This is the simplist crock pot recipe I ever used.For Bar-b-que'd beef:
2-3 lb brisket well trimmed
1/2 white onion sliced
12oz bottle of Kraft chili sauce
Put together in crock pot with onions on bottom and cook on low for 6-8 hours .
The chili sauce turns sweet and does not overpower the meal.
For your info,I always believe that the majority of the crockpots made in the last 15 years had very poor temp control.We got our first over 40 years ago and it never boiled the meat like the current $29.00 ones do!
I bit the bullet a year ago and caught a Fagor multicooker on sale at Macy's for $96.00.It was the best slow cooker I have ever used.It wors as a slow cooker,rice cooker and pressure cooker.Most importantly,it is easy to clean

Cathy2 wrote:I have made crockpot grits....

Ooh--I'll have to try this. I like my grits really well cooked so that might solve the irritation of the steel cut oatmeal being too mushy. Grits are another thing that I'm just too groggy in the morning to cook most of the time, but if they were already ready to go I could make myself scramble some eggs. Thanks Cathy!

grits wrote:I was trolling for some crock pot recipes today and found an Alton Brown recipe for crock pot tapioca pudding.

Could be a useful summer recipe since you don't have to use the stovetop and you can make ahead. I haven't tried this yet but I will, because I love tapioca pudding but rarely make it.

There are a few mixed reviews of the recipe so if you are going to try this you might check them out first. I probably will not follow the suggestion to leave at room temperature for an hour before putting in the fridge.

I tried this today. I doubled the recipe which was not a problem for my four-quart crock. Instead of 2 egg yolks I used two whole eggs, and instead of lemon I used 2 tsp vanilla.

In general, I thought this was good. I might use a couple of tablespoons extra sugar next time and maybe a little less large tapioca (or smaller pearls). The tapioca kind of turned into the blob that ate Chicago and took over the pudding part of this. Some of the reviews talk about this. If I'm doubling the recipe I might use 3/4 of a cup instead of a cup next time.

Oh, also, I put in the refrigerator to cool right away instead of letting this sit out at room temperature for an hour as Alton suggests. Not only is this not very safe, but there was no need for it as the pudding was already thick.

Hi everyone. I have just about perfected my butter chicken recipe in the crockpot. I will be posting it on my blog over the next week. www.indianasapplepie.com

I also made steel cut oats in the crock pot. I've tried everything including oiling down the insert before putting it in and I can't seem to get it to not stick. I have made them with 2 cups oats/4 cups water/4 cups soy milk. They were yummy but needed to cook likely 7 hours rather than 9. I'm going to try it again this week.

Dear Anupe,

I love butter chicken so I'm really looking forward to seeing this crockpot recipe.

I'm Irish by heritage and would love to have a really good crockpot recipe for steel-cut oat oatmeal, but so far haven't found one. Maybe I need to get a really small crockpot just for morning outmeal? Eager to see what you post.

Anupy wrote:Hi everyone. I have just about perfected my butter chicken recipe in the crockpot. I will be posting it on my blog over the next week. http://www.indianasapplepie.com

I also made steel cut oats in the crock pot. I've tried everything including oiling down the insert before putting it in and I can't seem to get it to not stick. I have made them with 2 cups oats/4 cups water/4 cups soy milk. They were yummy but needed to cook likely 7 hours rather than 9. I'm going to try it again this week.

Anupy, you might want to increase the liquid by 1 cup for your recipe. For one cup of steel cut oats I use 4.5 cups liquid. And yeah, 7 hours is better than 9. As far as the sticking, I get a little too but it's not too bad so I just live with it.

The convenience of the crock pot oats has totally won me over. I'm doing this once or twice a week now.

Looking forward to new recipes from you!

I've used the liners before and they work very nicely, but I think they leak. You won't have sticking, but you'll still have to clean some liquid out of the bottom of the insert.

Hello...in case you are still interested...here's my Slow Cooker Butter Chicken recipe. I hope you'll try it and of course enjoy it! -Anupy

Butter Chicken
Murg Makhani
Cooker: 5-quart medium
Settings, cooking times: low for 6 hours, makes 13 cups

Butter chicken is one of those dishes that has become synonymous with Indian food outside of India. I personally never grew up eating it. In fact, until I got married and we started ordering more take out from local Indian restaurants, I really hadn’t really tasted the dish. Regardless, who can say no to butter anything? Especially chicken?

After much research I found that there are many ways to make butter chicken. Some call for the chicken to be pan fried in butter before putting it into the sauce. Some call for cashews instead of almonds. I went with a recipe in one of my favorite Indian cookbooks, A Little Taste of … India and adapted it for the slow cooker.

