Rick Rodgers says it's high time to get that Crock-Pot out of the garage and plug it into the modern kitchen.
Rodgers, author of "Ready and Waiting: 160 All-New Recipes to Make in the Slow Cooker" (Hearst, $20), says the reason so many of the clunky appliances end up in garage sales is that the recipes devised for the cookers ignored the basics of good cooking.No one who got married in the 1970s can have missed Crock-Pots. (For the record, "Crock-Pot" is a trademark of Rival, the distributor of the original slow cooker and still the leader in the market.) Along with that other war horse of bridal showers, the fondue pot, crockery cookers (in harvest gold and avocado) found their way into the kitchen cabinets of millions of 1970s newlyweds.
But after a few tries, with disappointing results, slow cookers were packed off to thrift stores and second-hand shops. According to Rodgers, bargain hunters can now find a new kitchen friend if they keep a few good-cooking hints in mind.
"When I started putting this book together, I asked some of my dubious friends for recipes they'd tried in slow cookers. It was obvious from reading the recipes why they thought I was crazy to write a book on the subject," Rodgers said. "The recipes would read something like `Place chicken, vegetables and bouillon cubes in slow cooker; cover with water and cook for eight hours,' " Rodgers said. "The results were awful."
The food was dreadful, Rodgers contends, because tenets of cooking were ignored. What about browning the chicken, what about sauteeing some of the sharp flavors out of vegetables like onions,what about herbs and other seasoning, why sodium-laden bouillon cubes?
So Rodgers, a caterer by training and a successful cookbook author by profession, set out to right the wrongs he'd seen in most slow-cooker cookbooks. Rodgers already had a record for thorough, well-tested cookbooks in his own "The Turkey Cookbook" and "365 Ways to Cook Hamburger and Other Ground Meat," as well as ghost-writing and testing recipes for cookbooks such as "Kwanzaa: An African-American Celebration of Culture and Cooking."
In a way, he backed into slow cooking, he said.
"(Slow cookers) are best for dishes stewed in a small amount of liquid - things like stews and soups and barbecues, but I plugged in my slow cooker one holiday when I ran out of stove-top space to make my grandmother's persimmon pudding," he said. "I was so pleased with the results that I started experimenting with my own recipes because the ones I found were old-fashioned and the results weren't good."
Old-fashioned may seem a strange term for recipes that are no more than 20 years old, but as Rodgers points out, the food scene, both taste-wise and ingredient-wise, has changed radically in those two decades.
"Our tastes are so much more sophisticated these days," he said. "People have been exposed to ethnic cuisines and ingredients like sun-dried tomatoes, different oils and fresh herbs. Meat is different now than it was 20 years ago because it's being bred to be lean - and that cuts down on cooking time."
For example, Rodgers says that turkey thigh meat can be substituted for beef in slow-cooking recipes and will be done in five to six hours cooked on low heat (200 degrees).
Rodgers feels that the best recipes are the new recipes, but when it comes to the appliance itself, he prefers the old-fashioned way.
"There are slow cookers and then there are the multicookers," Rodgers said. "I prefer the slow cookers that are made for only one thing - the kind that have a stoneware insert. The heat is distributed around the sides, and I find that food cooks more evenly."
Multicookers can do other things like deep fry, thanks to their adjustable thermostats and their heating element in the bottom of the unit. However, these factors make it easier for food to scorch, so if you use a multicooker, be sure to stir the food a couple of times. But be aware that every time you lift the lid on a slow-cooking pot, you'll need to add 20 minutes to the cooking time.
The following recipes are from "Ready and Waiting."
NORTH CAROLINA RAINY DAY BARBECUED PORK
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
3-pound boneless pork shoulder roast (Boston butt), well trimmed and tied
1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke, optional
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons ketchup
8 hamburger buns, heated
In large ceramic or glass bowl, combine vinegar, onion, Worcestershire sauce and hot pepper sauce. Add pork roast, and cover and refrigerate for at least eight hours or overnight, turning pork often.
Remove pork from marinade, scraping onion off pork and back into marinade. Pat pork roast dry with paper towels. Pour marinade into 3 1/2-quart slow cooker and add Liquid Smoke. Place a collapsible vegetable steamer or a slow-cooker meat rack in the slow cooker.
In small bowl, combine sugar, salt, paprika and pepper. Rub pork roast with spice mixture and place roast on steamer or rack.
Cover and slow-cook until pork is very tender, seven to eight hours on low (200 degrees). Transfer pork to a cutting board and cover with foil to keep warm.
Skim fat from the surface of the cooking liquid. Stir in ketchup and pour into a bowl. Using two forks, pull pork apart into shreds. Serve pork on the heated buns, passing sauce on side to spoon over sandwiches. (Makes eight sand-wiches.)
BEEF STROGANOFF
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more if needed
2 1/2 pounds beef bottom round, cut into 2-inch cubes and well trimmed
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 medium onions, sliced
1/2 cup double-strength beef broth, canned, frozen or homemade
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
Hot freshly cooked egg noodles
Heat oil over medium-high heat in large skillet. Add beef, in batches without crowding, and cook, turning often, until browned on all sides. Transfer to 31/2-quart slow cooker. Season with paprika, salt and pepper and stir well.
Add mushrooms and onions to skillet and add more oil if necessary. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until mushrooms have given up their liquid and are beginning to brown, about 7 minutes. Add broth and water and stir to scrape up browned bits on bottom of skillet. Transfer to slow cooker.
Cover and slow-cook until beef is tender, seven to eight hours on low (200 degrees). Using a slotted spoon, transfer meat and vegetables to a serving bowl and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.
In small bowl, whisk cornstarch into sour cream. Stir in dill. Stir sour cream mixture into slow cooker and cook until cooking liquid is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables and mix gently. Serve immediately, spooning over the noodles.