we get free meat and there is loads of stewing and braising steak and i dont have a clue how to cook it or what to do with it. i have put stewing steak in the slow cooker today with a maggi packet thingee hopefully it ends up ok, but can anybody suggest recipes that i can use to cook these please? tia
amazing_grace,
Feb 16, 1:44am
Well, for one, I never use my Crock Pot (we call it the Slop Pot in this house)! I cut the meat up, douse it in flour and salt and pepper. Then fry lightly till browned, then add what flavour you fancy for the day (ie for Italian I add spicy sausage, tomatoes and paprika, for creamy I add cream, leeks, potatoes) then cook in the oven slowely for 3-4hrs. The crock pot always seems to make sloppy muck for me :-(
steamylee,
Feb 16, 1:49am
oh ok ill try that one tomorrow, do i use the stewing or braising steak for that please?
margyr,
Feb 16, 1:59am
either one will be ok, i use the cook in the pot sachets as well, the goulash one is great, husbands Mum gave me the original recipe which involved browning first etc, when the cook in the pots came out I used the goulash one and my husband said it was the best one ever, and he did not know i had not used his Mum's recipe, so that is what i use all the time. Stroganoff, is good too. I have a slow cooker but have not used it, Husband brought it for me for Christmas, I just chuck all the stuff in a casserole and do in the oven for 2-3 hours on about 150.
margyr,
Feb 16, 2:04am
Husband makes a marinade up, vinegar, sugar, garlic, oil, tomatoes, onions salt and pepper, water, he puts braising steak in it and leaves in fridge for 2-3 days mixing it around every so often, he has no specific quantities just chucks everything in, then we bbq it, very quickly on a hot as bbq, tender as and yummy, cook the onions and tomatoes as well on the bbq. Have also used mutton chops which come out tender as well. The meat after the 2-3 days is sort of a grey brown colour but this is just from the vinegar sort of cooking it.
rainrain1,
Feb 16, 5:06am
There's nothing wrong with the crock pot! ! ! Sloppy muck is sloppy muck no matter what you cook it in :-)
buzzy110,
Feb 16, 5:45am
Oddly enough I agree with amazing_grace. Somehow the crock pot just sucks all the juice out of meat and instead of a beautiful succulent stew I end up with a fall-apart-but-incredibly-dry-- stew that usually isn't as piping hot as I would like it to be. I thought it was me being over critical or not using my crock pot properly so I am glad to see that someone else has noticed a difference.
rainrain1,
Feb 16, 5:47am
Oddly
245sam,
Feb 16, 6:01am
Agreed absolutely rainrain1, and IMO "sloppy muck" results from too much liquid being included - especially with the crockpot/slowcooker, being mindful of the quantity of added liquid is vital as there is very little, if any, evaporatione. g. if a whole can of tomatoes is added to the meat, etc. it may be that little or no water, liquid stock, wine, fruit juice or any other liquid is needed unless in very small quantities for flavouring purposes. :-))
lythande1,
Aug 11, 5:01pm
Crock Pots are great for those at work all day. So long as you have a wet stew they're fine. Obviously you don't overdo the liquid. Matter of choosing the right recipes. As for the original question - there's loads of recipes around for casseroles and stews etc. Forget maggie packet things, that will put you off for life, use real herbs and fresh ingredients, makes a world of difference.
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