I'm going to start off the thread by posting a recipe for a favourite Greek dish of mine: Stifado
1.5 kg braising steak
1kg shallots
2/3 to 3/4 mug red wine
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1-1.5 tablespoon of oregano
1 small head of garlic (split into whole cloves)
3-4 small tomatoes or 1-2 big beef tomatoes (grated or blended)
1-1.5 tablespoon of tomato paste
Salt/pepper
1.5-2 stick of cinnamon - whole
1 whole nutmeg ground
1-1.5 teaspoon cumin
1.5-2 bay leaves
Brown the braising steak in batches in a pan with olive oil on a medium-high heat and transfer to slow cooker
Lower pan to medium heat and cook peeled (but whole) shallots, garlic, vinegar and all the spices (except bay leaves). Ideally cover pan with a lid
When shallots are soft, add the tomatoes, tomato paste and bay leaves. Cook for a couple of minutes then add contents to slow cooker
Mix ingredients and turn on the slow cooker. Cook for about 4-5 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low. Mix occasionally. It should have the same sort of consistency as a curry when ready. The shallots should be falling apart when prodded.
Serve with chips or oven chips (fries or wedges for the murricans), mash or rice if you're lame.
Can also be made with rabbit, lamb, boar, or even octopus or mushrooms for the vegetarians.
Serve like so
this looks very good
>>7449465
Trust me, it tastes and smells fucking amazing. It's given me a very high appreciation for red-wine in cooking. You can also add a teaspoon of allspice if you like.
If you can't do it in a slow-cooker, use a dutch-oven or a pressure cooker.
>>7449494
'cont'd
It tastes like a more spiced (as in has more spices not hotter) Boeuf Bourgignon
Mastello - Lamb, dill and wine stew
Use lambshank, lamb ribs, lamb chops or any other pieces of lamb you can find - use cuts that have bone to add flavour. If you have large cuts like a lamb shank ask the butcher to cut them in pieces that you can arrange in your slow cooker rather than one big piece. Marinade for a few hours in red or white wine (optional).
Remove from marinade and rub with salt, pepper and oregano.
Place in slow cooker, with the larger pieces on the outside and the smaller pieces on the inside and sprinkle fresh dill over it generously, you want the lamb to be completely covered in a layer of dill.
Pour red or white wine (I strongly reccommend white wine for a finer taste, use red wine for stifado instead) until the meat is covered and then some. You can choose to keep pouring until you're a couple of inches below the rim of the slow cooker or less. It's completely down to your preference of how much juice you want the dish to have.
Stick it on high for about 6 ορ 7 hours. You can choose to start it off in the oven for 30 mins at 220*C followed by 6 hours of slow cooking on high.
This is served very nicely with oven-roasted potatoes or chips.
Pulled Pork
>buy pork roast
>put in slow cooker
>8 hours on low
>wa la
Chickpea Stew
Take 500gr of chickpeas and soak overnight
Remove from water and place in slow-cooker.
Chop 8-10 small/medium onions (just about fit in the palm of your hand) or 3-4 big ones. Place in slow-cooker
Add a 3-4 bay leaves, 2-3 twigs of fresh rosemary salt and pepper and generous amounts of extra-virgin olive oil - about 1/3 of a cup or even more (use good stuff and you'll be rewarded as it's a big part of the flavour).
Pour water until it's 1 to 1.5 inches over the level of the chickpeas.
Cook on low for 12 hours or high for 6.
Serve in a bowl with generous amounts of squeezed lemon juice. Optionally, add crumbled feta.
This dish is considered a success if the onions have almost dissolved completely, but the chickpeas have somewhat retained their firmness. They must be soft to bite but not mushy.
salsa chicken
>>7449622
Eat with thick slices of toasted, rustic bread to mop up the juices. Sourdough works well.
I thought more people would use slow-cookers on /ck/
>>7449682
I did yesterday. I cooked a brisket and some cut oxtail for five hours in homemade stock made from quartered knees.
