Brown rice (or whole-grain blend)
Makes about 2 quarts (2 L) in a large slow cooker
About 8 ounces (225 g) tomato trimmings (peels, cores, seeds)
Handful of dried mushrooms, or stems trimmed from 2 pounds (910 g) fresh mushrooms, washed well
Green tops from 2 leeks, washed well and chopped
½ onion, peeled and cut in half
3 carrots, chopped
Stems from 1 large bunch fresh parsley
Heel of 1 head celery, or 3 ribs, chopped
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
Put all the ingredients in a large (6- to 8-quart/6-to 8-L) slow cooker and pour in 2 quarts (2 L) water. Cover and cook on high for 8 hours.
Set a fine-mesh sieve over a large bowl or pot and pour in the stock, pressing on the vegetables to extract as much of the stock as possible; discard the solids in the sieve. Let the stock cool to almost room temperature (you can set the bowl in a larger pan of ice water to speed the cooling), then refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 6 months.
Makes about 2 quarts (2 L) in a large slow cooker
2½ to 3 pounds (1.2 to 1.4 kg) chicken bones (wing tips, backs, necks, or from deboned parts) or a whole turkey breast carcass
½ onion, peeled and cut in half
3 carrots, chopped
Stems from 1 large bunch fresh parsley
Heel of 1 head celery, or 3 ribs, chopped
Green top from 1 leek, washed well and chopped
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
Put all the ingredients in a large (6- to 8-quart/6-to 8-L) slow cooker and pour in 2 quarts (2 L) water. Cover and cook on low for 10 to 14 hours.
Set a fine-mesh sieve over a large bowl or pot and pour in the stock, pressing on the solids to extract as much of the stock as possible; discard the solids in the sieve. Let the stock cool to almost room temperature (you can set the bowl in a larger pan of ice water to speed the cooling), then refrigerate overnight. Skim off the solidified fat. Keep the stock in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 6 months.
Makes about 2½ quarts (2.4 L) in a 6-quart (6.5-L) OR larger slow cooker
I do not make any claims about bone broth being revivifying or especially healthful, but I do know that warming a little cup of this rich stock and loading it with lime, herbs, and spicy things is a fine thing to do for yourself on a cold winter afternoon.
4 pounds (1.8 kg) raw beef bones
Tops of 3 stalks lemongrass, chopped or crushed
2 thumb-size pieces galangal or ginger, chopped
4 kaffir lime leaves
To serve: Fresh lime juice, torn fresh cilantro, hot sauce, soy sauce or tamari, snipped Thai chiles
Put the bones, lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves, and about 2½ quarts (2.4 L) water in a large slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 12 to 24 hours—as long as you can! You should be able to almost crush a smaller bone with tongs.
Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, let cool, then refrigerate; skim off the solidified fat, if you’d like, then transfer the stock to smaller containers to refrigerate or freeze (half-pint/240-ml jars with at least ½ inch/12 mm of headspace are easy to thaw when you need a single serving). Reheat to serve, and season to taste—I like it very lime-y and sinus-clearingly spicy.
Makes about 2 quarts (2 L) in a large slow cooker
4 pounds (1.8 kg) beef bones
½ large onion, peeled and cut in half
3 carrots, chopped
Stems from 1 large bunch fresh parsley
Heel of 1 head celery, or 3 ribs, chopped
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
3 bay leaves
Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C). Put the bones and onion on a rimmed baking sheet and roast until nicely browned and sizzling, about 30 minutes.
Using tongs, transfer to a large (6- to 8-quart/6- to 8-L) slow cooker, discarding the rendered fat on the baking sheet. Add the carrots, parsley, celery, peppercorns, and bay leaves and pour in 2 quarts (2 L) water. Cover and cook on high for 8 hours.
Remove and discard the bones. Set a fine-mesh sieve over a large bowl or pot and pour in the stock, pressing on the vegetables to extract as much of the stock as possible; discard the solids in the sieve. Let the stock cool to almost room temperature (you can set the bowl in a larger pan of ice water to speed the cooling), then refrigerate overnight. Skim off the solidified fat. Keep the stock in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 6 months.
