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No one hates a crock pot more than I do. The best use for a crock pot was posted here last month by someone who was making cat food for the finicky cat. A crock pot will turn what could have been a beautiful roast chicken (or almost any dish) into cat food while you are at work or whatever. But, I must confess, I do have a crock pot and I do use it pretty regularly because there is nothing like the crock pot to make dried pea and bean soups in general and yellow split pea in particular. And, you can take a couple of packages of Bob Evans mashed potatoes and dump them in the crockpot with a half a stick of butter while you are making the turkey and gravy and three hours later they are piping hot and delicious without all the mess of actually making mashed potatoes. Other than that, its a good tool for making cat food for the finicky cat.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,013,815 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wilson1010
No one hates a crock pot more than I do. The best use for a crock pot was posted here last month by someone who was making cat food for the finicky cat. A crock pot will turn what could have been a beautiful roast chicken (or almost any dish) into cat food while you are at work or whatever. But, I must confess, I do have a crock pot and I do use it pretty regularly because there is nothing like the crock pot to make dried pea and bean soups in general and yellow split pea in particular. And, you can take a couple of packages of Bob Evans mashed potatoes and dump them in the crockpot with a half a stick of butter while you are making the turkey and gravy and three hours later they are piping hot and delicious without all the mess of actually making mashed potatoes. Other than that, its a good tool for making cat food for the finicky cat.
Do not -- and I mean DO NOT! -- tell this story to my finicky dog! Ever! I mean it!
I love my crockpots (I have a small, medium and large!) - stews will only taste the same if they have the same ingredients. I make everything from pot roasts, coq au vin, to steak & ale, lambs shanks in red wine, redcurrant and rosemary, Spanish chicken and chorizo, chilli, bolognaise, all manner of soups, curries (both Indian and Oriental style), any custard based desserts that suit bain-marie style cooking e.g. creme brulee, creme caramel, "steamed" puddings - savoury or sweet like steak & kidney pudding (i.e. suet pastry) and golden syrup sponge pudding etc. You can make chutneys, even cakes in them - seriously! No doubt at all that of course you can do these things conventionally but I like the fact I can get it started then forget about it, go shopping, do the housework, go to work etc and there is no danger of boiling over or boiling dry. I use the large crock to make batches of say italian style minced meat so that I can freeze into smaller portions and can then make bolognaise, lasagne, canneloni, pasta bake, chilli etc with just a minimum of further preparation at the drop of a hat. I also use the crock to make large amounts of things like curry or chilli so that when doing casual entertaining I can keep the food warm for a couple of hours safely for buffets and people can keep going back to help themselves, or the family coming home at different times doesn't find that dinner has congealed or has dried out sitting at less than safe temperatures (for bacteria growth) in a warm oven....
My advice would be to go to a library and take out some good slow cooker books and have a read through at all the possibilities and then make a decision. Crocks are not just for stews at all. I guess it is a bit like microwaves, some people use them to do lots of things - me, I use mine to defrost and reheat only!
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,013,815 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tigerlily64
I love my crockpots (I have a small, medium and large!) - stews will only taste the same if they have the same ingredients. I make everything from pot roasts, coq au vin, to steak & ale, lambs shanks in red wine, redcurrant and rosemary, Spanish chicken and chorizo, chilli, bolognaise, all manner of soups, curries (both Indian and Oriental style), any custard based desserts that suit bain-marie style cooking e.g. creme brulee, creme caramel, "steamed" puddings - savoury or sweet like steak & kidney pudding (i.e. suet pastry) and golden syrup sponge pudding etc. You can make chutneys, even cakes in them - seriously! No doubt at all that of course you can do these things conventionally but I like the fact I can get it started then forget about it, go shopping, do the housework, go to work etc and there is no danger of boiling over or boiling dry. I use the large crock to make batches of say italian style minced meat so that I can freeze into smaller portions and can then make bolognaise, lasagne, canneloni, pasta bake, chilli etc with just a minimum of further preparation at the drop of a hat. I also use the crock to make large amounts of things like curry or chilli so that when doing casual entertaining I can keep the food warm for a couple of hours safely for buffets and people can keep going back to help themselves, or the family coming home at different times doesn't find that dinner has congealed or has dried out sitting at less than safe temperatures (for bacteria growth) in a warm oven....