The best thing I've made in mine so far was a pibil-meets-pulled-pork-like slow-cooked chicken dish with pinapple juice, paprika (instead of achiote because fuck staining my hands to use it) and smoked chillies.
It's an electric pressure cooker with slow cooker option. While I use the thing around 4/7 days of the week, I don't use the slow-cooker option much because most of what I cook and eat can be prepared very quickly.
>>7449706
>achiote
Do you have the instructions/quantities for your chicken dish?? Sounds fucking delicious
>>7449726
Not really... I kinda eyeball everything. As I was typing that post, I was even trying to remember if I put garlic, onions or both into it when I made it, but I don't remember.
The basic guideline, though, was to put boneless/skinless thighs in it.
Then, get a can of pineapple juice concentrate and reconstitute it with /chicken stock/ instead of water and add that to just cover. What was leftover, I added tamarind paste, salt and chillies to in order to make a hot-and-sour soup.
Let it do its thing for like five hours.
I then set the machine to "high pressure" and let it cook, uncovered, until the liquid had reduced, then, finally, I added a tablespoon of chicken grease per expected serving of pulled meat, some freshly powdered dried smoked chillies and enough paprika that I was happy with the colour. Also salt. Actually, I think I used onion salt instead of plain salt to give it an onion-y taste because I forgot to add onions. Mystery solved!
Anyway, yeah. That was it.
If I was going to do it with achiote properly, I'd have either made achiote paste, which would stain everything, or made achiote oil, which isn't as flavourful but easier to work with.
I found that the paprika was actually a good compromise, though it didn't taste at all of achiote.
I made some quick tortillas, put a little pulled chicken in, added some radish, cilantro and a spritz of fresh lime and munch munch munch.
>>7449459
1 kg is a lot of shallots
>>7449682
Not all of us are working class chumps.
>>7449801
The amounts are 100% according to the traditional recipe, It's supposed to be like that. If you don't like then go for 800gr but definitely no less. The stew is meant to be made up of almost equal parts shallots and meat, i.e every forkfull you eat should be about 60% meat, 40% shallots. Keep in mind that they will reduce to about a 1/3 to 1/2 their size through cooking. Obviously 1kg, refers to their weight in the bag, unpeeled, if that makes any difference to you.
>>7449771
That sounds fucking delicious. Is the "high pressure" thing necessary? How would you have done it on a regular slow cooker that doesn't have this option?
>>7449837
I don't think I would have done it in a regular slow cooker. The 'high pressure' option just means that the pot is cooking at full power, is all, so in lieu of an electric pressure cooker, I would use a heavy pot and braise the chicken in a slow oven for five hours then transfer said pot to the hob and reduce the liquid that way. For that, a dutch oven might be best.
And I just remembered that I did indeed use onion salt, but I also added cloves of garlic, which softened as the chicken cooked. The exact smoked chillies I used were chipotles/moritas, chilacas/pasillas and mulatos/anchos ahumados.
>>7449801
Never visit Naples, then.
We have a dish that's made by caramelising and concentrating 3kg of onions into about 1kg of sauce.
>>7449896
Okay got you. I just need to go to my local mexican store and get all those delicious different chillis. That's one thing where I'm still a complete novice. I've only ever used standard supermarket chillies for my cooking.
What's the name of that Neapolitan recipe? It sounds like something I would love. Being Mediterranean I tend to follow a rule of "the more garlic and/or onions you put in something, the better it becomes". True with good quality olive oil too, as long as you don't lose the plot and put a whole bottle in.
This was a good thread, OP. definitely going to try some of this
Bump.
>>7451058
Thank you, every recipe I posted is Greek. I'll see if I can think of any other ones too.
bumping for interest. don't have anything to offer but have been meaning to use my slow cooker more often.
Okay so this isn't a slow-cooker recipe but I made it tonight and it was delicious:
Grean peas with carrots and tomato/dill/parsley sauce.
