/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.8860349]

Hey folks. I bought a slow cooker a while back because I have a job where I work an afternoon/evening shift, and I thought it would be convenient to start something cooking when I go to bed (midnight-ish) and have a pot of food ready when I wake up in the morning. However, the damn thing has ruined some of my favorite recipes, and I'm not sure why.

I absolutely love stuffed cabbage in a sweet tomato sauce, but the one time I made it in the slow cooker, it came out bland and dry, with an unpleasant and unfamiliar texture. I've tried making short ribs twice, with onions, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, and celery, using slightly different recipes each time. Once I used a beef broth base, and the second time I used more barbecue sauce for a smoky, tangy flavor. Even though I browned the short ribs in a pan first both times, the dishes came out disappointing, with a tinny, metallic taste. The second time, I literally threw up after eating it... a major embarrassment, although luckily I was the only one who had sampled it.

This past weekend, I attempted slow cooker chili, whereas I usually just simmer it on the stovetop for an hour or two. This was another all-night affair, on low heat for eight hours. I used lean ground beef (which I browned in a pan first), canned diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste, onions, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, paprika, diced jalapenos, diced chipotles from a can with adobo sauce (which I also added), and some shaved semisweet baker's chocolate and a bit of sugar to cut all the acid. It came out a lot darker red than I am used to, and it also had some of that metallic taste to it. I feel obliged to eat it, rather than waste all those ingredients, but it's the worst chili I've ever made.

So what am I doing wrong? Is it the long cooking times?

[Truckerfag !!+KSIm6sOufE No.8860671]

Over 6 hours of cooking anything but mushrooms will start to break down beyond anything recognizable.

You've got two options to avoid this
>get a higher end slow cooker with programmable cook times that switches to a holding temperature when the time is up
>get an electric pressure cooker instead, and do 4 hours of cooking in 30 minutes while you do whatever

I'd personally go with the pressure cooker, but some people are really wary of them.

[Anonymous No.8860682]

metallic taste? that's weird, what kind of crock pot are you using? not normal bro

[Anonymous No.8860683]

>>8860671
What do you haul?

[Anonymous No.8860685]

>>8860671
Seconding the pressure cooker. The only reason people are afraid of them is because either
>they use a shitty one where it's easy to get the lid off, and take the lid off before it depressurizes
or
>they dig gramma's old Presto out of the basement, it's missing the weights and the relief valve is clogged, but that won't stop them from throwing it on a full flame and blowing up their kitchen
Buy an Instant Pot, they're fucking foolproof.

[Anonymous No.8860689]

>>8860349
I've never had anything good come out of a slow cooker. I'm sure it's possible to make something good with one, but no one I know has ever done it.

[Truckerfag !!+KSIm6sOufE No.8860716]

>>8860683
Open deck. Mostly used machinery, lumber, vehicles, vehicle components, raw metals, salt, and fertilizer.

>>8860685
Something like the Instant Pot is nice since it'll have at least one slow cooker setting if you have some bizarre desire to try it again. If I had a pure sine wave power supply I'd use a slow cooker every day.

[Anonymous No.8860729]

>>8860716
I wanted a pressure cooker, the IP ended up replacing my rice cooker and my slow cooker as well.
The only thing it can't replace is a dedicated pressure canner. The biggest IP model is still way too small, and they don't pressurize to a high enough PSI for low-acid foods.

[Anonymous No.8861720]

>>8860349
Have you tried to cook pure water with it? For me, it's pure slowcooked water.

[Anonymous No.8861926]

Foods cooked for a long time will need acid to brighten up the flavor after cooking.

Typically, I cook 90% covered with liquid, then after meat is done, remove, reduce and recombine. Squeeze lemon, lime, vinegar, mustard or other acid.