BS: Slow cooker recipes

Subject: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 03 May 13 - 08:46 AM

Just posted to "Slow cooker... which and why" re my small and my just bought 7 qt Bravetti on sale at Canuck Tire for $35. ooooh aaaah

Let er rip!

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 03 May 13 - 09:07 AM

I don't use my slow cooker but I really should.
I do chilli mole beans with tomatoes, cocoa powder, peppers and sweetcorn slow-cooked on the hob regularly.
I also do veggie style Boston baked beans with beer, spices and mollasses (no bacon) slow-coked on the hob.
I also hear you can bake bread in slow cookers!

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 May 13 - 09:22 AM

Take a medium sized slow cooker and chop him or her into cubes about 1 inch on a side. (Discard all the fatty and nasty parts.)

Put a pound or so of chopped sweet onions, thickly sliced carrots, and some celery in your crock pot. Put the remains of the slow cooker on top.

Pour in some decent red wine and drink whatever's left. Some good beef stock, if you have any, is worth putting on the market right now.

Turn the crock pot temperature to "Auto Shift" and put the lid on. After an hour or so add some salt, pepper, marjoram, cloves, hot curry powder, sweet paprika, allspice, nutmeg, red pepper flakes, anise, cream of tartar's lips, adobe sauce, eye of bat, mole sauce, some powdered Newt, a sprig of bay leaf, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.

Stirring constantly, let it simmered, covered, for several more hours. Tell the police that you don't know WHAT happened to the slow cooker.

                        --Jeffrey Dahmer, Friends for Dinner   (Milwaukee:Lector Publishing, 1994).

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 03 May 13 - 11:45 AM

I think most people will share complex recipes here, so I have a simple one. It's to take to a potluck.

Buy frozen sweet corn
Cook it on the stove in a big pot

Just before going to the potluck, transfer the corn to a slow cooker, which is still cool for safe carrying

Put real butter and some black pepper on it
Tape the lid of the slow cooker or tie some elastic over it so it stays put while travelling

Go to the potluck, plug the slow cooker in and turn it on high or low, based on your judgment

You will be amazed at the way the corn disappears. Much faster than the usual raw brocolli, I can promise you that.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 May 13 - 12:06 PM

This subject has come up before. Try crock pot in search. I know I entered a recipe for chili con carne con frijoles (in other words a big pot of pinto or tepara beans, ham, chili powder (pure) and any stray vegetables in the house.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: GUEST,crazy little woman
Date: 03 May 13 - 01:07 PM

Poke a few holes in some raw bratwurst. Place them in the slow cooker, touching the ceramic.

Add 2 Tbsp water

Rinse a small can of sauerkraut with water, let it drain, put it on top

Sprinkle about a teaspoon of caraway on top of all that.

Cook on low till it's done, maybe just a couple of hours, because the sausage cooks fast.

Serve with mashed or fried potatoes. Or put the sausage on a bun.

Add salad or veg's for balance.

Easy.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 03 May 13 - 02:24 PM

Thanks, Q. I only searched cooker.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 May 13 - 03:31 PM

There was a marvelous recipe in the small booklet in a crock pot we got about 35 years ago that I still make on occasion, though it has been a long time now. I wonder if the ingredients are still available. It's boneless chicken breast (available), cream of mushroom canned soup (ditto), but the trick that makes it so good is the jars we used to get of the dried salted beef, thin slices that came stuffed into the glass jar. I haven't seen that for a long time. Is that chipped beef? Each breast is wrapped in a slice or two of beef and placed in the crockpot, and the un-diluted soup is spooned on top. Cook it on low all day and by evening it tastes wonderful. I would serve it with egg noodles, dished on top so the cooking juices and soup are picked up by the noodles.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: MMario
Date: 03 May 13 - 03:55 PM

The chipped beef is still available in this area at least...(hmmmm, I should pick some up)

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 03 May 13 - 04:25 PM

Hmmmm.... baked beans.

Tasty Thrifty and Easy Slow Cooker Baked Beans

Baked Beans is rated 3.0 / 5 based on 4 votes.
      
