What's in Your Crock Pot

[AK47bp]

There's a way to make French onion soup in a crock pot

Word of advice - leave the crockpot outside for this, not in a garage, outside.

You basically cook a shit ton of onions for like 8 hrs. I set it in the evening and woke up at 3am eyes burning and entire house stunk like onions. I had to wash all my clothes because I left my closet door open.

Soup was good though

[Game Over]

Just got a nifty new crockpot for Christmas that's a lot bigger than our old one.

How bout some lamb recipes?

Sold outta shoulder but I have a bunch of shanks and ribs-> any ideas?

I was thinking trimming all fat and broiling on a rack would be mandatory... And that's a lot of work so it kinda nullifies one of the major advantages of the crock pot

[Pegleg]

There's a way to make French onion soup in a crock pot

Word of advice - leave the crockpot outside for this, not in a garage, outside.

You basically cook a shit ton of onions for like 8 hrs. I set it in the evening and woke up at 3am eyes burning and entire house stunk like onions. I had to wash all my clothes because I left my closet door open.

Soup was good though

If you have a pressure cooker, this works amazingly well and you get your carmelized onions in about 20 minutes: http://www.seriouseats.com/2016/01/t...nion-soup.html.

[Cruiser]

Always looking for new ways to use my pressure cooker. And who doesn't love caramelized onions on stuff. Thanks Pegleg!

[Timberridge]

Just got a nifty new crockpot for Christmas that's a lot bigger than our old one.

How bout some lamb recipes?

Sold outta shoulder but I have a bunch of shanks and ribs-> any ideas?

I was thinking trimming all fat and broiling on a rack would be mandatory... And that's a lot of work so it kinda nullifies one of the major advantages of the crock pot

How about Moroccan? Get yer spice grinder or mortar and mix up some Ras El Hanout (see internet for ingredients). Add the trimmed lamb, cook with some chicken stock, onions and tomato puree and add some green beans or other at the end. I've also made it with cubed squash, zucchini, etc.

Make some rice or warm some pitas and enjoy.

[Dantheman]

Am I the only one who has left the dutch oven in the oven at 230 while I went skiing for the day?

Nope. I've been evangelizing for the dutch oven/low oven method over the crock pot throughout this thread. No separate pan for browning, can do much lower temps than the "Low" setting on any crock pot will do, doubles as a regular pot. IMO it's superior to the crock in every way.

A good slow cooking tip - Unless you are making a soup, use very little liquid at the beginning or reduce the liquid before it goes in. Plenty of liquid comes out of the meat during cooking. Starting with less liquid gives you a much richer and more concentrated sauce.

[Game Over]

^the brown in another pan annoys me. If it was not for the in laws buying us the thing I'd exchange it.

[riser4]

I have given up browning for stew and pot roast. straight into the slow cooker. no noticeable difference.

[Game Over]

How about Moroccan? Get yer spice grinder or mortar and mix up some Ras El Hanout (see internet for ingredients). Add the trimmed lamb, cook with some chicken stock, onions and tomato puree and add some green beans or other at the end. I've also made it with cubed squash, zucchini, etc.

Make some rice or warm some pitas and enjoy.

Good idea thanks. Thawing some shanks for this.

I have given up browning for stew and pot roast. straight into the slow cooker. no noticeable difference.

Good point. I do this when lazy and really can't tell either.

[Timberridge]

Enjoy. The crock pot is basically like a big tagine. So you can follow any tagine recipe. Unlike whatever was happening with the onions a page or two ago, the aroma's fill the house in a good way.

[riser4]

Good idea thanks. Thawing some shanks for this.



Good point. I do this when lazy and really can't tell either.

I'm always lazy.

[pepperdawg]

Did chicken marsala in crock pot yesterday - while I not a fan of Chicken Mar and or shrooms - made it for the (once again) wife - came out pretty yummy/tender.

Also - have given up on the browning seperate thing for stew/chile meat. No noticable diff IMHO. Just xtra pan to wash.

[riser4]

I find that there is an easier way to get more better bigger flavor when using the crockpot without getting a separate pan dirty. For stew and pot roast, pay attention to your trimming. Instead of being anal about not trimming off any meat I go a little faster and don't stress about the small bits. Here's the important part. I then recover those little bits from the fat. It's easier once the are off the big chunk. They make for a flavorful gravy as they cook faster and disintegrate.

[Pegleg]

Always looking for new ways to use my pressure cooker. And who doesn't love caramelized onions on stuff. Thanks Pegleg!

Cruiser, if you're into the pressure cooker, Serious Eats did a whole series of recipes that are uniformly awesome (at least, all the one's I've tried are). The pressure cooker enchiladas are the best I've ever made (and I've made a lot of enchiladas). Check it out: http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/09/p...r-recipes.html

[stapes]

This was a hit:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2016/01/chicken-chili/

[RockChalk]

This was a hit:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2016/01/chicken-chili/

Yup, made that the other day on a quick lunch break and it was solid when I got home from work 6 hours later.

[riser4]

I found a few pounds of chicken breasts at the bottom of the freezer. I saw this recipe for pulled chicken: http://www.familyfreshmeals.com/2014...q-chicken.html

Any better ideas or recipes? I'd prefer something that didn't have "BBQ Sauce" and "Italian dressing" as ingredients, but rather itemized said ingredients because I am too lazy to look up separate sauce and dressing recipes. Chicken is not really freezer burnt however it does have that "long time in the freezer" look so hence the crocpot idea.

[Brock Landers]

Soy sauce, red wine vinegar, honey, garlic and mustard. Don't skimp on mustard

Edit- put the honey in with like an hour left. Or after it finishes. Don't want to break it down

[GiBo]

The other day I found a hunk of pork in the freezer- I think my butcher calls them pork tri tips, but I don't know what cut it really is. I just chopped up some onion, a couple of cloves of garlic and two of the small cans of this:

Threw the meat in frozen and put it on low for 5 hours. Made simple tacos with just some chopped onion and cilantro. It was delicious. I think it would be good with chicken breasts too.

[~mikey b]

Herdez....

[riser4]

Fucking Herdez. I can't find that stuff up here anymore.

[riser4]

This was a hit:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2016/01/chicken-chili/

I just might have to try this instead of the pulled chicken. If I soak the beans and cook it for a little less, do you think I can get away with using just breasts so i can use that treasure trove I dug out of the freezer?

[MakersTeleMark]

You just reminded me that I had some chicken breasts in the freezer. Just put them in the crock for a marsala.

Super easy.

coarsely chopped parsley;
few cloves of garlic chopped;
a bunch of shallots chopped;
a can of chicken stock;
cracked black pepper;
2 types of mushrooms;
a cup of cheap marsala;
your chicken.

Took 5 minutes.

[~mikey b]

Beef brisket.

[Pegleg]

This seems appropriate here... flame away, crock pot enthusiasts.

FWIW I agree with the article's conclusions - it always seems like things don't come out as good from the crock pot as they do from the oven or stovetop for me. (Except Thanksgiving stuffing, which is the single highest and best use of a crockpot as far as I'm concerned.)