If you make this dish and wonder why it doesn’t really look like the butter chicken you eat in most restaurants, congratulations, you’ve made it correctly! Most mainstream Indian restaurants serve tandoori chicken smothered in butter and cream as a poor substitute for the dish. On top of this, they add unhealthy food dyes for color. I won’t lie, there is butter and cream in here, but the calories are a mere blip up against all of the other fresh and healthy ingredients in this dish.

4 pounds chicken, skinned and boneless (I combine breast and thigh)
4-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped into 1-inch cubes
8 cloves garlic
1 cup blanched almonds
½ cup water
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt (fat, low-fat, or non-fat)
2 teaspoons red chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cloves (12 cloves - easy to do in mortar and pestle)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons garam masala
8 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed in mortar and pestle
2 tablespoons salt
5 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 large onions, thinly sliced
8 tablespoons ghee or unsalted butter (1 stick)
½ - 1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
½ cup heavy cream or half and half

Turn empty slow cooker to high while you prep.

Wash and cut chicken into 2 ½ -inch strips. Don’t cut it too small or it will dry out while cooking. If you are using frozen, be sure to defrost it completely before putting into the slow cooker. Set aside in a bowl.

In a food processor grind ginger, garlic, and almonds until smooth. Pour in water to help puree to a thick, almost creamy paste. To help the process turn food processor off and push almonds down from the sides and pulse again at once or twice to ensure the entire mixture is finely pureed.

In a bowl use a hand whisk to blend above paste, yogurt, red chili powder, cloves, cinnamon, garam masala, cardamom, and salt. Gently fold in tomatoes.

Pour mixture over chicken and mix well.

Put ghee or butter into slow cooker (which should be very hot by now). Allow it to melt – about 15 minutes. Put in onions and lightly fry for another 15 minutes, mixing slightly once or twice. Because this is done in a slow cooker the onions won’t get browned as they normally would on a stovetop. That’s okay. Just soften them in the butter. The slow cooker will do the rest later.

Add chicken mixture. Mix gently but thoroughly. Turn slow cooker on low and cook for 6 hours.

After cooking, add the cilantro and cream. Mix and top with chopped onions and green chilies. Serve with Basmati rice or thick naan.

If you don’t want to make this much chicken, you can cut the recipe in half using only 2 pounds of chicken. It will cook just fine in the 5-quart slow cooker.

Hi Grits....

Thanks for the feedback on the steel cut oats. I'm going to try it this weekend! Wish me luck. -Anupy

If my vegetarian best friend wasn't staying with me for the weekend, this is what would be for dinner Saturday! As it is, however, I'll report back next week on how this goes. Thanks for sharing, Anupy!

Hi MincyBits....I am primarily vegetarian so thought of your post all morning. I wanted to give you something to try this weekend. Here it is. I hope you do try it and I hope you love love love this dish as much as I do.

Punjabi Curried Kidney Beans
Rajmah – North Indian version of chili or red beans and rice
Cooker: 5-quart round or oval
Settings and Cooking times: high 11 hours, makes 7-9 cups

Rajmah is the quintessential comfort food for Punjabis (North Indians). Ask anyone from that region and they’ll tell you they grew up eating these hearty beans over rice in their home as a quick Sunday lunch or in their college hostel.
It’s not a dish that’s usually considered refined enough to be found on a restaurant menu, but it is a classic – made better only when served over a bed of rice with some savory, tangy yogurt on the side.
I remember one buddy in graduate school at the University of Hawaii had just arrived from India and was so desperate to eat rajmah that in lieu of tomatoes he substituted ketchup. I wouldn’t recommend such short cuts nor would I recommend using canned beans or cream as some recipes suggest. Keep it simple and I guarantee you’ll make this dish over and over again.

2 cups red kidney beans, washed thoroughly
1 medium yellow or red onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
2 medium-sized tomatoes diced (about 1 cup)
2-inch piece ginger, peeled and chopped or grated (2 tablespoons)
3 cloves garlic, chopped or minced (1 tablespoon)
2 - 4 green Thai, Serrano or cayenne chilies, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon whole cumin seed
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
3 whole cloves
1 tablespoon red chili powder
1 cinnamon stick (2-3 inches long)
1 tablespoon salt
6-8 cups water
1 bunch fresh, chopped cilantro (1/2 cup)

Place everything but the cilantro in the slow cooker. (6 cups of water will give you a thicker chili-like consistency. I grew up eating a saucier dish and so lI ike the 8 cups.)

Cook on high 11 hours until the beans break down and become thick and somewhat creamy.

