Sour and Sweet

As part of my developing relationship with my slow-cooker, I am trying to hit lots of crockpot dishes. The winter season and the crockpot go together so nicely. The pot sitting on the counter, heating the kitchen for the day, adds to the comfort element and the aroma of a cooking dish adds energy to a sometimes draining time of year.

This time, I decided to get in touch with my roots. Having a strong fraction of German heritage, I found a sauerbraten recipe and it felt right. Of course, the fact that the grocer had a good sale on beef roast aroused the Scot in me! (Truth be told, I have no “Scot blood” [my loss, I guess], I’ll just have to chalk it up to being a value-minded fellow.)

Sauerbraten is a beef roast that is soaked in a vinegar and water mixture. The translation of sauerbraten to English is “Sour Roast”. The German culture was forced to find ways to preserve food as the climate did not provide much year-round refrigeration (ice) and there was not a lot of access to the sea. In my opinion, living on the seaboard gave access to smaller portions with each harvest—it’s easier to consume a fish before it spoils than an entire deer or cow. The Germanic folks relied on simple chemical preservation, usually salt brines or vinegar. Of course, these folks made sausage as a way to preserve food, too. Bless them for that!

Sauerbraten is really simple and a nice change from regular roast. The sour element is something you’ll either really enjoy or, at best, consider a “bad element”. If it were an incredibly popular flavor, you’d see prepared sauerbraten prominently marketed in the store.

The roast gets a very black surface. That is brought on by the vinegar treatment. It is fork-tender when served and the leftovers are great on a bun. To be true to the ethnicity of the dish, one could make potato dumplings. I was time-constrained and opted for a baked sweet potato and steamed veggies.

Old World Sauerbraten
3.5 to 4# beef rump roast or sirloin tip
1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
1 Large onion
1 Lemon, sliced (not peeled)
10 Cloves, whole
4 Bay Leaves
6 Peppercorns, whole
2 Tbsp. Salt
2 Tbsp. Sugar
12 Gingersnaps, crumbled

Place meat in a deep, ceramic or glass bowl. Combine water, vinegar, onion, lemon, cloves, bay leaves, pepper, salt, and sugar. Pour mix over meat. Cover meat and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours; turn meat several times during the marinating. Place beef on slow-cooker pot and pour one cup of the liquid on the meat. Cover pot and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Place meat on a serving platter and tent to retain heat. Strain the juice and return liquid to the pot. Turn pot on high. Stir in gingersnaps; cover and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Pour over sliced meat.
Makes 8 servings.

It beats Catching a Cold!

Rapid assembly makes this crock version of Chicken Cacciatora a good go to recipe.

2.5 to 3 # chicken, (Legs and thighs, skin removed, work great).
½ # Italian sausage, Mild—in portions a bit larger than the end of one’s thumb
1 onion, chopped
1 26-ounce jar of a tomato based spaghetti sauce
1 clove garlic
1 4 oz can block olives, sliced
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
Penne pasta, cooked

In a sprayed skillet, brown chicken, sausage and onion.
Put browned ingredients into crock; add sauce, garlic, and olives.
Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours.
Add mushroom in the last 15 minutes of cooking.
Serve on a bed of penne pasta.

A Little on the Side!

Here is a product of my imagination. It is a fabulous change in flavor that renews interest in eating those important vegetables. I used green beans, but many other veggies would also blend well with the flavors here.

Sesame Green Beans

2 cups green beans, cleaned
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp course sea salt.

Steam beans to crisp tender.
In a saute pan, heat seeds over medium-high heat. Shake pan as seeds roast. Roast until you smell the seeds and see a slight change in seed color. Remove from heat and put salt in pan with seeds.

Transfer beans from steamer to serving bowl. Sprinkle seed mixture on beans, the moisture from steaming should assist in keeping some seeds on the beans.

Mission Possible

I found a paperback cookbook when I was assisting in the moving of my wife’s father from one home to another. The book, Crockery Cookery, was from the mid seventies and the photos showed it. The author, Mable Hoffman, appears to be the Slow-cooker Know-it-all of that era. The book has some very good recipes. I have done a few over the years and only one was a disappointment.

I found this mission chicken recipe in Mabel’s book and it seemed like a great variation on chicken. I rarely use cloves and the citris and fruit adds a nice sweetining element that I enjoy. Try Mission Chicken with brown rice and steamed green beans and carrots.


Mission Chicken

2-2.5# quartered, broiler-fryers
¼ cup butter (I reduced this to a few tablespoons)
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp. Cloves
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Seasoned salt
1 6 ounce can of fzn. Orange Juice concentrate, thawed
½ cup water
2 or 3 drops hot sauce
1 cup seedless grapes, halved
½ cup slivered almonds

In a large skillet, brown the chicken with the butter. Combine the cinnamon, cloves, salt, seasoned salt, orange juice concentrate, water and hot pepper sauce. Pour this over the chicken in the crock. Cover and cook, on low, for 4 to 5 hours. Stir in the grapes. Place chicken on a serving dish, cover with almonds. You can pass the sauce or thicken it with flour and water if you like a thicker sauce.

That’s a Crock!

On the Christmas holiday, I found a fabulous gift under the tree. A new crock pot.

I must admit that cooking with a slow-cooker is not flashy or exciting. But those are the traits that make it the method of choice at times around my house. The crock pot allows for assembly and no-look cooking long before meal time. It plays into the notion of “set it and forget it” to borrow a phrase from a very annoying kitch-TV millionaire. The crock also helps if you have varied meal times. Though not desireable, it ahappens that not everyone in the house can eat at the same time. The crock allows a diner to serve up a portion and leave the rest for others. Stews and chilis are great examples of foods that can serve easily this way.

The particular model of cooker that I have has a sophisticated control function that varies the temperature during the cooking cycle and, after cooking is complete, it switches to a warming mode that holds the dish at serving temperature. This feature enhances the pots ability to serve the food at the time the diners are ready for it.

So, over the next while, I will probably delve in to many crock adventures. I hope you choose to come along!!

MITK