What's in Your Crock Pot

[Pegleg]

It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Mexican section of King Soopers or Safeway around here has achiote mix - given the large Mexican population here, there's usually a pretty good selection of dried spice mixes there. And I'm positive that you can get achiote mix at either Savory Spice Shop or Penzey's, which will probably be fresher than anywhere else (though they won't have the banana leaves, so you'd have to make two trips). For frozen banana leaves, maybe the Asian Seafood Market at Valmont and 28th? If not, Pacific Ocean Seafood Market in Broomfield would certainly have them.

[MakersTeleMark]

I made it a couple days ago. Fantastic. Walmart had tons of achiote. I have tons of leftovers.

[~mikey b]

see? it's ok to shop at WalMart - Makers is a rich fucking Vail attorney, and he shops at WalMart

anyway

I was going to make corned beef and cabbage in the CrockPot, but since I'm home, I went the cast iron route.

[MakersTeleMark]

My crockpot said the "M word", and I was proud.

[~mikey b]

yeah, right?

[Pegleg]

Cochinita pibil is in the crockpot. Looking forward to getting home tonight.

Danno, it only used about 1/4 of a pound of banana leaves, so you're welcome to the rest. I didn't find any achiote powder, though - just used some annatto seeds that have been sitting in my cabinet for a while.

[Danno]

Looking forward to the review (and maybe a taste ). Thanks for the banana leaf offer. When I get out from under this brief writing rock I'm gonna walk down to one of the spice shops and see about achiote mix.

[Pegleg]

Well, it was windy yesterday. Very windy. Why is that relevant? Because when I got home after work anxious to check out my beautiful slow-cooking cochinita pibil, all of the clocks were flashing and the crockpot was off. Apparently the power went out, and since the crockpot is a digital model (the kind with buttons and an LCD screen, not a knob), it turned off and didn't turn back on when the power came back. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

It was still pretty warm, though, and the meat was definitely cooked through - it fell apart at the slightest prodding with a fork - so I figured fuck it, it's probably OK. I pulled the meat out with tongs, poured the juices into a pot and reduced them by about half before mixing back in. Brought the whole mixture back to a simmer for a few minutes, since it had probably been sitting in the "danger zone" for an hour or so.

Thoughts: first of all, it was CRAZY fatty. I had to pick through and pull out the giant lumps of flabby fat as best I could, and then spooned off a cup or so of liquid fat from the sauce. Even after that, it's pretty fatty. I guess I should've trimmed the pork shoulders - they had some pretty significant fat deposits on them. But I'm used to low-n-slow BBQ, where you want a big fat cap (since most of it drips off into a pan), so I didn't do that. Lesson learned - if you're making this, trim your pork of all of the obvious fat (there will still be plenty hidden inside to keep things moist).

As for flavor, it's good but the online Bayless recipe (not the slow-cooker one) calls for way too little salt - like 1 tablespoon for 12 pounds of meat. Since that's the seasoning recipe I used, it was underseasoned for my taste (I used 6 lbs of meat and cut the seasoning by 2/3). Added a lot of salt to the sauce before I put it back in with the meat, and that helped.

Overall, I liked it but frankly not as much as my standard pork carnitas recipe, which has a pretty similar flavor profile but is a little more complex tasting to me (you simmer whole oranges in a pan for a few hours with the cut-up pork, a bottle of Mexican Coke and a lot of spices - the main difference flavor-wise is that you don't use achiote, it's mostly garlic, cinnamon, bay leaf, oregano, cloves), plus with the carnitas you get those awesome crispy/fried bits from after the liquid evaporates and it fries in the pan. I'm gonna try frying the cochinita pibil in a pan tonight (no need to add any oil - plenty of fat in the pork) to see if it'll crisp up like carnitas, then make some tortas with it. It's definitely tasty, just not quite as amazing as I'd hoped.

[Dickeymotto]

Well, it was windy yesterday. Very windy. Why is that relevant? Because when I got home after work anxious to check out my beautiful slow-cooking cochinita pibil, all of the clocks were flashing and the crockpot was off. Apparently the power went out, and since the crockpot is a digital model (the kind with buttons and an LCD screen, not a knob), it turned off and didn't turn back on when the power came back. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

It was still pretty warm, though, and the meat was definitely cooked through - it fell apart at the slightest prodding with a fork - so I figured fuck it, it's probably OK. I pulled the meat out with tongs, poured the juices into a pot and reduced them by about half before mixing back in. Brought the whole mixture back to a simmer for a few minutes, since it had probably been sitting in the "danger zone" for an hour or so.

