Can you make soup in a slow cooker?

Can you make soup in a slow cooker?

There are many advantages to using a slow cooker. You don’t need to keep an eye on the fire all the time, just “give it to time”. You can serve delicious dishes without particularly good cooking skills. However, if you use the wrong method, it will affect the cooking effect of the whole pot. Here are the precautions for use: Can you make soup in a slow cooker?

1. Don’t lift the lid frequently

If you often lift the lid to check during cooking, the heat accumulated in the pot will be dissipated, which will take longer to cook. Unless you need to add ingredients, try not to open the lid during cooking.

2. Add water or stock as appropriate

The amount of water added is about 80% full of the ingredients. Meat and vegetables will release juice after a long time of stewing. And the condensed water droplets on the lid will also drip back into the pot. Do not add too much water or stock before cooking. The juice will become more and more with the cooking time. The more it overflows , the more water there is and the flavor of the dish will be diluted.

The total amount of ingredients is best to make the stew pot 80% full. So that when the water boils, it will not overflow the pot and dirty the kitchen. It is recommended to consider the amount of ingredients on weekdays. And it is better to choose a slightly larger capacity for the slow cooker.

3. Do not add wine directly to the pot

Many slow cooker recipes call for the addition of alcohol, such as wine, etc. The temperature setting of the slow cooker is generally low temperature. Even if it is cooked for a long time. The alcohol cannot be fully evaporated, so the whole pot of ingredients will be mixed with a strong smell of alcohol. It’s best to start by pouring the wine into a small saucepan on the stovetop and boiling until the wine boils and reduces slightly before adding to the slow cooker.

4. Add dairy products at the last moment

If the cooking ingredients contain dairy products, such as cream, coconut milk or yogurt. Do not put them into the pot at the beginning. Long-term cooking can easily cause fat separation and coagulation. It is more appropriate to add it to the slow cooker in the last 30 minutes.

5. Processing of noodles

Not all foods are suitable for slow cooker cooking, such as pasta, asparagus, and fish fillets, to name a few. Boil the noodles in a separate pot of boiling water until soft. Then scoop them out and put them into ice water. After cooling, drain the noodles and set aside.

If the pasta sauce recipe contains onions, stir-fry them on the stovetop in a pan until brown and then. Put them in the slow cooker. Mix the sauteed onions with all the seasonings, stir well, and simmer the sauce over low heat. , let stand for 30 minutes before pouring into the pasta and mixing well. The sauce will intensify if left overnight.

6. It is better to fry the meat first

Some slow cookers have a saute function, which allows you to fry the meat before stewing it. If it does not have this function, you can fry the meat in a pan on the stove to remove excess fat, remove the fat and then stew the meat. Better; the surface of the meat is slightly charred, which can retain more sweetness and deliciousness during stewing and deepen the color and flavor.

If it is not convenient to fry it in advance, add high-temperature hot water directly to the slow cooker. This will make the surface of the meat slightly cooked, sealing in the freshness and sweetness, and making it more delicious after a long stew.

7. Not suitable for long-simmered ingredients

Some foods are not suitable for long-term cooking. You need to pay attention to the portion size or cooking method:

dried herbs

If dried herbs are cooked for a long time, the fragrance will easily disappear. If the recipe you are referring to is not a slow cooker recipe, it is best to increase the amount of herbs in the recipe by half for a more fragrant one. Dried herbs are usually used for seasoning, and it is recommended to add the herbs during the last 5 minutes of simmering.

mushy vegetables

Some vegetables become sticky if cooked too long, such as zucchini, cucumbers, mushrooms, peas, broad beans, lentils or other delicate vegetables. Add it to the slow cooker about the last 30 minutes or so so it doesn’t overcook.

8. Uneven cooking

If the ingredients are not cooking evenly, it may be because they are not layered correctly; the root vegetables are placed at the bottom of the pot and the meat is placed on top of the vegetables. As they cook, the meat juices drip into the vegetables and the blended sauce adds flavor.

9. Hard meat

When using a slow cooker to cook meat, it is recommended not to choose ground meat or small pieces of meat. Choose large pieces of meat for the best stew effect. If the temperature is set to a high temperature and the cooking time is not long enough, the cooked meat will be hard and difficult to chew.

“Low-temperature and long-term stew” is the biggest feature of the slow cooker. As long as the low temperature is set and the cooking time is long, meat with low fat can be cooked extremely tender, such as beef shoulder, shank or cheap large cuts of meat. Can.

Try the smoked beef ribs. Rub the five-spice marinade into the steak, cover the pot and refrigerate overnight. Then put the meat and marinade into the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-7 hours. When done, grill it. Served with sweet corn, coleslaw and chips.

10. Tough chicken skin

Chicken drumsticks with skin are mixed with star anise, peppercorns, licorice, cinnamon, rock sugar and scallion oil and stewed slowly at low temperature.

While it is still hot, add honey, scallion oil, and sesame oil to the sauce repeatedly, and after it cools completely, chop it into pieces, and it will be a shiny oily chicken. If you don’t like soft chicken skin and want crispy chicken skin, you need to remove the chicken skin before stewing and roast the chicken skin in the oven to get the crispy effect.

11. Slow Cooker Bread

A slow cooker can also produce beautiful, delicious bread, and to keep condensation from the lid from dripping into the dough, cover the lid with a large, clean, thick cotton cloth throughout baking. Do not open the cover to inspect the bread during baking. It is recommended to use a thermometer with a reading, insert it into the center of the dough, and look at the thermometer through the glass cover. The temperature of the center of the dough reaches 88°C-95°C and it is ready.

If you want to ferment the dough for a second time, the yeast activity can be fully exerted, and the flavor of the bread will be better – for the first fermentation, set “keep warm” for 30 minutes, open the lid, take out the expanded dough, knead the air, and adjust Make a good dough, and then continue the above baking steps, the second fermentation, and one baking is completed.

Compared with the oven, the bread baked in the slow cooker is flatter and softer in texture. If you like the bread to be crispy on the surface, you can put it in the oven after it is finished and bake it at 260°C for about 5-10 minutes.

12. There is a method for stew pot “minced meat”

The slow cooker is not suitable for cooking thin slices of meat for a long time. We can use larger pieces of meat and vegetable ingredients to stew until tender, and then use a fork to easily cut the meat pieces into small pieces. Finally, use high temperature to collect the soup or thicken the meat, adding a lot of vegetables. Jin stewed meat can be served with noodles, bibimbap, bread or hand-rolled Mexican tortillas.

Here is a demonstration of “Slow Cooked Mexican Pulled Pork”