What a Crock……Pot. 

That’s right.  The old crock pot is back!  The only difference being that the kitchen tool producers slapped a shiny new surface on it and renamed it the Slow Cooker.  A new name, what ever for?  Could it be because the word “crock” became associated with another word “*&#@*” thus making it a compound bad word?  Honestly?  It’s all about copyrights and who owns what.  Anyway, the principle is the same; a long, slow, easy braise. 

On the heels of the “Slow Cooker” came the inevitable “Slow Cooker Cook Books”.  Before you spend a ton of cash, please take a moment to read my idea of a crock pot recipe: Take a whole chicken and put it in your crock pot, add some roughly chopped vegetables: let’s say carrots, onions, mushrooms and turnips; pour in a cup or so of liquid, i.e. chicken stock; toss in rosemary, oregano, salt and pepper.  Put the lid on, turn the dial for 8 hours, boil some potatoes and once those are done – voila’ – dinner!! 

Now, that’s what I call a non-recipe!  No endless list of ingredients that you need to special order from Thailand, no scary terminology that you have to look up on the internet!  Throw your inhibitions and fears out with the trash, step up to the stove top and get ‘er done.  Just think of how fantastic you will feel when you sit down to eat and someone says, “Wow, this is great!  Can I have the recipe?”  You proudly announce that you made this up on the fly.  Your friends and family can only wonder how you became such a phenomenal cook when only yesterday you couldn’t fry an egg. 

It’s all about technique and so much simpler than you may think. Trust me, you can create, not just replicate. Find the flavor friends that turn you on.  For example, you can take the same dish from paragraph 2 and turn it into Fiesta Chicken by substituting the rosemary and oregano with cumin and red pepper flakes, eliminate the turnips and add a can of corn instead. Throw in a little extra onion and a jalapeno and bring on the tortillas!

Don’t get me wrong, I love my slow cooker.  My mother-in-law buys only the best and I got one of the best for my birthday last year.  They are extremely convenient and make for great clean up.  However, on those rainy Sundays when all we do is watch movies and play board games I say to hell with this “no peeking” issue and braise in my dutch oven on the stove top, peeking to my hearts content.  My kitchen fills with good smells and all is right with the world.

I challenge each and every one of you to blaze a trail and create your own braised delicacy!  If you don’t own a crock pot, call someone you know over the age of 40 and I bet they’ll let you borrow theirs; unless, of course, they sold it a garage sale and bought a slow cooker.