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Slow Cooker Size 3.5L+
Serves: 4
Cooking time: 8 hours LOW heat

Whether with fried eggs, fried potatoes, jacket potatoes, toast, or a sausage roll, baked beans are the perfect accompaniment. And they have plenty of protein and fibre, so they make a great meatless main dish as well. Here is an inexpensive, very easy recipe for this standby favourite.

Ingredients
0.5 lb (220g) small dried white beans
1 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons molasses
8 tablespoons sugar (brown or white)
0.5 lb (220g) pork or bacon pieces
4 cups cold water

Steps:
Rinse and drain beans.
Mix all ingredients together in slow cooker.
Let cook at medium setting for 8 hours or Low setting for 12 hours. Recipe End

No soaking or pre-boiling? Any comments?

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 03 May 13 - 04:30 PM

Always pre-soak beans Gnu, unless you want to turn into a dirigible (I'll let you look that up)!
No idea if you'd need to pre-cook, I've never cooked beans in a slow-cooker

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 03 May 13 - 08:04 PM

But... if yer cookin em fer yer 12 hours, ain't they soaked? I mean, it IS a BRIT recipe and them Limeies knows how ta cook, right? That's been my experience in discussions. Except for their thing about curry... WTF is that? Curry makes me gag with a spoon, dude. Aggghhh!

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 May 13 - 10:54 PM

Oh, all right.

Make a bunch of meatballs, of whatever size seems appropriate to you (one big one is inappropriate). You can use whatever ground (minced) meat you want, or combine them. DON'T bother seasoning them.

Put them in the slow cooker/crock pot. Pour in equal parts of cheap beer and tomato catsup/ketchup/catchup; the brand choice is yours.

Cook for about six hours, periodically skimming off any grease.

You can serve it as a hot hors d'oevure or over rice or noodles as a main dish.

This is called "Meatballs Bavarian" and it's excellent. Tell everyone that the recipe is an old family secret passed down from mother to son to daughter to son, etc. ad nauseum.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 03 May 13 - 11:35 PM

You decide the proportions for your pot and refer to its manual for safe cooking time.
Lamb (Frenched ribs if possible)
Dried figs with stem ends trimmed
Port wine
An hour before serving, add some mint leaves.
Serve with rice pilaf, couscous, orzo, whatever you want.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 May 13 - 11:53 PM

If you apply steady heat or boil unsoaked beans in water for hours, they will not soften and cook properly. You can boil water for 2 minutes with the beans then turn it off and let them sit for an hour, then cook them.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 04 May 13 - 06:56 AM

Tried me beans at 10 hours on low... mmmmmm... good. Way too watery but cooked almost perfectly. I will let em go the full 12. Next time, I will preboil as per SRS and report tomorrow (as I will reuse the liquid from this batch).

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 04 May 13 - 10:57 AM

The beans are a resounding success. Gonna double the beans and reuse the liquid tonight, adding enough water to reach the initial level of the first try.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: Maryrrf
Date: 04 May 13 - 11:33 AM

Any kind of meat (might as well use the tough cuts) goes well in the crockpot. You can brown if you choose, or caramelize onions and add them, but I often don't. Put in the meat and season liberally, add a little liquid (or more if you want a lot of gravy/sauce)and let it simmer. For pork - find a nice lean pork roast, add about 1/2 cup vinegar and a little water, and a dollop of tomato paste or ketchup, and assorted spices (garlic powder, onion powder, BBQ spices, and the like) of your choosing. If you like a 'sweet' barbecue, add a little molasses or brown sugar. Let it cook for several hours till it's shreddable and serve with buns and coleslaw.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 04 May 13 - 12:29 PM

"The beans are a resounding success."

Awesome! Home cooked baked beans are brilliant, great on baked potatoes with a pile of good creamy coleslaw on the side, or even just with a hunk of bread. I think I'll have to get my slow cooker down and try doing some in there, I haven't done baked beans for ages.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: Charmion
Date: 04 May 13 - 02:19 PM

Gnu, my go-to beans recipe calls for a pound of beans, four and a half cups of water, molasses amd mustard and various other flavourings, 12 to 14 hours of cooking, and no soaking. I've used it for years and years, and it always works perfectly.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 04 May 13 - 02:42 PM

How about French Onion Soup in a slow cooker, gotta be good!

