Cook me slowly, very slowly

It first appeared as the trademark electric Crock-Pot exactly 40 years ago and then re-appeared as the ‘slow cooker’, and is arguably the best home kitchen contraption since the arrival of the food processor.

The cooking method is so flexible; any food fool can use it and, as it loves tough cheap cuts of meat, is kind to your shopping budget. Nor does the slow cooker demand a lot of attention during the cooking process. 

Every cuisine around the globe has its stew-like, ragout-like, casserole-like, liquid recipes made up of inexpensive, seasoned meats and vegetables that are rendered soft and delicious by slow, low-heat cooking. The only difference between a stew and a casserole is that one is cooked in a pot on top of the stove and the other in a covered dish inside the oven. 

The plug-in slow cooker is a bench-top cooking pot that usually features two heats – low (around 77 degrees Celsius) and high (88-93 degrees). As Allyson Gofton warns in her excellent slow cooker recipe book Slow, different brands of pots cook differently because these cookers work on ‘wattage’ not temperature, so have varying levels of power. Allyson used numerous slow cooker brands while testing recipes for her book and found some of them got so hot on ‘high’ that they simmered into a boil - protein gets tough when boiled. 

“I found that those slow cookers with a wattage range of 230-270 volts were best,” she says. “On high they did not boil, but bubbles plopped evenly around the edge, while on low the sauces murmured along slowly, making all-day cooking possible without the worry of overcooking.”

The lid should also stay on the pot unmolested during the cooking process which means you must layer your ingredients carefully at the beginning and trust your flavourings and seasoning. As there is no evaporation, less liquid is used in the slow cooker than, say, with casseroles; as a rule 250ml for every kilo of meat.

Basic recipe prep
 
Two schools on preparing meats for the cooker – to brown or not to brown. Browning meat before braising creates a caramelised crust that adds to the flavour and, if meat is first dusted with flour, adds a bit of body to the recipe. 

Season and flour the meat, then cook it in oil or butter turning it to brown evenly on all sides. To deglaze the pan, turn the heat to high and pour in a small amount of your wine or stock. Scrape the bits of caramelised meat that have stuck to the pan and add them to the slow cooker.

It’s a bit more effort, but you will also get a greater depth of flavour from some meats such as chicken if it is left to marinate overnight in the fridge in a complementary marinade.
The other trick is to use a flavoursome stock – compatible with the meat of course. Wines, beers and even liquors also add flavour depth. Because there is no reduction in the slow cooker, you only need 250ml of liquid for every kilogram of meat.

The slow cooker will break down most tough meats if left long enough on low heat and favourites are casserole cuts such as shanks, chuck beef, stewing steaks, pork shoulder, chicken thighs and short ribs (bone or no bone). Trim off the fat as it won’t render down or ‘cook off’ in the airtight cooker, as it does in an oven, and can make the finished result very greasy – especially lamb and mutton. 

Root vegetables such as onion, carrot, parsnip, turnip and spud are standards issue, along with aromatics such as garlic, celery, a bay leaf, tomato paste, mushrooms, herbs and seasoning. Pork obviously goes with fennel seeds and cider, while thyme or rosemary are naturals with lamb, as are dried fruits for a Middle Eastern touch. An observation – we found a good result when the vegetables and meats were left chunky.

A good recipe book such as Slow by Gofton is great for ideas and flavourings.

Broth or stew

Stews and casseroles in Western cooking tend to be thicker than their Asian recipe counterparts, which are more like a broth. For previous generations of Kiwi cooks, ‘thickening’ a stew or casserole at the last moment with an arrowroot or even just plain flour was never questioned. This was not only a matter of cultural taste but practical when traditionally served on a flat dinner plate. In their natural state, slow cooker recipes are more like those Asian broths with distinctive ‘chunky’ vegetables and meats served in a shallow bowl – such as a pasta bowl. Once you get used to serving your slow-cooked wet recipes like this, you won’t go back to the artificial thickening. Although one of our readers told us that to get their kids to eat un-thickened stews she has to take the cooked meat out of the slow cooker and whiz-puree the vegetables into a soup and then put back the meat.
If you need to thicken your broth, do it with a little ‘beurre manié’, which is equal amounts of flour and butter blended with a fork.

Generic ingredients for slow cooker recipes 
compatible with most meats (1 kilo)

1 can of peeled tomatoes
4 large mushrooms       
2 celery sticks
1 large onion
2 carrots
1 parsnip
1 turnip
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
Salt & pepper
250ml wine – white or red, or stock (vegetable or chicken) for every kilo of meat

Winter 2010

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