• About and Contact
  • Air Fryer Cooking Charts and Conversions
  • Air Fryer Recipes – Update: August 2020 – Chicken Olivia
  • Barcode Country List
  • Boise Foodie Blog Recipes – Updates: Dec 2020 – Herbs de Provence
  • Boise Restaurant Guide – 52 Restaurant Choices! Updated: July 2018
  • Companion Garden Planting
  • Instant Pot Recipes – Update August 2020 – IP Chicken with Ketchup, Honey and Soy
  • Recipes from the Captain’s Shack: Dec 2020 – CS Prime Rib

Boise Foodie Guild

~ – Enjoy a meal or a recipe with us! Be sure to check the Sidebar and Menu above. Interesting resources are listed there. Most are hot links. Air Fryer (AF), Instant Pot (IP) and Captain's Shack (CS) recipes now have their own page. Subscribe to the blog. It's still FREE!

Boise Foodie Guild

Category Archives: Dinner in a Crockpot

Slow Cooker Cooking

17 Sunday Jul 2016

Posted by Bob and Robin in Cooking Classes, Cooking Safety, Cooking Styles, Crockpot, Dinner in a Crockpot, Food Prep, Housemade Soup, Interesting Information, Kitchen Adventures, Local Farmers Markets, Local Harvests, Local Markets, Oven to Crockpot, What's For Dinner?

≈ 1 Comment


Crock-Pot-Blog-Post_PhotoAh yes. The infamous Crock-Pot, or Slow Cooker. In an article in the Huffington Post, A Brief History Of The Crock Pot, The Original Slow Cooker, they state that “… People tend to use the terms “Crock Pot” and “slow cookers” interchangeably, but they are not, in fact, interchangeable. While all Crock Pots are slow cookers, not all slow cookers are Crock Pots…Don’t get too disappointed. Just because the Crock Pot is a brand doesn’t mean it doesn’t have an interesting back story. In fact, the Crock Pot’s story is rooted in Jewish mothers and beans. The device was inspired by a dish the inventor’s mother told him about. From a humble bowl of bean stew grew a kitchen ware empire. Here’s the story:…Irving Naxon applied for a patent for a food heating device in 1936. His device consisted of an insert, held up by a case that held a heating device, which facilitated even heating of food inside the insert. The device was also portable…By 1940, Naxon got his patent for the device he called the Naxon Beanery, and he says his Lithuanian mother, Tamara Kaslovski Nachumsohn, inspired him. Naxon’s mother had told him stories about a bean-based stew she used to make in her village bakery at home in Lithuania.
In the early 1970s, Naxon sold his design to Rival Manufacturing, who rebranded his Beanery and put it on the market as the Crock Pot. It was marketed toward working mothers who could put food in the pot before leaving for the office and come home to a cooked meal; the Crock Pot sold millions through the ‘70s. The Crock Pot “cooks all day while the cook’s away,” a 1976 advertisement said, the LA Times reports…
Today, slow cooking is as popular as ever, as 83 percent of families owned a slow cooker in 2011, according to Consumer Reports. The original Crock Pot design has changed little over the years, but now the insert is removable, a major improvement.”

But what about all the recipes I have collected over the years. How can I adapt them to the Slow Cooker? Good question. From About (dot) com we get some interesting information on this subject. Homecooking.

Reduce the amount of liquid used in most oven recipes when using the LOW setting, since the crockpot retains all moisture that usually evaporates when cooking in the oven. Add liquids for sauces about an hour before done. You will normally end up with more liquid at the end of cooking times, not less. A general rule is to reduce liquids by half, unless rice or pasta is in the dish.

