Using a slow cooker

dec12 wrote: ↑ Just picked one up, haven't open it yet. Browsing online recipes and having a wtf moment with the recipes.

I thought the whole idea of slow cooker is to dump the ingredients, minimal slicing and dicing and cleaning, into the pot and come home in 6 hours. Some recipes expect more than 15 minutes of cooking first.

Can you give us some examples. A lot of stews beef or curries I have made come with minimal prep time.
I like making beef stew, Soy Sauce chicken, curry chicken, pork shoulder stews etc

http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/slow-c ... tew/20685/
https://www.allrecipes.com/video/955/sl ... cipe%20hub
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/84482 ... dslot%2061

There are a few I browsed but couldn't find them again. It's almost, horror of horrors, like they expect me to cook first and then put everything in a slow cooker.

It's common to brown meat before putting it in the slow cooker. This enhances the flavour and (also important in my opinion) the appearance.

Just make it up as you go along. I suppose thats ez to say for someone like myself who enjoys food & drink.

But here are two...
Go to food basic or whatever grocery store. There is a product thats a mix of frozen veggies already cut and purpose made for slow cookers. But you could also just use any random bagged veggies if that isnt available.

Easy stew

-dump in bag of frozen veggies
-dump in cut up pieces of meat. Stewing beef, lamb leg, chicken breast
-add some chopped up potato , barley or rice.
-add some can/box broth
-add some water
-sprinkle with mrs.dash

Set it and forget it. Boom hearty stew!




Here is kind of a roast chicken recipe

-fill up an inch of chicken broth
-fill up about an inch of random chopped veggies and potatoes
-put a chicken on top
-sprinkle with mrs dash or seasoned salt.

There you go... an easy hearty meal with 3 major food groups for a nice ez meal.

dec12 wrote: ↑ Just picked one up, haven't open it yet. Browsing online recipes and having a wtf moment with the recipes.

I thought the whole idea of slow cooker is to dump the ingredients, minimal slicing and dicing and cleaning, into the pot and come home in 6 hours. Some recipes expect more than 15 minutes of cooking first.

It’s a slow cooker not a magic cooker or cutter. You would cut and slice your food regardless if you cook in a pot, oven, microwave, etc. That stays the similar in terms of prep.

I do get you point about having to cook in another pot first. The idea is meat gets a better flavour if you sear it first, if you don’t, it’s not the end of the world. Really fatty things like bacon, you need to render the fat off, otherwise your dish will be super greasy.

The advantage of slow cooker is that you can prep all the stuff the night before, and throw on in the morning and it’s ready when you get home after work.

If you haven’t opened your slow cooker, I would actually return it and get an Instant pot. It allows you to sauté in the same container first then slow cook. It also is an electric pressure cooker, so if you forget to take out you meat to thaw, it will help cook frozen meat too. Same amount of dicing and slicing though. Easier clean up as I c an do almost everything in the one pot.

Why not dump your stuff in and see what it tastes like, you might be pleasantly surprised. You will not likely ruin the food. I put a frozen roast in mine and 4 hours later we're good to go

Here's one similar to one I made last week: https://www.kitchentreaty.com/slow-cook ... ian-chili/

You slice the veggies, dump beans and some other stuff from their cans, and put them in the slow cooker for eight hours. It turns out great. With meat, browning it is not necessary from any safety or taste perspective, but the aesthetics of it may be different. Pulled pork couldn't be simpler than in a crock pot. A roast doesn't need to be browned first before throwing it in with some veggies.

UrbanPoet's recipes/guidelines are good. But there really are a tonne of slow cooker recipes out there which mostly involve opening cans and cutting up some veggies. Slow cookers are great.