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 04 May 13 - 04:47 PM

Charmion... if ya get time, list the ingrediants and quantities. I followed the recipe as above without salt and it's good but not "traditional" to me. HOWEVER, I cannot find the old family recipe and I am rather upset about it. As soon as I read "mustard" in your post, I had to ask.

Gonna wait on the beans. Gonna go to Sobeys and get me a 2 pack a chickens at $1.99 a pound. It's Sunday on the morrow eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: pdq
Date: 04 May 13 - 07:02 PM

Getting some fresh chicken?

Might try chicken cacciatore in a crockpot...

    * 3 lbs. boneless chicken thighs, skin removed
    * 16 oz. can diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning (Del Monte)
    * 6 oz. can tomato paste (Contadina)
    * 1 onion, diced (about a cup)
    * 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
    * 1 green bell pepper, seeds removed, chopped
    * 1 cup sliced mushrooms
    * 1/2 cup dry red wine
    * 1 cup chicken broth
    * 3 Tbsp. flour (thickener)
SPICES:
    * 1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning (Spice Islands)
    * 1/2 tsp. celery powder
    * 1/2 paprika
    * 1/4 tsp. black pepper      
    * 1/4 tsp. red pepper fakes         
    * some fresh basil (two pinches)

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 05 May 13 - 06:35 AM

Here's a french onion soup, slow cooker style that looks good:
http://kitchensimplicity.com/slow-cooker-french-onion-soup/

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 05 May 13 - 06:43 AM

Getting these new cookers may have been poorly thought out. I lost 110 pounds over about 2.5 years. You know where I am going with this. >;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 May 13 - 12:10 PM

Do the original slow cooker beens:

Dig a hole and build a fire in it. Put beans, water and seasonings in a Dutch oven. When the fire has died down to a good pile of coals, take out some coals, put in the Dutch oven, cover with the coals you took out, and cover the whole thing with the dirt from the hole.

Wait eight to twelve hours, dig out, open carefully, and enjoy.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 05 May 13 - 12:42 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 05 May 13 - 06:43 AM

Getting these new cookers may have been poorly thought out. I lost 110 pounds over about 2.5 years. You know where I am going with this. >;-)

Make nice big pots of soup and beans in the slow-cooker and you won't go far wrong. You can halve the oil in recipes easily enough. Loads of filling fibre in veggies and beans. Keep the richer stuff for weekends.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: Charmion
Date: 05 May 13 - 01:52 PM

gnu, we're on holiday right now, in North Carolina with Fortunato and his missus, so I'll post the slow-cooker beans recipe when I get access to a real computer again. Or I'll PM it to you so you don't miss it.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 05 May 13 - 02:07 PM

Good idea, CS. Thanks. I am trying to find "good"(?) soup recipes but I am a Canuck and, more specifically, a Herring Choker, and more specifically, a good old boy from the fly infested bog country of Kent County so spice means summer savoury. I don't even know how to proounce oregano (you say potatoe, I say spud). Oh, sure, pine gum is used as a spice up country but that's a medicinal thing and I do make a mean cough drop er, ah, er, throat lozenge... yeah, that's what the city folk call it... right? I'll add that we do not consider onion a spice in any way, shape or form. They are a staple and required in every meal. If fried, they must be somewhat burnt or gramma will claw her way out of her grave and smack ya with an iron frying pan. She burned everything just for the sake of consistency.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 May 13 - 05:41 PM

Put on what could be called sloppy beans today, a big pot. No set recipe, just add as you go.