• Spices may need to be adjusted. Whole herbs and spices are more flavorful in crockpot cooking while ground spices may have lose some flavor. Add ground spices during the last hour of cooking. Whole herbs and spices will probably need to be reduced by half.
• Crockpots may vary but generally, the LOW setting is about 200 degrees Fahrenheit and the HIGH setting is about 300 degrees. One hour on HIGH is approximately equal to 2 to 2 1/2 hours on LOW. Most crockpot recipes recommend cooking 8-10 hours on LOW. Some recipes recommend the HIGH setting based on the nature and texture of the food.
You will have to judge your recipe accordingly. For example, beef cuts will be better cooked on LOW for 8-10 hours to get a more tender texture, while chicken may be cooked on HIGH 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Ingredients to Avoid
• Rice, noodles, macaroni, seafood, milk and Chinese vegetables do not hold up well when cooked 8-10 hours. Add these to sauces or liquid about 2 hours before serving when using LOW setting (or 1 hour before if set to HIGH). If you want to use milk in an 8-10 hour recipe, use evaporated milk.
• Frozen foods cooking at low temperatures can provide the ideal medium for harmful bacteria. If you use frozen “make-ahead” ingredients in your crockpot, defrost them first.

Prepping for the Crockpot
• Choose well-marbled meats and dark-meat poultry for best results. Chicken breasts and lean meats will dry out.
• Browning meats before cooking is a personal choice. It is not necessary, but it will reduce the fat content of some meats. Browned meats also benefit textually and visually.
• Sautéing vegetables (like onions, etc) is not necessary, (except for eggplant which should be parboiled or sautéed prior due to its strong flavor). Just add them to the pot with everything else. You may wish to reduce quantities of stronger vegetables since they will permeate the other foods in the crockpot with their full flavor.

How to Convert Recipes
You generally need twice as much liquid as product to cook these ingredients. Here are basic conversion times:
If conventional time is: 15 to 30 minutes, then cooking time on low should be 4 to 6 hours.
If conventional time is 35 to 45 minutes, cooking time on low should be 6 to 8 hours.
If conventional time is 50 minutes to 3 hours, cooking time on low should be 8 to 16 hours.
Cooking most raw meat and vegetable combinations at least 8 hours on LOW. This gives the vegetables time to soften, the meat time to tenderize and all the flavors to blend.

Of course, the new hotter cooking crockpots change the rules. If you have a crockpot that is less than five years old, you’ll probably need to reduce the cooking time.
In fact, some of the newer recipes I’ve seen in magazines cook the food for only 3-4 hours on low. That’s not really ‘slow cooking’, but it’s the reality of the crockpot manufacturing today. Check the food at four hours on low, using an instant read meat thermometer to see if the food is done.

For more information on using your favorite recipes in a crockpot, look at Cooking Times for Specific Foods. This article has more in-depth information on cooking times for more specific items, i.e., steak, beans, chicken, Swiss steak, brisket, meatloaf, ham and soup to name a few. Give them a try. Great for Gameday treats! Here is a Gameday recipe we use, Creole Slow Cooker Pork Chops, but there are many more ideas at Boise Foodie Guild Recipes. It should be fun. Here is a link for some oven to crockpot recipes. There are more. Lots more! Five Ingredient Crockpot Recipes crockpot recipes. All that being said, here is a good resource for finding the right crockpot for you: Picking the Slow Cooker That’s Right For You.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Print
  • Instagram
  • More
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Like this:

Like Loading...

  • Bob and Robin
  • rockinrobin43

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Copyright Notice

Creative Commons License
This blog and all work herein is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

The Current Weather at the Captain’s Shack

Click the image to see the very latest and current weather at the Captain's Shack in Boise, Idaho

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 163 other followers

Thanks to all of these readers of this blog!

  • 242,721 Folks Reached

Monthly Archives of this Blog

Translate This Page

Assoc of Food Bloggers

Association of Food Bloggers

BFM Drive-Thru

Boise Farmers Market Drive-Thru

Air Fryer Cooking Time and Temperature Conversion Calculator

To convert to the AirFryer

AirFryer Recipes

https://www.airfryerrecipes.com/

Air Fryer Conversions

Rule of 25%. Reduce oven/frying temperature by 25% and time by 25%.

