Hot answers tagged slow-cooking
16
Will it work without searing it first? Yes.
Will it have as much flavor? No.
Searing does two things: Create flavor through the browning process and jump-start cooking. Searing does not "lock in juices". The mere sound of the sizzling that goes on is indication that juices are exuding and sizzling against the hot cooking surface.
Benefit of Searing ...
13
That's exactly what they are designed for!
In general their electrical construction, and possible failure modes fully support being left on unattended
They should pose no more fire risk than any other electrical kitchen device being left on at the wall e.g. an automatic toaster or kettle
Some slow cookers have automatic fuses that blow if the pot runs ...
12
A few things that can help, if it's not an issue with fat like @Aaronut suggested:
Tomato paste. Yes, I know it's a sacrelige, but it'll act as a thickener.
Take the pasta out before it's gotten to al dente, and finish cooking it in the sauce; the pasta will absorb any extra liquid, and help to thicken the sauce.
Do not rinse off the pasta after you drain ...
11
First of all, I agree with the others that there is no harm done by plastic bags for sous vide. I have read a statement by the manufacturer that brand-name Ziploc bags don't release anything below 76°C. If you think how much a lawsuit could cost them if the information turned out to be wrong, I trust that they are telling the truth. For other brands, you may ...
10
Size does matter in a slow cooker. In order for it to cook effectively a slow cooker has to be at least 2/3 full, other wise it cooks hot and will generally dry out faster. If you are cooking at less than 2/3 full you need to adjust your heat settings and/or depending on the recipe adjust the amount of liquid. Cooking meats becomes especially troublesome ...
10
A Southerner will probably tell you that there is no type of BBQ sauce to go with this type of pulled pork because it's not actually real pulled pork... or real BBQ. Authentic pulled pork is smoked, and that comes with a completely different set of pairings. This is technically just braised, shredded pork.
Which is not meant as a criticism, mind you - I ...
10
If Wikipedia is to be trusted (and in this case, their source is the FDA), there is in fact a toxin in some raw beans, such as kidney beans.
The toxic compound phytohaemagglutinin, a lectin, is present in many
common bean varieties, but is especially concentrated in red kidney
beans. White kidney beans contain about a third as much toxin as the
red ...
9
Doing a whole chicken in a slow cooker requires a little work, lots of cook time, and comes out so tender you can cut it with a plastic spoon.
Buy a "fryer" size chicken (4 to 6 lbs), wash it, rub it down with olive oil, sprinkle on some spices (something like salt, thyme & pepper, etc), pour a little flavorful liquid (beer, cooking wine, or lemon ...
9
Searing the meat has 3 advantages:
Gives the meat a tasty crust.
Gives you what you need to start a tasty beef gravy from what remains in the frying pan.
Helps the meat hold together better during the long, slow cook.
Disadvantages:
Takes more preparation time.
Gives you more pans to clean.
8
Per the USDA guidelines, frozen chicken should not be cooked in a slow-cooker or a microwave. It can only safely be cooked in the oven or on the stovetop.
A similar warning is given for beef as well.
8
In the oven, that heat is coming from all directions more or less equally. On the stovetop, the heat is coming only from the bottom. This can potentially cause convection, and almost certainly requires occasional stirring (especially for larger batches), meaning that the ingredients are being moved around. The combination of the ingredients being heated more ...
8
The answer depends on the type of cut. If you have a tender cut of meat then there's no reason to cook it any longer than then desired doneness. If you are using a tough cut then there's lots of collagen that needs to be broken down, and that requires moisture and time. You want to cook it until all the collagen is broken down as that will make the meat ...
8
With regard to your comment, "what can you cook in a slow cooker", I cook almost everything in the slow cooker!
With regard to onions, I suggest that you precook the onions so that they obtain the texture that you want and then add them to the slow cooker. For example, when I cook stew, I caramelise the onions before placing them in the slow cooker, for the ...
7
A super simple dish that cooks on the stove is Chicken Adobo.
It's a Filipino dish that you throw in some onions, a ton of garlic, chicken legs/thighs and some other stuff and cook it slow for a few hours. Goes with pretty much any veggie or side dish that you have on hand.
...
7
Roughly speaking, the low setting on a crock pot is 200 degrees Farenheit, and the high setting is 300 degrees.
