Sarah's Slow Cooker Question

Sarah’s Crockpot Woes

Sarah is checking in with a question about using her crock pot.  Really nice to hear from you!
“Hi Judith, thanks for opening a hotline! I can't get anything to taste good when I use the slow cooker. My most recent attempt: 2# pork shoulder, cut into cubes, season and brown, add to cooker with fire-roasted tomatoes, chipotle chiles in adobo, garlic, onion, etc. In the cooker for five hours on high. The result? Really tender meat that tasted like nothing. Maybe I should have done only four hours?”

Sounds like a great combination of flavors, I love the idea of fire-roasted tomatoes and chopotle chilis!  There’s a couple of possibilities to consider for flavor enhancement.  Browning the meat is good, but it’s also good to brown the onions.  And while you are at it, brown some celery and carrots too.
Browned celery + carrots + onions is called ‘mire poix’ in French or ‘soffrito’ in Italian, and they are the basis for many savory dishes.  Once you’ve browned the meat and the veggies, deglaze the cooking pan with some wine to get all the tasty brown bits out of the pan.  If you are going to add garlic to the browning mix, add it at the very end. Garlic burns very quickly, and then it tastes nasty.  What additional liquid did you use? A little chicken or meat broth would be good, but don’t let it be too salty.
The other issue is temperature.  Five hours at high heat basically evaporated all the juices out of the meat. Use a low temperature and go an extra hour or so if you think it needs it. 

One other thing: make sure your pork has some fat on it. Fat = flavor. There is a reason why fat-free pork tastes like cardboard!

Let me know how the next batch turns out, ok? 
Oh, and when you serve it, garnish it with some lime zest. Lime and chilis are a perfect compliment!

Comments

[Sarah]

Thanks for the tips, Judith! I'll remember these for next time. :)

[groundhog.judy]

Most of my crock pot recipes are very tasty but I can see where Sarah needs to put a little more into preperation of the ingredients. Cooking on a lower setting helps. Happy crock potting!