Post by JJ Judkins on Nov 1, 2009 21:54:56 GMT -6
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Comfort from a slow cooker, Dutch oven
Sunday, October 08, 2006
By Amy McConnell Schaarsmith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
This time of year, when you come in from raking leaves or picking
apples or working at the office, there's nothing better than the
scent of stew wafting around the inside of the house. Well, maybe the
scent of stew and baking bread and pumpkin pie wafting around, but
that's another story.
Fall is the perfect time of year for hearty stews and braises, with
root vegetables still young and tender, fresh locally grown greens
still available and apples -- when you're cooking pork or chicken, a
bright-tasting, sweet-tart counterpoint to heavier meat and vegetable
flavors -- having been just picked and brought to local farmers
markets and farm stands.
And while summer cooking focuses on grilling and light preparation --
types of cooking that require tender cuts such as tenderloins and
steaks -- stews and other slow-cooked meals not only allow, but
require, more muscular (and typically, cheaper) meats that can stand
up to long periods in a Dutch oven or slow cooker. These cuts
sometimes do contain more fat, however, so be sure to trim away as
much as possible before cooking and skim off any excess before
serving.
Braising, or cooking meat with moist heat, was a popular cooking
method on the farms of Europe, according to Lydie Marshall, a cooking
instructor and author of "Slow-Cooked Comfort" (HarperCollins
Publishers, $26.95), which focuses on French and Mediterranean
braises, casseroles and stews.
"A brasier, a culinary word of French origin, described a bed of
coals (les braises) in which a crockery or cast-iron pot was tightly
closed and buried in the large fireplace of a farm kitchen," she
writes. "The pot was usually left in the fireplace overnight to
achieve a long tenderizing process for tough cuts of meat like beef
rump or shank. Game was also very popular and needed long braising to
make it tender and flavorful."
Which brings us to the modern-day slow-cooker debate about leaving an
electrical appliance turned on in the house while you're away, and
further about leaving cooked food sitting for periods of time until
you get home (assuming you have one of the new-fangled models with an
automatic shut-off, and that you can't be home all day to tend the
coals of a large farmhouse fireplace).
In my younger, more carefree (some might say foolhardy) days, I
blithely left my crockpot bubbling away on the stove while I went off
to work, trusting that it wouldn't burn the house down before I got
back. I came home to various bubbling, fragrant stews, chilis and
soups, and all was well in the world.
But that was when I still rented.
Now I am a more mature (and probably more anxious) person with a home
of my own and actual non-secondhand furniture to protect from
catastrophe, and I use my slow cooker only when someone is going to
be home -- say, overnight or on the weekends when we're going only as
far as the yard or briefly to the supermarket. This newfound caution
was bolstered by the fact that my slow cooker, an aluminum-bodied
Rival with a stoneware insert, has several times overheated to the
point that ultimately, the plastic handles cracked and fell off. Not
a confidence-inspiring quality in a cooker. (I have since found out
that my particular type of slow cooker has been recalled because of
that very problem. Now they tell me.)
As for automatic shut-off types of slow cookers, they are supposed to
keep food hot enough after cooking is complete to prevent bacterial
growth for a few hours. (Food is not supposed to kept in temperatures
between 40 and 140 degrees for any longer than two hours, according
to food safety experts.) So if you feel confident in your crockpot's
fireproof qualities, don't let food safety keep you from using it
while you're away at work, as long as your appliance has a warmer
feature that keeps the food above 140 degrees or as long as you'll be
home sooner than two hours after it shuts off.
If you're a worrier like me, though, and want to use your slow cooker
only when you're home anyway, you might want to consider using the
Dutch oven instead. It operates on the same basic braising principle
-- include a bit of liquid such as stock, wine, tomato juice or even
water among the ingredients -- cover tightly and let cook in the oven
for several hours.
The Dutch oven method of slow-cooking knocks several hours off the
average crockpot cooking time, however, making it easier to produce
dinner with less advance planning. If you're adapting a slow cooker
recipe to a Dutch oven, you can make a rough calculation of cooking
time by halving the amount of time the original (slow-cooker) recipe
requires. Likewise, if you're adapting a recipe originally meant to
be cooked in a Dutch oven, roughly double the amount of time it will
cook in the crockpot.
If you do decide to use the Dutch oven, you can make it a more
carefree process by sealing it using flour paste according to a
method that Ms. Marshall describes in her book. Sealing the oven
means you won't have to check on the meal as it cooks because all the
liquid and steam will be retained, preventing burning.
To seal a Dutch oven, she writes, make a paste by blending 1/2 cup of
water and 1 1/2 cups flour until the flour is moistened. Use your
fist to knead the mixture until it is the consistency of Play-Doh.
The dough should be malleable but should not stick to your fingers.
Brush the edges of the lid and upper part of pot with water. Tear off
about 1 tablespoon of dough at a time and use your fingers to flatten
and stretch it into a piece about 4 inches long and 1 inch wide.
Place it on the lid, pressing it into the space between the pot and
lid. Continue sealing the pot, overlapping the dough somewhat because
it will shrink a bit during cooking. Be sure to seal around the
handles of the pan.
If you don't want to make the paste and hassle with sealing the pot,
be sure to peek into the pot occasionally and add a bit more stock,
wine or water to replace the liquid lost to escaping steam.
