Slow cooking with IGx

[Holland Oates]

Pork roast
1 large jar of sliced jalapenos
1 pack of taco seasoning
dump that shit in the crock pot
add water to cover
cook until done
pull it out of the crock pot and shread the pork toss the peppers into the mix
slap onto tortillas, add toppings, eat like it's your job

[johno]

You can double the AWESOME by browning the meat & onions (in frying pan) before slow cooking them. It makes for more cleanup, but it's worth it.

Or, just brown them in a Dutch Oven & then move DO into the oven to slow cook there.

+1. Especially if cooked with some minced garlic. The grease is great for adding flavor to the slow cooked goodness.

Or you can just mince the onions (slap chopper works great) and toss them in the bottom before putting in your meat. Carrots and celery (chopped to taste) add even more flavorful goodness. Minced onions will liquify. Celery (if minced) will liquify as well.

Sea salt > regular salt in every respect too.

^^^AGREE. Cooking wisdom.

We have grinders for both sea salt and pepper. Other great, easy additions: fresh rosemary (grow in in a pot next to your medical marijuana), thyme, and basil.

An cheat with garlic: smash the cloves w/ side of knife blade to get off the skins, then throw them in whole - this makes them easy to pick out of stews & sauces. You still get great flavor.

[The Venerable Bogatir X]

We go through a ton of homemade stock in our house....right now I'm making a batch per week and Sunday's yield was 96oz, which is fairly typical. I stew the hell out of the birds and they break up during the cooking process so I tried something a little different that worked well:

I took a fryer (fully defrosted, giblets removed), stuffed it with four chicken thighs and put three turkey wings around it (turkey wings are a key to fine chicken stock, trust me). I wrapped it in string, then wrapped it all in cheesecloth and then secured it with cooking twine again. You still have to strain the stock again, but it's much cleaner and picking the chicken from the bones for various meals and pet food is much, much easier.

Try this:

One whole fryer
4 chicken thighs (bone and skin on)
3 turkey wings
two celery stalks--broken in quarters
two carrots--broken in quarters
medium sweet onion--quartered
four garlic cloves--peeled and bruised
three dried bay leaves
fresh herbs for soup (you can get this in better grocery stores for around two bucks)
two boxes of chicken stock (I use the Costco stuff)

Put the veggies in the bottom of a large pot and the wrapped-up poultry on top of that. Pour the two boxes of stock over that and top off with cold water to cover the chicken (you will end up using around twice as much water to the stock, fyi). Cover and heat to a low simmer. Once simmering, uncover, skim as needed and let it go for at least four hours.

After four hours (or longer), remove the poultry and the vegetables from the stock, place in a colander that is in another pot or large bowl to catch additional stock. Clean your colander and line it with paper towels or cheesecloth and place into another large pot or bowl. Strain your stock into that. Return the strained stock to your cleaned pot or new pot and continue to simmer--add just a little Kosher or sea salt and some good, black pepper or peppercorn blend....but not much at all. Stir well.

Once simmering again, pour two egg whites into the top....this will catch any additional particles the straining didn't get. Remove the egg whites and feed to your dog when cooled.

Remove from heat two hours before canning or bottling. Skim the surface fat if you wish (I don't).

We don't can the stuff since we go through it so fast, but we use mason jars, let them come to about room temp before putting in the freezer. I'd imagine the stock would last a good two months in the freezer this way....maybe longer.

You want high quality and great nutrition on a budget....rock out the stock as I mentioned above.

[Turdacious]

I'll be giving that a shot lieNap-- sounds delicious.

IMO-- the best utility vegetables are onions, garlic, celery, and carrots. All of them add tons of flavor, are easy to hide if necessary (especially for kids that think they don't like vegetables), are cheap, easy to prepare, and go with damn near everything.

[The Venerable Bogatir X]

I'll be giving that a shot lieNap-- sounds delicious.

The stuff is a great base for just about anything as you can reduce it and add a little olive oil or butter to saute veggies, make a quick pasta sauce, mix in with rice....whatever. It's also good enough to heat and sip from a coffee mug, which is what we do a lot as well.

[The Venerable Bogatir X]

So I tried my hand at beef stock yesterday.

The same Mirepoix and same garlic from the chx stock recipe; the same garlic; the same bay leaves; the same fresh herbs for soup.
Two boxes of beef stock + aprox twice as much water.

400 degree oven for 60 minutes:
3.5# marrow bones cut aprox 2-3"
1 cross cut beef shank (about 3/4#)
1# beef short ribs
1 small Tri-tip roast (will explain later)

*I wanted Oxtails, but what the store had were freezer burned, so I made do.*

Once all the cow was roasted, I drained the fat and added all above ingredients to the pot. I let it come up to a slow simmer (about an hour) and then held the simmer for 5 hours.

After 5 hours, I strained the stock into a clean pot and brought the stock back up to a simmer, covered this time--adding just a little Kosher salt and black pepper. I scooped the marrow from the bones and pulled the bones from the short ribs and returned those to the stock for 2 more hours. I then brought the pot out to my breezeway (covered), to allow it to cool for the night, but I removed the bones before doing so. My breezeway is not heated and is in the low 30's at night, I'm guessing. In a separate vessel, I covered the meat in foil and put in the breezeway as well.

This morning, I pulled the lean meat from the short ribs and shank and diced the tri-tip into very small cubes--no fat or grizzle whatsoever. If you know how to cook, you're correctly wondering why a tri-tip would make its way into a beef stock recipe. I did so simply to add additional protein to the stock that was lean, fairly cheap and would not fall apart when reheated. I distributed this meat into 8 or so mason jars.

The stock from the breezeway was fully chilled and unlike the chicken stock, I skimmed the fat from the top of the beef stock and threw it out. Fat from chicken stock can be delightful, but fat from beef stock is just grease, IMHO. The defatted beef stock was added to the Mason jars.

[Turdacious]

So how was it? Recipe good to go or still need some liefinetuning?

[The Venerable Bogatir X]

So how was it? Recipe good to go or still need some liefinetuning?

The stock itself is good and that's what counts. BUT: I'm convinced that oxtails would have upped the batch's quality bigtime. The tri-tip was a calculated risk of ten bucks and I did not like it, although the rest of my family enjoyed it enough. The mass of the tri-tip and cross cut shank will be replaced with oxtails and more marrow bones in the next batch. The meat from the short ribs is fine, but there's just not a whole lot of it.

If I rate that chicken stock a 10/10, this beef stock is 6/10.

[Alfred_E._Neuman]

Tried this recipe for Chipotle's Beef Barbacoa that EFS sent out in their email last Friday. Cooked it overnight last night and had it for supper tonight. Fantastic post DL meal.

4 chipotle peppers (from a can) plus all the adobo sauce it sits in
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 red onion, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 head garlic, peeled and cloves smashed
5 dry bay leaves
2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 tablespoon kosher salt
Juice of 4 limes
1/2 cup cider vinegar
5 to 7 pounds grass-fed beef brisket
4 to 6 cups beef or chicken stock

Stir together chipotle peppers and sauce, cilantro, red onion, garlic, clove, salt, lime juice, and cider vinegar in the insert of a slow cooker (if you have a food processor, pulse until combined first before adding). Place the brisket on top of this mixture. I like to cut my brisket in two pieces so it fits better in the slow cooker. Add stock to cover the meat and place bay leaves on top. Use tongs to move the meat around gently to combine everything and put the lid on.

Cook on HIGH for 4 hours. Once finished, turn crock pot to WARM and let sit for 6 to 8 hours.

Remove meat from slow cooker and place on rimmed baking sheet. Use two forks to pull the meat apart. Discard the fat if desired. If you plan on frying it again before use, the small fat bits are extra tasty and should be kept! Place shredded beef in large bowl and ladle cooking liquid over the top a few scoops at a time. You want the meat to hold the liquid, but not swim in it.

[The Crawdaddy]

Yum. I hate you appropriately. Send me the beef now.

[The Venerable Bogatir X]

What's a 7# grass-fed brisket run? $93 or so?

[Alfred_E._Neuman]

We get our meat from the farmer's market, and you can get brisket for ~$7/pound, round for a couple bucks less. We generally go for round for the slow cooker. Ours will only hold maybe a 3.5 pound roast, so we're looking at $15-20 for meat. We'll eat on that for a few nights.

They do have the certified this-that-and-the-other specialty beef, but I ain't paying north of ten bucks a pound for beef.

[Dan Martin]

1 four pound beef roast
2 cans beef consume'
2 cans French onion soup
1 bottle of dark beer

Place in crock pot on low for 6-10 hours.

Remove roast and let it rest.
Butter French rolls and place under broiler to toast.
Then dip rolls in the au jus.
Slice roast and place on rolls.
Place sliced cherry peppers on beef.
Place sliced provolone over that.
Eat like it's your job.

[Jonny Canuck]

Rump Roast seared on all sides with olive oil and garlic
Onion and Carrots chopped up in slowcooker covered in Beef broth
Place roast on top and hit it with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, Worcestershire, frank's hot sauce and some bay leaves.
Cook on low for 9 hours.

Meet was fall apart tender.

[Turdacious]

Title changed to reflect collective chest greasy wisdom.

[Jonny Canuck]

Pork Carnitas

Ingredients

1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoon garlic powder
3 teaspoon ground cumin
3 teaspoons ground cayenne
1 1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (4 pound) boneless pork shoulder roast
2 bay leaves
2 cups chicken broth
1 can jalapenos (can substitute fresh-- I prefer nacho style)




Directions

Mix together salt, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, coriander, and cinnamon in a bowl. Coat pork with the spice mixture. Place the bay leaves in the bottom of a slow cooker and place the pork on top. Pour the chicken broth around the sides of the pork, being careful not to rinse off the spice mixture.
Cover and cook on Low until the pork shreds easily with a fork, about 10 hours. Turn the meat after it has cooked for 5 hours. When the pork is tender, remove from slow cooker, and shred with two forks. Use cooking liquid as needed to moisten the meat.
Cook shredded pork in the liquid for an additional hour on low or warm. Add jalapenos. The fat is primarily in the liquid—for a low fat version you could drain this. I don’t.
You can bake the pork once done in the oven for a bit if you like it a bit crispier. It's excellent in a scramble with eggs, 1/2 onion, diced fresh tomato, and cilantro.

