Slow Cooker: The Best Cookbook Ever (2 page)

Whenever I look at my slow cooker, I think of the lyrics to that old Sinatra standard, “I’m not much to look at, nothing to see,” but upon closer inspection the slow cooker is like the girl in high school who everyone said had a nice personality. This decidedly simple piece of equipment isn’t the most attractive item ever to grace your kitchen counter but can it cook!

Slow cookers are the answer to that age-old question, “What’s for dinner?” You can smile and say, “It’s in the slow cooker.” Slow cookers do all the work. You simply prep a few ingredients and let the cooker work its magic over the hours. Slow cookers are made for busy people who would love to have dinner made when they come home, but short of having a personal chef or eating take out, that doesn’t happen. By prepping a few ingredients in the morning or the night before and then tossing them in the slow cooker when you leave for the day, you can return to a slow-cooked, deeply-flavored dinner ready to serve. The only job left is to prep a side dish or two and wait for the compliments.

Another advantage of the slow cooker is the aroma. This gives you an edge because when you open the door to your home, you are greeted with the aromas of slow-cooked goodness. Just smelling the food as you enter will make the work of the day a distant memory.

Many of my students have complained about the slow-cooker books on the market. There are either too many preparation steps, so that the dish is almost cooked before it goes into the cooker, or the flavors are washed out and bland and the dishes all taste the same. This book is dedicated to finding the balance between streamlined prep and full flavor, using fresh ingredients and a palate of flavors from around the world. So come along for the ride. Take the lid off that slow cooker, and let’s find out what that appliance with the great personality really has to offer!

Slow cookers operate on the principle of low and slow heat. The “low” setting on a slow cooker keeps food at 180°F and the “high” setting at 300°F. So think of “high” as a low and slow oven for braises, and “low” as a setting for longer and slower braises. Recipes for the low setting will cook at least 8 hours, about the time most of us would spend outside the home while at work or play. The beauty of the high setting is that a meal can be put into the machine and be ready in about 4 hours, about the time it takes to go to soccer, dance, and music lessons after school. Either way, you’ve got it made—delicious meal that cooks itself.

CONVENIENCE
Slow cookers produce onepot meals with minimal prep and easy cleanup, and the slow cooker will keep an entree or side dish warm at the table. Instead of turning on the oven in the heat of summer, you can use the slow cooker as the oven and turn out great dishes.

SAVES TIME
Slow cookers offer minimal preparation times and no fussing over the food once it’s in the cooker. You can literally set it and forget it.

SAVES MONEY
Slow cookers use less electricity than a stovetop or oven, or about as much as a 75-watt lightbulb. Also, a slow cooker can produce delicious, meltinglytender meals out of less expensive cuts of meat.

NUTRITIONAL BENEFIT
Because slow cookers should always remain covered, nutrients that might be lost in an oven or uncovered pot are retained.

If you bought this book, you either have a slow cooker that you aren’t using or are tempted to buy one. My advice is to buy what you will need, not what is on sale. There are lots of slow cookers to choose from, and they come in sizes from a 1½-quart pot used to keep dips warm to a 7-quart cooker that will feed an army of hungry soldiers.

If yours is a two-person household but you love to cook and freeze your leftovers, then a 5- to 7-quart cooker would be my recommendation. If you are a two-person household but only want a meal and maybe a lunch leftover that week, then something in the 4- to 5-quart size is probably your best choice.

For families of four or more, I’d recommend anything in the 5- to 7-quart range. Try a few of the recipes in the book, and you may decide you like this type of cooking so much you might get a an additional smaller or larger size. Remember that the slow cooker is a great tool when entertaining because it keeps dishes warm as well as cooks them.

Food safety is always important, regardless of the equipment you are using. Make sure to wash your slow cooker insert thoroughly with hot soapy water, rinse it thoroughly, and dry it completely after washing. Keeping the outside clean is also important. The exterior of a slow cooker tends to get spotted with food stains, but cleaning those stains after cooling the slow cooker is a snap. Make sure to read the manufacturer’s directions on safe usage, cleaning, and storage of your slow cooker. Make sure to follow these simple rules for food safety:

Cool hot ingredients before adding them to cold ingredients.