Makes about 6 cups (1.4 L), enough for two batches of chili (THIS PAGE) OR four batches of posole (THIS PAGE)
8 ounces (225 g) dried guajillo and/or New Mexico chiles (about 32), stemmed and snipped into pieces with scissors
12 chiles de árbol, stemmed
1 cup (60 g) sun-dried tomatoes
Shake out as many of the guajillo seeds as possible (but don’t lose your mind over it). Put the guajillo and árbol chiles and sun-dried tomatoes in the slow cooker and add 8 cups (2 L) water. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
Scoop the chiles and liquid (leave any sunken seeds behind) into a blender, working in batches if your blender is small, and let cool for a few minutes. Blend until very smooth. Set a fine-mesh sieve over a deep pot and pour in the chile puree, pushing the puree and liquid through with a spatula; discard the bits of skin and seeds in the sieve. Transfer the puree to freezer-safe containers in about 1½- or 3-cup (360- or 720-ml) portions and keep in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Yield varies from about 4½ to 7 cups (765 g to 1.2 kg)
I’ve cooked beans in many different ways over the years (stovetop, pressure cooking, with and without salt, presoaked and unsoaked, and so on), and this is by far the best method. It’s a completely hassle-free process that results in tender, creamy-textured, perfectly salted beans that can be used for any purpose: Drain them and use them in soups or salads; freeze them and break off chunks to thaw and use as needed; spoon off excess cooking liquid, hit the soupy beans with an immersion blender for a few seconds or smash some with a spoon, and serve them as is; sauté onion and garlic in schmaltz or oil, add beans and seasoning, and mash them around in the skillet to make refried beans.
You’ll notice I’ve left blank spaces for cooking times on this page. That’s because different beans, even of the same type, cook at surprisingly different rates. Older beans will take longer than fresher beans—and very old, stale beans may not even soften at all, which is why you should try to buy your beans from sources with lots of turnover. Beans from different producers and growers all cook up a bit differently. When you’ve found ones you like, note the cooking times and set your slow cooker accordingly the next time you use them. Or, of course, just check on them after about 6 hours and every hour or so afterward until they’ve reached the consistency you want.
If you prefer, soak the beans overnight in cold water to cover them by at least 2 inches (5 cm) and drain them before adding fresh water and cooking as below—but it’s totally up to you. I’ve found that it doesn’t make a huge difference in cooking times; in fact, side-by-side tests I did of soaked and unsoaked black beans resulted in no discernible difference at all in the cooking time or finished product. Soaking first sometimes (not always) results in beans that hold their shape a little more.
1 pound (455 g) dried beans (except kidney beans) or hominy
1 teaspoon dried epazote (optional, see Note, this page)
Aromatics (all optional): ½ onion (diced or kept in one piece), 2 cloves garlic (chopped or kept whole), dried red chiles or a pinch of crushed red pepper, 1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons salt
Rinse the beans or hominy in a sieve under running water. Dump them into the cooker and add 6 cups (1.4 L) or, for chickpeas or hominy, 8 cups (2 L) cold water, and the epazote and aromatics, if using. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 12 hours for beans, or 4 to 5 hours for white or yellow hominy until the beans are as tender as you want them; hominy should be tender and just a little chewy.
Uncover, gently stir in the salt, and let cool in the liquid. Drain in a colander, rinse briefly, if you’d like (I prefer not to rinse hominy, because the liquid that remains after draining is nice and thick and flavorful), and pick out the chiles and bay leaf, if you used them. Spoon into containers or freezer bags and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Kidney beans contain a toxin that can cause an upset stomach, so they have to be boiled for at least 10 minutes to kill it off. Hotter-running slow cookers will have them boiling by the end of the cooking time and that’ll do the trick, but to be sure you should boil them first: Put the rinsed beans in a large saucepan, add cold water to cover them by at least 2 inches (5 cm), and bring to a boil on the stovetop over high heat. Boil for 10 minutes, then drain, put them in the slow cooker, and proceed with the recipe on this page.
A very refined and flavorful starter-weight (thinnish) soup can be made after your beans and aromatics have cooked. Drain the beans over a large saucepan to save the cooking liquid, then add just a couple of big spoonfuls of the cooked beans to the liquid, reheat, puree with an immersion blender, adjust the thickness by blending in a little water or more beans, if needed, and add a splash of sweet Spanish sherry and a pinch each of ground cumin and cayenne.
Makes about 7 cups (1.4 kg)
2 cups (340 g) long-grain brown rice or a blend of brown rice, wild rice, wheat berries, and rye berries
½ teaspoon salt
Rinse the rice in a sieve under running water, then dump into the slow cooker. Add the salt and 5 cups (1.2 L) water. Cover and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours, until tender, checking it occasionally to make sure it doesn’t overcook. Drain in a sieve and rinse under running water to cool. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Yield varies from about 5 to 6 cups (760 g to 1 kg)
1 pound (455 g) hearty whole grains: hard wheat berries, rye berries, spelt, or pot barley
1½ teaspoons salt (optional)
Rinse the grains in a sieve under running water, then dump into the slow cooker. Add 6 cups (1.4 L) water. Cover and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours, until tender, checking them occasionally to make sure they don’t overcook. Stir in the salt, if using, in the last 30 minutes or so. Drain in a sieve. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
OVERCOOKED GRAINS?
