Rules of Engagement !

Rather than repeat the obvious through-out this work, I have included several details that can be counted ‘as given’ when preparing slow cooker meals. These general rules are listed below, and should be referred to if and when needed, during your meal preparation.

Preparing Meats:

When preparing meat for the crock-pot, generally it should be cut into maximum 1” cubes, unless you are cooking meat on-the-bone. Also, excess fat should be removed before cooking.

The average daily consumption of red meat is about ¼ lb (100g) and so a cut of  1lb should serve around 4 persons at a sitting.

Before adding diced meat to the slow cooker, it is better to add plain flour into a bag and toss the meat within, untilcoated. This can then be browned in a frying pan and added to the slow cooker. Excess fat (especially from fatty meats like lamb) should be poured away before adding the meat.

Alternatively, especially with leaner cuts; after the meat has been removed from the frying pan, de-glaze the pan with a cup of stock or red wine and add the liquid to the slow cooker. This creates the base for a rich sauce.

When it comes to choosing the meat cuts for a slow cooker, as has already been mentioned, the ability to use cheaper cuts is what make the slow cooking process so attractive to many families. These cuts are generally found on the muscle bearing parts of the beast, such as the for-quarters, or lower hind-quarters.

If you put a cheap lamb shank for instance, into a slow cooker with some water; then the meat just falls off the bone 8 hours later and produces a tremendous lamb stew with the relevant additions of ingredients found in the ‘Spicy Lamb Stew’ recipe.