new slow cooker

[lihsiawang]

what's the best thing you've ever made in your slow-cooker?

[mattwarner]

Overnight Oatmeal. 1 part steel-cut oats, 4 parts water, pinch of salt. Raisins, brown sugar, dried cranberries, whatever else to your liking. Put it in on "low" when you go to bed. Add some milk, and you've got rockin' breakfast cereal!

[bluemoon4515]

Dublin Coddle from "the Gourmet Slow Cooker"...bacon, sausage, potatoes, carrots and onions. It's the only thing me and my boyfriend both really love and consistently make from the slow cooker. Everything else has just been made out time necessity. I can give you the whole recipe if you're interested.

[goreystory]

yo --

wouldn't have had a sound answer to this question before last week, but then i had to come up with a vegetarian meal for 6 people and followed this recipe fairly closely (save for adding another 1/4cup or so of chickpeas and seriously ramping up the suggested garlic quantity, as i do for nearly every recipe): http://www.recipezaar.com/Winter-Squa... .

it was great. really very delicious. i cooked the thing on low for maybe 7.5 hours and it collapsed into a slightly stewi-er concoction than i believe was intended, but, you know, still awesome. especially with that lime juice and coriander. nice leftovers, too!

served over persian rice (all we make here) with moroccan flatbread on the side. wicked.

[MazDee]

I was especially pleased with coq au vin and cochinita pibil. I didn't take short cuts, used classic recipes, but thought both benefited from the slow even cooking in the crock pot instead of the oven. Also, I always cook my beans in a crockpot. I do not pre-soak, just put the beans and water in and let it cook for a long time. Creamy and good. I add whatever other ingredients I want toward the end of cooking. The thing I appreciate about the slow cooker is that you don't have to worry about timing. 5, 6, 7 hours, whatever fits your schedule. I love mine.

[kchurchill5]

Coq au vin is great in the crock. I also make a chicken stew which I love with wine, stock fresh herbs, lots of veggies and I do make dumplings fresh but I make some and keep them frozen too ... Such a good easy dinner.

Also make a lemon chicken, Add red peppers and then add some fresh arugula when I get home, squeeze fresh lemon juice in and thicken with just a little corn starch. Serve over some premade jasmine rice. Top with one chopped scallion. Great dinner. 5 minutes to heat the premade rice and thicken the sauce. It made enough for 4 additional dinners. Not bad for some on sale chicken. I left at 6 and is was done at 4 but it turned off on simmer. I got home at 6 that night and perfect.

[dfrostnh]

I always do beef pot roast in my slow cooker. I also learned to cook roast pork in the slow cooker when my oven was broken for a few weeks. Pot roast would be my #1 favorite, #2 would probably be pulled pork, then pork roast (do not add any liquids) and corned beef.
The recipes for chicken thighs and various ingredients all seem to be overcooked with a mediocre taste.
Also, every family party/get together has crock pot meatballs of some sort and they are very popular.

[lagatta]

dfrostnh, when you say "chicken thighs" do you mean boned, or thighs/legs on the bone? I certainly wouldn't use a slow cooker for already boned poultry, as it cooks so quickly. I'd think one of the main uses of a slow cooker would be to extract flavour and body from the bones.

[dkenworthy]

I have had mixed results with the slow cooker I got XMas before last. One big success was Anna Michele Jordan's polenta recipe -- it makes it very easy to serve polenta, which is great because I like it a lot. Another was a red lentil soup with coconut milk recipe that I think I found here on Chowhound. The last time I made Boston Baked Beans, I used the slow cooker, which came out great -- much better for serving in the summertime so the oven isn't on for hours and hours.

[kchurchill5]

Beans are great, soups, pork roasts, beef roasts, polenta would be good, rice, meatballs, sausage bites for an appetizer, cheese sauce or fondu. Stuff like that. Otherwise I use the oven, but sometimes, I just have to with work. I can be a big help

[swamp]

I got a recipe out of a past issue of Southern Living for creamy grits with smoked sausage that was fantastic. That may not be the exact name but it had grits, a substantial amount of cream, andouille sausage, yum, yum.

[jackie de]

Do you think you could share that recipe? Appreciate it!

[mr jig]

Not to be unresponsive but personally i have never prepared in a crockpot nor been served from a crockpot anything i enjoyed.
Now this is a mystery to me as i do a lot of braising, both oven and stove top with an ancient Griswold dutch oven.
It is certainly not that i don't like low, slow, wet cooking.

One of life,s mysteries i guess.

No doubt i will try one of the recipes identified here as "best", but methinks i bear a crockpot curse!!
Good luck.
dick

[chowser]

After different taste tests w/ crockpot vs braising in the oven, on the stove, I agree it's not quite as good but I can still get good results in the crockpot. The beauty of the crockpot is that for people who have free time during the day, like me, but am out afternoons through the evening, you can't beat coming home to a hot meal. If I were home for a few hours before a meal, I'd use the oven. The two exceptions that I've found where the crockpot does get the same results as on the stove are caramelized onions (sliced onions, dollop a stick of butter, cook on low--I was doubtful at first but no more standing in front of the stove stirring and stirring) and stock.

[kchurchill5]

I agree, the crock is not for everything ... but sometimes I leave at 6 and get home at 9, 10 or 11 ... I want food. I don't want to cook. I just had a pork roast with sweet and white potatoes a maple orange glaze, a maple beer, parsnips, rutabaga, celery root, fresh crimini mushrooms, chipollini onions, brussel sprouts and apple juice. I got home took everything out, thickened the sauce a little and served it with a great warm beet, romaine, fennel and blue cheese salad with fresh toasted baguettes. How good and easy and fresh. Great simple food and I have dinner for a couple of days.

[BamiaWruz]

A tajine, used raisins and apricots with sweet potatoes and some other veggies (I think it was zucchini)but for some reason it was wonderful! Oh I put in leftover french onion soup I think and the whole tajine was even better the next day with couscous. YUM!

[pamd]

this blog has a ton of great ideas.... http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

[chowser]

That blog has tons of ideas but I wouldn't say great ideas. They're the type of recipes that proliferate for crockpots and lead people to believe that crockpot cooking is terrible.

Crockpots aren't short cuts. They're a way of cooking at low moist heat. Anyone who really cooks/braises and thinks he/she can just dump everything in and get a delicious meal hours later will be disappointed.

[kchurchill5]

;

[pikawicca]

The Sweet and Sour Lamb recipe from the "Saha" cookbook. In fact, I'm cooking up a batch right now for a bunch of firends.

[Amuse Bouches]

Pulled Pork.
http://savour-fare.com/2009/03/19/car...

[TimCarroll]

I have to agree with Amuse, pulled pork is a great dish cooked in the slow cooker. However, do not confuse this with BBQ'ed pulled pork. There is a considerable difference between smoked pork and slow cooked with smoke flavoring. Just the same I like pulled pork sandwiches made in the slow cooker.

[Amuse Bouches]

Well, if you look at that recipe I do fully admit that anyone who is a BBQ aficionado would not call it barbecue. It's really Carolina Barbecue STYLE pulled pork.

[CreativeFoodie42]

I'd have to also agree with pulled pork and I've got some pulled chicken cooking in my crockpot today. During the winter, I love cooking hearty chicken sausage and lentil soup, chili, and pot roast in my crockpot!