When finished, take out the cloves (if you can find them!) and cinnamon stick. If the rajmah is not creamy enough, take an immersion blender and press it about two times to break up some of the beans. If using a blender, take out about a cup and process in the blender, then put this back in the slow cooker. Be careful not to process all of the beans. Most of the beans should remain whole.

Stir in the cilantro.

Serve over bed of basmati or brown rice with a side of raita and an Indian salad.

Try This! After cooking, add 1 cup of plain yogurt, stir well and let the slow cooker sit with the cover on for about 10 minutes. This adds a unique tang to the dish.

Anupy, if you signed up and brought your family to the LTH picnicalong with a couple of crock-pots, you would get a tasting panel not to be believed!

I am one of the taster for Anupy and I can say, the rajmah is excellent. I think we will have to try this recipe in the coming weeks. Will report back how it turns out.

I made beef tongue in the slow cooker last night. Onion, bay leaf, peppercorns, garlic, beef tongue, and water cooked on low for 10 hours. Remove the "skin" and shred the meat. Then I sauteed some chopped onions in olive oil, added sofrito, fresh salsa I had leftover from the night before (tomatoes, cilantro, jalapenos), oregano, adobo seasoning, cayenne, green olives with pimientos, and the shredded meat. Simmered for a bit, then eaten with rice. Total comfort food.

grits wrote:

Anupy wrote:I also made steel cut oats in the crock pot. I've tried everything including oiling down the insert before putting it in and I can't seem to get it to not stick. I have made them with 2 cups oats/4 cups water/4 cups soy milk. They were yummy but needed to cook likely 7 hours rather than 9. I'm going to try it again this week.

Anupy, you might want to increase the liquid by 1 cup for your recipe. For one cup of steel cut oats I use 4.5 cups liquid. And yeah, 7 hours is better than 9. As far as the sticking, I get a little too but it's not too bad so I just live with it.

I goofed this weekend and added an extra cup of water to my oats and got almost no sticking. This was too much water but I think for my crock I will increase the liquid to maybe around 5 cups liquid per one cup of oats from now on. YMMV since I have a plastic lid and it might be that more water escapes than with a heavier glass lid.

Yesterday I picked up two pork shoulders at Jewel for $0.73/lb* and put one in the crockpot for pulled pork sandwiches. I cut it into four pieces to cook more quickly and uniformly. I added our house favorite, Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, about 3/4 straight and 1/4 doctored up (brown sugar, brown mustard, molasses, olive oil, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, all to taste). Sometimes I add garlic and onions too but not this time.

Most important thing I've learned from past crockpot pulled pork experience is to use much less vinegar than is typical in recipes for homemade barbecue sauce: just a tablespoon or two rather than 3/4 cup or 1 cup. Six hours of vinegar fumes can be offputting to some housemates.

*$1.46/lb and buy one, get one free coupon, with Jewel card; but had to look behind the ones priced about $1/lb more to find the lower-priced ones marked sell by Oct 24.

E.V. wrote:I made beef tongue in the slow cooker last night. Onion, bay leaf, peppercorns, garlic, beef tongue, and water cooked on low for 10 hours. Remove the "skin" and shred the meat. Then I sauteed some chopped onions in olive oil, added sofrito, fresh salsa I had leftover from the night before (tomatoes, cilantro, jalapenos), oregano, adobo seasoning, cayenne, green olives with pimientos, and the shredded meat. Simmered for a bit, then eaten with rice. Total comfort food.

I often do tongue in the slow cooker (if I don't, I'm doing essentially the same thing on the stovetop) The only problem I have is that sometimes (if I'm lucky) the darn things are too big and poke out the top when they uncurl as they cook (a bit disconcerting, perhaps, for the uninitiated, but I only worry that the unsubmerged parts aren't cooking well.) Do you have a remedy? The Argentine version I make starts essentially the same way (I don't cook it for as long because it needs to stay together for slicing) but the broth is slightly different.

Katie wrote:Yesterday I picked up two pork shoulders at Jewel for $0.73/lb* and put one in the crockpot for pulled pork sandwiches. I cut it into four pieces to cook more quickly and uniformly. I added our house favorite, Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, about 3/4 straight and 1/4 doctored up (brown sugar, brown mustard, molasses, olive oil, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, all to taste). Sometimes I add garlic and onions too but not this time.

Most important thing I've learned from past crockpot pulled pork experience is to use much less vinegar than is typical in recipes for homemade barbecue sauce: just a tablespoon or two rather than 3/4 cup or 1 cup. Six hours of vinegar fumes can be offputting to some housemates.

*$1.46/lb and buy one, get one free coupon, with Jewel card; but had to look behind the ones priced about $1/lb more to find the lower-priced ones marked sell by Oct 24.

