Gary wrote:
> wrote:
>
>> For the stew, no I didn't brown it. The recipe called for dusting it in flour
>> and putting it in the crock pot with the veggies. No mention of browning it. I
>> do brown the chuck roast for the pot roast and the spare ribs. The recipe calls
>> for it. This is my first ever crock pot and I'm new to it, so I'm following the
>> recipes as I read them.
>
> I made beef stew in a crock pot years ago. It was ok but not all that. then
> I heard of searing the meat in a frying pan first. What a nice difference!
> 
Browning red meat before does make a huge difference in the flavor.
I have not bothered when I've cooked fowl in a crockpot though. I tried
it once and it was more work for less gain. With fowl I decided the
goal was reducing liquid in the end. I will thaw and dry the chicken as
much as I can before putting it in the slow cooker and not add any
watery veggie until the very end. I run it with the liquid a little bit
open so some of the steam escapes to help dry it out. I do like
cooking a chicken with a can of condensed mushroom soup but that does
come out as a stew with more liquid than I want. Only add non-root
veggies near the end.
I've read in cookbooks that a slow cooker brings out more flavor from
dried herbs. Not to me. Add more. But fresh herbs are fragile so only
in the last hour or less.
Beans I'll bring to a boil in a regular pot, drain and then transfer to
the slow cooker. I cook them more than a day to give them time to meld.
Get the starch or fiber out of the center of the beans into the maxtrix
of the liquid to act as a binder.