Slow Cooker Screwer Upper
Jul. 19th, 2020 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisnewdayHoping for some better luck with my slow cooker today! Seriously, HTF does ANYONE screw up a slow cooker recipe? I've done it twice in a row, now, and I'm gonna send my headshot to the Guinness folks to save them the trouble of asking for one when they hear about it.
I mean, I must've cooked a hundred-plus meals in the old Crock Pot, when I was cooking for the family, with no screwups. And, believe me, there was a crew that'd let you know if something wasn't right. If they didn't feel like saying it to your face, they'd take out an ad in the NY Times.
But seriously, I'd do the prep the night before and then throw the ceramic vessel into the heating unit before leaving for work in the morning. And when I got home, 8 or 9 hours later, the whole house would smell like, "Winna, winna, chicken dinna!"
These days, I have a small Crock Pot and a bunch of recipes for basically 4 portions. So I'll have the same thing two nights in a row, accompanied by a salad, and put the remaining 2 portions in the freezer.
Both recipes that I had problems with featured beef as the main ingredient. They looked good, smelled fine, and had the texture of shoe leather. Steel-toe shoe leather.
The first time, I thought maybe it was because I'd cut the cooking time a bit. Since I'm now free to hang around the kitchen, anytime I want, I was keeping an eye on it and thought it "looked" done.
But the next time I slow-cooked beef, I kept hands off and got... more leather.
The only thing that makes any sense now is that, since the old days at the house in the city, I've gotten in the habit of buying mostly lean cuts. In fact, the second recipe called for lean beef even though it was for a stew.
Which totally conflicts with what I've read since. Which is that fattier cuts are more flavorful and yield better results in the slow cooker. So I guess that's what I'll try next--same recipe with a nicely marbled cut of beef.
If that doesn't work, I'm gonna totally give up and use an old boot to start with because, honestly, it couldn't be much worse.
Today, though, I'm doing a teriyaki chicken with orange sauce. And I'm using dark meat because, flavorwise, that's my preference but also because there's more fat content to offset any tendency towards dryness.
Anyway, that's the theory. I've followed the recipe to the leather, er, letter and hope to goodness I get better results with this one. Otherwise, dinner will once again be slow-cooked Timberlands over Basmati rice.
Wish me luck...
LPK
Dreamwidth
7.19.2020
I mean, I must've cooked a hundred-plus meals in the old Crock Pot, when I was cooking for the family, with no screwups. And, believe me, there was a crew that'd let you know if something wasn't right. If they didn't feel like saying it to your face, they'd take out an ad in the NY Times.
But seriously, I'd do the prep the night before and then throw the ceramic vessel into the heating unit before leaving for work in the morning. And when I got home, 8 or 9 hours later, the whole house would smell like, "Winna, winna, chicken dinna!"
These days, I have a small Crock Pot and a bunch of recipes for basically 4 portions. So I'll have the same thing two nights in a row, accompanied by a salad, and put the remaining 2 portions in the freezer.
Both recipes that I had problems with featured beef as the main ingredient. They looked good, smelled fine, and had the texture of shoe leather. Steel-toe shoe leather.
The first time, I thought maybe it was because I'd cut the cooking time a bit. Since I'm now free to hang around the kitchen, anytime I want, I was keeping an eye on it and thought it "looked" done.
But the next time I slow-cooked beef, I kept hands off and got... more leather.
The only thing that makes any sense now is that, since the old days at the house in the city, I've gotten in the habit of buying mostly lean cuts. In fact, the second recipe called for lean beef even though it was for a stew.
Which totally conflicts with what I've read since. Which is that fattier cuts are more flavorful and yield better results in the slow cooker. So I guess that's what I'll try next--same recipe with a nicely marbled cut of beef.
If that doesn't work, I'm gonna totally give up and use an old boot to start with because, honestly, it couldn't be much worse.
Today, though, I'm doing a teriyaki chicken with orange sauce. And I'm using dark meat because, flavorwise, that's my preference but also because there's more fat content to offset any tendency towards dryness.
Anyway, that's the theory. I've followed the recipe to the leather, er, letter and hope to goodness I get better results with this one. Otherwise, dinner will once again be slow-cooked Timberlands over Basmati rice.
Wish me luck...
LPK
Dreamwidth
7.19.2020
