mushy. Stir once or twice when cooking. Add the garlic, lemon juice, and salt, stir well to break up any large chunks. Transfer to bowl and garnish as you see fit. Serves 4 to 6. Wow, that's pretty drat awesome. Well we know Desserts are- Oh that's just loving ridiculous. From the Rival Crock Pot slow cooker recipe card collection: Baked Fudge Pudding Cake Cook time 3-4 hours nonstick cooking spray 6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder 1/4 cup all-purpose flour dash of salt 4 eggs 1 1/3 cups sugar 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted 1 tsp vanilla grated peel of 1 orange 1/2 cup whipping cream chopped toasted pecans and whipped topping to garnish Spray slow cooker with nonstick spray, preheat on low. Combine cocoa, flour, and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer on medium until thickened, and gradually add sugar. beat about 5 minutes or until very thick and pale yellow. Mix in butter, vanilla, orange peel. Stir in the cocoa mixture, and then add cream until the whole mess is fully blended. Pour batter into the slow cooker. before placing the lid on the slow cooker, cover the opening with a paper towel to collect condensation. Make sure the paper towel doesn't touch the mixture. Larger slow cookers may need 2 connected paper towels. Place the lid on over the paper towels and cook 3-4 hours on low. Do NOT cook on high. sprinkle with pecans and serve with a dollop of whipped cream. Refrigerate leftovers. Serves 6-8. So there you go, goons! Ask some questions, post some comments, share some recipes. The thread's all your!  Mod Edit: Added the salsa chicken and pulled pork recipes to the OP. Somebody fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Jul 19, 2010 |
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Feb 17, 2008 23:41
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Rorschach posted:I've got a crock pot and was looking to make me some pulled pork sandwiches. Last time I made pulled pork, I used about 3 lbs of boneless shoulder roast. All I did was pour a bottle of homemade barbecue sauce over it and add chopped onion, several halved chili piquins, and some honey to taste. My cooking time was on low for about 8 or 9 hours. I set it up at 4 am and then slept for a couple of hours and then by lunchtime my crock pot had turned it into awesome. Beyond that, it's great on sourdough bread with some 'slaw to top. It's not Barbecued, but it's got flavor enough to taste like it. Toast of Change fucked around with this message at 06:49 on Feb 18, 2008 |
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Feb 18, 2008 06:43
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Lackadaisical posted:I absolutely love my crock pot but have recently decided to start dieting. All the recipes I had been making before were just a little too unhealthy (ie pork roasts, ribs, etc). Venison is a great thing for slow cookers, considering how tough it is, and due to the lack of fat usually comes in at a low 50 calories an ounce. If you don't want to get too complicated, the bare bones would be to toss in 1lb of venison with 2 cups of coke, one chopped and sauteed onion, and 24oz of ketchup, and let it cook for 6-8 hours. Serves 4. Crock pots can be fantastically healthy, actually. I suggest going directly to the butcher's for your venison, or buying some off of a friend that hunts. If you're into hunting, feel free to shoot your own. After that, all you need to do is go to your local ethnic market (or just the plain supermarket if you live in a tiny town) and buy enough of a low-calorie sauce to cover it. Cook it until it's tender, serve yourself about 3oz over some egg noodles and have a salad and you're facing a big dinner at only 450 calories and next to no effort!
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Apr 19, 2008 06:46
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Neophyte posted:FYI Rival's fancy "Smart-Pot" crockpots suck, don't get them. That's wierd, my smart-pot is about 3 years old and I've never had any problems like that. Granted, if I'm cooking on high it's generally better for me to let it spend the last hour on low instead and then switch to keep warm immediately, but had to do that with my last cooker too, and it was a KitchenAid. That thing with the lid is hosed up though.
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May 3, 2008 19:34
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nothingxs posted:I currently am waiting on my Beef Burgundy as I'm online merrily grinding away on an MMO. It's been in there since 8PM and it's 2AM right now, at around 5AM I'll finish it up and store it so that my family can have some later on. Glad it turned out good! I'd have to say, my favorite part of cooking with a crock pot is coming home after school and smelling a goddamn delicious hot dinner waiting. Holy poo poo so nice.
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Nov 27, 2008 06:31
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