A Guide to Slow Cooking With the Crockpot

The crockpot is a great little addition to your kitchen that not only helps to make dinner time a lot easier but it also gives you a healthy way to cook a wide variety of foods. One of the best things about slow cooking in the crockpot is that you will not ever have to worry about burnt foods or meats that are too tough to chew or cut through.

What Can I Make in the Crockpot?

Crockpot

The crockpot is amazingly versatile and this simple appliance can be used to make everything from desserts to hearty soups to a host of delicious meals using all of the foods you love.

Although most all meats are ideal for the crockpot, some types definitely cook better than others using slower cooking methods. One notable benefit to slow cooking is that cheaper cuts of meat tend to work the best in the crockpot.

Chicken on the bone or whole fryer chickens are also great for making soups and stews. In addition, inexpensive cuts of beef or pork that might normally turn out tough in the oven will be tender and succulent after cooking the crockpot.

To maximize the taste of meats you may want to lightly coat them in flour and brown in a hot saucepan or skillet before adding to the crockpot. You should also remove fat from all types of meat and remove the skin from poultry before cooking in the crockpot. This helps to bring out the meat's natural flavors and will also give a more appetizing appearance to dishes such as soups and stews.

Besides meats, you can also make a number of wonderful vegetarian dishes in the crockpot as well as casseroles, chili, pasta dishes, and even sweet desserts.

Converting Conventional Recipes for the Crockpot

Do you have books and recipe boxes full of instructions for making all of your favorite foods in the oven or on the stovetop? Did you know that you can convert most all recipes for the slow cooker?

Recipes that are intended for the oven or stovetop which include some type of moisture in them can easily be converted to make in the crockpot instead. Dishes with moisture, such as water, broth, sauce, soup, and wine, for example, are the best for slow cooking as the foods are marinated together for hours at a time, which brings out their natural flavors wonderfully.

When converting recipes for the crockpot you will want to cut all of the liquids used in half. If your oven recipe calls for six cups of water, you will only need three for the crockpot.

Adjusting cooking times is another important factor of making recipes work well in the crockpot. The crockpot typically features two settings, low and high. The lowest setting on crockpots use heat at approximately 200 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about 95 degrees Celsius while the high settings cook at about 300 degrees (150 Celsius).

One hour of cooking time in the oven or on the stove usually converts to eight hours in the crockpot on the low setting or four hours on the high setting.

A Guide to Slow Cooking With the Crockpot

The best crockpot recipes are not always meant for the slow cooker. You can quickly convert most recipes that were intended for the oven for use in the crockpot by making a few simple adjustments. Easy crockpot recipes use ingredients that complement each other to maximize natural flavors for delicious combinations of foods.

The Best Crockpot Recipes Start With Our Recipes - BestCrockpotRecipes.net

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