I’ve made a fair amount of stews in my crock pot, with good results, but I am still puzzled about the best way to go about it. To my mind, there are two ways to stew in a crock pot -
Add enough liquid to nearly cover the meat. The advantage of this is that all the meat will be flavored with the stew. The disadvantage is that you need to heavily reduce the sauce before serving. From experience, this could take a good hour, and is kind of stupid becaue the whole advantage of a crock pot is that it’s all in one pot. Straining the sauce into another pot and reducing is a pain, and gives you two extra things to wash.
Add just a bit of liquid. The advantage is that no reducing is necessary. The disadvantage is that most of the meat will be steamed, not stewed. There probably will be no flavor in much of the meat, since no salt or spices will get in there. You cannot stir crock pots, since it takes so long to get up to proper temperature. So there’s really nothing you can do about it.
I usually do #1, and it comes out fine, but it’s more work then crock pot cooking should be.
What’s the answer? Is there something I’m missing, or perhaps is stewing in the crock pot just not a good idea?
I used #1 on your list but cooked the last hour or 2 * uncovered * on high, stirring every 1/2 hr.or so.It always worked for me.
I also browned the flour dredged meat chunks before putting them in the pot.This practice only adds about 10 mins.to the prep time.I did it while I was chopping the vegetables,so prep time was just about the same.
I agree with Lure-- you need to brown the meat before putting it in the crock pot. I’m not certain, but I worry that the temperature in the crockpot does not get high enough to kill bacteria.
Depending on what I’m cooking, I sometimes thicken the sauce by adding a mixture of cornstarch and water. (Never put cornstarch directly in hot liquid. It will lump. Always disolve completely in cold water, and then pour it in.)
Thanks for the reply. Cooking it uncovered is an interesting idea. I always assumed that even the high setting would not maintain a boil uncovered, but now that I think about it, I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t.
** Avumede ** Just make sure you cook it ** Covered ** on low the first 6/8 hrs.,however long you’re cooking it.Subsitute your uncovered hours for the last hr.or more of your normal cooking time.
Turning it on high should result in a simmer within abt.15 min,then stir and watch.
When it’s on high the bottom will be hotter just like on a stove.If you just let it sit without stirring occasionally,you’ll get like results.Potatoes or other starches sticking to the bottom.
This phase isn’t like the first-stick in pot and forget about it.
For ** Lissa ** Those crockpots on low cook as high as any stovetop pot does.Shouldn’t worry about bacteria.If your meat’s rare in a crockpot,you haven’t cooked it long enough.
I brown for the added starch and stay together shape of braised meat. Also when you’re browning you shouldn’t be cooking the meat through,just searing the outside.Flavors the sauce and keeps the meat juicier.
Instead of reducing the gravy, you could throw in some barley for the last hour or so to absorb the excess. Be conservative - barley sucks up something like four times its volume of liquid.
My beef-barley soup usually turns into a pot of beef-flavoured barley. Great stuff!
I always cover the meat with liquid in a crock pot. If it turn out too liquidy in the end (which it never really does for me, but I use a lot of starchy vegetables) you can try one of the following:
Instead of using flour to thicken, try instant mashed potatoes or potato flakes. Works like a charm, and the only reason I have this stuff around.
Melt three tablespoons of butter in a pan, and add three tablespoons of flour. (Or half the amount in corn starch or arrowroot.) Let it cook for a minute and mix it in into your stew.
Or, mix 3 tablespoons or so of flour with COLD liquid (or even sour cream) in a glass. Add to stew and cook until thickened.
I also agree with Lure on browning your meat before you stew. It’s not absolutely necessary, but with most stew it’s desirable for the flavor. Beef and pork I always sear. Veal is pretty much the only meat I won’t sear before stewing.
Searing the meat is definitely a good idea for flavour but it’s a myth that it has any effect on juicyness. Don’t worry though, you’re in good company. In his treatise on meteorology Aristotle wrote,
Thus as the exterior pores contract, the moisture contained in the object cannot escape any more, but is imprisoned there when the pores close.
The idea was popularised by the German chemist Justus von Lieblig in his Researches on the Chemistry of Food which was translated into English in 1847 and it’s been written in loads of recipe books ever since.
Not true though… the seared outside isn’t waterproof and doesn’t keep moisture (or water soluble stuff) in. It does make it nice and tasty though because it causes browning reactions. Even though we’ve sent men to the moon, we don’t really understand these but we do know that they don’t happen at the lowish temperatures (less than 100C) that you get when you stew stuff.
On braising-While it may be true it doesn’t keep water soluble juice (like vegetables) in,the “juiciness” from meat comes from marbling, the fat in it.Fat,as any cook knows from skimming soups,etc.is hardly water soluble.
I haven’t read the book so I don’t know the author’s expertise in the matter,but having tried it both ways,the searing method translated into a juicer/less dry chunk of meat,wile unseared pieces tended to break up and become strings,rather than formed pieces of meat after 8 hrs.of slowcooking.
It may be myth to the author,but my taste buds tell another story.Could this be pyschological on my part?Possibly.Could the author be wrong on this point?Again,possibly.
McGee could be wrong but I doubt it. The book’s pretty famous and has been around for eighteen years so I reckon mistakes would have been pointed out and he could have changed it. When it was first published it was reviewed in Nature who said
Obviously not a rigorous peer review of all 650 pages but it’ll do for me.
He’s also got something to say about juiciness.
Fats do play a role in stimulating saliva production so juiciness depends on both water and fats. I don’t know whether the seared bit allows fat through or not but if Harold McGee says searing doesn’t keep meat juicier then I’d put money on it.