gfunkdave

I would love your recipes. All of them.

uk1

Thanks.

I cheat at curry. Since I have - they have improved!

SheWhoTravelsNotEnough

I've tried slow cookers, but the length of time I'm at work with the commute makes it impractical for anything but long simmered soups or beans. Now I use a pressure cooker. Works well for me, since I don't have the time to get the slow cooker ready in the morning and I usually don't want to spend the time filling a pot in the evening after a long day and already preparing the evening meal.

uk1

The slow cooker in your situation takes less effort - not more - and will produce a much, much better result in almost all you cook. I can't think of anything doen in the pressure cooker that will either take much less time or taste better. The slow cooker is also much more "forgiving". They'll be less variable results. The prep for a slow cooker is about the same as for your pressure cooker - but produces much better results and you return after a long day and open your door to a home that smells very appetising.

I'd look again at slowly cooked food. The word Korma means pretty much slowly braised not quickly pressure cooked. There's the whole range of braised cooking ie boeuf bourguignon - the cheaper the cut of meat the better. A pot of thyme on your windowsill gives you some fresh herbs. You can make it a complete one-pot meal by putting say small potatos in their skins directly into the pot - they will stay whole. Or you can invest in something like a Zojirushi rice machine and it will keep the rice all day. Put a table spoon of coconut oil in the bottom and you'll have the most fragrant and perfect coconut rice when you return. Easy!

The slow cooker was intended for exactly your situation.

USA_flyer

+1.

The recipe I am making for tonight took me 15 minutes to prep last night and a further 3 minutes this morning. As UK1 says, the slow cooker is much more forgiving if you can't attend to the cooking process, there is much less risk to overcooked or undercooked food.

Also, I am sure you could find a cookbook with low prep time and long cook time meals. As Uk1 says, I would take another look.

Just don't blame us if it all goes wrong

uk1

There's something so much more isn't it! It's the idea when you get home that it is all done and dusted and bubbling away gently smelling out "eat me! eat me!"

I hope we coax SheWhoTravelsNotEnough to think again about this. Perhaps lash out and get a really good slow-cooker like my much loved Cuisinart. It's also the shape of the pot that decides. Too big is not good.

There is something about a slow cooked lamb curry ready for when you get back and open that first beer or glass of wine knowing there is nothing more to do .... why start cooking at night, when you can instead get up 10 minutes earlier and have it all done and have it waiting and have it slow cooked to perfection. Take the lid off and replace it with your plate, and even your plate will be warmed when you get back home.

I feel hungry.

USA_flyer

So the slow cooked beef brisket au jus was spectacular. Well I thought so anyway, the wife was a little less enthused.

gfunkdave

@uk1 - recipes please! I'm not kidding!

uk1

Happy to. This is really simple - tastes similar to Indian Restaurant but adjusted to my taste - but has taken some time to work out oddly.

The best I ever make is cheats all the way through. I normally use a Waitrose Keralan paste - or a Pataks Balti or Korma which I fry off (sometimes I add a squirt of fresh garlic and fresh ginger from tubes) with a small tin of coconut cream and a tin of braised onions(also sold in jars) ... and once bought to bubbling I blitz in the saucepan to a thick smooth gravy, and add a tin of cream of tomato soup. Waitrose is much better than Heinz. If I want some more heat I add some tubed chili. I then sweeten. I add chunks of chicken breast or lamb neck fillet and it's done. You can add butter if you want butter chicken. This is a 5 minute curry.

Alternatively, if I want a sort of mildish mint gosht I add a few spoons of mint sauce from an unmade up jar ie bottled mint before the vinegar is added and some more chilli paste.

All probably sounds odd but it works for me.

ILuvParis

I think this should turn into a favorite slow cooker recipe thread. Here's one of my favorites from the Chicago Tribune, Momofuku inspired:

Slow Pork

4-pound bone-in pork shoulder
1/3 C sugar
Kosher salt
1/4 C brown sugar

Rinse and pat dry pork. Toss together white sugar and 1/3 cup salt; rub all over pork. Slide into a zip-lock bag and chill, 6 hours or overnight.

Pull out pork, discard bag and juices. Rinse and pat dry. Settle in a large (5 to 7 quart slow cooker set on low. Let cook, turning once, until crazy tender, about 10 hours.

Pull out the pork and let rest on a rimmed baking sheet. Toss together brown sugar and 1 1/4 teaspoons salt; rub all over pork. Slide into a 500 degree oven until caramel-brown, about 10 minutes.

Serving suggestion:

Serve: Set out the pork shoulder, whole, along with rice, lettuce, scallions (see below), kimchi and sauce. Let each diner pull off shards of meat and wrap in lettuce along with cooked rice and condiments.

FOR GARNISH:

1 ¼ cups thinly sliced scallions ¼ cup grated fresh ginger

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 teaspoon soy sauce

½ teaspoon sherry vinegar

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Fragola

I'm a fan of both my slow cooker and pressure cooker for different recipes. I think the slow cooker develops flavour better.

If your commute time might cause food to actually OVERcook (it's happened to me once with a 14 hr workday) I attached a digital a digital Christmas light timer on mine to delay start on my old-style non-programmable slow cooker.

uk1

Some of the more expensive ones eg Cusinart have both a timer and logic so for example it will cook for 24 hours and then reduce to just keep warm and stop cooking. This means that prep can be done the previous night for example.

USA_flyer

I have a tartiflette in my slow cooker for tonights meal. I used brie since my grocery store doesn't stock Roblochon.

SheWhoTravelsNotEnough

I leave the house at 6:30 am, get back home about 6 pm and we eat dinner at 7:30. I've been looking at slow cookers that have the ability to switch to a keep warm temperature, but with a two person household, I find that the choices are limited. Do any of you have recommendations? (I live in the US.)

USA_flyer

I have a CrockPot that has a digital display that ends the cooking period, and a 'keep warm' function which keeps the food warm for several hours. But even if it didn't, it's not a biggie to serve it up and then heat the food in a microwave.

This is the one I have;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crock-Pot-Sl...tainless+Steel

My Tartiflette took 20 minutes to prep this morning. It should be hot and ready to eat when I get home.