-Pinto beans, 4 cans (easier than starting
-2 cans water
-About one pound cured ham, cut up
-3 carrots, chopped
-1 large yellow onion
-Teaspoon or so of garlic (from the little container- the fresh garlic we get here is more of a vegetable, too mild)
-About two cups frozen mixed vegetables- would have used fresh, but found we were out.
-Celery, chopped
-Oregano, teaspoon or two
-teaspoon or two chili powder (pure)
-Bay leaves
-Teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
-1/2 teaspoon cardamon
-(1-2 parsnips if I had them, but I didn't)

Let boil a bit, them cook on low until flavors mix and vegetables soften a bit.

We put in old yogurt containers and freeze.

Gnu, you should get some oregano. Easy to grow, and the bees love the little lavender flowers. It comes up year after year, and requires little care. We scatter the seed around in the fall.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 05 May 13 - 09:12 PM

Some recipes here, especially those under soups, can be made in a slow cooker.
http://www.rifoodbank.org/Programs/RaisingtheBaronNutrition/tabid/188/Default.aspx

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 05 May 13 - 10:35 PM

About calories - I cook dishes in the slow cooker, refrigerate them, and pop the fat off the top the next day.

With some cuts, the fat on the meat comes out so soft that it is very easy to discard it before doing step 1. If not, then it's easy to spot on Day 2, because it is solid and very white.

Congrats on the weight loss, gnu. That is a real achievement.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 06 May 13 - 06:45 AM

Thanks, leeneia. Q... I have oregano, just not in a ten pound bag. (That will be understood by anyone who has read my past posts about the cooking habits of one of my relatives.)

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 May 13 - 12:10 PM

My first sentence was cut off, but probably filled in mentally by anyone cooking with beans.
add- easier than starting with dried beans.

My wife objected to the frozen vegetables that I added. I would not have used them if I had found sufficient carrots and celery in the fridge.They added bulk, and didn't affect taste one way or the other (typical of frozen store-bought vegetables, they have little taste).

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 May 13 - 01:20 PM

I've made lasagna in the crock pot. My small 1 quart pot is best for this because I don't want it to be too deep. It cooks at a low enough temperature that if I fill it to within an inch of the top and let it cook all day the lasagna is perfect by evening. I don't do anything different in layering the ingredients in the crock pot lasagna that I would do in a pyrex pan that would go in the oven.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 06 May 13 - 02:30 PM

Well... chicken in the pot at 7AM and vigorouly boiling on low setting at 8AM. Flat chicken at 11AM. I'll be washing up the pot and putting it back in the box this eve. Gonna get me a Hamilton Beach 6 qt fer $5 more and give it a spin. It's got a 1 yr exchange warranty at Chinese Tire. Three customer reviews... one great and two had problems with it shutting off just after a year of use (both of these said they would not buy another; one said do not to buy digital).

Any comments? suggestions?

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: pdq
Date: 06 May 13 - 02:57 PM

Crock-Pot (by Rival) or Hamilton Beech.

Both are very reliable and fairly priced.

One with a removeable pot is essential.

Nuttin' fancier than a good old knob that selects "low" or "high".

You just need a basic cooking tool. Timers and all that fancy stuff leads to reliability problems.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: pdq
Date: 06 May 13 - 03:20 PM

If you want a state-of-the-art timer system, try the Rival SCVC604HSS.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 06 May 13 - 03:51 PM

Thanks!

Of course, it took me several hours of off and on thought to go for the HBeach and now I gotta try to convince myself yet again to "go high-tech". Ah, WTheck! I will at least take it for test drive as I got 30 days to drive it back to the store if it doesn't suit.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 06 May 13 - 04:43 PM

Here's the Beach.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 06 May 13 - 08:35 PM

So what's the deal on cake as mentioned abvove? Anyone do this?

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: GUEST,MG
Date: 07 May 13 - 02:36 AM

If you h ave something that boils on low i think you have a fire hazard there...i think at least on low they should not be boiling..how could you go away all day and have it be safe? Which is something that would scare me on them anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 May 13 - 11:04 AM

Wow, gnu, that's pretty fancy fare for a $40 crock pot. With a vent hole it is going to lose moisture all day versus simmering in it's own juices - do you have an option to easily block that vent/thermometer hole if you don't want to use the sensor?

