Take the Fast Lane to Great Slow Food

Here are some of the strategies we used to guarantee flavor-packed dishes with less fuss and effort.

 

USE NO-PREP AROMATICS

Our recipes call for fresh onions, garlic, and ginger, and our promise to limit prep for every recipe to 15 minutes or less includes time to chop onions, mince garlic, or grate ginger. That said, in our testing we found that frozen chopped onions, granulated garlic, and dried, ground ginger were all good alternatives for cutting down on knife work and reducing prep time even further.

An equal amount of frozen chopped onions can be used in place of fresh chopped onions in any recipe. Granulated garlic (preferred over garlic powder and other substitutes) and ground ginger require some math. Here are the equivalencies of fresh garlic and ginger to their dried counterparts for easy reference.

1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic =
¾ teaspoon granulated garlic

1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic =
2 teaspoons granulated garlic

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger =
½ teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger =
1 teaspoon ground ginger

 

CHOOSE WISELY AT THE MEAT COUNTER

To keep things simple, we started with cuts of meat that were easy-prep in nature. Blade steaks went straight from the package to the slow cooker for braises, and steak tips were easier to cut into pieces for stew than a large chuck roast. Boneless country-style pork ribs were easy enough to pull apart into bite-size pieces when tender, and they made stews and our meaty ragù quick to assemble.

 

USE CONVENIENCE PRODUCTS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

We turned to convenience products when other ingredients either did not work in the slow cooker or simply took too much time (or advance cooking). For instance, we learned that neither instant rice nor raw rice worked in our casseroles—they just never delivered properly cooked rice. But packaged, precooked rice worked perfectly. When it came to making a creamy sauce for some pasta dishes (like macaroni and cheese and penne with chicken), we found that condensed cheese soup or jarred Alfredo sauce was the only route to a sauce that would not break in the slow cooker.

And for glazed meat and chicken (impossible to achieve in a slow-cooker environment), we turned to easy-to-whip-together glazes made with preserves or jellies—and we brushed on the glaze at the end of the cooking time, sometimes using the broiler for a caramelized finish.

 

USE YOUR MICROWAVE

Rather than cook aromatics and spices on the stovetop to bloom their flavors, we simply microwaved them for a few minutes. We also used the microwave to parcook hearty vegetables like potatoes, so they’d be cooked through perfectly at the same time as the main ingredient (like chicken, which needs only a short stint in the slow cooker). Microwaving delicate vegetables and adding them to the slow cooker at the end of the cooking time ensured that they remained colorful and crisp-tender. And using the microwave to toast pasta guaranteed that it came out of the slow cooker perfectly tender (click here for more about cooking pasta in a slow cooker).