Just put this in the crockpot. Looking forward to it.

[Beer Jew]

Why are there no pictures?

[powerlifter54]

The PL54 Total maker.

Squat ascending doubles up to a PR. Take off 100lbs, do a five. Do 5 speed singles in the DL working up to around your opener.

Go to Boston Market and get a whole chicken a few sides. Eat it all as you break down your workout with other Total seekers.Paleo types don't eat sides.

Take next day off.

Following day have mint chocolate chip ice cream before bed.

Bench following day to a PR triple.

Can substitute mexican food for Boston Market.

[Turdacious]

Other great, easy additions: fresh rosemary (grow in in a pot next to your medical marijuana), thyme, and basil.

I read this and thought it was a great idea. Watching some of Jamie Oliver's quick meal show on BBC-A reminded me. Great call.

[kreator]

Made this for night before Thanksgiving.

1 pot roast (mine was 4.5 lb grassfed)
2 cups dark coffee
1/3 cup bourbon
1 cup water
1 tbsp thyme
1 tbsp Worcestershire
salt
pepper
olive oil
2-3 large potatoes
1 onion
garlic


1. Chop onion. Dice garlic. Add to pan and sear pot roast on all sides in 2 tbsp olive oil.
2. Add bourbon, coffee, water, thyme, Worcestershire, salt, pot roast, and pepper to crock pot. Add the seared onion and garlic but don't add to much olive oil.
3. Cook on high for 4.5-5 hours in crock pot.
4. Chop potatoes into small pieces and cook for another 1 hour until they are soft

I also made daal. My roommate got me into it since she lived in Tibet for awhile.

Add 2 cups of red football lentils to pot, add 4 cups water, add chopped up spinach, onion, garlic, and celery. Add 1 tbsp or more of salt, dash of pepper, dash of chilli pepper. Boil for 30 minutes stirring often, until it gets thick.

Served pot roast along with daal and rye bread w/ butter.

[Holy Cow]

World's Best Hot Dogs

Ingredients:
8 hot dogs
1 cup water

Place ingredients into crock pot, set it to low, and leave it for eight hours. Serve with buns and condiments of your choosing (mayo, mustard, etc.).

[Alfred_E._Neuman]

A cheapie we do when cash is tight:

8-12 chicken thighs from the farmer's market (these tend to have more meat than the chain grocery ones)
1 onion, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
Salt
Pepper
Red pepper flakes
Chipotle pepper powder

Pull the skin off the chicken thighs. Slice the onion and pepper. Toss it all in the crock pot and add seasonings to taste. Cover with 1" of water and turn it on in the morning. Ready for supper when you get home.

[Sassenach]

2lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 packet taco seasoning

mix together, cook on low for ~5 hours, shred and serve over rice or egg noodles.

[seeahill]

Ropa Vieja

2 pounds flank steak (or round, or another cheap tough cut)
salt and pepper it and brown in olive oil for 5 minutes or so
Toss in the slow cooker with
one chopped green pepper
1 jar Ragu chunky pasta sauce (1 lb, 10 oz)
1/2 cup broth (chicken, beef, whatever, or beer wine water)
1 can chopped green chillies
teaspoon (to taste) of red pepper flakes

Low 8-10 hours, high 4-6

Take out meat, shred with two forks, reheat for a moment.

Not bad, real EZ, serve in bowls or on rice or pasta.

(Ropa Vieja means "old clothes" which, I guess, the shredded meat sorta looks like.

[sanchezero]

ghetto sausage soup. stew? i don't fuckin' know.

i have a 4 quart crock pot, not one of those big boss family things.

2-3 potatoes
1 onion. i like spanish onions
3 pcs celery
2 carrots
a shitload of fresh parsley. i use about half of the bunch i buy at the grocery store
a buncha dried rosemary. a coupla big pinches should do
a kielbasa. i use whatever's on sale. hillshire farms seems fine
various smidgens of other spices - black pepper, basil, oregano, etc.
2 cans of chicken broth

chop everything up. i like big chunks - my woman tells me i'm compensating. put everything but the kielbasa in the crockpot on high.

brown, sear, burn, whatever - the kielbasa in some olive oil, black pepper, and basil. i like it seared/sealed or it gets kinda mushy after 6hrs of cooking. once it's burnt to your liking, toss it in the crockpot, too.

i let it cook until the potatoes smash easily when i stir it. usually 5-6hrs on high. it's great as is or you can add a handful of shredded cheese and a blob of sour cream to the bowl (not the pot) as you serve it if you like creamy shit.