I don’t know why I so often forget about the whole grains in the slow cooker, or put them in one of my cookers that lacks an automatic keep-warm switch. Maybe because I am secretly hoping for a congee-style savory porridge or an oatmeal-like sweet hot breakfast. Make a spicy porridge bowl: In a saucepan, add about 1 cup (240 ml) stock or water to every 2 cups (375 g) overcooked grains. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until heated through and creamy, about 5 minutes. Scoop into bowls and drizzle with soy sauce or tamari to taste. Top with garlic chips (thinly sliced garlic cooked in a small sauté pan in olive oil until golden and drained on a paper towel), chile paste (sambal oelek) or sriracha, chopped fresh cilantro, and, if you’d like, chopped or shredded cooked meat (the roast pork on this page, for example). Or use them as a hearty breakfast porridge: Reheat the grains with some milk (or buttermilk), sweeten with maple syrup, and top with fresh fruit, toasted coconut, sliced almonds, and sesame seeds.
Makes about 1 cup (240 ml)
Schmaltz is traditionally made by slowly cooking chicken fat and skin bits with diced onion (the crisped-up solids are gribenes, and are served separately). I don’t really have time to snip up the skin and cook it carefully on the stovetop, but I do love using chicken fat for cooking, so this is my compromise. Incidentally, I’ve tried adding diced onion to the cooker along with the chicken trimmings, and I wouldn’t recommend it: The onion burns too easily.
Several of my slow cooker recipes here call for chicken pieces still on the bone but without the skin (which turns rubbery and unappealing in the slow cooker), or for well-trimmed boneless, skinless thighs; save up the skin and fat trimmings in a bag in the freezer, and when you have a pound or two collected, dump them in the cooker for the day.
1 pound (455 g) chicken skin and fat
Put the skin and fat in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low, stirring every couple of hours, for 6 to 8 hours, until the skin is golden and crisp. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a heatproof container and let cool, then cover and keep in the refrigerator for up to several weeks or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Makes about 2 cups (480 ml), a smidge more if using full-fat buttermilk, a little less if using low-fat
I became obsessed with quark, a soft fresh cheese that’s used like thick yogurt or cream cheese, while testing a few of the recipes in Luisa Weiss’s Classic German Baking. She makes it in a 150°F (66°C) oven, and her method is foolproof, but I’ve been using slow cookers on the lowest warm or keep-warm setting with great success too. Slow cookers’ warm functions vary greatly, and ideally you’ll want to make this in a cooker with a very low warm temperature: If the buttermilk is heated in a relatively hot cooker, it will solidify quickly (in about 2 hours), but the resulting quark is firmer and sometimes less smooth. A lower warm setting will take longer, up to 8 hours, but will result in a somewhat creamier quark. The first time you make this, check it at 2 hours and then every hour afterward until it’s done, and make a note of your time below for future reference.
Quark is incredibly versatile and easy and cheap to make, and could very well become a staple in your refrigerator. Save the drained whey, refrigerate it separately from the quark, and use it in smoothies or bread doughs or just drink it plain—it’s tart and refreshing.
½ gallon (2 L) cultured buttermilk, full-fat or low-fat
Pour the buttermilk into the slow cooker. Cover and turn the cooker to the warm or keep-warm setting (or the yogurt setting at “normal” on an Instant Pot). The buttermilk will separate into a creamy top layer about the thickness of Greek yogurt (but fluffier in texture) and a watery bottom layer and will be firm and just warm to the touch in the center. This will take 2 to 8 hours, depending on your cooker.
Put a sieve or colander over a bowl and line it with four layers of rinsed and squeezed cheesecloth and use a slotted spoon or skimmer to gently spoon the creamy top layer in, leaving the watery whey behind. Let drain at room temperature for 2 to 4 hours, then transfer to a sealable container and refrigerate for up to 1 week.
OVERCOOKED QUARK?
It’s still perfectly usable in all the recipes that include it here, but if you want to enjoy it plain you might wish to blend it in a blender or food processor to smooth it out a bit and stir in a little plain buttermilk or cream or half-and-half. Or drain it until very thick and add fine salt to taste—you’ll have something similar to goat cheese.
Makes about 5 cups (1.2 L)
If you want to increase the batch size, use a larger cooker—don’t fill the cooker more than halfway with butter, as it sometimes plops and bubbles as it cooks.
3 pounds (1.4 kg) unsalted butter
Cut the butter into chunks and put them in a 3½-quart (3.3-L) or larger slow cooker. Put the lid on slightly askew or propped above the rim of the insert with chop-sticks and cook on high for 4 to 5 hours; there will be a layer of crunchy-looking foam on the top that will be golden at the edges, and the layer of solids in the bottom of the pot will have turned from white to caramel colored. Try not to jostle the cooker as the butter cooks, as that can cause it to sputter and plop.
Let the butter cool a bit, then use a large spoon to skim off the foam (discard it or save it for spreading on bread and sandwiches). Without disturbing the solids at the bottom, ladle the clear, golden ghee into clean, dry containers—glass canning jars are ideal. Discard the solids. Let the ghee cool completely, then put the lids on and store in a cool spot or in the refrigerator for up to several months.
