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Tips and Tricks for Successful Slow Cooking
"I wonder if I could cook that in the slow cooker..."
Have you asked yourself this before? Many of us with slow cookers have eyeballed them and wondered if we could cook our favourite recipe(s) in them. Often, you can. But before you just throw everything into the slow cooker and hope for the best, there are some general principles you should consider as you adapt your favourite recipes for the slow cooker.
Slow cookers are a wonderful way to have food "cook itself." If you're not used to using one, knowing some tips and tricks ahead of time can help reduce the learning curve. Even if you do use your slow cooker frequently, it's nice to expand your recipe repertoire and learn something new about this stand-by of busy kitchens.
Here are some tips and tricks for successful slow cookery.
1. Don't Peek!
When you're using your slow cooker, leave the lid on unless the recipe directs you not to. If you take the lid off during cooking, it can take up to 25 minutes for the food to resume its proper cooking temperature, and that extends your cooking time.
2. Warming "Plate"
You can use your slow cooker to keep foods warm even if you didn't make them in the slow cooker. From soups to meatballs, a slow cooker on Low with the lid off or Warm with the lid on can keep foods hot while you transport them or serve them from your buffet or table.
3. Hot Weather Friend
Did you ever think about how little heat a slow cooker generates in the kitchen? This makes it ideal for cooking during hot weather. You can even do baking in your slow cooker, helping to keep your kitchen cool. (Slow cookers use less energy than an oven, too.)
4. Temperature
In most slow cookers, "Low" is around 200 degrees F, and "High" is about 300. Cooking takes about twice as long on Low as it does on High.
If the recipe you want to convert calls for a quick baking time, then you can probably get away with a few hours on Low or one to two hours on High. If your recipe calls for long oven baking or stovetop simmering, then you can probably get away with 8-10 hours on Low (a standard cook temperature and time for roasts and red meats).
5. Liquid
Slow cookers produce very moist heat. This means your recipe will retain more moisture than it would if it were baked in the oven. A good rule of thumb is to reduce the amount of liquid in your recipe by about half. However, if you're cooking rice or some other grain, then you should use an amount of liquid that is just shy of the standard amount.
6. Oven versus Slow Cooker
A good rule of thumb to remember is that 1 hour on High is roughly equivalent to 2 to 2-1/2 hours on Low. Knowing this allows you to adjust the timing of your dish, whether to speed it up or slow it down.
Here is a handy guide for oven times converted to slow cooker times:
Oven: 20-30 minutes
Slow cooker: 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours on High; 4 to 6 hours on Low
Oven: 35-45 minutes
Slow cooker: 2 to 3 hours on High; 6 to 8 hours on Low
Oven: 50 minutes to 3 hours
Slow cooker: 4 to 5 hours on High; 8 to 18 hours on Low
7. Know What Holds Up
Roasts, corned beef and stewing or casserole steak stand up well to long cooking, usually requiring 10 to 12 hours on Low or 6 to 8 on High. Vegetables don't usually hold up so well, especially ones like snow peas and broccoli.
If you want to adapt a meat recipe that has vegetables in it, you can add them toward the end of cooking time. However, if you combine meat and chopped vegetables that are more dense, like chunked carrots and potatoes, then you can usually cook the whole dish for 8 to 10 hours on Low.
Poultry cooks more quickly than red meat, and fish cooks faster than both.
8. Blanch Veggies
Blanched vegetables do not lose as many nutrients as veggies that are placed in the cooker raw. (Blanching means dipping the vegetables in boiling water for a minute or two, then in cold water to stop the cooking process.)
9. A Special Warning about Raw or Dried Kidney and Broad Beans
If you are going to use these beans in your slow cooker, choose canned whenever you are able. Dry or raw kidney and broad beans contain a toxin that only goes away if the beans are boiled for 10 minutes. The low temperature of a slow cooker doesn't work to get rid of this toxin. So either use canned beans or pre-boil them.
10. What Size?
Generally speaking, a family of four can do well with a slow cooker that's about 5 to 6 quarts. However, having more than one slow cooker size can come in very handy. You can have a hot drink going in the small one while you make chicken stock in the large one; or bake bread in the large one while heating soup in the other (for example).
11. Fast-Cooking Foods
If you are going to be gone a while and still want to cook thin cuts of chicken or fish fillets in your slow cooker, you can place them in the cooker while they are frozen. This increases the cooking time and decreases the chances of overcooking.
