• Remember, your slow cooker works for you.
It’s capable of a lot more than you might have imagined.
So don’t be shy about what you ask it to do—like make cakes and breads and breakfast while you sleep.
Or help you cook a meal for guests while you’re all away enjoying a movie or football game together.
Or relieve your pressure when you’re hosting the whole family for a holiday meal.
These are near-miracle appliances, especially if you understand a little bit about how they work. Here a few things I learned along the way.
Deep, Dark, and Delicious Barbecue Sandwiches, page 116.
• Let’s get rid of two myths right now—
Myth #1 “Slow cookers are a winter-time appliance.” That’s just ¼ of the truth.
Remember that they can do their quiet slow work without heating up your kitchen in the summertime. And they’re just as happy cooking for you while you’re at the pool with your kids or working in your lawn or garden.
Slow cookers will definitely work for you year-round.
These are near-miracle appliances.
Myth #2 “The main thing to make in them is beef stew.” That’s only 1/10 of the truth, maybe less.
Flip through this book and you’ll find recipes for all parts of a meal—all quick and easy to make, with ingredients you already have in your cupboards or which you can easily find in your nearby grocery store.
Green Beans in Spicy Sauce, page 234.
Which slow cooker is best for my household?
• Size? If you’re part of a 4-person household (2 adults and 2 kids under 12), you’ll probably be happy with a 4-quart size. You’ll be able to fit in a couple of chicken legs and thighs or a small to medium beef roast.
Me? I like a 5-quart cooker, although I cook mostly for two adults these days. But I like leftovers—and I like to be able to make enough food to feed our kids when they come home.
There are advantages, too, to a 6- or 7-quart cooker. I think of three—
1. You can cook a turkey breast, turkey thighs, a whole chicken, or a good-sized beef roast in one of these.
2. You can fit a loaf pan or a baking dish into a 6- or 7-quart, depending on the shape of your cooker. That allows you to make bread or cakes, or even smaller quantities of main dishes, in your big-boy cooker. (Take your favorite baking dish and loaf pan along when you shop for a cooker to make sure they’ll fit inside.)
3. You can feed a big group or produce freezer meals in addition to tonight’s dinner.
Disadvantages of a 6- or 7-quart cooker? They take up more storage room. They don’t fit as neatly into a dishwasher. If you usually cook only 2-4 quarts of food, these babies will tend to overcook quantities of less than 5 quarts. Better borrow your neighbor’s for those rare occasions when you’re cooking more.
What about a 1- to 3-quart size? They’re great for lots of appetizers, for serving hot drinks, for baking cakes straight in the crock, and for sending with your college kid to the dorm. But be warned—food in smaller quantities tends to cook more quickly than larger amounts. So keep watch.
Think about having several slow cookers, each a different size. Then you can make a bunch of dishes at once for a whole meal, and you can pick the size that fits your immediate need. Maybe you’re hosting a backyard barbecue or you’re off to a potluck. Or you want to serve a few appetizers during a football game, or you’ve invited your child’s soccer team home for hot sandwiches after a tournament.
Think about having several slow cookers, each a different size.
•Shape? Ovals accommodate most shapes and cuts of meat. They also have more floor space, so if you’re “baking” stuffed apples or saucing pork chops and don’t want to stack them, an oval shape helps with that.
•Programmable, probe, or manual? I really don’t like dry, overcooked meat. That’s why I’m a great believer in using quick-read meat thermometers. And that’s why I’m drawn to slow cookers with a probe which allows you to select the internal temperature that you want. When it’s reached, the slow cooker will automatically shift to Warm.
Programmable cookers allow you a good bit of control, too. You set the exact cooking time that you want and choose High or Low. The cooker switches to Warm when the cooking time is up.
•Other handy features? If you’re planning to carry a cooker full of food in the car, you’ll be happier if you have a lid that locks.
Easy Spinach Quiche, page 293.
A big point—
Learn to know your slow cooker. Plan a little get-acquainted time. Each slow cooker has its own personality—just like your oven (and your car).
Plus, many new slow cookers cook hotter and faster than earlier models. I think that with all of the concern for food safety, the slow cooker manufacturers have amped up their settings so that “High,” “Low,” and “Warm” are all higher temperatures than in the older models. That means they cook hotter—and therefore, faster—than the first slow cookers. The beauty of these little machines is that they’re supposed to cook low and slow. We count on that when we flip the switch in the morning before we leave the house for 10 hours or so.
So—because none of us knows what kind of temperament our slow cooker has until we try it out, nor how hot it cooks—don’t assume anything.
Save yourself a disappointment and make the first recipe in your new slow cooker on a day when you’re at home. Cook it for the shortest amount of time the recipe calls for. Then check the food to see if it’s done. Or if you start smelling food that seems to be finished, turn off the cooker and rescue your food.
Then write in your cookbook, next to the recipe you made, exactly how long it took to cook it. The next time you make it, you won’t need to try to remember.
And apply what you learned to the next recipes you make in your cooker. If another recipe says it needs to cook 7-9 hours, and you’ve discovered you own a fast and furious model, cook that recipe for 6-6½ hours and then check it. You can always cook a recipe longer; too bad you can’t reverse things if you’ve overdone it.
•Slow-cooked food doesn’t have to taste over-cooked. You don’t have to sacrifice the cooker’s convenience to take care of that. But there are a few tricks that allow you to have more control over the outcome.
What to do about a too-hot, too-fast slow cooker?
So what can you do when you’re gone for 9 hours, but want to make a recipe that cooks for only 6 hours?
1. If you’ve got a slow cooker that flips automatically to Warm after it’s cooked your dinner, let it do that. But know that the food may be somewhat overcooked since Warm settings for most cookers are 165°F.
2. My friend, who can’t bear overcooked food, often cooks Tuesday night’s meal on Monday evening. When she walks in the door after work on Monday, she flips on the cooker. She figures she has 6 to 7 hours until she goes to bed. If the food’s finished in a shorter amount of time, she’s there to flip it off before it overcooks.
She puts the cooked food in the fridge. Tuesday evening she heats the already-cooked food in the microwave.
And so on throughout the week.
3. Take your slow cooker to work with you, if your situation allows for this. Then you can turn it on and off when you need to. Some slow cookers have locking lids so you don’t need to worry as much about spills. You can get snuggly insulated carrier totes which keep them warm on the drive home.
Of course, be prepared for longing looks from your co-workers as the afternoon wears on.
4. When your kids are old enough to take the food from the fridge, to put it into the cooker, and to flip it on when they get home from school, ask them to do it.
Or if an adult works at home, tell him or her when to turn on the cooker.
Two kinds of recipes in this book
• Quick and Easy
Some days I have no space in my head to think, let alone make a grocery list or cook. I need a recipe that makes itself. We’ve marked those kinds of recipes throughout the book, “Quick and Easy.” And we made a “Quick and Easy Recipe Index” on page 374. Flip there for the list, drop your finger on any of those recipes, and you’ve got dinner. Well, almost.
Salmon-Stuffed Mushrooms, page 305.
•A Little More Challenging
Sometimes I’m looking for a little more challenge in the kitchen. I’m ready to do a bit of browning, some more involved prep, even adding ingredients to the slow cooker in stages. We’ve got those recipes here, too.
So find the recipes that match your mood—or the time you have available to prep.
I’m cheering you on! You absolutely can make great food at home with these recipes!