Mary, I set my crock pot on a wooden board to insulate the pot from the countertop below. They do heat up enough underneath that I think the sustained heat can melt the adhesive under my formica countertop. I have an old crock pot of my Dad's that I think he used to cook up a favorite barbecue rib recipe for Song Circle meetings at his house - it gets pretty hot and cooks relatively fast for a crock pot, so I don't leave that one on if I'm going to be away.

BTW: you can also bake potatoes in a crock pot. Wrap each in foil and depending on how soon they're needed, start it on low or high. I would only do a single layer of potatoes, to be sure they're all cooked about equally, and I might find a small wire rack to put in the bottom to keep them off of the ceramic, or you'll have one side of each potato baked hard. If you're home you could simply turn them over at the half-way point to avoid needing a rack or the hard baked place on the tuber.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 May 13 - 01:16 PM

A fast cooker recipe- digression!

Quick baked potato-

Coat with olive oil, prick, place on small plate, nuke on high in yer microwave for 3 or so minutes on each side (depends on potato size).

Then cut, butter and salt etc., and enjoy.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 May 13 - 10:31 PM

I nuke potatoes sometimes, but the consistency isn't as nice as in the oven. A Russet potato won't come out "fluffy" from the microwave like it will from baking an hour at 400 in the regular oven.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 08 May 13 - 06:02 AM

SRS... vent hole. Yup. It's sold separate at the checkout. I like Wrigley's Spearmint the best. But, no need because the lid fits pretty tightly. In Scookers without a "vent hole" there are two slots in the cookware and they have a slightly "undersized" lid on accounta SOME steam has gotta be let off. The vent is just another way of doing it and it allows the use of the probe.

I filled it 2/3 full with water and took the temp at 1.5h on low. 140F. Turned it to high and the temp was 140F after another hour. Since I didn't plug the vent, it appears to me that it will work properly when cooking food.

Now, how long do you cook spuds in the Scooker? Hmmmm. I must get the wattage and do some calculations on energy consumption. In the summer, it's gonna get a lot of use. In the winter... it will depend on various factors, energy consumption being one as I have forced air electric heating.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 08 May 13 - 06:24 AM

I just look at the manual for recipes for this rig. None? But, even more odd is that there is a chart for "probe cooking" and it says two strange (to me) things. 3# beef roast, 145F, 4h low, 1.5h high. Based un USDA guidelines. I went there and it does say 145F. Even says 145F for lamb? Health Canada says 160F and so do most recipes that I have read (or close to it). Now, only 4h on low and 1.5h on high? WTF?

Field tests begins today. Sirloin tip is on sale for $2.99 a pound.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: gnu
Date: 08 May 13 - 08:05 AM

Not that I would even think of doing this, but here is what I just read...

"I wasn't able to follow this recipe, since I didn't have the soup and onion mix. But I wanted to add a tip that makes cooking in a crockpot SO much easier. Line the crockpot with a Reynold's oven cooking bag, Turkey size, or smaller depending on the size of your crockpot. Cooking time is the same. Then the best part, clean up. Just remove the ingredients, lift out the bag, and your done! The crockpot remains clean."

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 May 13 - 12:09 PM

To use gnu's eloquent English(?,) why use a cooker at all with the bag? Just throw the bag into yor oven and Bob's yor Aunt Emma.


See directions here:
http://ovenbags.digital-day.com/how-to-use.asps

(Or just hire an old bag to do yor cookin'.

Subject: RE: BS: Slow cooker recipes
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 08 May 13 - 12:23 PM

Gnu, some cookbooks say that if you are going to use a slow-cooker on low, then chicken should be frozen when you put it in. I think this would apply especially to white meat.

I don't bother, but then I rarely put white meat in the slow cooker.

I like to use the Reyholds slow cooker bags because they make clean-up a lot nicer. I've decided that after years of cooking at home, having no TV and driving small, used cars I have saved enough money to spoil myself by buying cooking bags.

Same goes for disposable gloves to avoid touching icky stuff and parchment paper to cut down on grease.