Aright?
Got ourselves a slow cooker a couple of weeks ago. Have tried a couple of casseroles and curries with reasonable success and have bought a couple of recipe books too.
But I thought I'd use this board to ask folk what's their best ass-kicking, old faithful slow cooker recipe?
Any unusual uses for it you'd like to share (no kinky stuff)?
My next project is to try making bread in it. It apparently can be done.
Cheers,
-Barry
If I'm honest I'm just killing time till we head out for our work Christmas dinner.
I don't do recipes as such but the slow cooker does a great stew & leaves the meat falling apart tender. Nothing better than opening the door after a hard day's work on a cold night & the smell of a fresh stew to greet you!!
Bung carrotts, celery, onions, potatoes, herbs, good stewing steak pieces, ox tails, beef stock - whatever you'd use in a stew. I do it the night before & leave it in the slow cooker turned off. Then turn it on low on my way out the door to work the following morning. About 8 -10 hours later its magic. I don't know how it does it but the meat is always loveley & tender, carrotts cooked just right & the potatoes don't go to mush.
It also cooks a ham brilliantly. Way nicer than just boiling in a pot & the meat stays moise & falls apart. After about 7 hours on low in the slow cooker I glaze it in an oven for an hour or 2. Delish!!
That's pretty much all I've ever used my slow cooker for in 4 years so looking forward to seeing what other recipes we get here!
Yeah, have to agree on the meat. I've had chicken, pork and stewing steak in there. All beautifully tender after 7 hours.
And the potato thing is true is well. Still in their original shape, cooked through and not in the least bit mushy. Excellent.
Looking forward to doing the Sunday roast in it some day soon. Apparently you can do a whole chicken in it too. Just set it in on top of the spuds. Job done!
-Barry
I do what ColinC does for stews but I be sure to bung a beer or glass of red wine into it. Buy whatever veg is on cheap in Aldi/Lidl and use it to cut costs. Meat wise, get whatever is cheapest in the butchers, shin of beef is decent. The long cooking process completely tenderises all the gristly, fatty, sinewy bits. Don't use an expensive cut, it's a complete waste.
A trick I've been doing recently is making a big pot of mince stew and then separating it into smaller batches. Then I can come home from work and decide on the night if I want bolognese, chilli con carne, lasagna or shepherd's pie etc, just by making a few small additions.
I'd do a lot of curries as well.
Get yourself a pork shoulder with the bone in.
Throw a roughly chopped stick of celery, a carrot and an onion into the bottom of the crockpot, season your pork shoulder well, I tend to use barbecue dry rub.
Put the pork shoulder in the crockpot then fill up with cider, then cook for hours and hours....at least 6 hours, but I've done it in the oven for up to 18 hours.
When finished then pull the pork, take the strained sauce and reduce it, add a roux and a touch of some barbecue sauce for smoke and you have your barbecue sauce for sandwiches.
You can also do ham hocks similar.
Oxtail and beef shin treated the same are also phenomemal in the slow cooker.
Same base as above topped up with a full bodied red wine....delicious.
I made the resulting sauce into a ragu to have with pasta and the rest went into a meat pie with a very short crust full of grated beef fat, from the kidneys (suet).
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Housewife's cut of beef. Root veg, onion and spuds. All topped up with half a pint of the barrel aged stout. Cooked slowly for 8 hours. mmmm
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dont know if were allowed to post links to Boards.ie ;) but plenty of recipes here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056736930
Chicken breast has little flavour, although can be alright roasted properly on the bone. I like thighs mostly, bone them out and chopped in halves or quarters, skin and excess fat removed, they can take longer cooking and have much better flavour. Tastiest part of a chicken is the olive.
Lump of Ham with about 750ml of coke poured over it. Cook for about 8 hours. Delish
Quote from: delzep on December 13, 2013, 08:57:54 AM
Lump of Ham with about 750ml of coke poured over it. Cook for about 8 hours. Delish
Is that from Nigella's new book :P
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Looks like she's been on diet coke there
Quote from: iTube on December 12, 2013, 06:32:11 PM
Quote from: Blueshed on December 12, 2013, 06:05:56 PM
dont know if were allowed to post links to Boards.ie ;) but plenty of recipes here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056736930
I got all excited when I saw the list. Then I checked the recipe for Schezuan chicken, one of my favourites: 3 chicken breasts, and a jar of sauce! ???
Aye. I hate it when curry recipes have curry paste as one of the ingredients. It's like pouring shop-bought beer into your homebrew.
Plenty of dencent ideas there, lads; thanks.
-Barry
BTW, if you dis Nigella be prepared for a fight.
Curry paste can be fine, depending, for Thai green or red curries for example, it's easier than finding galangal sometimes.
For Indian curries I make my own Garam masala.
Thai green/red curries don't work in a slow cooker, the coconut milk separates and it looks manky.
Best ever proper ragu recipe (makes 8 servings)
Ingredients
800g good quality minced beef
200g pancetta/smoked streaky bacon (diced)
2 large/3 medium carrots finely diced
3 stalks celery finely diced
2 medium onions finely diced
300ml red wine
300ml milk
90g double concentrated tomato puree
Method
Fry the pancetta/streaky bacon for about 4/5 minutes then add the veg and fry for a few more minutes, then remove.
Fry up the mince beef until brown, then add the veg/pancetta mix
Add the wine and tomato puree and fry for about 5 minutes again. Then add the milk a bit at a time while frying away for a few more minutes.
Bung it all in the slow cooker on slow for about 6 hours and serve with tagliatelle. Can be frozen as well.
I'm drooling typing the recipe!
That looks effing amazing delzep. Never would have thought of using milk in a bolognese recipe. It WILL get made!
-Barry
Its Ragu...not Bolognese.... :P
Quote from: delzep on December 13, 2013, 11:25:39 PM
Its Ragu...not Bolognese.... :P
Semantics, semantics. What do they really matter? I'm from Tyrone; I'll just be f**king it onto a pile of spuds.
-Barry
I was told that in Bologna so it stuck with me
Easy enough really, look up a few recipes online mix them together to taste, roast the spices and then horse them into the coffee grinder, you can use mortar and pestle too but it takes ages. I have a recipe that I use downstairs that's a mish mash. I have a well stocked Indian spice cupboard which I completely refresh about every 18 months.
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Have a look at my badly maintained blog. http://Beernvictuals.blogspot.com (http://Beernvictuals.blogspot.com)
I'm a big fan of slow cooked food.. tho only got a slow cooker the other day! Normally use oven or smoker.
Anyway, one of my favourites is Mexican Pulled Pork. Very easy and cheap.
for 6-8l slow cooker
3-4kg trimmed + quartered pork shoulder
1 chorizo sausage ring, chopped.
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2-3 red/orange/yellow peppers, sliced
8 cloves garlic
50g chipotle sauce (smoked chillies cooked with tomato puree, vinegar.. available in sainsburys. you can make your own if you can get smoked chillies)
small tin of tomato puree
1l ham stock
1tbs dried oregano
2tbs vinegar
juice 1/2 lemon
1 tbs sugar
chilli powder to taste
Gently fry off the onions, garlic and peppers in a little oil. Add the chipolte, tomato puree and vinegar. Cook for a few mins. Add the pork, chirizo oreganoo, lemon, salt, sugar, pepper. Mix well, add hot ham stock to cover. Place on low or medium setting until tender.
Remove the meat pieces and roughly shred with a couple forks. Return to the sauce. The shredded meat will soak up the delicious sauce. Puts the Boojum pork to utter shame. Serve as a burrito.
gonna dig out my slow cooker after reading thru this!
This is a super curry recipe.. I use a tin of toms instead of fresh ones http://www.instructables.com/id/desi-murgh-curry/?lang=en (http://www.instructables.com/id/desi-murgh-curry/?lang=en)
Did lamb rendang in my mum's slow cooker over Christmas. Unbelievably divine. Cant remember how I did it.
Going to try my old (well, Madhur Jaffrey's) faithful lamb rogan josh in the slow cooker.
I do all my Indian curries fast, it's one of the fastest dinners I make, that said not using lamb. If I use lamb I do it low and slow in the Karahi. Might try a curry in the slow cooker using lamb shoulder sometime.
2 liters of coke, 1 large onion chopped up, a ham.
yummee!
2 litres ???
You're going to be dumping the liquid after anyway.
I find I only use around 300 - 400mls
smaller slow cooker, bigger ham, or no sweet tooth...
They're the only reasons I can think of ;D
How did it work out anyway?
I brought one to the folks at christmas dinner and everyone loved it. I scored it, shoved some cloves in, glazed with golden syrup, roasted for a while to get it sticky. Lovely!
I made another recently just slow cooked and it was still great :)
I would boil the ham first then remove from water and jab in cloves under the fat and finally use ham glaze smothered all over and into the oven.
Whilst on the subject of ham....not slow cooking....I picked up a jerk seasoning from Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver (mixed up) that I use on my Xmas ham, it's also great on chicken. It burns though so you need to like the aul spice.
The following recipe is for jerk chicken but the marinade is good on ham too, boil the ham, then marinade overnight and then oven cook. Use a meat thermometer, in case you need to be told :)
Right lads, I was asked for this recipe. It's loosely based on a Nigella Lawson recipe mixed up with some authentic ones, but it hits the spot in any case as you'll all know.
You will need to use your own cooking knowledge to fill in some of the gaps, knock yourselves out.
Jamaican Jerk chicken. Best made a day in advance to marinate.
Chicken pieces of your choice, I like legs or thighs, breast gets too dry too fast.
2 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp ground cinnamon
3 whole cloves
4cm/2in piece fresh root ginger, peeled and cut into chunks
2 tbsp dark muscovado sugar/ or any dark or brown sugar
A shot or two of dark rum ( I used the last of my captain morgans spiced in this one as I had no dark rum)
Juice of 2 limes
A shot of soy sauce
Half a cup of cider or white wine vinegar
Whole scotch bonnet peppers to taste, 6 at least.
