Slow cooker / Crockpot beginner, please help

[Anonymous]

I made Bachelor Beef Stew last night--turned out great! Google the name and you'll find the recipe.

[Anonymous]

Some thoughts. I find that taking meat and browning it first before putting into the slow cooker works better than not. Put a dusting of flour (seasoned to taste) and then brown in a skillet (do not use a non-stick for this). While slow and long works great over direct heat methods like a grill, I don't find it works that great in a slow cooker with indirect heating. I find that this makes the meat come out with odd textures (usually too tough). I know that you don't want to have to do this in the morning while getting ready for work and trying to get out of the house. So, the way I do my all day slow cooker recipes is I make them up the night before with the browning and any other steps. I have a big Tupperware container that holds the same amount as the crock pot and I put everything in there. I then put the Tupperware in the fridge. In the morning, just before we leave, I take it out, dump into the crock pot, turn on, give the bowl a quick rinse down, then leave it in the sink to clean when I get home. It takes about 45 seconds in the morning.

Most recently, I made beef stew. I bought the cheapest roast I could find and cut it into stew cubes, cutting off the larger pieces of fat. I took a gallon ziploc bag and put in flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and a touch of paprika. Threw the beef cubes in, closed and shook to get all covered. Took a big skillet and with some olive oil over medium heat, I browned the beef cubes until there was a nice crust on the outside. Tossed them in the Tupperware. Adding a little more oil, I tossed in some chopped onion and garlic and sauteed lightly to help pick up the fond left from the beef. I added a touch of store-bought beef stock to help deglaze. Emptied the skillet into the Tupperware. I rough chopped carrots and potatoes and dumped into the bowl. I added a large can of stewed tomatoes and my mother's secret ingredent: soy sauce, which helps strengthen the savory flavor (umami). In the morning, dumped the whole thing into the crock pot and put it on low for about 8-9 hours. I also saved the leftover flour from the dusting and added it to melted butter to make a roux and added that in about 30 minutes before serving and stirred it in to thicken the gravy. Served over wide egg noodles. Yum. I made a huge pot and froze two quarters of it (one container of 1/4 of the recipe feeds our family of 4 with a little leftover) and then we ate the other half off and on for the next few days. I did this for the cold snap we had a couple of weeks ago. Homemade beef stew, good comfort food for when the weather turns cold. It actually sounds harder than it was; pretty easy.

[Anonymous]

About browning, I have a ninja slow cooker. It is awesome because you can brown in the slow cooker. I never used to brown with my old slow cooker (defeated the purpose of one pot cooking) but now I do and my food definitely tastes better.

[Anonymous]

OP here…13:44 which ninja? i looked on amazon.com and saw a 3 in 1 but it said roasting and baking as well as slow cooking…do you have a model number or name?

[Anonymous]

The lentils with chicken thighs recipe from The Gourmet Slow Cooker is delicious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh -- "remove onions with TONGS!"

Haha...remove onions with tongues was funnier!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: Jotting down recipes now; thank you. Re 10:31 PP, how long do I cook the turkey and low or high?
Thank you

Turkey in the slow cooker is so easy. My slow cooker runs hot, so for me it's the lower end of the range, but a big turkey breast can cook for 7-8+ hours.

If you google turkey breast in slow cooker here's one that pops up without even adding water:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-turkey-breast/

And there are lots of variations on lists of sites (even in the comments of this one recipe). I like lots of gravy so enough water to cover bottom of pit plus a few veggies (onion, carrots, celery, whatever) works for me.

[Anonymous]

Get a cut of pork shoulder. 2-5 pounds, whatever.

Cover it in worchester sauce. Be generous. Pat brown sugar all over it. Again, be generous. Slather a little more worchester sauce just in case.

Put in crock pot, cook on low for 7-9 hours, eat. You can use a fork to shred the meat in the crockpot and save yourself some cleaning.

[Anonymous]

YUM

[Anonymous]

You can have mine. I do not find it useful.

[Anonymous]

http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpotturkeyrecipes/r/bl100c11.htm a can of whole cranberry sauce with the soup mix is fantastic. You can also use that with a brisket but I love the brisket with BBQ sauce. The mojo pork is fantastic and so are ribs.