Fork To Spoon – Air Fryer and Instant Pot Recipes

Great resource for AF and IP information and recipes.

AirBnB Buhl, Idaho

Welcome to Mary Anne’s place, a historic cottage in the heart of Kelley’s Canyon Orchard. Just 20 minutes from Twin Falls, unwind in this quiet retreat by enjoying the pleasant sound of a nearby creek and views that look out into the orchard. 4 guests · 2 bedrooms · 3 beds · 1 bath, Wifi · Free parking · Kitchen, Entire House! 1903 River Rd, Filer, Idaho 83328

Snake River AVA (Idaho Wine Districts) Happenings

Follow what is happening in the Idaho wine districts, Snake River AVA, Eagle Foothills AVA and the Lewis and Clark AVA. Events, tastings, dinners and other exciting happenings. Look for BNB's at a winery.

Bloglovin’

RSS Links

RSS Feed RSS - Posts

RSS Feed RSS - Comments

-----------------------
I Know. Not Idaho Products, But still Worth A Try!
----------------------

Rockin’ Rs

----------------------
Items of Blog Interest.
-----------------------

Member of The Internet Defense League

The History Kitchen

Interesting historical information about food - prep, origins and uses. Written by a kitchen anthropologist!

-----------------------
Of Concern To This Blog
----------------------

Recent Posts

  • Some Recipes That We Suggest
  • Bacon Blueberry Waffles
  • Smoked Venison
  • Awesome Roast Beef
  • Woodsman Pasta

-----------------------
Think Local!! Buy Local!!

Let them know you saw their logo on this blog. Thanks!
----------------------

Buy Local!

If you are not from Idaho, think about Buying Local in Your area! As for us, we have lived in Idaho since 1982. We Buy Idaho wherever possible.

Chef Jake Sandberg, Crispeats

Food References and Recipes

Buy Local

And it does ... Just Make Sense! Regardless of where you are from.

------------------------
Think Local!! Idaho Products.

Let them know you saw their logo on this blog. Thanks!
-----------------------

The New Boise Farmers Market

Summer and Winter - 1500 Shoreline Dr, Boise (Americana and Shoreline)

Idaho Farmers Markets

A listing of statewide Farmer's Markets with contacts.

Find Your Local Farmers Market

Click on the graphic to find your local farmers market either by city or zip code.

Acme Baked Shop, Boise

Available at the Boise COOP. Some of the best bread in Boise and all local!! They make the bread for the 10 Barrel Brew Pub, Angell's Bar and Grill, Salt Tears, all here in Boise. Awesome rye bread that actually tastes like rye bread. And the baguettes .... Wonderful. (208) 284-5588 or runsvold2000@gmail.com

Brown’s Buffalo Ranch

Give them a call or EMail for awesome buffalo meat.

Desert Mountain Grass Fed Beef (formerly Homestead Natural Beef)

Desert Mountain Grass Fed Beef, with Bob and Jessica Howard of Howard Ranch in Hammett. The company will only sell whole animals to the Boise Co-op and Whole Foods stores in Boise and Utah. They will also be at the Boise Farmers Market.

Falls Brand Pork roducts

Click the image for pork recipes.

Kelley’s Canyon Orchard

1903 River Rd, Filer, ID 83328 Hours: 10am - 6pm, Phone: (208) 543-5330

Malheur River Meats

Matthews Idaho Honey

Matthews All-Natural Meats

Meadowlark Farms

All natural Eggs, Lamb and Chicken

Purple Sage Farms

Reel Foods Fish Market

1118 Vista Avenue, Boise, ID 83705 (208) 713-8850 Monday-Friday: 10am-6pm, Saturday: 9am-5pm. Sunday: Gone Fishin’

Standard Restaurant Supply

Plenty of items for the home, too. Check them out. 6910 Fairview, Boise 83704 (208) 333-9577

-----------------------
Some Awesome Recipe and Spice Sources. Culturally diverse.

