slow cooking meat in the crock pot

[Lizitea]

Hi 

 

People who slow cook meat in the crock pot -- do you cover the meat with a liquid? Or is this unnecessary?

 

thanks 

[Roz Griffiths]

Depends on what end result you're after. A nice fatty pork shoulder will make its own broth without anything added. But you can add some stock & have it as more of a stew

[Physibeth]

Like Roz said...most meat can just go in. If it is a leaner meat (chicken breasts for example) you probably need some sort of something something. Whole chickens I just throw in there. Same with roasts and shoulders etc.

[Guest]

I tend to be cooking fattier meats and meats with bones these days.  They are almost all pastured/grass-fed.  I only add veggies and seasonings.

 

Leaner meats simply don't respond as well for me.  I might add bone broth with these and/or cook for less time.

[Lizitea]

thanks everyone

[1Maryann]

I just did my first chicken in the crock pot.  Fairly small, free-range bird.  I quartered a lemon and stuffed the cavity with it, and I slid a few slivers of garlic under the skin of the breast, that's all.  It came out beautifully!  Falling off the bone (good, because I wanted it for curried chicken salad for lunches this week).  The broth was fabulous!  It was just enough to fill a big coffee mug, so I sipped it like bone broth while I picked the carcass.  I love how little fat is in the broth of free-range poultry.  Instead of sitting in a cage gaining weight until market time, they get enough exercise to keep them properly lean.

[Maycat]

I have a great crockpot and  the top is sealed on so I never have to add any liquids unless I want to. It's an older model of this one: http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-33967-6-Quart-Programmable/dp/B001AO2PXK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378090136&sr=8-1&keywords=crockpot

 

I find that my other crockpot has a loose lid and I have to be careful to watch the liquids over long periods.