The Gourmet Slow Cooker Volume II

To M., as always, with love and gratitude

Thanks to all my friends and neighbors who willingly and enthusiastically ate my food and gave me their critical feedback. Neighbors Helen Mildner, Ernie and Bob Tassoni, Marie Pike, and Rosella Heffner were ever at-the-ready with knife and fork. Gratitude also to the staff at the Chopra Center in Carlsbad (D. G., Monica, Anastacia, Leili, Caeli, Amanda, Ben, Mel, Tim, Travis, Hari, Asha, Max, Jennifer, Alisha, Lorri, Samara, Neil, and Brooke), for their enthusiastic appetites and candid, useful comments.

And, of course, Laddie, my Bouvier, faithfully performed his duties as curator of trash. He has been assisted, though decidedly more selectively, by Crystal, my eighteen-year-old Himalayan kitty.

To my friend, talented cook, and author Beth Hensperger, who is always ready to share advice, gossip, recipes, and immoral support. Special thanks to Brooke Myers for recipe testing and feedback.

To the crew at Ten Speed Press for total backup, as always. To Phil Wood, my constant supporter; Lorena Jones, who always has good ideas and ready comments; Lily Binns, my editor, for her patient guidance and work and her kindness, courtesy, and flexibility in accommodating my schedule; Mark Anderson, Dennis Hayes, and the sales crew for selling my books; Kristin Casemore in publicity; and never let me forget Kristine Standley, who cuts the checks and makes my day!

Thanks to the following company representatives who donated both equipment and advice to the effort: Melissa Palmer at All-Clad, Mary Rodgers at Cuisinart, and Heather Scherman at Porter Novelli for Braun.

And to Margaret Zink, for being my mom and friend.

The recipes in this book, while far from exhaustive, have been chosen to celebrate some of the culinary, agricultural, and cultural influences I have most enjoyed as I’ve lived and traveled all over this country. They are all inspired by regional heritages created by generations of immigrants and native peoples. The foods of the southwestern United States, for example, are richly layered blends of flavors that come from both European and Native American traditions, culminating in slow-cooked dishes like chili, posole, and a variety of stews. Through much experimentation, I’ve learned that barbecue dishes from the South and Midwest work surprisingly well in a slow cooker, as do New England chowders and breads. The slow cooker is perfect for fruit preserves and desserts—the longer and slower they cook, the sweeter they become—and even high-end chocolate has its place over this kind of gentle heat. The slow cooker is clearly a bottomless pot when it comes to adapting favorite recipes to the lifestyle of the busy but discerning home cook.

We now live in a land of abundance such as has been experienced by few people in history, with access to a wide variety of organic produce, sustainably raised meat, and specialty products unlike anything we’ve experienced before. Good ingredients make a difference in both nutrition and flavor, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t use them in the slow cooker. Not all of the recipes found in this book are traditional, but they take inspiration, as did the recipes of our forefathers, from the wealth of good ingredients and the richness of local traditions found in all corners of our country. I hope that some among them will become traditions in your home.

For my first book on slow cooking,
The Gourmet Slow Cooker,
I tested all the recipes in machines I could then afford: the $19.99 specials from Home Depot and Target. I figured one slow cooker was as good as the next.

I had two or three different brands in two or three different sizes. I’d test one recipe in the Hamilton Beach, another in the General Electric, and a third in the Rival. It never occurred to me to test one recipe in three different brands of slow cooker.

Not, that is, until a reader wrote in saying that she followed my instructions for cooking beef burgundy to the letter, but that the liquid was completely gone by the specified end time. My editor asked me to retest the recipe to see if any change needed to be made in the amount of liquid called for. I tested it again and found that the suggested cooking time and the amount of liquid worked perfectly. I wondered what had gone wrong, and then it began to dawn on me that the fault might lie with the slow cooker.

Different slow cookers cook at different temperatures. One manufacturer’s low temperature may not be the same as another’s. In general, the low setting should fall between 180°F and 200°F, and a high setting generally cooks around a hundred degrees higher. Cooking temperatures will vary depending on the size of the cooker, the altitude of the kitchen, the density and temperature of the food before it is placed in the crock, and how full the crock is filled. Knowing your slow cooker’s range in temperature is useful when cooking large pieces of meat, such as a pork loin (which should hit 165°F) or turkey breast (175°F), and other meats which must be cooked to a specific temperature in order to ensure safety. If you want to assess your cooking temperatures, use a kitchen thermometer and insert it into the middle of the contents of the crock, without letting it touch the bottom, or in the case of meat, the bone, two or three hours into the cooking time. With meat, the thermometer should be inserted into the center.

