The White Hat Guide to using a Crock Pot or Slow Cooker

What is a Crock Pot or Slow Cooker?

An electric crock pot or slow cooker usually consists of a removable porcelain bowl which sits inside an outer container that has electric heating elements and some control buttons and switches. It is designed to cook food safely for long periods at close to boiling point or below. They are usually considered safe to operate unsupervised for a long period. As a result they are popular with people who wish to put on a meal before leaving for work then come home to a delicious slow cooked treat many hours later. They can also be a boon for busy parents who may have to supervise children, run errands, deliver the kids to school and just check on what's cooking from time to time. Crock pots currently (June 2008) sell for about 30 to 40 dollars in Australia at bulk discount stores and about double that price in major outlets.

What meals work well in a slow cooker?

A slow cooker is ideal for cheap tough cuts of meat. You can trim off the excess fat, but don't get too fussed about removing bones (they give flavour), gristle and tendon (they will often dissolve) or any visual imperfections (they will usually disappear). After long slow cooking, cheaper cuts of meat often have much more flavour than their up-market cousins. Meats such as lamb shanks, lamb necks, gravy beef and a whole range of others can create a tasty hotpot at a fraction the price of premium cuts. If the meat contains a lot of fat you may need to cook once, allow to cool then the next day remove the fat from the surface and cook again.

Many stews and dishes like chilli con carne work well in a slow cooker.

Some more delicate meats such as rabbit can also work well in the slow cooker. In their case it isn't so much the length of the cooking but the controlled lower temperature that can bring out their best.

Certain soups work well in a slow cooker and corned meats such as corned beef or lamb will flake apart with a different texture than when cooked in the more traditional slow boiling in a pot on the stove.

Your two basic slow cooker recipes

There are two basic recipes when using a slow cooker:

1. The White Hat Weekday Slow Cooker Recipe

Put on some coffee and look in the fridge for those cheap cuts of meat you bought several days ago. If there is nothing there, try the freezer - a slow cooker can both defrost then cook. Look in the crisper and pantry for vegetables. Vegetables that are half dead can but chopped roughly and go into the crock pot. Vegetables that are three-quarters dead can be set aside to make a vegetable stock in the crock pot tomorrow. Vegetables that are dead can go to the chooks or the worm farm or the compost. Turn the crock pot on low.

Sit down and have your coffee. Once your eyes have focussed it's time to think what sort of meal Vera (or Pedro) is going to cook. (We recommend you give your stockpot a name). Once you have a rough idea of what style of dish you want - put on your shoes it is time to add some liquids. There's the half glass of wine on the coffee table from last night when you fell asleep watching that riveting educational documentary. If you are making a dark stew or chilli con carne then the last quarter cup of your espresso coffee will add some body (but don't try this with instant coffee or milk coffee). Maybe some light stock (no need for heavy stock - the slow cooking will produce enough concentrated flavours) or even water. Most Mediterranean or Middle Eastern dishes will welcome a can of tomatoes. Once you have put on your hat it is time to think of basic flavourings. Smoked paprika? Curry paste? Bay leaves? Lemon Myrtle? Enough to get the basic theme going. If you are using chilli or garlic they don't need to be chopped finely - slow cooking will spread and mellow their flavours. Time to do up your top button and head off to work.

During the day when your colleagues are talking about what they are doing that night, you can casually drop "Oh, Pedro is cooking Navarin de Mouton for me tonight."

Home from work. When you open the door you will know from the aroma how successful you have been. The first thing to do is to give it a stir and make sure everything is coated with the liquid then have a taste. Your first reaction will be "that definitely needs some wine". Red or white - it doesn't matter - it always needs some wine - and now that the bottle is open it would only be sensible to have some yourself. Undo your top button, put a saucepan of water on the stove and settle down on the couch to ponder what flavours and seasonings are lacking. When you have finished your wine, take off your hat and go and chop some potatoes for the pot - slow cooked meals always go well with mashed spuds - and maybe dice a few of your crisper vegetables and throw them in the slow cooker. They will help add a bit of freshness and texture. Adjust the seasoning - salt, pepper, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce etc - whatever you think is needed. Pour yourself another glass of wine, sit down on the couch and take off your shoes. now you're ready for the evening - a partner coming home from a lousy day at work; kids rushing through for a fuel stop; unexpected guests; a night at home watching third rate television - you've got them all covered.

Once the problems of the day have started to go a little fuzzy around the edges and assumed their proper and minor place in the great scheme of things, it is time to attend to the potatoes. You don't have to be scientific about this - if you have taken them off too early and they resist the onslaughts of mashing implements only to lie in the bowl defiantly staring up at you, bruised but not mashed, then they are called "smashed potatoes" - very fashionable at the moment. On the other hand if they are already disintegrating, half the work has been done for you. In either case add some milk and butter. Because I go out of my way to have a healthy diet I usually add low cream milk and unsalted butter. Chop up some fresh herbs - parsley, chives, spring onions - whatever you have in the crisper. Add some to your potatoes and mix through and reserve the rest for your slow cooked dish. Taste your potatoes and adjust the seasoning - I usually find mine need some cream and a fair amount of salt.

There is no delicate way to serve this stuff. A splodge of mashed spud on one side of the plate and a splodge of your slow cooked creation on the other. Sprinkle with your chopped herbs and maybe grate some lemon zest over the top and you have a meal costing a few dollars that is fit for royalty. All bones should have the last vestige of meat gnawed off them and any marrow should be sucked from the remaining bones so maybe it is more your Henry VIII sort of royalty than your QE II. 

 

2. The White Hat Weekend Slow Cooker Recipe

Having got to the market around dawn you are back with a trolley load of fresh goodies.

 

Some tips when using a slow cooker

• At White Hat we find that slow cooking gives works best if you start with a minimal amount of liquid ingredients and continue to top up as needed. For some reason this seems to give a more intense flavour than starting with the full amount of liquid and letting it reduce down. However, if you have bought a crock pot so that you can put on a meal in the morning, go to work, then come to ready cooked meal you will need to go with the full-liquid option.

Some White Hat Recipes for the Slow Cooker

• Lamb shanks in the slow cooker
• Rabbit in the slow cooker

 

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