My Mother always told me that if I was smart I shouldn't say that I disliked something. However, I cannot resist saying that I don't like slow cooking.
Now I know that I have already touched a nerve with those people who like slow cooking. Slow cooking is popular and is used to prepare food for busy people.
I like a good strong meat flavor. I don't like the meat flavor covered up with spices.
I liked the way my mother cooked. She had limited resources. So she could roast, fry or boil. She didn't have fancy dancy herbs and spices. She probably had some bacon fat. Do I remember great turkey dinners put on by Mom? You bet! Turkey dinners were common.
So most slow cooker recipes are heavy on the spices. Whatever combination of spices you use gives you a special flavor but I don't know what it is.
As I said , I like the meat flavor.
One time I shot a caribou with some aboriginals. The butchering began by removing the tongue and rinsing it in water. The tongue was cut into narrow strips. Willow sticks were cut and the strips of tongue put on the sticks over the camp fire. Butchering continued. The heart was prepared the same way as the tongue. By this time the tongue was ready to eat. This was the best tongue I had ever eaten. I will remember it for the rest of my lie. Most people don't like tongue. The same thing happened with the heart. We just kept butchering and eating.
And lastly slow cooking makes a mess of the crock container. I don't like cleaning it.
Now I probably need some education about slow cooking and I'm sure I'll get what I've asked for.
I had a crock pot once and almost never used it. I gave it away. When I slow cook, like a pot roast, it's in my very old inherited cast iron dutch oven. The beef is flavored with salt, pepper, and onion.
ReplyDeleteI do use herbs, fresh and dried, in my cooking, but never to cover up the flavor of meat, only to enhance it.
The old Dutch ovens were tough old machines.
DeleteYou're funny! I won't try to educate you.
ReplyDeleteI like slow cooking, it compensates for my poor meat cooking skills and it takes so long that by the time it's ready you feel like you've been resting all day.
I don't like washing up the crock but I'd prefer it to a baking dish
Oh , I'm sure I'm missing some things when it comes to slow cooking.
DeleteI tend to agree with you I no longer cook at all but my carer prepares meals in her slow cooker. So do some of my friends. It tends to make the meat literally fall apart. It makes easy eating but much of the taste is lost. We kiled a pg every year when I was a cjild in the 1930's. Nothing was wasted apart from the curly tail and the sqieak as we used to say. I loved chitterlings (the colon) which took ages to prepare as it had to be washed in salt water and then rinsed and rinsed. After cooking it was absolutely delicious with pepper, salt and vinegar. Haven't seen any in the shops for years.
ReplyDeleteMy wife, who was brought up at Royston often talks about chitterlings and how good they were.
DeleteMy slow cooker got quite a workout in those years when Tim and I worked a different shift and the kids had after school activities. It was the only way to make sure that everyone got a good hot meal, no matter what time they got home to eat it. I guess the difference between you and I is that you're a meat and potatoes eater. It is how you grew up. We have grown accustomed to casseroles. That being said though, there are times when grilled chicken breast, or fish, or a porkchop. They need done in an airfryer or the oven. With mashed potatoes. And gravy. Some things just lend themselves to being cooked differently.
ReplyDeleteWell, you sure made me glad to be a vegetarian. Tongue? Heart? Yikes, Red!
ReplyDeleteNot many people like these organs but they are very, very good.
DeleteI like slow cooking as it is great for making the house smell so good as the stew or chili or soup simmer all day. I believe you can get liners to put in your slow cooker for easier cleaning, altho, I've never tried that.
ReplyDeleteEveryone has their own preferred tastes, Red. So you don't have to use a slow cooker if you don't want to and I don't have to eat tongue! :)
So we're even!
DeleteI have found throughout my life, whenever I say I don't like something, it generally is because it wasn't prepared well. I used to hate octopi, tripe, tongue and other things until I met my wife who knows how to cook them properly. I suspect the slow cooker is the same way because in my view, so many of the recipes for them put a premium on easy of preparations and thus spices for flavor instead of developing the natural flavors which sometimes means adding things to the pot throughout the day and not all at once. We don't use our slow cooker very often though, perhaps a few times over winter every year. One of my favorites is always cooking a corned beef around St. Patrick's day.
ReplyDeleteP.S. They make crockpot liners so that there is no mess to clean up afterward other than tossing the liner in the trash bin.
Some really tough cut of meat like brisket will certainly be enhanced by a slow cooker.
DeleteWe don’t use a slow cooker much but spices are popular here!
ReplyDeleteI know little about spices but I think they would be used carefully so that you enhance what you're cooking.
DeleteYou make me sad. I love using a Crockpot/slow cooker. I suspect the recipe has more to do with things than the cooking technique. I made the most delicious bone broth (usually using chicken) that bubbles away for 48 hours or so - not something that you'd do on a stovetop, and never the same when tried in an Instant Pot. It's not that big a deal to clean the crock (can be put in the dishwasher) and it's a one-pot meal maker so there's less to clean up of other kitchen implements.
ReplyDeleteI know you use the slow cooker all the time. I think there would be things better cooked in a slow cooker than some standard method.
DeleteWe have a slow cooker that we don't use very much. But there are a couple of dishes I don't mind. What I don't like so much is that some dishes require a bit of pre-cooking, and I don't see the point.
ReplyDeleteI think the slow cooker popularity will disappear like many other fad products.
DeleteI have a crock pot but after a couple of times I quit using it. Not sure why except I've entered the sandwiches and soup period of my life. Not much cooking slow or otherwise :-)
ReplyDeleteCrock pot recipes tend to be large.
DeleteIgnore all criticism and cook what you like. That's my advice.
ReplyDeletethis is the best advice I've had so far.
DeleteCatalyst nailed it!
DeleteIf you're the chief cook or the chief eater, doesn't matter. What you like is what you like.
ReplyDeleteI used a crockpot for years because Tim and I worked different shifts and because I had kids and after school activities. So, it was the easiest way to make sure everyone got a hot meal. But if you're a meat and potatoes man (Tim is), it is nice to have grilled meat and mashed potatoes. Everyone has their own tastes. I agree with Catalyst. Cook what you want!
ReplyDeleteI have crock pot liners that helps with the clean up. I use mine quite a bit...ribs get nice and tender...we cook them for several hours and add no seasonings. BBQ sauce is not my husbands fav thing...so he likes his plain! I also make a potato soup that is really good:)
ReplyDeleteI know I had a crock pot in Illinois... until I cracked it. I don't remember what I cooked in it. Not a lot of spices though. I'm too lazy to deal with a lot of spices.
ReplyDeleteTongue? Really? And heart? Gosh... I'm trying to imagine it and just can't. So it was just sort of barbecued over fire? On the second thought, I'm remembering when we were traveling in Japan and my brother bought a bento with beef tongue and he said it was delicious. :-)
my eldest son would have felt happier to read this because he either doesn't like spicy foods .on his insistence we too are trying to use less spices and found it is healthier way indeed
ReplyDeletehe also had bought this electric pot that cooks slowly ,but he says he used once or twice and did not like the result until now