10 Amazing Slow Cooker Tips for Cozy Meals
You may be hesitant to use a slow cooker thinking that it makes mushy flavorless food, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It is possible to make flavor-driven food in a slow cooker with these amazing slow cooker tips.
Learning how to use the slow cooker will save you a ton of time and aggravation in the kitchen. Ten minutes in the morning could save you an hour after work with these basic slow cooker tips to maximize your efficiency in the kitchen without sacrificing taste.
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1. Searing Is Key
When cooking a beef or pork roast in a slow cooker, searing the meat first is a necessary step. If you’ve tried slow-cooking meats before and found them lacking in flavor, it’s most likely because you didn’t brown the meat first. Like to do it all in one pot? (Us, too.) Look for a slow cooker that has a sear function.
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2. Avoid Lean Cuts of Meat
Lean cuts are okay for other cooking methods, but when slow cooking it is best to use fattier cuts of meat. Lean meats can lose flavor and become stringy. Plus, fattier cuts tend to be cheaper, which is better for your budget, too.
3. Avoid Cooking Frozen Foods
Thaw foods first before adding them to the slow cooker — especially meats. Not only can it impact the flavor, but adding frozen meat may be unsafe since it will lower the cooking temperature below safe levels.
4. Fill It Up
Whether you are cooking a meat or a vegetarian dish, you must make sure to add enough liquid.
Whether beans or a chuck roast, completely submerge what you’re cooking. Anything left out of the liquid will be dry or inadequately cooked. But be careful about overfilling too, as that can create one heck of a mess as well as potentially unsafe. Following the guidelines for your slow cooker is ideal.
5. Use Your Knife Skills
For best results, it is best to cut food into uniform sizes — just like you would if roasting or sautéing. Getting down your knife skills is a crucial part of having a flavorful and delicious meal. Uniform sizes may be tedious, but it’s worth it.
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6. Layer Foods
Place denser and heartier vegetables on the bottom, then add the meat or beans, and top with more delicate vegetables and herbs towards the end of cooking.
7. Add the Liquid Last
This might seem like a no-brainer, but add your ingredients first and then add the liquid. The other way around will make a mess and create a potential imbalance in the food-to-liquid ratio.
8. Avoid Adding Vegetables and Herbs Too Soon
Depending on what you are cooking, adding some vegetables and herbs too early in the cooking process will just make them mushy, and they may lose their flavor. Adding hearty root vegetables early is generally fine, do not add delicate vegetables until the final two hours. Along with that, add herbs at the final hour.
9. Don’t Overcook
Some cooks think that if a little bit of slow cooking is good, then a lot must be great. Not necessarily. Follow the cooking times in recipes and invest in a slow cooker with a timer. Overcooked food is not only unpleasant to eat, but some foods actually lose nutrients.
10. Get the Basics Down First
There is beginning slow cookery and advanced slow cookery. Stick with the basics until you have mastered them, and then you can progress to more advanced recipes.
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