Wash cutting boards thoroughly after each use and run them through the dishwasher if possible.

Use separate cutting boards for meats and vegetables.

Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water before undertaking any type of prep work.

Recently slow-cooker liners have become available. Made of heatproof plastic, these liners are a lifesaver when you are making a dish that is guaranteed to stick to your pan. I also like to line the slow cooker when I am making a casserole. I will partially freeze the insert with the casserole until the casserole will hold its shape, then I remove the liner with the partially frozen casserole, wrap it in plastic wrap or in a zipper-top plastic bag, seal it airtight, and freeze it. When ready to cook, I then defrost the frozen casserole overnight in the refrigerator before putting it into the slow cooker the next morning. See individual recipes for instructions.

Some slow cookers come with a rack, which can be used to keep dishes like custard cups and ramekins from touching the bottom. Racks also help steam food at a constant temperature and are an added feature I find useful.

If you have a dish that is braised on the stovetop or in the oven that you would like to convert to the slow cooker, follow these general guidelines.

Never fill your slow cooker more than two-thirds full. When foods give up their moisture over the long cooking process, you may find your cooker filled to the brim with liquid by the time you are ready to serve. Also make sure that the ingredients fill the slow cooker at least halfway, to ensure even cooking. If you don’t have enough ingredients to fill the cooker halfway, your timing will be off.

Chef Jose Andres, one of the world’s most renowned chefs, said that his father told him that “every step in cooking is important.” Andres expanded his father’s advice by saying “every inglorious” step helps you prepare dishes that are flavorful and memorable. So if you think that browning the meat before it goes into the cooker isn’t important, remember that every step is important. I have tried where appropriate to streamline the prep so that it is minimal, but if I instruct you to brown, or stir, or lift the top off the cooker, it’s because the finished dish benefited from that step.

There are lots of tricks to use with slow cooking. Because the foods themselves give off moisture in the form of liquid, you will need to back off on the amount of liquid that you add to the pot (this is especially true if you are converting a conventional recipe for a slow cooker), and this will concentrate the flavors in the dish. Even beyond that simple rule, there are other tricks that will help coax the maximum flavor from your dishes.

Brown meats, poultry, and other proteins before adding them to the slow cooker. The
fond
(French for “base”) are the browned bits left in the bottom of the pan after sauteing, and you can use their essence to heighten the flavor of your slow-cooker meal. Think of browning as the base to build the flavor of your dish and add other ingredients to this pan to extract the most flavor.

Sautéing onions, garlic, dried herbs, and spices before adding them into the cooker gives you a balanced flavor. In many instances, if you add these ingredients to the pot without first sauteing them all you will smell after cooking is raw garlic and onion rather than the sweet perfume that develops when they release their oils during sauteing.

Use dried rather than fresh herbs when slow cooking. I go by the 30-minute rule: if it simmers more than 30 minutes, use a dry herb. One exception to this rule is rosemary, which is woody and stands up to long cooking times. If at the end of the cooking time you wish to refresh a flavor of the finished dish, then certainly add some fresh herbs to it. This actually adds a bit of color, as well as flavor and freshness.

Using soup bases and double-strength broths (such as Campbell’s) helps you boost flavors.

Dried mushrooms and dried fruits boost flavors when added to the pot.

Sometimes your slow-cooked meal will have a sauce that tastes bland after hours of simmering with the lid on. Try a few of the following tricks to liven up your dish:

Stir in grated lemon or orange zest; stir in chopped fresh herbs; heat a few tablespoons of olive oil on the stove and saute a few cloves of chopped garlic until they are softened; but not browned, and add them to the sauce; stir in 2 or 3 dried mushrooms and simmer for another 20 minutes. If all else fails, drain the sauce into a small saucepan and boil the sauce until it is reduced by half. This usually will concentrate the flavor and give you a delicious pan sauce for your meal.