Definitely great knives. And, not sure this has been mentioned yet, THE FOOD SCALE!
This reminded me how often I use kitchen shears. Theyāre pretty much just glorified heavy-duty scissors, but make dicing meat (steak strips, chicken chunks, whatever) tons faster.
Thatās why you only use it for stuff thatās supposed to be mushy or fall apart. Stews, pot roast, pulled pork, oatmeal (never tried it, but supposed to be good). Thereās also the set it and forget it perk. Assemble the recipe in the morning or at lunchtime, flip it on, and itās hands-off cooking ready when youāre home from work.
Iāve never understood why youād need to slow cook oatmeal when it microwaves up in a matter of minutes. Maybe thereās something Iām missing.
I do love my slow cooker though. If I had my way, Iād have a big old chest freezer, a mountain o Tupperware and I could food prep for a month at once, with as much variety as I could want.
thatās really the biggest thing. The whole point of a crock pot for lifters is that you can make a LOT of food without a commensurate investment of time. Most of us men-folk tend to be pretty dumb in the kitchen, so simplicity is valued. Its hard to fuck up a crock pot recipe.
The first time I used a crockpot, I used chicken breasts and put them in for too long with not enough waterā¦I literally made the worst tasting pulled chicken you could ever imagine. I had to throw away 5lbs of chicken because it was so bad. Trust me you can fuck it up for sure haha
I remember seeing something on facebook of kitchen failures where a dude was complaining to a slowcooker subreddit about their pot roast coming out dry and apparently they didnāt realize you needed to have it in some sort of liquidā¦
I said it was hard, not impossible
Oh yeah, wasnāt saying it to counter. More just evidence that, if you make something idiot-proof, theyāll just build better idiots.
Iāve thought about getting one for the kitchen even though I have some super sharp knives. My friend for stews or chili will cut up his ribeyes using shears. Looks like it would be just easier if you are cutting up a lot of stuff.
I have done this!
My parents never had a crockpot and I didnāt know anyone that used a crockpot. So the first time I bought one I made the chicken based on something someone told me. Someone used that āSet it and forget itā and I thought it was going to be easy. Well that part is true but, didnāt know there are some general guidelines for crockpots as well lol.
Rule #1 for me is never put lean meats in there lol. The fattier the better!
My favorite thing in the crock pot is Ranchero Ribs. I donāt think I have ever cooked chicken in one since!
lol love it.
I actually was responding to nutty, didnāt see your post yet when I posted.
Same thingās true with the green egg. Itās reallllly forgiving on most things, Iāve left a whole chicken on for 90 minutes longer than I meant to, and it was still perfect.
Buuuuut, one time I tried to do shrimp on it. I think it was the first or second thing I tried, ever. I DESTROYED those little bastards. They literally disintegrated upon removing them from the grill.
Seafood especially shrimp, scallops, squid, octopus, etc you have to time right. Chewy shrimp is the worst lol.
Thatbsounds awesome. Recipe please?
One rack of pork ribs, turn over a rip off that membrane on the back side.
Cut into one or two rib segments. Salt and pepper. Lightly coat with flour and brown in hot skillet with a little oil. Drain on paper towels or whatever you use for that. Put in crock pot and dump a large jar of (however hot you like it) picante sauce over them. NO water.
Cook about six hours or until desired tenderness. ( I like mine to fall off the bone) serve with rice because there is all that yummy sauce in there.