Favorite recipe for slow cookers.

[iain123]

Looking for hints and recommendations for recipes to try in our new slow cooker. Only tried a simple jar based curry so far.

Anybody got any favorites?

Many thanks

[Eboli]

One of my favourites is to slow cook a whole chicken in a simple stock. You may not get crispy skin (I normally discard it when cooked this way) but you do get incredibly moist and succulent chicken.

[kempiejon]

I like a shoulder of pork pot cooked all day with softened onions and peppers, a couple of tins of tom, with soy and worcesterhire sauce, maple syrup/brown sugar, vinegar and enough water to come half way up the joint. If you feel exotic try adding smoked paprika or grated apple and a tin of pineapple chunks, spice it up with some hot sauce. When done peel off the skin and and shred. I serve in wraps, with rice 'n' peas or over potato wedges.
Beer Beef Brisket.
Chicken thighs, onions and mushrooms, white wine/stock, dumplings for the last hour and enough flour to thicken, crème fraîche to finish.

[redsturgeon]

Lamb Nihari. I use a leg rather than the shanks

http://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/p ... -ki-nihari

It is the richest comfort food I know.

John

[vandefrosty]

Lamb stew.

Brown floured seasoned lamb cubes in a pan and throw them in the cooker. Soften onions and carrots in the same pan, add a little flour that will thicken the stew once it's all in the slow cooker. Add 1 cup stock, worcester sauce, thyme and 1 Tbsp of tomato paste (the star secret ingredient in this recipe) and simmer, then add to the cooker with baby potatoes or 1 inch spud cubes. Cook till tender; we usually let it cook for 4-5 hours and add a cupful of frozen peas or corn about 30 minutes before serving. Goes great with crusty fresh bread and red wine!

Greg

[Eboli]

redsturgeon wrote
"Lamb Nihari. I use a leg rather than the shanks

http://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/p ... -ki-nihari

It is the richest comfort food I know."

This looks delicious. What, if anything, do you serve it with?

Eb.

[redsturgeon]

redsturgeon wrote
"Lamb Nihari. I use a leg rather than the shanks

http://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/p ... -ki-nihari

It is the richest comfort food I know."

This looks delicious. What, if anything, do you serve it with?

Eb.

I usually just have it with naan although I had a similar lamb dish at Cafe Spice Namaste recently where it is served with rice and an onion salsa. I could see the reasoning behind the onion salsa to cut through the fattiness of the lamb (like a mint sauce with roast lamb) but it didn't really suit IMHO. I then asked for a naan bread and they prepared the most delicious fluffy naan (no butter) which was heaven.

Here is some more background to the dish which explains why it lends itself so well to the modern slow cooker.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihari

If you wanted some green veggies to go with it than some green beans would probably suit nicely if you were going non traditional.

John

[PrincessB]

Anybody got any favorites?

We've only recently bought a slow cooker and are also experimenting.

One that worked rather well was pork ribs. Larger Tescos with a butcher may sell 'Meaty Ribs' for £5 a kilo. Unlike those mean little rib racks these are really big, large enough to aim for just one or two ribs per person.

Pop naked into slow cooker, add a reasonable amount of barbecue sauce and rotate ribs to cover them, turn on cooker and return some hours later.

Another success has been loin of pork crackling uppermost which again goes in with a splash of water. When done, remove crackling and pop under a hot grill for a few minutes.

We're learning that while the cooking time is long, some easier to cook meats such as better cuts of beef don't really like being left on all day and can tend to turn into a mush. We're yet to try some really long cook stuff, but the slow cooker is one of the better purchases as it's being used at least twice a week.

Regards,

B.

[kempiejon]

Rabo de toro. Spanish oxtail stew. I've improvised my recipe after several tasting in Seville, there's loads of versions online, I use veg stock and tomatoes but no wine, leeks or ginger. A base of celery, onions, carrots softened, oxtail browned in seasoned flour, salt pepper, bay, thyme.

Oxtail seems to move about a lot in price, sometimes looks quite a bargain, remember even at lower prices there's a fair amount of bone content such that I think the very largest pieces are to be selected to maximise meat to spine ratio. When done, unsurprisingly, you can just scoop the vertebrae out.

[77ss]

Looking for hints and recommendations for recipes to try in our new slow cooker. Only tried a simple jar based curry so far.

Anybody got any favorites?

Many thanks

Venison and cranberry stew (also works well with beef). Loads of different versions - many of them unnecessarily complicated. No idea where I got mine from, some 13 years ago, but the ingredients I favour are - vary according to taste:

30ml/2 tbsp olive oil
675g/1½lb venison, cut into 2.5cm/1 inch cubes
175g/6oz shallots, peeled
225g/8oz baby carrots, scraped
300ml/ ½ pint red wine
300ml/ ½ pint beef stock
30ml/2 tbsp tomato puree
30ml/2 tbsp cranberry sauce
salt and pepper

Happy eating!

[k333]

One of my favourites is to slow cook a whole chicken in a simple stock. You may not get crispy skin (I normally discard it when cooked this way) but you do get incredibly moist and succulent chicken.

When I end up with soft skin, I save it in the fridge and then put it on a tray in the oven next time it's on. Works wonderfully especially with the thicker skin and not cooked for too long.

- K

[k333]

Anybody got any favorites?

We're learning that while the cooking time is long, some easier to cook meats such as better cuts of beef don't really like being left on all day and can tend to turn into a mush. We're yet to try some really long cook stuff, but the slow cooker is one of the better purchases as it's being used at least twice a week.

Regards,

B.

Yes they are usually best with cheaper cuts of meat. For beef, shin beef works well and is full of flavour (as Delia pointed out 30 years ago). It's not always labelled as such though in supermarkets, so it helps know what it looks like.

