OK, I’ll call you crocks out. What is a crock pot good for?
It makes a broth, but I can make it in a quarter of the time. It killed my already dead quail, what a waste sorry partners.
Let us here what it is really good for!
Root veggies work, but were does the good stuff go?
It’s good for a lot of things, including chili.
But what it is really great for is having dinner ready when I get home after a day of work and after picking up hungry kids from daycare.
Thing is you can’t throw anything in there. My mom had a (smallish) recipe book devoted to crock-pot recipes. Most of them involved putting down a bed of rice or pasta, a lot of water or sauce, and some meat. Set and forget, and I always enjoyed the stuff that came out.
However, after putting down big bucks for a new Cuisinart “slow cooker” I have to say that not all models are created equal. Even heating and a well-made cooking vessel are really important. The Crockpot we had from when I was a kid was head and shoulders better than the cuisinart I have now.
We did pulled pork recently, turned out pretty well.
+1
A roast in the crock pot isn’t up to my weekend meal standards but it beats hamburger helper or frozen chicken nuggets when you get home with the kids.
We have several of different sizes and they are very handy-just not for cooking. They are great for keeping food warm at parties. We’ll use the biggest one for beans, the medium one for sauerkraut or stuff like that and the 2 littles ones are excellent for queso dip or barbeque sauce.
My wife makes her spaghetti sauce. We’ve also make pork tenderloin, bbq pork chops, beef stew, chili, sweet and sour chicken.
We use our from Fall-Spring, then it usually gets put away because we are doing everything on the grill at that point.
Where’s Cap? ;D
The only thing I really use mine for is temp control for my sour mash. And frankly I’m not convinced it’s all that necessary for that. But I’m not opposed to the idea in the way some people are. :
He loves his crockpot. ;D
I like to use my crockpot when I’m entertaining guests as it works well for keeping food hot. I also use it for beef or pork roasts and the like.
We make pulled pork in one. We also use it for beef or pork roasts as others have said. Insert roast, add some water, cover with a package of Lipton Onion Soup mix. Fill it up with potatoes and carrots. Then go to work.
It’s not high cuisine but it’s pretty good to come home to.
Paul
Makes the house smell so good…mmmm pot roast…
Pulled pork with super lean pork loin is great. Chicken comes out too mushy for 8 hours of cooking. I don’t have much experience with it, but I plan on some stews with tough, but flavorful cuts of meat.
I agree they are most useful for keeping dishes hot and for serving.
However a pot-roast or something similar slow cooked does well. You can layer up pork-chops, cover with sliced onion and apple and pour a can of mushroom soup on top. Simmer for 6-8 hours… Dinner’s ready!
A crock pot has it’s place in our kitchen as well, for most of the reasons stated above. I especially enjoy Pork & Kraut in it. Pork Roast or Chops (browned optional), season with S&P and a little caraway seed, spread the kraut over the top and then sliced onion, an apple or two (or apple sauce or apple juice). Sometimes I’ll add 3-4 slices of partially browned bacon on the bottom if I have it handy. mm mm mm goooood! Cheers!!!
I’ve always felt that one of the problems with most people’s crock cooking is that they want to follow the dump and chase model with everything and that usually just leads to a soupy mess.
Whatcha gotta do is brown off a good portion of food first.
I made some bomb diggity chili the other night and before anything went into the crock I did the following:
Brown a pack of bacon
Caramelize onions in bacon fat (with some garlic later)
Brown the chili grind ground beef.
Take the juice that was packed with the diced tomatoes and a bottle of beer and reduce almost to a paste. Also use that juice to rehydrate the chile powder and oregano, etc.
All of that went into the crockpot and cooked overnight with 4 cans of beans (2 red, 1 pinto, 1 black).
Damn that was good.
Beef stew. Brown the beef right before bed. Add veggies and such with some water. Stir. Set on low heat and leave overnight. Wake up to beef stew for breakfast. Make some Bisquick biscuits and serve.
I will be making this tonight.
I totally agree, cooking some of the food beforehand really helps, especially browning meats and heating the spices in some oil. I also made french onion soup in one once, it turned out very nice.
One large white or yellow onion, coarsely chopped
One handful of celery stalks, chopped
Heavy dose of ground pepper
A little salt
3# pork loin roast set on a bed of the above
Cook low for 10 to 12 hours
Pull apart, stir to mix & place on Kings Hawaiian sweet rolls with your choice of bbq sauce
(I love to use southern mustard bbq sauces)
I do use my crockpot sometimes to do lamb curry. I can put it in the garage so that the whole house doesn’t smell like the lobby of a cheap motel.
It works well as job site facilities. The seat stays all nice and warm.