Take 2-3 medium sized onions, 3 spring onions and chop them up, chop a couple of garlic cloves and keep another one intact (slightly crushed).
Slice 4 large carrots into small pieces
You can also add some chopped green and red bell peppers at this point.
Throw all of the above in a large pot with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil until the carrots go soft. While they're cooking add a table spoon of paprika and half a table spoon cayenne pepper as well as salt and pepper.
Chop a pack of mushrooms and add to the pot, once the carrots are semi-soft.
Once the mushrooms have began to soften add the peas and a bunch of dill and a bunch of parsley, with some tomato paste. Drizzle with about 1/3 of a cup of olive oil (I know it seems a lot but this dish falls under the category of Greek dishes literally called "oily dishes" or "ladera" in Greek). Again good olive oil makes a big difference.
After the peas are in wait about 5-10 minutes and add 4 big shredded or blended tomatoes, 2 cans of chopped tomatoes and some more tomato paste, dill and parsley as well as a bit of sugar/salt/pepper/chilli/paprika (taste it and add these according to what you think it needs).
Chop a couple of sweet potatoes or large normal potatoes and add those too.
Lower the heat down to a simmer and let this cook in the pot for about 1.5-2 hours and stir occasionally. Check that the peas and potatoes are cooked then take off the heat and let it sit.
Serve in a bowl with big chunks of feta cheese over it. You can also serve it with or over rice in the same way that you would spoon curry over rice.
I slow cooked two pounds of flank steak with salt, pepper, like 7-8 cloves of garlic (whole), half a jar of salsa, cayanne and ancho chili powders, cumin, dried oregano, a couple bay leaves, and a few spoons of sugar. Maybe an inch of water in the slow cooker, mostly to keep the bottom from sticking. Sorry I don't really have set measurements for the dry spices, I just sorta eyeball it. I let it cook on high for around five hours, then pulled it out and let cool for a while. Then I fork shredded it and piled it on top of nachos, threw it in the oven, and fed it to my relatives. That was a good night.
>>7453136
Very nice. When you say an inch of water what do you mean? Did you put the ingredients in and then add about an inch of water or is that an inch without anything else in the pot?
>>7453176
After ingredients.
>>7453188
Thank you? What else could you do with it other than laying over nachos?
>>7453196
Literally any mexican dish. Taco, burrito, taquito, enchilada, etc. Would also be good in a wrap or salad, or with a few seasoning tweaks on pizza or a sub. With a lot of seasoning tweaks, it might be good on Pho.
>>7453230
Nice idea. Might work nicely over fries as well.
>>7449459
Sounds pretty solid.
Kind of like what you'd get if beef ragout had a mediterranean baby.
>>7453267
Basically yeah, the cumin, bay leaves and cinammon give it a nice "eastern" twist.
Anyone got a G.O.A.T slow-cooker chili con carne recipe? I'm down for using actual meat rather than beef mince. I'm looking for a sort of G.O.A.T type recipe. Keep in mind I'm in the UK, so obscure bottled sauces or spice mixes might be hard to come by but everything else should fine.
No Chili eaters?
>>7453277
Chili's basically same cooked on a stove top or a crock pot, but the best advice I can give for changing between the two is beer. Adding a bottle of a decent dark lager before letting it simmer does wonders for crock pot chili. Anyways the go-to recipe I use for the slow cooker:
2 lbs ground meat of choice, works best with beef or turkey,
1.5 large onions, diced,
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
28 oz canned crushed tomatoes
BEER (darker lagers=best, dark or heavily spiced=good, anything ending in "Lite"=bad)
1 pound of kidney beans
8-10 ounces corn
Fry off onions & garlic and HEAVILY brown the meat, drain it of fat, and add it to the slow cooker along with the other listed ingredients. Use whatever spice blend you already feel works best for chili the way you like it, although I do recommend doctoring it. In a slow cooker I add honey, pickled jalapenos, more chili powder than normal, and a bit more paprika. I sometimes throw a couple tablespoons of worcestershire of sriracha in there, and a bouillon cube doesn't hurt either. It may need about a tablespoon of flour or so, depending on your ratios of wet/dry ingredients. Cook 8-10 hours covered on low (I really recommend not doing chili on high) and top with chopped scallions/ sour cream/ cheese/ crackers/ over Fritos/ in a quesadilla/ out of your boyfriend's asshole/ put in dumplings/ whatever you want. Wala. Makes a lot, freezes well, and is the easiest thing to tinker with.
