news:barbschaller-132A76.14301703112009@news.iphouse.com...

Barb, I'm surprised you haven't been able to make anything edible in a slow
cooker/crock pot.  I use mine all the time for chuck roast, corned beef
brisket, chicken stew, chili, spaghetti sauce, vegetable soup...

Jill

On Wed, 4 Nov 2009 18:38:47 -0500, "jmcquown" <j_mcqu...@comcast.net>
wrote:

I admire all of you that use it a lot, and are able to turn out great
dishes with a slow cooker.  

I am with Barb.  I just cannot get anything to turn out tasting
anything rather than stewed.  I even have cookbooks that are geared
toward slow cookers, and supposedly the techniques that will improve
the dishes cooked in them.  But even using those, I still don't find
the dishes that good.  Maybe my tastes are just different.

The only ones that have really looked interesting to me lately have
been the dishes that Ming Tsai is doing on his PBS cooking show.  He
is using an All-Clad slow cooker in that show, and he seems to be able
to do a bit more with it.  And the dishes do look good.  

I guess one thing that makes the dishes taste all pretty much the same
to me is the lack of liquid reduction that happens in a slow cooker.
If I cook a dish in the oven, I get that slow reduction that
intensifies flavors...

Anyway, I think I am giving away my larger slow cooker to my former
housesitter, if she wants it.  I will keep the little one, as I do fix
steel cut oats in that one, and I did a batch of caramelized onions in
it a few weeks ago.  Those two things work well.

Christine
--
http://nightstirrings.blogspot.com

In article <7lehl7F3e0do...@mid.individual.net>,

I gave up after about two tries, one a pork roast that was reputed to be
nothing short of nirvana.  It was dry as a bone and I used the cut of
meat specified.  I don't remember what the other meat dish is that I
tried.

I've successfully caramelized onions and even that depends, I've found,
on the moisture content of the onions ‹ and I think it's better to do
those in the summer when I can have windows open.  Some people have
complained about the smell‹stench is the word I think was used.  Bums.

I don't know why I'm a crockpot flop, Jill, but I'm not investing any
more meat in experiments, either.  :-\
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://web.me.com/barbschaller - Who Said Chickens Have Fingers?
10-30-2009

In article <7ldstmF3ck4f...@mid.individual.net>,
 "Default User" <defaultuse...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Who knew!  Thanks, Brian.
-Barb
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://web.me.com/barbschaller - Who Said Chickens Have Fingers?
10-30-2009

On Wed, 4 Nov 2009 18:38:47 -0500, "jmcquown" <j_mcqu...@comcast.net>
wrote:

Anyone who make tamales can testify that a great way to cook the meat
is in the crockpot overnight.  In fact, that's the only use I have for
a crockpot, although those hot drinks in another thread are good too -
but I don't do that.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

On Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:52:52 -0700, Christine Dabney

Good grief.  Are you one of those people who want to bake in a
crockpot?  Stew and be happy!

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.