Adventure in Slow Cookery: Part "Oh My God, Stop with That, Already!"

[juliarachel]

Tescos had a sale on ground beef this week, and since I've been craving a dish of spaghetti and meatballs lately, I picked up a couple of packs. I found a slow cooker meatball recipe online and it was the kind of recipe I pretty much got the slow cooker for: make the meatballs, pour in two jars of pasta sauce and come back in four hours. This

Comments

[oksani]

See, I still don't see an advantage. It's not like you don't have to cook. And meatballs take about 20 minutes to make, so not much gain.

[juliarachel]

Room for error, that's the advantage. I know people have a hard time imagining this, but I've actually never ever managed to make meatballs in a pan that tasted good. I'm so terrified of undercooking, that they end up tough and tasteless. When I use a crockpot, the window of tasty is much larger: they're cooked after 4 hours but are still very good after five or even five and a half. For someone who doesn't have a good feel for when to stop browning and take them out of the pan, that is very important.

I don't disagree that the slow cooker is kind of a crutch, but because that cooking method is really kind of mistakes, I can try dishes in it I'd never attempt to cook by traditional means.

[m_lexx]

Looks like you've got the crockpot on. :D

/My advice would be to mix beef, roughly chopped chicken breast meat and oatmeal, as the latter tends to soak up whatever you throw at it. I use it as a 'secret ingredient' with a lot of stuff, including meatloaf and New England clam chowder. Besides, it makes meat fluffler, lighter and healthier./

[juliarachel]

Oh, that is an excellent idea! Not to mention, we need the fiber. Thanks for sharing.

Do you use regular or instant oatmeal?

[m_lexx]

Old-fashioned rolled oats bought in bulk. DH would not eat anything that resmbles 'kasha' so I improvised. :D

[juliarachel]

That'll be easy to get too. Oats are like a national dish over here.