Thoughts: first of all, it was CRAZY fatty. I had to pick through and pull out the giant lumps of flabby fat as best I could, and then spooned off a cup or so of liquid fat from the sauce. Even after that, it's pretty fatty. I guess I should've trimmed the pork shoulders - they had some pretty significant fat deposits on them. But I'm used to low-n-slow BBQ, where you want a big fat cap (since most of it drips off into a pan), so I didn't do that. Lesson learned - if you're making this, trim your pork of all of the obvious fat (there will still be plenty hidden inside to keep things moist).

As for flavor, it's good but the online Bayless recipe (not the slow-cooker one) calls for way too little salt - like 1 tablespoon for 12 pounds of meat. Since that's the seasoning recipe I used, it was underseasoned for my taste (I used 6 lbs of meat and cut the seasoning by 2/3). Added a lot of salt to the sauce before I put it back in with the meat, and that helped.

Overall, I liked it but frankly not as much as my standard pork carnitas recipe, which has a pretty similar flavor profile but is a little more complex tasting to me (you simmer whole oranges in a pan for a few hours with the cut-up pork, a bottle of Mexican Coke and a lot of spices - the main difference flavor-wise is that you don't use achiote, it's mostly garlic, cinnamon, bay leaf, oregano, cloves), plus with the carnitas you get those awesome crispy/fried bits from after the liquid evaporates and it fries in the pan. I'm gonna try frying the cochinita pibil in a pan tonight (no need to add any oil - plenty of fat in the pork) to see if it'll crisp up like carnitas, then make some tortas with it. It's definitely tasty, just not quite as amazing as I'd hoped.

I think the crock pot shutting off had a big affect on the outcome. Between the 6 hours on high and the simmering in a stock pot after, all the fat had been liquified and infused with the meat in mine. Also, I was only doing 3.8 pounds of meat but still used the entire online Bayless marinade recipe for it, so kick you in the face flavor was not an issue. It was mind blowing. Bummer about the power outage.

[Danno]

I just bought some achiote paste from savory spice, so this one is on deck!

[MakersTeleMark]

I used a couple "picnic roasts" and did trim them. And to be honest, I made it all in a pot, not a crock. Peg, they do crisp up, try cast iron.

[Danno]

cochinita pibil on top for tomorrow, pork shoulder roast marinating now.

[MakersTeleMark]

cochinita pibil on top for tomorrow, pork shoulder roast marinating now.

6 crock pots?

[pepperdawg]

Gonna try a Venison chili this weekend with some jabenaros and cayannes I dried from my the garden last summer...with some local honey added.....I'll post pics/recipie if it comes out decent....hot, sweet and a little gamey......

[Danno]

6 crock pots?

just one, 4+ pound roast.

[Danno]

Verdict: very tasty. I doubled the amount of achiote paste (used an entire 3.2 oz package for a 4lb roast), that helped. And the pickled onions may seem odd or unnecessary, but mixed with the meat (and some cotija on a tortilla) made them really good. Also, mixing the shredded meat with the reduced liquid was key, the meat was just ok on its own until it was well soaked in the sauce.

[pepperdawg]

Buddy shot a couple of deer this past season, so he hooked me up with a couple pounds of venison last weekend...didnt feel like stew so went with chili.


Browning the venison:





Secret ingrediants - Cayanne, Jabaneros and Hungarian Banana Peppers dried and crushed from my 2011 garden.........added some 'Dragon' sauce to be safe....and some honey for flavor.





***Almost*** finished product ( needed to thicken it up).....





Ended up serveing over a bed for rice.....so tasty with some heat....


Recipe (amounts not exact, so adjust to your taste.)



1.5lb of Venison
1 Lg whole freash sweet yellow onion 1/2 of it gets browned, 1.2 of it goes in raw below

Brown above on stove - I sprinkle with salt, pepper, onion powder, and some off-the-shelf-chili powder while browning...

Dump all of below winto crock put with meat on top - cook 2 hours on highm then 3 or so on low.

Sever over buttered egg noddles or rice.


