Lesson Learned (a new series)
Nearly each day, I find that I have learned something new about cooking,baking, homemaking, etc. Of course, when one is starting from a knowledge base of, well… zilch…
Thus, a new series is born!!
Lesson Learned
In an attempt to make dinner a bit easier, I decided to pull out the Crock-Pot for last night’s dinner. Fortunately, I had allocated a solid amount of prep time as one does not just toss ingrediants into the slow cooker. There was quite a bit of chopping and slicing AND sauteing before anything went into the cooking insert.
Why sauteing?
Humans are visually-oriented. We have been conditioned that browned meat means that it has been thoroughly cooked. Sitting in a Crock-Pot for eight hours will do many things to meat…but browning isn’t one of them. Additionally, sauteing the meat and veggies ahead of time brings out certain desirable flavours.
Lesson Learned.
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There are some crock pot recipes where you can just toss everything in and turn it on. They’re the only ones I make!! =)
I’ve seen this too, but the meat is usually only given a sear on all sides, not cooked all the way through. I do this with stew meat when making beef stew.
I never saute. But I never make meat… 🙂
I always thought that you cook the ground beef or ground turkey first so that you can drain the fat. That way it keeps the meal in the crock pot from being runny, and makes it healthier. Never even occurred to me that it was for aesthetics.
Now I try to make crock pot recipes that don’t require the use of any additional pots or pans. I do find that most require a lot of chopping, but I try to do all that the night before.
There’s a super-delicious Hungarian cholent recipe I make, when I’m feeling particularly ambitious, while calls for sauteeing the meat and potatoes in paprika before sticking them in the cholent pot (in my case, crock pot). I found that it comes out exceptionally tasty.
I also prefer crock pot recipes where I can just toss everything in, but do enjoy the bit of extra effort every now and then.
I only cook the meant in advance when I make ground chicken or turkey, other meats are okay to cook in therre! Gla you are enjoying the new cooking experiences!