Have you asked yourself this before? Many of us with slow cookers have eyeballed them and wondered if we could cook our favourite recipe(s) in them. Often, you can. But before you just throw everything into the slow cooker and hope for the best, there are some general principles you should consider as you adapt your favourite recipes for the slow cooker.
Slow cookers are a wonderful way to have food "cook itself." If you're not used to using one, knowing some tips and tricks ahead of time can help reduce the learning curve. Even if you do use your slow cooker frequently, it's nice to expand your recipe repertoire and learn something new about this stand-by of busy kitchens.
Here are some tips and tricks for successful slow cookery.
1. Don't Peek!
When you're using your slow cooker, leave the lid on unless the recipe directs you not to. If you take the lid off during cooking, it can take up to 25 minutes for the food to resume its proper cooking temperature, and that extends your cooking time.
2. Warming "Plate"
You can use your slow cooker to keep foods warm even if you didn't make them in the slow cooker. From soups to meatballs, a slow cooker on Low with the lid off or Warm with the lid on can keep foods hot while you transport them or serve them from your buffet or table.
3. Hot Weather Friend
Did you ever think about how little heat a slow cooker generates in the kitchen? This makes it ideal for cooking during hot weather. You can even do baking in your slow cooker, helping to keep your kitchen cool. (Slow cookers use less energy than an oven, too.)
4. Temperature
In most slow cookers, "Low" is around 200 degrees F, and "High" is about 300. Cooking takes about twice as long on Low as it does on High.
If the recipe you want to convert calls for a quick baking time, then you can probably get away with a few hours on Low or one to two hours on High. If your recipe calls for long oven baking or stovetop simmering, then you can probably get away with 8-10 hours on Low (a standard cook temperature and time for roasts and red meats).
5. Liquid
Slow cookers produce very moist heat. This means your recipe will retain more moisture than it would if it were baked in the oven. A good rule of thumb is to reduce the amount of liquid in your recipe by about half. However, if you're cooking rice or some other grain, then you should use an amount of liquid that is just shy of the standard amount.
6. Oven versus Slow Cooker
A good rule of thumb to remember is that 1 hour on High is roughly equivalent to 2 to 2-1/2 hours on Low. Knowing this allows you to adjust the timing of your dish, whether to speed it up or slow it down.
Here is a handy guide for oven times converted to slow cooker times:
Oven: 20-30 minutes
Slow cooker: 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours on High; 4 to 6 hours on Low
Oven: 35-45 minutes
Slow cooker: 2 to 3 hours on High; 6 to 8 hours on Low
Oven: 50 minutes to 3 hours
Slow cooker: 4 to 5 hours on High; 8 to 18 hours on Low
7. Know What Holds Up
Roasts, corned beef and stewing or casserole steak stand up well to long cooking, usually requiring 10 to 12 hours on Low or 6 to 8 on High. Vegetables don't usually hold up so well, especially ones like snow peas and broccoli.
If you want to adapt a meat recipe that has vegetables in it, you can add them toward the end of cooking time. However, if you combine meat and chopped vegetables that are more dense, like chunked carrots and potatoes, then you can usually cook the whole dish for 8 to 10 hours on Low.
Poultry cooks more quickly than red meat, and fish cooks faster than both.
8. Blanch Veggies
Blanched vegetables do not lose as many nutrients as veggies that are placed in the cooker raw. (Blanching means dipping the vegetables in boiling water for a minute or two, then in cold water to stop the cooking process.)
9. A Special Warning about Raw or Dried Kidney and Broad Beans
If you are going to use these beans in your slow cooker, choose canned whenever you are able. Dry or raw kidney and broad beans contain a toxin that only goes away if the beans are boiled for 10 minutes. The low temperature of a slow cooker doesn't work to get rid of this toxin. So either use canned beans or pre-boil them.
10. What Size?
Generally speaking, a family of four can do well with a slow cooker that's about 5 to 6 quarts. However, having more than one slow cooker size can come in very handy. You can have a hot drink going in the small one while you make chicken stock in the large one; or bake bread in the large one while heating soup in the other (for example).
11. Fast-Cooking Foods
If you are going to be gone a while and still want to cook thin cuts of chicken or fish fillets in your slow cooker, you can place them in the cooker while they are frozen. This increases the cooking time and decreases the chances of overcooking.