Tips on slow cooking
Who doesn't love to come home to a nice and warm meal after a long day at work? But sadly enough, the long working hours hardly leave either the time or the energy to cook at home. If you can relate yourself with this situation, then there's some good news for you. Well, 'Slow-cooking' might just be the answer. Set your food to slow-cook before you leave for work and come home in the evening to a hot and hearty meal.
The slow-cooking method, which employs a slow-cooker, is basically simmering of food at a lower temperature than the conventional cooking methods for long hours allowing unattended cooking. Cook delicious dishes like pot roast, meatballs, pork chops, chowder, sausages, soups, fondue, pudding and many others.
Tips on slow cooking
Here are some tips that you will find helpful while Slow-cooking:
1. Frequent opening and closing of the lid should be strictly avoided, unless, of-course if the recipe asks you to. Remember, every time you open the lid, the heat and moisture escapes adding another 30 minutes to the cooking time.
2. Some beans like raw kidney beans or the broad or fava beans contain a toxic substance in them which can only be destroyed if they are cooked for at least ten minutes in boiling water. The lower temperature in a slow-cooker is not sufficient to destroy the toxins, leading to poisoning of the food. Few such cases have already been reported. To avoid the risk, always keep in mind to use canned and cooked beans according to your recipe.
3. Recipes meant for conventional cooking methods need to be modified to suit slow-cooking. Since the slow-cooker allows very little evaporation, quantities of liquids in most cases have to be reduced suitably. However, see to it that the liquid covers the food entirely.
4. If you are cooking with meat, use tough and inexpensive cuts. In case of slow-cooking, cheaper cuts of meat are even tastier than stews which are made using expensive cuts.
5. The food must be given enough time to cook before it is eaten. If the food is allowed to cool below 70 degree Celsius and is not re-heated, harmful bacteria growth is possible. Some bacteria may produce toxins or spores which can't be destroyed even by re-heating.
6. Don't turn off the heat of your slow-cooker and use it to keep the food warm inside. The temperature won't be high enough to prevent the growth of bacteria. Instead, remove the food from the cooker immediately after it has been cooked and store it properly.
7. Choose recipes like chili, stews and sauces. These have a high moisture content which would help in even distribution of the heat inside the cooker. Also, defrost the meat and vegetables in the refrigerator before you start cooking.
9. Keep the cooker on the highest temperature setting for the first one hour of the cooking time and then change it to another setting, as instructed in your recipe.
10. Don't keep the finished dish in the cooker for long because the food would still continue to cook. Overcooking may cause the meat and vegetables to become tasteless.
11. If you come home and find out that the power had gone while the food had been cooking, check the temperature of the food. If you find it is less than 165 degree Fahrenheit, the food is not safe to consume.
12. Spray the inside of the 'crock', which is the ceramic pot, with non-stick cooking spray before you add the food. This will make the job of cleaning-up afterwards a lot easier.