>>7449459
German Army Goulasch, circa 1938.
1lb of stew meat
3-4 cubes of Knorrs beef boullion
1 minced onion
1/4 stick of butter
1 tbsp of paprika
Salt/Pepper to taste
Tomato paste to taste
2 tsps of flour for thickening
Place butter in a deep dish pan till it melts. Put in minced onions and stir around till yellow and translucent. Pre season beef with salt/pepper. Once seasoned, place into pan and brown. Once brown, drain all excess fluid and add beef boullion till the meat is covered. Put in a heaping of paprika and stir. Once stew is deep red, place cover on pot and let it sit on low heat for 4-5 hours. Once done, stir flour in hot water and add batter to meat to thicken. Thicken as much as you want, then serve with bread or rice or anything else you got.
Super simple and fucking delicious. Also /pol/ approved.
>>7455938
Okay I'm going to try your recipe. My normal non-crockpot recipe is the same except I also use cumin and a tiny bit of chocolate. HAve you got any experience making it with braising steak cubes or finely chopped steak? I suppose the way they would have done it in the really "old" days.
>>7456387
Why the flour? Is it not possible to get it down to a thicker consistency without it? I always feel like putting flour in stews is cheating
>>7456572
Yeah it's cheating but it gets the job done quickly. You can use cornmeal too if you really wanna really cut corners.
>>7456580
What's the alternative? Just cook longer on a lower setting?
>>7456621
Yeah plus add less stock.
>>7456572
No real experience using solid cuts yet, but I can't imagine it'd be too different from other stewing techniques. Just get 1/2"-1" cubes, give them a sear that will make a steak jealous, and proceed as normal. They'll be in the pot for over 8 hours, so the only thing they'll need is a bit of browning so they don't fall apart or shred too much after cooking.
>>7456387
Looks pretty good, very similar to chicken paprikash. I've never seen one of those types done in a crock pot, I'll give it a try.
>>7449459
> brown steak
> with olive oil
Picking about the only kind of oil not fit for the purpose.
What do you think about pressure cookers? Similar results in less time.
>>7457649
Definitely different results in diametrally different time.
Try to make a pot roast in a pressure cooker.
>>7457513
Not OP, but lemme guess: you come from a culture that doesn't use olive oil as a traditional cooking fat, have I got that right? And you believe the silly bullshit that TV chef "experts" who also come from cultures that don't use olive oil as a traditional cooking fat have to say about olive oil, yeah?
There are more types of olive oil besides just EVOO, friend.
>>7457699
*shrug* all I know is normal olive oil has a very low smoking point. Below the temperature of meat browning.
Of course most of olive oil in trade is actually sunflower or soy or such, with trace amounts of olive in it, so it doesn't really matter.
( http://www.oliveoiltimes.com/olive-oil-basics/mafia-olive-oil-on-60-minutes/50203 )
>>7457727
The reason they can get away with adulterating olive oil for overseas markets is because you guys don't know what olive oil is supposed to taste like. I live in the US currently and bought a tin of "made in Italy™!!!!" olive oil from a brand that I trust back home and it tasted like benzine. I brought it back to the store for a refund and have since switched to buying oil from Muzzy countries where Mafia types have no pull.
And no, 'regular,' cold-pressed olive oil is fine for browning. Just EV and hot-pressed olive oil aren't. Even virgin is pretty okay, having only a slightly lower smoke point than other commonly used oils.