Comfort from a slow cooker, Dutch oven
Sunday, October 08, 2006
By Amy McConnell Schaarsmith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
This time of year, when you come in from raking leaves or picking
apples or working at the office, there's nothing better than the
scent of stew wafting around the inside of the house. Well, maybe the
scent of stew and baking bread and pumpkin pie wafting around, but
that's another story.
Fall is the perfect time of year for hearty stews and braises, with
root vegetables still young and tender, fresh locally grown greens
still available and apples -- when you're cooking pork or chicken, a
bright-tasting, sweet-tart counterpoint to heavier meat and vegetable
flavors -- having been just picked and brought to local farmers
markets and farm stands.
And while summer cooking focuses on grilling and light preparation --
types of cooking that require tender cuts such as tenderloins and
steaks -- stews and other slow-cooked meals not only allow, but
require, more muscular (and typically, cheaper) meats that can stand
up to long periods in a Dutch oven or slow cooker. These cuts
sometimes do contain more fat, however, so be sure to trim away as
much as possible before cooking and skim off any excess before
serving.
Braising, or cooking meat with moist heat, was a popular cooking
method on the farms of Europe, according to Lydie Marshall, a cooking
instructor and author of "Slow-Cooked Comfort" (HarperCollins
Publishers, $26.95), which focuses on French and Mediterranean
braises, casseroles and stews.
"A brasier, a culinary word of French origin, described a bed of
coals (les braises) in which a crockery or cast-iron pot was tightly
closed and buried in the large fireplace of a farm kitchen," she
writes. "The pot was usually left in the fireplace overnight to
achieve a long tenderizing process for tough cuts of meat like beef
rump or shank. Game was also very popular and needed long braising to
make it tender and flavorful."
Which brings us to the modern-day slow-cooker debate about leaving an
electrical appliance turned on in the house while you're away, and
further about leaving cooked food sitting for periods of time until
you get home (assuming you have one of the new-fangled models with an
automatic shut-off, and that you can't be home all day to tend the
coals of a large farmhouse fireplace).
In my younger, more carefree (some might say foolhardy) days, I
blithely left my crockpot bubbling away on the stove while I went off
to work, trusting that it wouldn't burn the house down before I got
back. I came home to various bubbling, fragrant stews, chilis and
soups, and all was well in the world.
But that was when I still rented.
Now I am a more mature (and probably more anxious) person with a home
of my own and actual non-secondhand furniture to protect from
catastrophe, and I use my slow cooker only when someone is going to
be home -- say, overnight or on the weekends when we're going only as
far as the yard or briefly to the supermarket. This newfound caution
was bolstered by the fact that my slow cooker, an aluminum-bodied
Rival with a stoneware insert, has several times overheated to the
point that ultimately, the plastic handles cracked and fell off. Not
a confidence-inspiring quality in a cooker. (I have since found out
that my particular type of slow cooker has been recalled because of
that very problem. Now they tell me.)
As for automatic shut-off types of slow cookers, they are supposed to
keep food hot enough after cooking is complete to prevent bacterial
growth for a few hours. (Food is not supposed to kept in temperatures
between 40 and 140 degrees for any longer than two hours, according
to food safety experts.) So if you feel confident in your crockpot's
fireproof qualities, don't let food safety keep you from using it
while you're away at work, as long as your appliance has a warmer
feature that keeps the food above 140 degrees or as long as you'll be
home sooner than two hours after it shuts off.
If you're a worrier like me, though, and want to use your slow cooker
only when you're home anyway, you might want to consider using the
Dutch oven instead. It operates on the same basic braising principle
-- include a bit of liquid such as stock, wine, tomato juice or even
water among the ingredients -- cover tightly and let cook in the oven
for several hours.
The Dutch oven method of slow-cooking knocks several hours off the
average crockpot cooking time, however, making it easier to produce
dinner with less advance planning. If you're adapting a slow cooker
recipe to a Dutch oven, you can make a rough calculation of cooking
time by halving the amount of time the original (slow-cooker) recipe
requires. Likewise, if you're adapting a recipe originally meant to
be cooked in a Dutch oven, roughly double the amount of time it will
cook in the crockpot.
If you do decide to use the Dutch oven, you can make it a more
carefree process by sealing it using flour paste according to a
method that Ms. Marshall describes in her book. Sealing the oven
means you won't have to check on the meal as it cooks because all the
liquid and steam will be retained, preventing burning.
To seal a Dutch oven, she writes, make a paste by blending 1/2 cup of
water and 1 1/2 cups flour until the flour is moistened. Use your
fist to knead the mixture until it is the consistency of Play-Doh.
The dough should be malleable but should not stick to your fingers.
Brush the edges of the lid and upper part of pot with water. Tear off
about 1 tablespoon of dough at a time and use your fingers to flatten
and stretch it into a piece about 4 inches long and 1 inch wide.
Place it on the lid, pressing it into the space between the pot and
lid. Continue sealing the pot, overlapping the dough somewhat because
it will shrink a bit during cooking. Be sure to seal around the
handles of the pan.
If you don't want to make the paste and hassle with sealing the pot,
be sure to peek into the pot occasionally and add a bit more stock,
wine or water to replace the liquid lost to escaping steam.