Let them know you saw their logo on this blog. Thanks!
------------------------

Crockpot Recipes

Many good recipes here.

A Taste of France

A collection of French recipes

Basque Recipes

Best Ever Recipes of Mexico

Malaysian Recipes

Awesome Malaysian recipes.

Memorie di Angelina Italian Recipes

My Best German Recipes Web Site

Regional and Oktober Fest Recipes

There are a lot of recipes here.

Sauer Kraut Recipes

Recipes By Robin and Bob

Recipes that we have collected and created throughout the years.

Recipes of Elizabeth W. Young, Bob’s Mother

These are the recipes that my Mother collected over 85 or so years. The photo of my Mother was one of the last I have of her. It was taken in July, 1987.

Recipes From The Mediterranean Area

Soup and Chowder Recipes

Recipes from "My Recipes"

Deep South Dish Recipes

The Recipes of Greece

Tasty Mexican Recipes

The Shiksa In The Kitchen

Great Jewish recipes!

-----------------------
Some Great Boise Restaurants.

Let them know you saw their logo on this blog. Thanks!
-----------------------

Asiago’s – Italian

Bella Aquila, Eagle, ID

775 S Rivershore Ln., Eagle, ID 83616 (208) 938-1900

Bar Gernika – Basque Pub and Eatery

202 S Capitol Blvd, Boise (208) 344-2175 (Checked)

Chef Larry’s Cafe, Titusville, FL

1111 South Washington Street, Titusville, Florida

Capitol Cellars

Awesome food and wine!

Cottonwood Grille

913 W River St., Boise (208) 333.9800 cg@cottonwoodgrille.com

Enrique’s Mexican Restaurant

482 Main St., Kuna (208) 922-5169 New name. Was El Gallo Giro. Same owners and kitchen. The Best Mexican restaurant in the Boise/Kuna area, bar none!

Flying Pie Pizzaria

Goldy’s Breakfast Bistro

108 S Capitol Blvd., Boise (208) 345-4100

Goldy’s Corner Cafe

625 W Main St., Boise (208) 433-3934

Guanabanas – Island Restaurant and Bar

960 N Highway A1A, Jupiter, FL

Janjou Pâtisserie

Janjou Pâtisserie, 1754 W State St., Boise, Idaho 83702 (208) 297.5853

Mai Thai Asian Cuisine

750 West Idaho Street Boise, ID 83702 (208) 344-8424

Mazzah Grill – Mediterranean and Greek Cuisine

1772 W State St., Boise (208) 333-2566

Richards Inn by Chef Richard Langston

Formerly - Vincino's. New location at 500 S Capitol Blvd., Boise (208) 472-1463. Reservations are highly suggested.

Sakana Japanese Sushi Bar

7107 W State Street, Garden City. (208) 853-4993 and they are open Mon – Thursday: 11:00am – 10:00pm, Friday and Saturday: 11am – 11pm, Sunday: 12 noon – 9pm

The Orchard House

14949 Sunnyslope Rd., Caldwell (208) 459-8200

The Ravenous Pig

1234 N. Orange Ave. Winter Park, FL

-----------------------
Think Local!! Boise Breweries, Brew Pubs and Wine Bars.
Let them know you saw their logo on this blog. Thanks!
-----------------------

10 Barrel Brewery Boise

830 W Bannock St., Boise (208) 344-5870

Cloud 9 Brewery and Pub

Opening Fall 2013 in the Albertson's Shopping Center, 18th and State in the old Maxi Java

Edge Brewing Company

525 N Steelhead Way, Boise, ID 83704 (208) 323-1116

-----------------------
Miscellaneous Items
-----------------------

Blog Syndication

NetworkedBlogs
Blog:
Boise Foodie Guild
Topics:
Food, Recipes, Cooking
 
Follow my blog

Blog Badge

Local & Regional Food Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
    <span>%d</span> bloggers like this: