Originally they were called crockpots, but now they’re most often called slow-cookers. And what a boon they are! They came into vogue about 30-odd years ago when women were leaving the house to work all day, and yet were still expected (as most still are) to come up with a wholesome, nourishing, delicious meal when the rest of the clan crashes through the door. (Yeah, well. If it were easy, anyone could do it.).
A crockpot is a big help on that score. The beauty of a crockpot, especially the most recent incarnations, is they do everything but throw the ingredients into the pot for you. One advertises that you can set the cook time to anything from 30 minutes to 20 hours, so you could stuff a pot roast into the thing while the dog is doing his last round of the bushes, go to bed and arrive home the next evening after work to dinner. Some are programmable so they turn themselves down or off and let you know how long they’ve been set that way. (I have crockpot envy; mine is ancient and manual.). Either way, you end up with a real meal — not a microwaved plastic tray, not a bag of chips and dip (however tempting that may be sometimes), not another pizza or bag full of cholesterol and carbs, but supper. Real food. AND the removable stoneware interior goes into the dishwasher, so cleanup is easy, too.
Since school has started, along with the attendant after-school sports, extra-curricular stuff, evening PTA meetings, et. al., it’s even more important to eat well and get enough sleep. Pizza three times a week alternating with fast food is not eating well. A crockpot full of rib-sticking soup or a stew with vegetables is.
Crockpots and slow cookers hark back centuries to the iron stew pot hanging on the trammel arm over the fire all day. The wife/cook/tallest kid would give it a stir now an again, maybe add some water or cider or small beer – often homemade — and by the time everyone came in from the fields or the barn drooping from hunger, there was something satisfying to enjoy together and sustain the fam through the next day’s onslaught. Some clever women even made breads in it, or added drop biscuits to the stew toward the end so you really did have a one-pot meal.
I’ve heard of people using the crockpot for anything from cakes to dips to lasagna, which is possible I’m sure, though it sounds like you’d end up with gummy pasta, and since I’ve not tried it, I won’t recommend it here. However, it’s great for roasts, stews, soups and chili with whatever meat you have available –the sort of things you’d have put into the iron pot over the trammel arm. Just the kind of food autumn calls for — butternut squash soup with chicken broth, apples, and onions that you stick on low in the morning before you leave and come home to in the evening. Minestrone with fully cooked sausage (you can add the pasta when you get home), the slow cooker equivalent of baked beans, coq au vin. Visigoths in your life want red meat? Cassoulet with beef or lamb shanks — economical, delicious and filling. Or stuff in a roast, a tin of tomatoes, an onion, garlic, red wine, beef broth, maybe a few herbs – honestly, this takes all of 10 minutes – set it and go. There are links to a variety of things below, but one of my favorites is Sarah Bowers’s pulled pork. Sarah, who works at the family’s cafe, barVino in New York, often makes it for parties and we all battle for the tongs until someone scrapes out the last bit with a crust of bread.
Sarah’s Easy-as-Pie Crockpot Pork
1 large boneless pork loin, though pork shoulder works very well too.
2 large yellow onions, quartered
2 bottles of dark beer, brown ale, porter or stout
salt and pepper
Barbeque sauce – homemade or store-bought
Choose a pork cut based on the capacity of your crockpot. The pork should pretty much pack in with room for liquid and onions. Salt and pepper the pork and cover with 1 ½ -2 bottles of quality dark beer, brown ale, porter or stout. Stuff in the onion quarters. Make sure the liquid more than covers the meat and veg. Slow cook on low for about 7 or 8 hours (Sarah usually starts at night because she’s something of a night owl, and takes it off in the morning), or cook it on medium-high for around 4 hours, which is great for a Sunday evening meal. If you leave it all day on low, use both bottles of beer. “I check on the pork and make sure liquid is covering it,” she says. “Sometimes I flip it over if the top looks dry.” If you use a pork shoulder, there will be more fat than with a loin. Sarah leaves it on and skims excess after it’s cooked.
The pork is done when you can take a fork and shred it without much effort. Remove pork and place on large cutting board. With two large forks shred the meat. Drain the remaining liquid into a glass bowl or saucepan. Put the shredded meat back into the crockpot. Mix equal parts of your favorite barbeque sauce (Sarah makes her own – kind of sweet, spicy, but not smoky) and the drained roasting liquid. Serve on yeasty small rolls with some diced white onion and cole slaw on the side.
https://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2010/01/enchilada-chicken-chili.html
https://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2010/02/slow-cooker-carnitas-recipe.html
https://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,2212,154178-232202,00.html
https://family.go.com/food/recipe-cp-629852-asian-beef-with-mandarin-oranges-t/
https://family.go.com/food/recipe-cp-786778-ham-split-pea-soup-t/
https://family.go.com/food/recipe-cp-630085–wild-mushroom-beef-stew-t/
https://family.go.com/food/recipe-cp-787167-louisiana-gumbo-t/
https://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-slow-cooker-chicken/detail.aspx
https://allrecipes.com/recipe/onion-elk-roast-stroganoff/detail.aspx
https://allrecipes.com/recipe/shredded-tri-tip-for-tacos-in-the-slow-cooker/detail.aspx
https://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-shredded-venison-for-tacos/detail.aspx
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