Crock Pot Recipes

Hey, Jose:

We had a good thread going about this very topic not long ago and it's located right here.

I use Adobe seasoning, a little sage and garlic (and lately a few capers in sea salt, since I got some from my online wine club); put the roast on top of some small red potatoes and maybe a carrot or a celery stalk sliced into quarter-sized pieces. Turn it on before I go to sleep and wake up smelling the aroma in the morning.

Yumsville City Limits. :wink:

Probably a couple of times a month, on average. More in the winter to make "comfort food" than in the summer. I bought one in the 70s, when they first came on the market, used it a couple of times and left it to gather dust. A couple of years ago I bought a Rival Smart Pot, oval in shape, and much more versatile. It's really useful with young adult children in the house, who go to school full time and work part-time.

Pulled Pork on a Bun

1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped

9 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tbsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp cracked black peppercorns
1 cup tomato-based chili sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1 3 pound pork loin roast
Kaiser or Onion buns, halved and warmed.

Heat oil, add onions and cook until soft. Add garlic powder and pepper, cook, stirring, for a minute. Add chili sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke. Stir to combine and bring to a boil.

Place pork in stoneware and pour sauce over. Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours or on high for 6 hours.

Make it more spicy or less, to your taste. I've spiced the original recipe up a little. Also, the original recipe calls for boneless pork shoulder trimmed of fat.

Shred the meat and return to sauce to keep warm. (Tastes better when refrigerated and reheated.) Great with potato wedges and coleslaw.

Another one is:

Southwestern Brisket

2 dried New Mexico chili peppers
2 cups boiling water
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 pound beef brisket, trimmed
2 onions, thinly sliced
6 stalks celery, peeled and thinly sliced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp dry mustard
1 tbsp dried oregano leaves
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp cracked black peppercorns
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup flour
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup undiluted condensed beef broth
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 bay leaves
2 green bell peppers, thinly sliced
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley


Soak chilies in boiling water 30 minutes. Drain and discard stems. Dry chilies and chop finely.

Brown brisket in the tablespoon of oil at medium-high and place in slow cooker.

Reduce heat to minimum. Add onions, celery and chili peppers. Cook, stirring, until vegetables are softened. Add garlic, mustard, oregano, cumin, pepper and salt, cook, stirring, for a minute. Sprinkle with flour and cook, stirring another minute.

Add tomato sauce, beef broth and red wine vinegar, cook, stirring, until thickened. Stir in brown sugar and bay leaves, pour mixture over brisket. Cover and cook on low for 12 hours.

Stir in green peppers. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes. Discard bay leaves. *Slice brisket, spoon sauce overtop and garnish with parsley.

Great served over hot mashed potatoes.

For a spicier version, add one or two chopped jalapeno peppers along with the garlic.

*(Brisket slices better when cold, so for best results, cook overnight, refrigerate immediately. Slice when cold, place in dutch oven, cover with sauce and reheat on stovetop, garnish and serve.)

Take a fresh crock pot, place it in a 350 degree oven for two hours or until it reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees. Serve with chutney.

Heh heh heh.... Just my feelings as a chef: If you know the principles behind slow-cooking in general, you do not need a crock pot or a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers, so your beans aren't done as fast in a regular pot, but you have way more control over the seasonings.

do they still make pressure cookers? As a kid I grabbed that little thingamus while it was cooking, and spent 2 days in the hospital with hands badaged like the mummy.

can I get a duhhhh?

Nah, everybody did things like that when they were a kid. Now, if you had done it LAST WEEK, I'd say, "Duh!"

I think pressure cookers have evolved beyond the 'Pinto of the kitchen' thing, but I still don't see their necessity.

Thanks Y'all- especially Pdiddie and Mckenzie for the recipes. I plan to try them.

Mrs C seasoned, browned and started the roast early this a.m. and it'sa already cooked to a tender stewlike consistency. It smells wonderful and now all we have to add are the potatoes, carrots, etc to finish. Mmmmm...

We like using this method because it doesn't heat up the kitchen and summertime in Texas that's important! Best regards,

Never. But it's good to see Sr. Cuervo around.

Gracias!

de nada.

I have not gotten the hang of the crockpot. I must be doing something wrong. Everything comes out so dry and has a weird taste. I hope you have better luck, Jose.

Swimpy,

U gotta add liquid... i.e. H20, wine, etc.

Mine are always SO MOIST it's like stew!

Oops- Seinfeld's on...

GEE! i mis Abuzzin'

I've never used either a crockpot or a pressure cooker, but I do braise on the stove top from time to time. Just did the Romagnoli's Porchetta recipe again yesterday. It's on the Food and drinks forum somewhere, will give a link... that might work in a crockpot. (I might also given a link on the earlier crock pot thread...)
Porchetta alla Perugina

Various other braising recipes might work too, but I have noooo idea of the appropriate temp and timing. Cav had at least one thread going on Braising a while ago (look on the line at the top of the page with little blue words for SEARCH).

Earlier this week I bought a couple of peppercorn pork tenderloins and placed them gently atop a bed of new potatoes and carrot slices and celery. They lay in a circle around the outside of the inside of the crock pot.

No seasoning, no water; all I did was spray the pot with garlic-flavored Pam. Cooked for about twelve hours on low.

It made about four meals for me and the wife and was just scrumptious.

cav, please remember that not all of us happen to be award-winning gourmet chefs...

Yeh, I see the crockpot as a real handy convenience for a busy person or family who still love homecooked meals.

I don't use one since I can hang around while things braise or bake - it is kind of a recreation for me to cook, almost a therapy, and baking or braising does let you go off into other rooms or the yard for great gobs of time, if not as many hours as a crockpot. Still, a crockpot full of a good hot meal strikes me as a treat coming home from work on a cold winter day..

I'll take a good sized arm roast (or venison, or pork, or just about anything else similar), douse it with Worcestershire sauce, season it liberally with garlic, favorite herbs, a healthy dusting of fresh coarseground black pepper, and a tad of salt, brown it on all surfaces in a very hot skillet (cast iron, of course, and olive oil). It goes into the crockpot first, then I add quartered potatoes, carrots sliced lengthwise and cut into strips 3 or 4 inches long, some celery treated the same way, a good helping of fair-sized fresh mushrooms, sliced more or less in thirds or quarters lengthwise,and some very coarsely chopped yellow onion. On top of that I add a cup or so of beefstock and a cup or so of cheap, hearty red wine ... enough liquid to completely cover the other ingredients by a couple inches or so. I'll set the cooker on "low", cover it, and leave it alone all day ... 8 or 10 hours, usually. About a half hour before serving time, I turn the heat up to high, and when the liguid comes to a boil, I add big spoonfulls of baking powder biscuit dough, seasoned with a bit of garlic and herbs, sometimes with a little shredded cheddar or swiss cheese added, which makes great dumplings in about 15 minutes or so. Leftovers are unheard of..

please sir may I have some more?



Crock potting messes with the AC in the kitchen. We dont have a lot of AC ducts because the house is so old and ducts had to be jackhammered into the stone , so we have one or two in a room. if I put a crockpot on in the heat of the day. The kitchen wouldnt get hot but would be humid. sOO, Ive made a covered crock pot station out on the patio wall, its like a little kitchen , and the top i made of thick ash boards , so its like a big chopping block. We can cut on it and cook on it and , in the fall, i just un do it and put it away for the season. Cookin all day outside is good.