crockpot is putting out heat all day. Whole idea is as little heat generated as possible.
Granted, not like turning on the oven, but still there all day. I think I’d do better with a curry or quick stir-fry. (I’m actually a pretty decent cook, as is Nisha, which really pisses off my sister-in-law.)
But sometime in the next few days, I’ll have to make some bread, as we’re running short (and we’ve not used store-bought for probably close to a decade, not counting hot-dog buns for when the nieces visited).
I’ve been using a crockpot off and on since the 1970s and I’ve learned which recipes work best for it. Not all recipes require all-day cooking.
I usually cook only for myself but I normally make a full recipe then refrigerate or freeze extras. Leftovers means I spend less time and energy cooking, whether by oven, stovetop or crockpot.
Glad to hear you make your own bread. Sounds delicious! I’ve never been good at baking bread and have made a “brick” because I killed the yeast. But there are a couple of good bakeries not far from my house and I take advantage of their fresh bread.
Very true; although I’ll admit my most typical use for a crockpot is for “baked” beans (secret ingredient is kombu; a type of seaweed). But I do a lot of stir-fries; so high heat, but often no more than 10 minutes or so. And my Chickpea and Chicken Curry, while taking about 45 minutes on the stovetop, makes a good amount of left-overs. Ditto for a Thai curry with coconut milk (which is actually quicker). So even when we’re not in a heat-wave, I like to plan for leftovers.
But for making bread, there’s no way around having the oven cranked up for nearly an hour. Maybe I’ll carefully plan my laziness, and time it such that I pull out the bread, and put in a frozen pizza for dinner for pizza night.
Dried beans were the first and only use of my crockpot. Cooked them for 8 hours on high and they were too hard. 8 more hours and still too hard. I couldn’t figure out what else to make with a crockpot, so it got shoved in the back of a cabinet.
We do a lot of stir fry and assorted salads. I make most things from scratch, but I don’t bake at all.
The low setting usually works better. Add plenty of water or liquid to the pot, especially if the ingredients will expand during cooking. It helps to check it occasionally when possible and stir the pot or add more water. Sometimes you can start the pot on high for 2-4 hours then change it to low for the rest of the cooking.
Oatmeal is about the only thing I cook overnight (on low). Oatmeal is boring so I add polenta to it in order to get some taste. Also a little bit of olive oil and maybe some seasonings.
When I was still working, I used to start some meat cooking in the crockpot when I came home for lunch and it would be ready by the time I got off work. It would drive my dogs bonkers having to smell that meat cooking all afternoon.
Dried beans do best if soaked for at least 5-6 hours (I usually go much longer; overnight). And if they are really old, they may take forever to soften.
For general cooking of beans, I prefer going the other direction and cooking in a pressure cooker. Chickpeas take about 25 minutes once the pressure comes up (so about 40 minutes total). I generally cook quite a bit and freeze the extra.
Clearly ConEd is having issues today. Pretty noticeable voltage cut. Can see it in the lights and noticing anything with a fan running slower than normal…
Try using a sous-vide. It has to be on for quite a while, but the results are quite good and it limits cooking odors. In my next life, I am going to have a huge extractor fan over my stove that vents to the outside.
Yeah, I stuck my head outside; you can smell the rain, but nothing hitting the ground. But as normal, the storm seemed to just miss us. But did drop the temp a few degrees.
Not in any of these towns but really close to Little Neck so suppose we got caught up in the cut. Not ETA on when the damage that resulted in the cut will be fixed. ConEd is supposed to strike tomorrow I think potentially. Good timing.
Good question. Just whipped out my voltage tester. - 97.9 Volts instead of 110.
That’s gotta be good for refrigerators…
Just inching back to the controversial EV subject. Could anyone imagine if even 20% of the cars were EV’s right now in NYC?
The Grid can’t handle 93 degrees anymore. I’ve been living in a borough of NYC since 2000. This never used to happen. It’s gotten worse, not better. Not to mention the plan to drop all zoning and allow apartments to be built where 1 and 2 family homes are now. That will work out too. LOL
Time to pack up and move to Mars.
ETA - we are about to get slammed with a small T-Storm here. 91 now. Let’s see how much it drops and for how long…
We seem more or less normal now. Don’t feel like checking. I can tell by the airhadnler speed and the fact that the CAC finally achieved its set temp and shut off for a change.
Tomorrow promises to be brutal and I see Wed will be even worse according to the 10 day. I really hope this isn’t what the whole summer is going to be like considering it’s only 2 days old!
The beans were older. I always soak them overnight, but I forgot and that’s why I thought I’d try the crock pot. After 16 hours with plenty of water, I decided it was useless.
Got up early Sunday to get out on the water in NJ before it got unbearable.
Dropped the pool water a few inches to add some fresh cold water.
Came back around noon and this is what I see.
