Polite Paradise

Okay, I haven't been as good about using my crockpot as I should be. It's a nice one but it gets relatively little use. Now that the days are getting colder, it might be a good time to see about changing that.

First, because this is my biggest concern, do you worry about leaving it on all day or night? I mean, it is electrical, after all, and if something were to go wrong and I weren't around . . . However, I love the idea of putting something in during the morning and coming home to a wonderful smell and dinner to sit down to eat.

I also think I gravitate more to beef stew-type dishes than chicken (even though chicken is my preferred meat). I guess I would rather not have, um, soft chicken pieces. I'm not sure how to explain it but beef stew seems more like it works in a crockpot than throwing in a whole chicken. Maybe I'm wrong. Your thoughts?

Are there other things I haven't thought of?

I make lasagna in the crock pot all the time.  4 hours on low.

I find that the day is too long to leave the crockpot on and not have the contents burnt or mush.  My crockpots don't have timers on them to allow me to set what time I want it to come on so I use an outlet timer like you'd use to have a light come on to make people think you're home.  Works like a charm!

As for being worried about leaving it on, I just make sure that the cord is in good shape and I keep it well away from anything else on the counter.  I might start putting a glass cutting board under it, to be on the safe side.

One of my favourite crockpot recipes is a variation of Osso Bucco or beef shanks.  It makes the meat fall off the bone tender.  We get a side of beef every 8-10 months and this cut is one of the ones we get.  I had no idea what it was when I saw it written on the butcher paper but said to my husband, 'I bet you that is a cheap cut of meat that some chef made into a fancier dish, called it Osso Bucco and charged big bucks for it.'  I looked it up.  Yup, nailed it!   

There are three methods of cooking that essentially do the same thing, cook things that need a long time. Usually, that involves taking a cheap, tough cut of meat and make it incredibly tender.

1. Crock pot - cooks very low and very slow (6-8 hours)
2. Dutch oven in the oven - cooks medium-low temp and medium time (300 degrees, 3-4 hours)
3. Pressure cooker - cooks medium-high temp and quick! (40 min - 1-1/4 hours)

I've used all three and the crock pot is my least favorite. But my point is that any recipe for any of these can easily be adapted to the other by simply adjusting the cooking time.

I usually do cheap cuts of meat (as I mentioned) or beans in one of the above. I know a lot of people use them for lots of other kinds of recipes, as mentioned above. I love to cook so I'm not necessarily looking for the easiest method but rather the one that I like more, either because I think the results are better or because they lend themselves more to my own creativity and methods in the kitchen.