Slow Cooker Tips - What You Need To Know (Plus a Sweet and Sour Pork Recipe)

Slow cookers or crockpots are one of the easiest ways to prepare a meal for a busy mom that has to be all over the place every day.

There are several advantages to slow cookers:

You can prepare the food on the previous day, keep it in containers in the fridge and quickly get it going in the slow cooker in the morning.
The food remains fresh in the slow cooker for several hours which means that the food can keep for a while until the family is ready to eat. This makes it very easy to fit meal times into everyone's busy schedule.
Slow cookers put out very little heat into a room, making them a wonderful way to prepare hot meals in the summertime.
As you are using the longer cooking times at a lower heat, you can buy the cheaper cuts of meat and the long cooking process will ensure that the meat turns out very tasty and tender.

The following guidelines apply to MOST slow cookers:

It is essential that you always defrost meat and cut it into small pieces. Whole roasts or chickens will cook so slowly that the interior of the meat may remain cool long enough to encourage bacterial growth.
Most slow cookers should be 1/2 to 2/3 full for all recipes.
The temperatures of most slow cookers vary from 170 degrees to 300 degrees.
Unless it is specifically stated in a recipe, do not remove the lid while cooking. Removing the lid allows heat to escape, and usually increases required cooking time by at least 20 minutes for each time you remove the lid. So resist the temptation!
It is very important not to reheat food in a slow cooker. The food will reheat too slowly in the slow cooker and that increases the danger of bacterial growth which can result in food poisoning. It is safe to reheat food to the proper temperature in the microwave or on the stovetop, then put it in the slow cooker on warm or low for serving.
To make the cleaning easier, slow cookers can be sprayed with cooking oil.
As slow cookers retain the moisture more than in conventional cooking methods, you may need to decrease the liquids in a recipe. Be sure the slow cooker is 1/2 to 2/3 full, or the capacity recommended in your instruction book.
It may be necessary to decrease seasonings, including salt, as they often become more pronounced with the longer, slower cooking.
Normally with a slow cooker, milk, cream, sour cream, and other dairy products should be added during the last hour of the cooking time.

To start you off, here is a tasty recipe:

Sweet and Sour Pork Chops

Ingredients:

4 lean pork chops, trimmed of excess fat
1 tbsp flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp oil
2 onions, finely chopped
6 tbsp vegetable stock
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp tomato paste
4 tbsp soft brown sugar
4 tbsp dry sherry
Plain rice to serve

Method:

Season the flour with salt and pepper; dust the chops with the flour, shaking off any excess.
Heat the oil in a frying pan (skillet) and brown the chops quickly on all sides.
Transfer to the slow-cooker.
Add the onions to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beginning to turn golden brown.
Stir in the remaining ingredients and bring just to the boil.
Pour over the chops in the slow-cooker.
Cover and cook for 5-8 hours on LOW.

Marge has more recipes for you at Recipes For Slow Cookers and lots of other tasty recipes for conventional cooking methods at Best Recipes Cookbooks. You can also visit her site All Our Recipes & More for even more recipes.

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