Crockpot Woes

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Crockpot Woes

Postby eadaoin » Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:32 pm

My mom decided to buy us a crockpot the other day, thinking it'd come in handy, especially after the baby comes. She even left a cookbook and a couple meals to try out.

Problem is, I'm quickly developing an irrational fear of the damn thing, as well as the stuff you put in it. I know it's not going to explode (I think). I know that whole chicken I'm trying to cram in there isn't going to suddenly jump off the counter, head out to the landlady's garage, and come back with sharp and/or blunt instruments to exact its revenge with (I hope). And I know the worst of my worries is Stiofain taking charge of meal preparation (i.e. Jack in the Box).

But I'm kind of lost and unsure of how to get acquainted with my new appliance. Does anyone have any suggestions, perhaps some simple starter-up recipes I can tackle (or at least poke with a cattle prod from a relatively safe distance)?

Thankies. :)
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Postby Tarryk » Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:49 pm

I'm forwarding a copy of this to my elder sister. She is Queen Sheba of Crockpot Conundrums. Or something. I'll get back to ya. :)
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Postby Vallikat » Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:56 pm

Well, I have no recipes but I love mine. I tend to just throw a bunch of stuff in there, turn it on and let it do its thing. So far none of us have died from it. :)

However, if you want an easy way to get acquainted, buy one of the banquet crockpot classics. I have tried them all and they are good. Very easy to prepare. All you add is water. That way you can check it out while taking VERY LITTLE risk.

Once you get comfortable with that, try the book she gave you. It's really easy. :)

Good luck!
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Postby Ickk » Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:31 am

Try putting a smaller chicken in it...low heat...nothing else in it. Just let the chicken cook in there most of the day. Comes out GREAT. Easy way to cook a chicken and makes great samiches when its cooled off ;)
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Postby Tarryk » Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:12 pm

Update from my sis!

Spooky wrote:Try chili, split pea soup, or bean and ham soup as all three can be put together with pre-cooked meats so you aren't worrying about that issue. Split pea soup in the crockpot is amazing. For recipes, use the internet! You can't go wrong. I made cabbage rolls the other day, used a combo of a few recipes I found on the net (foodnetwork, allrecipes, etc), came out great. But for a beginner, I always recommend a big pot of chili to start with. Make some cornbread when you get home to go with, top it with cilantro and chopped onion and cheese, how can you lose!


Hope that helps. :)
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Postby Cheese » Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:22 am

All be it, crock pot cooking is the safest possible.

Chickens once dead, rarely become zombies. They much more often become buffalo kickers. If you truely worry about the chicken rising out of the pot, just put some Ray's BBQ sauce, or Franks Red Hot sauce within viewing distance of the pot and any demonic chicken will be scared away. Works like butter in Leonard part 6.

Great way to get fammilar with the pot: Chilli
1 onion choppered in any way. Even split into 4 big pieces, OK
1 green pepper choppered, like fork eatin size.
some garlic (you wont stink, but the more you put in the more people know you did some cookin)
1 package of sausage cut across the short side. Hint if it looks like a bananna still, thats the long ways. No sweet, or breakfast please.
2 cans of tomatoes, whole peeled, or one big can. Bigger is usually cheaper per volume.
1 can of chili seasoned beans
1/2 cup water
splash of salt now or to taste later. (The earlier one adds salt to a tomato product the less total salt it takes to season it.)

Dump it all in, turn on, leave. So long as you return within about, 4 hours... all ok.

Once you get comfortable, go nutty. Add cumin, use regular beans so you can make the spice mix, do whatever you want. I add homminy and tomatillos. (thats corn and those strange green tomato lookin things in the store) Even a splash of green salsa will change things round for ya.
Crock pots will go forever without any real trouble, the question is when do you want to eat.
Crock pots usually have an auto switch, but even if they dont tis ok. Low is great for the food so start there. The pot was made to help make crummy parts of meat cook for a long long time so they taste great without the constant hassle of a stove top heat adjustment.

The only thing I make sure of on a crock pot is that you can take out the cook bucket to wash it. That is just my preference, cause its a faker to move arround the whole thing when its cleanin time. Much easier to take it apart and hose it down in the shower.

Maybe that helps?
I can try to write up a larger recipe database for ya, but dont want to suck up too much forum time. In the middle of writing a cookbook, so I'm more than happy to share what I have.
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Postby Jenibell » Sat Jan 12, 2008 8:21 am

between me and my roomie we have like 8 of them
Ive never made a thing...
I cant cook to save my life... I hope there will never be a moment when my life comes down to "cook or death"
That would be a sad sad day...

did I have a point to this post...

disregard :P
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Postby Kyrros » Sat Jan 12, 2008 10:26 am

The thing that's best about the Crock-pot (and worst sometimes) is that what you're doing is essentially letting everything in the pot marinate in everything else that's in the pot. You get some great things that way, but make sure to put stuff in there that blends well with whatever else you're throwing in there.

Don't do things like throwing a pickle into your chili. All of your chili will have a distinct pickle flavor, and the pickle will be chili-flavored.
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Postby eadaoin » Sat Jan 12, 2008 10:45 pm

Thanks everyone. :)
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Postby Vallikat » Tue Feb 19, 2008 10:26 pm

I was thinking about this thread earlier today. I'm cooking a beef stew in my crockpot, something I've done any number of times. Generally I turn it on low in the morning before work, I check on it when I come home at lunch, and then all I have to do is thicken it when I get home in the evening.

However today when I came home on lunch I discovered that my crockpot was still stone cold. It was on low and plugged in, but not working. I turned it up to high and then it did warm up, so I'm assuming my switch is just broken. I suppose I'll find out when I get home shortly if I have stew or not. :)

Of course that crockpot is nearly 20 years old, so it owes me nothing. I can just pick up a new one this weekend.

But, to get more to the point, it did make me wonder, how did you make out, Eadaoin? Have you tried out any of our suggestions? Did it turn out ok for you?
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Postby eadaoin » Wed Feb 20, 2008 6:59 am

I haven't been able to try more than rice. Our financial crunch has turned into somewhat of a financial stranglehold, so the crockpot's been boxed and stored until we can afford something besides ramen. :/

I am, however, no longer deathly afraid of it. Yay me. :P
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Postby Culann » Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:01 am

LOL

Just...

LOLOL

I can SO emphathize with this post...OMG..it's almost uncanny.

For ours..(Spiritminx and I) we use it to make beef stew...and that's just 'bout it. LOL

I make the beef stew with stew meat, a package of McCormick's stew seasoning, potatoes, carrots, and onions. There's probably something else but offhand I can't remember what.

Now on the other hand..if you want a REAL recipe for something I've dubbed "Cowboy Beans"....heh...
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Postby Jugsmalone » Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:06 pm

Ok a cheep easy and terribly awesome meal in the crock pot is canned baked beans sliced hotdogs chopped onions ketchup can of crushed pineapple and brown sugar. let is simmer and a slice of bread and butter for dipping and its fabulous. Ohh and if you cook in the crock pot with a cooking bag you do not even have any clean up at all. Great.
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