Slow cooking sustenance
Regina Murphy - Gazette
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Since humanity first harnessed fire, slow cooking has been a way to soften up and tenderize tough slabs of meat and fibrous root vegetables.
In prehistoric times, indigenous peoples often cooked wild roots in the coals of a fire pit for a full 24 hours. This made them much easier to eat (and digest). Slow cooking meat broke down the collagen and produced a gelatinous broth. As the muscular fibers separated and shrank, the juices would moisten it.
Time marched on and at some point after the Industrial Revolution we decided we didn’t have time for wrapping things in leaves and burying them in embers, and started using ovens and microwaves and drive-through windows.
Still, there are moments in life when a well cooked, slow cooked meal is nice to have, and the mid 20th-century invention of the crock pot can make it happen.
I remember my mother putting a pot roast and vegetables into the roaster and, thereafter, the oven so that when we arrived home from church all that was left to do was to fry up some cornbread and whisk up the gravy. With luck a chocolate sheet cake would be waiting, too.
I remember the Rival Crock-Pot that came to our house in the early 1970’s — a round, burnt orange and brown container with line drawings of various vegetables on it, and a heavy brown ceramic crock that fitted inside. Now, instead of the roast in the roaster, we were having the roast in the crock, a chicken in the crock, goulash in the crock — and the list went on.
The family kitchen still has that Crock Pot, as well as two smaller ones, and I have inherited the colossal ’90s-era oval one for my use.
Long, slow simmering does tenderize and brings a fullness of flavor to soups, beans and meats. A cheap, tough cut can come out more like a top grade sirloin roast when given the time to cook. Saving money and time when Mom and Dad both work is a blessing. Try these recipes and you’ll see.
CROCK-POT
CHOW MEIN
1 lb. ground beef
2 medium onions, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
3 - 4 button mushrooms,
sliced
1 small can sliced water
chestnuts
1 can condensed cream
of mushroom soup
1 soup can of water or broth
2 - 4 Tbsp. soy sauce
(low sodium)
1 cup rice, uncooked
1 - 2 cups chow mein noodles
Brown the hamburger, onion and celery in a little oil. Add the mushrooms, water chestnuts, soup, water and soy sauce (to taste). Stir in the rice, mixing well. Pour into a crock pot and cook on high for five to six hours. Serve into bowls, and top with chow mein noodles for fun. A little Srichacha sauce will spice it up.
Helpful slow
cooker hints:
- Crock-Pots cook whatever is on the bottom faster than what is on the top. This is why hard vegetables like carrots and potatoes are normally added to the crockpot first, and meat or poultry goes on top.
- Tender vegetables like tomatoes and mushrooms only need about forty-five minutes, so you can add these near the end of the cooking time. Add dairy products like heavy cream or sour cream in the last thirty minutes, unless the recipe tells you otherwise.
- Every time you lift the lid you lose both heat and cooking time. If you want to peek at the contents, shake the lid a little, side-to-side, so the condensation rolls off and you will be able to see inside. Crock pot recipes seldom need stirring.
***
FRENCH ONION SLOW COOKER SOUP
4 to 5 white onions, sliced
1/2 stick butter
3 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. sugar (optional)
3 cans beef broth
1 can water or white wine
Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper
French baguette
Gruyere or Provolone
cheese, sliced
Parmesan cheese
In a skillet, melt butter and sauté onions, flour and sugar together until lightly brown. Put onions and broth into a crockpot, season to taste with Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Cook on low all day or on high five to six hours.
Cut the baguette into slices, about an inch thick and toast with olive oil or butter. Spoon out soup into oven safe bowls. Top each bowl with toast and layer on plenty of cheese, covering the surface of the soup. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes (until cheese melts), then broil until cheese is slightly browned and bubbling.
* * *
I love this soup. You slice down through the melted cheese and soaked toast into the onions and broth and come up with a spoon full of gooey goodness.
GARLIC BEEF
STROGANOFF
1 tsp. beef bouillon granules
(or 1 cube)
1 cup boiling water
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) condensed
cream of mushroom soup
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 - 2 lbs. boneless
round steak, trimmed and cut
into strips
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
8 oz. cream cheese, cubed
Hot cooked egg noodles
Dissolve the bouillon in the crock pot with the hot water. Add soup (undiluted), mushrooms, onion, garlic and Worcestershire.
In a skillet, brown the beef in oil. Transfer to the crock and stir well. Cover and cook on low for seven to eight hours, or until the meat is tender.
When you are about ready to serve, prepare the noodles and drain them. Stir the cream cheese into the crock, and spoon stroganoff over the hot noodles. Serve with additional garlic bread and you’ve got a great cold-fighting meal.
* * *
Don Coldsmith, bless his heart, ran this in one of his Gazette columns sometime in the past. Blake Eyman clipped it and brought it back around for a second go. He says it is “Infallible!”
COLDSMITH’S
CROCK POT MEAT
Place a layer of thinly sliced onions in the bottom of the crock. Add the meat of your choice (round steak, a roast, cut up chicken) and cover this with a mixture of equal portions of brown sugar, ketchup and picante sauce. If you want to make a larger dish, repeat these steps for a second layer. Cook for six to eight hours on low.
It doesn’t get much simpler, or more delicious than that. Get cooking!
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