# Crockpot Tips



## Filus59602 (Oct 18, 2002)

FrostKing9@netzero.net 
Subject: Crockpot Cooking - A few tips 

Hi. 

I use several old crockpots and a slow cooker, all that I've 
had for years. 

1. Wood utensils are best to use in crocks and slow cookers. 
Wood doesn't scratch or chip the glaze or nonstick coatings. 
And, it doesn't react with food acids and enzymes like metal 
utensils do. Plastic utensils, when hot, do leech chemicals 
into foods - regardless of what the manufacturers and food 
"experts" tell us. 

2. Never use a knife in a crock or slow cooker, as it can 
easily scratch the vessel glaze or coating. 

3. I save seasoned meat juices from cooking and freeze it in 
Tupperware quality quart containers for later use to season 
another meat while cooking. Or, to make soups and stews 
with. While still relatively hot I place the juices in the containers 
and set them in the 'fridge, uncapped - to let the fats rise and 
form a cake that's then easily removed before freezing the stock. 
The containers are great quality, and I get them from oriental 
restaurants I order from maybe twice a month. Usually their 
soups and dishes like Sirloin Pepper Steak are delivered in those. 
I call it, "poor man's tupperware." 

4. When seasoning roasts and poultry in the crock, where the 
juices aren't actually part of the dish being made, I over-season 
the meat in order to have vibrant flavors strike through every fiber 
of the meat. Then I end up with a potent meat stock that's great 
as a base for other dishes, or soups and stews. 

5. Most often when I buy meats I buy large pieces that would 
make two meals for 3 to 4 hungry people. Then halve the chunk, 
and mix a marinade and place the marinade and meat in heavy-duty 
freezer bags - letting it sit in the 'fridge overnight, at least, 
turning it over every 2 to 4-hours, before freezing it. The flavor and tenderizing effect on the meat are great. I do the same with chicken, portioning the large packs into freezer bags and pre-season it before freezing it. 

6. Depending on the meat type and quantity, I use for the marinade 
a combination of some or all of the following: 

coarse chopped scallions, Season-All (seasoned salt mix), 
extra fine garlic powder (or smashed fresh garlic), Worcestershire 
Sauce, soy sauce, powdered oregano, powdered basil, powdered 
thyme, coarse ground black pepper, clear vinegar or dry white wine, 
Old Bay seafood seasoning (yes, it's not just for seafood), Texas Pete 
hot sauce (it has a salty great flavor), cumin, turmeric, celery seed, 
mustard seed, bay leaf, coriander, marjoram, and sometimes rosemary. 

I don't have a set recipe for any marinade. Each batch I mix 
to suit my mood and the quantity and type of meat. 

7. You're making a dish for guests in the crockpot or slow cooker. You 
forget to add a necessary vegetable or two, and it's late. What do you 
do? .....It's simple. Prepare the vegetable and place it in a microwave-safe 
bowl,covered in water. Nuke it on high until just short of the tenderness 
your finished crock dish would require. Drain the water completely, and add 
the vegetable to the crock while still piping hot, and mix it in 
quickly. It won't pick up much of the dish flavor, but it'll be tender and yummy.


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## kitchenelf (Oct 18, 2002)

Thanks for the post Filus - I love my crockpot and these tips are great.


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