2 cans of beans - I used 1 red one black this time
1 cut up green/red pepper
some corn form a can
couple heavy table spoons of chili poweder as 'base' - I layer it in.
1/2 - 1 table spoon of dried, crushed Cayanne
1/2 - 1 table spoon of dried, crushed Jabenaro
1/2 -1 table spoon of dried, crushed Hungarian Banana pepper
1/2 raw onion
8 oz of tomato sauce
some this Dragon (Sirichi) or 'cock' thia chili sauce - layer it in..or Franks red-hot

some sea salt, pepper and basil.

and the secret ingediant to flavor - HONEY


Hope you enjoy this crock pot stoke.

[vinzclortho]

Bump since it's getting colder and more crockpotty out there.

anybody got any new recipes?

My first child is due any day now and the wife and i prepped a bunch of crock pot stuff and froze it so we just dump the stuff from the freezer to the crock pot to avoid having to cook. We did cheat and try one of the recipes......I was not impressed. She ended up making a sauce with onions and bacon on the stove and we threw the recipe sauce one out. So I got nothing new.

HOWEVER, I do have many other prepped recipes to try so I'll keep y'all up to date!

[~mikey b]

from yesterday's Seattle Times

[vinzclortho]

thanks for the link...this one sounds pretty good:

Creamy Caramelized Onion Pasta



Start to finish: 6 to 8 hours

Make 8 servings

3 pounds yellow onions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound fettuccine pasta

1 container (8-ounce) creme fraiche

1 container (5-ounce) arugula

1 cup thinly sliced sun-dried tomatoes

Salt and ground black pepper

1. In a large slow cooker, combine the onions and olive oil. Stir well to coat, then cover and cook on high for 6 to 8 hours, or until well browned and caramelized.

2. When the onions are done, bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions. Drain, then return to the pot. Add the onions, creme fraiche, arugula and sun-dried tomatoes. Stir over medium heat until the arugula just begins to wilt, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

[acostiga]

mmm... there's a crock pot full of skibee's peanut stew cooking in the other room, and it smells fantastic. the leaves are changing, college football is on tv and the crock pot is going. life isn't so bad right now.

[ashmgee]

Ended up serveing over a bed for rice.....so tasty with some heat....


Recipe (amounts not exact, so adjust to your taste.)



1.5lb of Venison
1 Lg whole freash sweet yellow onion 1/2 of it gets browned, 1.2 of it goes in raw below

Brown above on stove - I sprinkle with salt, pepper, onion powder, and some off-the-shelf-chili powder while browning...

Dump all of below winto crock put with meat on top - cook 2 hours on highm then 3 or so on low.

Sever over buttered egg noddles or rice.


2 cans of beans - I used 1 red one black this time
1 cut up green/red pepper
some corn form a can
couple heavy table spoons of chili poweder as 'base' - I layer it in.
1/2 - 1 table spoon of dried, crushed Cayanne
1/2 - 1 table spoon of dried, crushed Jabenaro
1/2 -1 table spoon of dried, crushed Hungarian Banana pepper
1/2 raw onion
8 oz of tomato sauce
some this Dragon (Sirichi) or 'cock' thia chili sauce - layer it in..or Franks red-hot

some sea salt, pepper and basil.

and the secret ingediant to flavor - HONEY


Hope you enjoy this crock pot stoke.

I do! This will be made this week. Looks awesome.

[jamesp]

somewhere on TGR recently I was inspired by a comment about pork & saurkraut in a slow cooker.

seared/colored pork on the bbq, a fk load of saurkraut, 1 grated carrot, mushrooms. 7 or so hours in the slow cooker on low. Mash potato. Wow, so good.

[mobygrape]

chicken rice soup last night.
browned bits of chicken w/ some onions and garlic.
Threw in some celery and carrots
dumped in the pot w/ a few quarts of chicken broth
added a bunch of herbs.
last hour added some peas and a bunch of cooked rice from the night before.
Came out awesome.

[milton]

somewhere on TGR recently I was inspired by a comment about pork & saurkraut in a slow cooker.

seared/colored pork on the bbq, a fk load of saurkraut, 1 grated carrot, mushrooms. 7 or so hours in the slow cooker on low. Mash potato. Wow, so good.

Love that shit. I always use kielbasa though.