1 onion, peeled and quartered
6 spring onions
4 garlic cloves, peeled
There are two options for jerk chicken, either skinned and done in the home oven or with the skin left on and done on a barbecue. The home oven just won't get it crispy enough if you leave the skin on.
Add all ingredients above to a food mixer and blend to a pulp, add more liquid if it's too dry, that's it for the seasoning, it's not accurate so a bit more or less of this or that is no issue, I normally do it all by eye.
If you are doing it in the home oven then peel your chicken pieces, I prefer not to use breast as it gets too dry too fast, but if you can get breast on the bone or a whole chicken then go for it.
Once peeled then you need to cut some deep slashes into the chicken pieces to let the sauce in and also to let the heat in to cook them better.
Once peeled then put them in a bowl and pour the jerk seasoning over the top, if you have rubber gloves then put them on and get your hands in there and massage the seasoning into the chicken, if you have no gloves then do it at your own risk.
Once covered in seasoning cover the bowl with clingfilm and put it in your fridge overnight if possible, but at least 2-3 hours.
After an overnight marinade then heat your oven to 200c and put the chicken in there to cook, this is where your own judgement comes in, depending on chicken pieces etc it's up to you how long you cook them for, I take no responsibility for your inability to cook chicken. To give an idea, I did the chicken drumsticks for the competition for 40 minutes at 200C, too long and it will get dry, use your own judgement.
Rice and peas
Serves 4(generously)
2 cups rice
1 can of coconut milk
1 can of kidney beans or black eyed peas, chickpeas will also do.
3 cloves garlic
1/2 onion finely diced
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 Scotch bonnet
2 spring onions.
2 tbsp olive oil for frying
1 rinsed out coconut milk can of water
1/2 Chicken stock cube
1/2tsp black pepper
salt to taste, wait though because stock can be salty so add at end.
Heat the olive oil in a pot then add the chopped onion and sweat for about 2-3 mins then add the garlic and sweat making sure it doesn't burn.Throw the rice in on top and fry in the onion for about a minute similar to risotto, but not as much.
Once sweated then throw in a can of coconut milk fill the can then with water and throw the can of water on top too. Then add the rest of the ingredients apart from the chili which you will cut almost in half and then throw in, you need to fish this out afterwards. You need to do the same with the spring onion, smash them a little to allow the flavour out and then add for the boil but fish out afterwards. Same for the sprigs of thyme.
Cook until the rice is done, again, use your judgement on this one, I can't teach you in two lines how to cook rice, you may need to add more liquid, use your own judgement.
Enjoy.
Quote from: DEMPSEY on January 31, 2014, 10:45:31 AM
I would boil the ham first then remove from water and jab in cloves under the fat and finally use ham glaze smothered all over and into the oven.
That's pretty much it, but in coke instead of water
stuck a Ragu on there before lunch for my dinner tonight -
500gms Round Steak - cubed 2-3 cm pieces
50gms Pancetta
3 sticks of celery
3 carrots
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
bunch of fresh basil, a little sprig of thyme, pinch of oregano, couple of bay leaves
1 tin of chopped tomatos
2 glasses of red wine
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Fry the meats and garlic till beef is browned then remove, fry the veg till softening then add the meats, tim of toms, wine and herbs and season well.
Lid on - stick it on low for 6-7 hours - the idea of using un-minced beef in the slow cooker is that with time it will shred apart.
Enjoy with a bit of pasta and parmesan over the top.
To save on the washing up i did the frying in the removable crock pot bit of the slow cooker, just took it out and put it on the gas- i would think once you are not going too hot with it, should be ok
That sounds really good.
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going to purchase a slow cooker this week, what would you recommend.
This is the recipe for pulled pork that I saw on telly hosted by the fabulous Baker Boy's. They made the marinade using a bottle of SNPA.
1 large joint of pork, such as a hand of pork
For the marinade
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp olive oil
1 whole bulb of garlic, crushed by hand
Plenty of fresh thyme
Plenty of fresh rosemary
2 big pinches of salt
1 big pinch of pepper
330ml bottle American pale ale
Homemade pittas, to serve
Method
Put the pork into an oven tray. Start by scoring the pork along the skin as if making crackling.
Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl then cover the pork in the marinade. Rub the sauce and the garlic into the scored slits in the meat and leave the to marinate overnight.
The next day preheat the oven to 240°C/gas mark 9. Put the pork into the oven for 20 minutes or until it gets a great colour. After 20 minutes take the meat out, cover it in tin foil and put it back into the oven at a cooler 140°C/gas mark 1 for 8 hours to slow roast. Eight hours later it should pull from the bone and be lovely and tender.
Cut the pittas open down one side and fill with pulled pork. Drizzle some of the marinade sauce over the top and serve with coleslaw.
A hand of pork? ???
Yes the hand of pork is basically the shoulder of the pig. :)
Quote from: delzep on February 02, 2014, 04:27:16 PM
A hand of pork? ???
And to tenderise it you "beat the meat" for 30 mins ???