Crock pot time vs oven time:
4-6 hrs on low = 15-30 min oven
6-8 hrs on low = 35-45 min oven
8-18 hrs on low = 1-3 hrs in oven
In addition to the liquid notes above, you may want to make these changes as well:
reduce the amount of ...
7
I think this is going to be a bad idea; you'll go from ideal couscous texture (fluffy and light) to mush. I have an article (on my blog) about how to make fluffy couscous. The crux is simply to put it, with the appropriate amount boiling water, in a wide, shallow vessel and cover it for 5 minutes. You can even set that up ahead of time, and when you are ...
7
I assume that the section of the USDA article you're referring to is this:
Partial Cooking
Never brown or partially cook beef to refrigerate and finish cooking later because any bacteria present wouldn't have been destroyed. It is safe to partially pre-cook or microwave beef immediately before transferring it to the hot grill to finish cooking.
...
7
I often cook pork shoulder steaks at 60°C (140°F) for 48 hours sous-vide and as your shoulder is an intact piece of meat you really only need to be worried about any bacteria on the surface of the meat; presuming the shoulder is submerged in liquid, a cooking time of 24 hours at 60°C is long enough to pasteurise the surface and the interior. There's a good ...
7
It sounds like you were expecting slow cooking to be like sous vide. Well, it's not. The point isn't controlled sub-boiling temperatures, it's something on the border between simmering and boiling for foods that just need a long time to cook at that approximate temperature.
Slow cooker recipes are not supposed to be very sensitive. They're expecting to be ...
7
Slow cookers have a heating element generally on the bottom of the unit which heats the ceramic insert, which in turn heats whatever is inside it. They are designed to heat liquids, and the foods cook because the heat is convected around by the liquid.
Slow cookers are not designed to cook without liquid, and I personally would not try cooking dry things ...
6
I'm not sure there are any hard and fast rules, however, slow cookers tend to retain liquid better that casseroles, so reducing the amount of liquid by perhaps a third or even a half, is probably a step in the right direction.
What I've done in the past, is find a recipe for the slow cooker, that's similar to one I would cook in a casserole and work around ...
6
I have a version of baked beans I make in a crock pot that cook for 24 hours on low. I've used a thermometer to verify that, once it comes up to temperature, it stays right at a simmer the entire time, which is above the 165F necessary to keep it "safe". I did the verification because of some of the horrified looks I got when I told people that these beans ...
6
I think you've answered your own question. Browning and adding veggies later will both help.
Browning doesn't "seal" the meat to keep flavor or juices in, but it does create a very nice flavor that's almost always associated with meat, caused by the Maillard reaction. I think browning could go a long way to resolving your flavor issue.
This is a little ...
6
As "Mrs Garden" states, the canned beans are soaked and fully cooked in advance.
Different beans (legumes) require different amounts of soaking and cooking, so you need to be specific as to the type in your decisions. Butter beans (lima) take very little time, Chick Peas (garbanzo) take hours.
Some legumes, like lentils, often do not need soaking at all.
...
6
The problem is that air must be removed so that the food is not insulated from the water.
Mason jars work fine but you have to fill liquid around your food. Marinades, broth, etc can be used. Some recipes will have to be modified. Some probably just won't work with the extra liquid or the target food won't fit in a jar.
And then there's the issue of ...
6
I, like you, assumed that a slow cooker would have a temperature regulator. I took mine apart, in a bid to find the thermostat and adjust it -- and discovered that it does not have one.
Cheap slow cookers contain an heating element which delivers a constant low heat, and all you can do is choose between two or three levels of power. It does not stop ...
6
Assuming a long, cooked stew. I cut up a well marbled chuck steak usually and chuck is what I'd recommend. You want enough fat that as the stew cooks long, the fat will render and leave nice, tender meat. Too lean and you're left with boiled shoe leather.
If you want a quicker stew, use a leaner cut of meat like sirloin. It will have a lot of flavor but ...
5
Cooking in a water bath in vacuum sealed bags is called sous vide.
The advantages include:
all of the meat is cooked to the desired temperature, and no higher, so you get 'perfect' doneness.
The fibres of he meat don't contract due to the high temperatures and squeeze out the moisture, so the meat stays very tender
if you have the right setup, you can ...
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