Remember that 'regular' olive oil, as many other cooking oils, is refined amd has a smoke point comparable to other oils commonly used the world over. Pomace oil, another type of refined olive oil made by chemical extraction from the pomace and must leftover after making EV, V and regular olive oils, has an even higher smoke point than refined.
Also, I want to apologise for what may seem like a prick-ish tone in the other post. Not my intention. Sorry about that.
>>7457786
Is there a way to get an education in ingredients without going to full on cooking school?
>>7457786
Pomace oil is banned back in Greece, because it can't be extracted with mechanical methods. If I'm not mistaken.
>>7458044
You could watch chefs programs or things like Master Chef. Travelling Chefs are good for this because you get insight into local ingredients. I know he's a little annoying but Jamie Oliver is good for that, but Anthony Bourdain is more fun to watch.
>>7457727
>>I know is normal olive oil has a very low smoking point.
No, you're thinking Extra-Virgin oil, aka EVOO.
"Normal" olive oil (also known as "light") is refined, and has a high smoke point.
>>7458044
Sure. Read. I suggest "On Food and Cooking" by McGee, which explains a lot of the science behind it. Also check out "The Professional Chef", which is the textbook used by many cooking schools. Like any college textbook the current version can be expensive but you can buy earlier editions for pennies on the dollar. That book is a fucking awesome investment as it covers food safety, budgeting, all manner of "how to", and a huge number of recipes as well.
>>7457488
Yeah put it in a large, deep pot. I use a Dutch oven. Don't put it in the crock pot!
Pic related, should be the end result.
I use mine rarely. Just today I stuck a whole chicken in there because I only just learned that you can apparently cook non-liquid/stew things in it. Cautiously optimistic.
>>7449682
Fuck that slow cooker stuff, stinks up the house and takes all day, rather use a pressure cooker and cook stuff in 30minutes instead of 8hrs.
>>7457786
Good extra virgin olive oil is suppose to have like a throat hit, eat a few drops, swallow, the back of your throat should burn, if not, it's not the real deal most likely or went past its prime. I've found if you mix extra virgin with another oil you can increase the smoke point and not burn the EVOO, but again, why waste good EVOO in sauteing and browning meats, save that shit for salad or drizzling or adding to already cooked food. I get a 20l tin or two that's off the boat from Greece every year in the US. The shit you buy in the store is rarely in the same category, very few EVOO in US markets is the real deal, it's just like 20% extra virgin and 80% god knows what.
>>7458253
They make soap out of pomace oil in Greece if I remember correctly.
>>7462895
My grandma used a pressure cooker and yes while practical, I really have to say the taste is different. Things such as stews just taste better in the slow-cooker, I've tried them both ways and it's not the same. It's also a matter of texture, the chickpeas from the chickpea stew for example can only get the right texture by slow cooking. The pressure cooker turns them to mush.
>>7462922
It's really nice stuff. I use it alot when I'm there.
>>7449459
How much is a mug of wine?
Fucking Americans.
>>7462982
A mug is what you drink tea in dipshit. Just fill it with wine and use that much. I'm not American, I wrote it that way because I use a mug seeing as I don't have a measuring cup.
>>7462998
>mug
For further clarification most mugs tend to be just under 300ml.
>>7463001
Good to know since my Austrian Mugs are ~500.
>>7462982
If you think you need precise measurements to make a stew you're in no position to bitch about other people
>>7462672
Well, the chicken was supremely tender, literally falling off the bone. Flavour-wise? Eh, it wasn't anything to write home about, but it was chicken-y. Ended up with a bunch of meat and a lot of stock/juices at the end, which I'm going to try to use in follow-up dishes.
>>7463418
Note that I seasoned the chicken a bit but not that much, I imagine if you did it properly you would probably impart a bit more flavour to it. Maybe cram an onion or lemon in it.
>>7449589
This looks fucking amazing