Katie, do you ever add anything else to keep the meat company? I've been known to add collard greens to slow-cooked pork..

We made beef stew last night...pretty much the standard recipe. Open to suggestions of how to mix this up a bit or additions.

I like to use a small beef roast and cube myself rather than get the pre-packaged stew cubes from Dominicks or Jewel. Add to this 1 sliced onion, 2 large peeled and sliced parsnips, 4 large peeled and sliced carrots, 2 cloves of crushed garlic, 10-12 small golden potatoes, washed but not peeled, beef stock and a few glug of red wine. I also like to peas at the last 20-30 min of cooking time. Seasonings are simply, thyme, salt and pepper.

We had this with homemade cheddar (from the farmers market cheese vendor "thecheesepeople") biscuts, a glass of red wine and ate it picnic-style in front of the fireplace with the family. Total comfort food, and a very comfortable night.

Mhays--do you eat the collard greens as a side? Do you pull it into the pork and incorporate it into the meat? Discard and only use for extra flavoring?

I usually leave it in there, mixing it in when I pull the meat. It does add a good flavor and texture, and has the added bonus of getting a vegetable in there.

I have not yet found the right sauce for my crock-pot pork (I haven't tried Katie's version) any other recipes out there?

Mhays wrote:Katie, do you ever add anything else to keep the meat company? I've been known to add collard greens to slow-cooked pork..

No, I never have so far, and would welcome suggestions. I've also never tried to cook collard greens in any form before, so maybe this should be my next experiment?

Mhays wrote:I usually leave it in there, mixing it in when I pull the meat. It does add a good flavor and texture, and has the added bonus of getting a vegetable in there.

Alas, I know already what SB would say about that: "how did seaweed get into my sandwich?" (sigh ... )

I usually make cole slaw to go along with pulled pork sandwiches. I have it on the sandwich; he has it on the side. I like to buy the thick-cut slaw veg pack (can't remember the brand name) and add julienned radish, carrot ... but cole slaw is another thread, or should be.

M--
When I do crockpot pork shoulder, I've already rubbed it, fridge for two days, smoked it, fridge for two days. When it cooks, I only add half a cup of water. The smoky spicy 'juice' that results in the end needs only a slight bit of addition of something tomatoey to be pretty good sauce. Might be too complicated, but it sure tastes good.

Geo

You know, I do miss the smokiness you get from a smoked pork shoulder, I just don't have the apparati to do so. I wonder if there's another way...

Mhays wrote:You know, I do miss the smokiness you get from a smoked pork shoulder, I just don't have the apparati to do so. I wonder if there's another way...

allegedly there is a faux smoke product called "liquid something".

Jim is teasing you Michelle--that liquid 'smoke' is SUUCCCHHHH nasty stuff. Really.

Didn't Cook's have a description lately how you can rig a covered cake pan or something to use as an indoor smoker? Seems to me I remember seeing something like that recently...

But, in any case, you could certainly do the rub plus fridge 'lagering' for a couple of days. That would really give the pork a flavor bump.

Geo

Mhays wrote:You know, I do miss the smokiness you get from a smoked pork shoulder, I just don't have the apparati to do so. I wonder if there's another way...

I wonder if introducing some ancho could help. There's also chipotle, but without moderation that could really alter the flavor. Obviously not the same as using a real smoker, but it will introduce some smoky and earthy flavors to the pork.

[quote="CM2772"]We made beef stew last night...pretty much the standard recipe. Open to suggestions of how to mix this up a bit or additions.

I like to use a small beef roast and cube myself rather than get the pre-packaged stew cubes from Dominicks or Jewel. Add to this 1 sliced onion, 2 large peeled and sliced parsnips, 4 large peeled and sliced carrots, 2 cloves of crushed garlic, 10-12 small golden potatoes, washed but not peeled, beef stock and a few glug of red wine. I also like to peas at the last 20-30 min of cooking time. Seasonings are simply, thyme, salt and pepper.

We had this with homemade cheddar (from the farmers market cheese vendor "thecheesepeople") biscuts, a glass of red wine and ate it picnic-style in front of the fireplace with the family. Total comfort food, and a very comfortable night.[/quote]

Next time try rolling the beef cubes in flour and place in pot with a tablespoon of butter and sautee until lightly brown.Then add the rest of the ingrediants

Thanks for the tip...actually this time, I did do just that--floured, browned and deglazed the pan with redwine and added in the browned bits. I am looking forward to tonight's dinner of leftover stew, bc it only gets better a few days later.

My mom used to add celery and mushrooms--but I can't stand those in stew, so I don't incorporate these in.