So the one caveat I dish out with this book is “get to know your own slow cooker” and carefully observe how it cooks. Cooking times may vary according to manufacturer, model, and even, I am told, the amount of power coming into your house at any given time or in any given area.

You may also find that the less expensive cookers have hot spots around the edges, while every effort has been made to stabilize the heat in the more expensive models. This may not matter much with the majority of recipes, but it is still a good idea to give the contents of your cooker a stir now and again. When baking cakes in the cooker, you may wish to carefully lift out the insert with potholders, turn it around, and then reinsert it for more even baking. You can certainly prepare your meals with an inexpensive slow cooker; I have cooked many good ones in mine. Just be aware of its possible shortcomings and idiosyncrasies. Watch it closely at first until you have a good sense of its timing.

You may also wish to consider the different sizes and shapes available in slow cookers. The tiniest crock I have found, one and a half quarts, is perfect for cooking for one, and for making appetizers and dips. The four-to five-quart pots are good for families of four, and the seven-quart models are necessary for entertaining. Round pots are good for soups, grains, and bean dishes, but in general, the oval shape is more practical, as it accommodates large pieces of meat, and gives more surface area and visibility.

A few other things to take into consideration when buying a slow cooker: Is the instruction book comprehensive and informative? Does the enclosed recipe book have good ideas and clear instructions? Is there a customer service number listed? If so, be sure to save it.

The following is a list of some of the more reliable slow cooker manufacturers:

All-Clad

Breville

CorningWare

Cuisinart

EuroPro

Farberware

General Electric

Hamilton Beach

Kuhn Rikon

Proctor-Silex

Rival

Russell Hobbs

West Bend

Fill the slow cooker no more than two-thirds full.
The food just doesn’t cook properly if the container is filled to the top.

The optimum temperature for obtaining tender meat is around 180°F,
which is the low setting on most slow cookers. As temperatures rise, protein fibers begin to constrict and toughen, so in general you don’t want to cook meats on the high setting.

Having said that, I hasten to add that
you should never try to cook on the warm setting,
which falls below 140°F. The temperature is just too low for food safety. Once it is cooked, food can generally be held safely on the warm setting for up to 4 hours.

To ensure even and thorough cooking, always be sure that meat and other foods are completely defrosted before consigning them to a slow cooker. Adding frozen foods to the cooker will lengthen your cooking time considerably.

To thicken foods in the slow cooker, you can use one of these three methods:

• Stir 1 or 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into the cooking liquid before you add it to the pot.
  
• Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of Gold Medal’s Wondra quick-mixing flour to the sauce and stir in thoroughly. Wondra is designed to easily incorporate into liquids without clumping.
  
• Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of rice to anything you plan to purée before serving.
  

Browning meats and veggies before adding them to your dish will always add extra dimensions of flavor.
Although it’s not a necessary step in making a good stew, browning begins caramelization, breaks down cell walls, releases flavors, and extracts fat-soluble components from the ingredients.

To keep them fresh and aromatic,
add tender vegetables and herbs to your dish during the last twenty to thirty minutes of cooking time.

Contrary to what many slow cooker manuals will tell you, I suggest you
lift the lid,
smelling, tasting, and poking the food around. What kind of cook wouldn’t? It may throw your cooking time off by up to 15 minutes or so, but the slow cooker is designed for flexibility and forgiveness.

To save time, do the prep work the night before, store the various ingredients in separate containers in the refrigerator, then arrange them in the slow cooker before you leave the house in the morning.

Always refrigerate leftovers within an hour or two after cooking to prevent the growth of dangerous bacteria.

Your slow cooker uses about the same amount of electricity as a 75-watt light bulb, much less than either a conventional gas or electric oven. And it won’t heat up your kitchen in warm weather. Relaxing over a slow cooker is better than slaving over a hot stove any day.

There are only a few pieces of kitchen equipment that I find indispensable when I am using the slow cooker.

• I used to suggest puréeing slow-cooked soups in batches in a conventional blender. What a mess. Then I discovered the handheld blender. You plug it in, insert the blender end into the slow cooker, being careful not to touch the insides of the interior, and gently move it around until everything has been neatly puréed. I would never go without one now.
  
• Silicon spatulas are essential for stirring the contents of a slow cooker without scratching the interior.
  
• A plastic whisk is also a good investment, again to avoid scratching the interior of the slow cooker.
  
• A simple probe thermometer is good for testing the temperature of meat and for getting to know your slow cooker’s overall temperature range.
  
• Good spoon rests are a must. Get one and park it right next to the cooker.
  
• A good food processor can be helpful for chopping and other prep work.
  
• Some nice, cushy potholders will be helpful for lifting the hot inserts out of the casings.
  
• And, of course, a glass of wine or cold microbrew for the cook while he or she works.