Simple Tips for Delicious Slow Cooker Meals
If you’re like most Americans, you probably have more desire to prepare home cooked meals for your family than you do time to spend in the kitchen. Using a slow cooker or crock pot for your meals is a truly simple way to cut down on the time you spend in front of the stove without sacrificing nutrition or taste. By following a few easy strategies, you can have your dinner waiting on you when you get home for a change.
Choose the right cuts
While you may normally overlook certain cuts of meat and poultry because you’re never happy with how they cook, they can be perfect additions to a slow cooker meal. Since slow cooking allows for more even cooking and simmering, even the toughest cuts of meat will often come out tender and delicious. This means you can finally take advantage of the sales you find at your local meat counter without worrying about the quality of your meal.
Adjust your liquid
If you have a favorite recipe that you’d like to try in a slow cooker, you may need to make a few adjustments. Since liquid doesn’t evaporate the way it does in the oven or on the stove, experts recommend reducing liquid by about one-third to obtain the correct consistency. Also, fat won’t drain away from the meat, so if you don’t want it to liquefy and soak into the other food in the slow cooker, it’s a good idea to trim it off.
Load your slow cooker for success
Contrary to popular belief, not everything in your slow cooker will cook at the same speed. If you’re adding thick veggies like potatoes and big carrots, place them in the slow cooker before anything else. Putting them closer to the heat source will help them cook through in the same amount of time as your meat and less dense veggies.
Also, avoid overfilling your slow cooker as this can cause problems. While your food will still cook evenly when it’s three-quarters full, keeping it half full or two-thirds full is optimal.
Make last-minute additions
The one problem you may notice with your first few slow cooker meal attempts is that the flavors can start to blend together. While this can still be tasty, it’s not quite the flavor explosion you may have wanted. A simple way to boost the flavor of your slow cooker meals is to add more herbs and spices within the last half hour of cooking. This can provide the depth of flavor and freshness your taste buds deserve.