My advice would be to go to a library and take out some good slow cooker books and have a read through at all the possibilities and then make a decision. Crocks are not just for stews at all. I guess it is a bit like microwaves, some people use them to do lots of things - me, I use mine to defrost and reheat only!
Yeah, I only use my microwave to reheat and defrost, too. I just didn't want to get a contraption that would make everything into a stew.
Good idea about doing some reading, though. Thanks!
Do not -- and I mean DO NOT! -- tell this story to my finicky dog! Ever! I mean it!
LOL! We are joking about it, but as our pets get older they do have a lot of trouble negotiating a tough piece of meat and what better way to get them the nutrition they need along with the real meat they desire.
I got a lot of hot breath last time I took a shot at the crock pot from its devotees and all I can say is each to his own. To me, a crock pot turns everything into a runny stew. And, I like my stew with the meat cooked above ground for at least a little while and nothing really cooks in a crock pot unless it is surrounded by liquid. And, as you correctly point out, once you have browned the meat in a pan on the range, and deglazed the pan, what do you need a crock pot for anyway? Most ovens today have time cooking settings so if you are wanting convenience, do the browning and deglazing in an oven safe pot and slide the whole thing in the oven and set it and forget it.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,013,815 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wilson1010
LOL! We are joking about it, but as our pets get older they do have a lot of trouble negotiating a tough piece of meat and what better way to get them the nutrition they need along with the real meat they desire.
I got a lot of hot breath last time I took a shot at the crock pot from its devotees and all I can say is each to his own. To me, a crock pot turns everything into a runny stew. And, I like my stew with the meat cooked above ground for at least a little while and nothing really cooks in a crock pot unless it is surrounded by liquid. And, as you correctly point out, once you have browned the meat in a pan on the range, and deglazed the pan, what do you need a crock pot for anyway? Most ovens today have time cooking settings so if you are wanting convenience, do the browning and deglazing in an oven safe pot and slide the whole thing in the oven and set it and forget it.
The part that I bolded? That just about sealed the deal for "not gonna buy one." (Well, not until my dog needs me to get one, that is.)
The rice cooker was invented for the household in which rice is eaten at least twice every day, and it is feasible to make enough to last through several meals, even into the next day. If you are going to serve rice only once in any 48 hour period, there is no advantage to using a rice cooker, as opposed to a plain old saucepan with a lid, which will take 15 minutes. I've never tried a crock pot, but someone above said 2 hours, and I believe it. and I would not expect a nice texture.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,013,815 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88
The rice cooker was invented for the household in which rice is eaten at least twice every day, and it is feasible to make enough to last through several meals, even into the next day. If you are going to serve rice only once in any 48 hour period, there is no advantage to using a rice cooker, as opposed to a plain old saucepan with a lid, which will take 15 minutes. I've never tried a crock pot, but someone above said 2 hours, and I believe it. and I would not expect a nice texture.
Oh, well, we LOVE our rice cooker. We use it a few times per week and the rice always comes out perfect, and stays warm in case the rest of the meal isn't quite ready. We find it to be much better than the stoptop method.
As for the crockpot: Yeah, two hours is way too long and I think that you're right about the texture being off, too.
Soooooo, every couple of months I think about getting a crockpot... and then I don't... or I forget.
2. What about oatmeal? My husband likes steel-cut oatmeal. Sometimes he makes it in the rice cooker. Sometimes he makes it on the stove top. Would he be able to make it in the crockpot? Would it take an obscene amount of time, or would it be the same time as it takes in a rice cooker?
Thanks for your help, advice, and knowledge. (I might soon be poking you for good crockpot recipes.)
About crockpots, I think that they are GREAT for certain things.
I use the crockpot for weekend oatmeal. I take the steel-cut oats, dried fruits like cranberries and raisins, water, cream and milk around 1:00am and set it at LOW temperature. The oats are ready for breakfast at 8:00 am.
I think that crockpots are ideal for beans and ham, especially if the beans are old and will take forever to get soft.
A crockpot is also good for making soups with really tough cuts like beef shanks.
For anything else, forget about it.
Most roasts should be cooked with dry heat, NOT wet heat. And someone who cooks beef tenderloin in a slow cooker (as was recommended on another thread) should be prosecuted.
And crockpots, set on LOW, is great to keep things warm for office lunches.
Dawn, I make perfect rice in a 3qt saucepan on the stove. That's one less machine I have to put up with.
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