- K

[voelkels]

FWIW, although I own two electric slow cookers, I have never used them for cooking. I mostly use my stove, oven or one of my 3 smokers for slow cooking. Last week I slow smoked a pork “picnic” in my baby “Weber Smoky Mountain Cooker” (See; https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN ... tualweberb ) and, although it came out quite good, after 9 hours in the smoker I had to finish it in my oven for another 2 or 1.5 hours to get it up to its final temperature.

Although I never tried it, y’all might want to try;
Slow-Cooker BBQ Brisket

SERVES 8 TO 10

Scoring the fat on the brisket at ½-inch intervals will allow the rub to penetrate the meat. Two disposable aluminum loaf pans stacked inside one another can substitute for the metal loaf pan.

SPICE RUB AND BRISKET:
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
Salt and pepper
1 (4- to 5-pound) brisket roast, fat trimmed to ¼ inch thick and scored lightly

AROMATICS AND SAUCE:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped fine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup water
¼ cup ketchup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon liquid smoke

1. RUB: Combine sugar, chipotle, cumin, paprika, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 teaspoons pepper in bowl. Rub sugar mixture all over brisket. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour or refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

2. COOK: Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Cook onion until softened, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook until beginning to brown, about 1 minute. Stir in chili powder, chipotle, and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Mound onion mixture in center of slow cooker, arrange inverted metal loaf pan over onion mixture, and place brisket, fat side up, on top of loaf pan. Add water to slow cooker, cover, and cook on high until fork inserted into brisket can be removed with no resistance, 7 to 8 hours (or cook on low for 10 to 12 hours).

3. REST: Transfer brisket to 13- by 9-inch baking dish, cover with foil, and let rest 30 minutes. Carefully remove loaf pan from slow cooker. Pour onion mixture and accumulated juices into large bowl and skim fat. (You should have about 2 cups defatted juices; if you have less, supplement with water.)

4. SAUCE: Transfer brisket to cutting board, slice thinly across grain, and return to baking dish. Pour 1 cup reserved defatted juices over sliced brisket. Whisk ketchup, vinegar, and liquid smoke into remaining juices. Season with salt and pepper. Serve, passing sauce at table.

MAKE AHEAD: In step 3, wrap brisket tightly in foil and refrigerate for up to 3 days. (Refrigerate juices separately in airtight container.)

To serve, transfer foil-wrapped brisket to baking dish and heat in 350-degree oven and cook until brisket is heated through, about 1 hour. Reheat juices in microwave or saucepan set over medium heat. Continue with recipe as directed.

[kempiejon]

Yesterday I made steak and heart pie, the pie mix of onion, carrot, celery, cubed stewing steak and sliced pigs heart (both tossed in seasoned flour) were browned in portions, in butter, in a heavy pan before being added to the slow cooker with a pint of bitter, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, Provence herbs and tomato puree and left on low for 8 hours before transfer into a blind baked pie case and top, the top brushed with egg and sprinkled with sea salt flakes. Enough pie mix left over to reinvent into something, use to fill a wrap to top a jacket P..

[redsturgeon]

FWIW, although I own two electric slow cookers, I have never used them for cooking.

That recipe looks delicious.

May I ask though, if you don't use them for cooking...what do you use them for?

John

[voelkels]

John,
When I married her 28 or 27 years ago, DW had a 4-quart slow cooker (“Crock Pot”) that she used when she was working in Ohio and moved down here to take a job in N’Orleans. I bought a smaller one about 12 or 10 years ago to keep Chile con queso hot for use as a dip or appetizer with tortillas and/or chips. Later DW donated her cooker to the local church’s rummage sale.

I bought a much larger one last year to experiment with sous vide cooking (See; http://cookingcircuits.com/home/2014/1/ ... controller ). I haven’t done too much with it yet but I figure that it may work well for cooking corned beef, pastrami, etc.

[JMN2]

Carbonnade Flamande, Flemish Beef Stew, tomorrow:

brown big chunks of beef, pepper, salt
caramelise onions, throw in garlic, mushrooms, sliced carrots
mix all in a slow cooker, add bay leaf, tomato paste, dash of vinegar, thyme etc, flour to thicken, mix well
beer, water, Knorr rich beef stockpot

Cook until beef falls apart with a spoon.

Enjoy with Gratin Dauphinois and use any leftover gravy later with chips as a snack.

[johnstevens77]

Lots of good ideas here.

I use ours occasionaly, last time was to make brawn. I seldom buy cooked ham, prefering a gammon joint from the butcher simmered to 53C internal temperature, covered and allowed to finish on it's own off the heat. When cool, I remove the rind/skin, slice it and put it in the slow cooker with a little cooking liquid overnight. In the morning I pour it into a bowl, add parsley and somtimes pickles or vegetables from the stock and let it set in a a loaf tin.
I also use it for curries as suggested and also for rice pudding if I just want it creamy and not baked.

john

[JMN2]

Lots of good ideas here.

I use ours occasionaly, last time was to make brawn. I seldom buy cooked ham, prefering a gammon joint from the butcher simmered to 53C internal temperature, covered and allowed to finish on it's own off the heat. When cool, I remove the rind/skin, slice it and put it in the slow cooker with a little cooking liquid overnight. In the morning I pour it into a bowl, add parsley and somtimes pickles or vegetables from the stock and let it set in a a loaf tin.
I also use it for curries as suggested and also for rice pudding if I just want it creamy and not baked.

john

Is brawn similar to head cheese?

[johnstevens77]

Is brawn similar to head cheese?

I suppose so, method is similar anyway.

john