ISO crock-pot cooking help

[patunia]

Hi folks! I come here hoping you can solve my crockpot dilemma. I love to use my crockpot and I follow directions to a t but for some reason whenever I make things like with bbque sauce it always turns out watered down. I see so many blogs and what not that show pictures of the final product and they always look so yummy and sticky, ooey, gooey KWIM? I am afraid to use less lliquid for fear of the food drying out. What am I doing wrong??
Thank for your help!

 

[Timothy]

Hi Patunia, and welcome to DC!

I'm not sure what you're doing, but I'll do some guessing.

Perhaps you're putting the BBQ sauce into the crock pot before you cook off the fat in the meats. Then the fat *melts*, adds volume to the BBQ sauce and *waters* it down.

There is a way to prevent this. Put only enough plain water into the crock pot to cook the meat. The meat doesn't need to be submerged in anything.

When the meat is 75% of the way to being done, lift it from the crock pot and set it aside.

Then ladle off all of the liquid in the crock pot into storage jars if you would like to use it on another dish.

Then add your meat back into the crock pot one layer at a time and liberally brush each layer with your BBQ sauce. On the top, pour enough to cover the surface of all the meat exposed to air.

Recover the crock pot and let it finish cooking. Test the meat with a meat thermometer for doneness. I stick mine down into the meat while its still sitting right in the crock pot.

If the meat is done, use a wide spatula or tongs to remove it without breakage to a serving dish.

The BBQ sauce should be near the same consistency as when you put it into the crock pot.

The meat fat can be used in tons of recipes and for gravies and sauces.

 

[Josie1945]

Welcome to DC.

Josie

 

[Dawgluver]

Welcome to DC! I never cook meat in Bbq sauce, add it after the meat is cooked, or almost cooked. Beer, broth, or water make good cooking liquid, drain, shred if you want, then mix in the sauce.

 

[SherryDAmore]

I'm with Dawgluver. A spice rub 24 hours before cooking, but skip the BBQ sauce 'til after.

 

[LindaZ]

Same here. I cook the meat in whatever spices, juice untill it falls off the bone, drain the liquid then shred the meat and put back in with only the bbq sauce as the moistener. Welcome, hopes this helps.

 

[betterthanabox]

I don't use BBQ in my slow cooker either. I did it once, and it was ok. But I think I put it in later after the meat was done.

 

[patunia]

Thank you

Thank you all for your warm welcomes. I haven't had much time to look around, but look forward to doing so. Thank you also for the suggestions, I will certainally use them. I usually don't use a commercial bbque sauce, I prefer home made and all the recipes I have used state to put the sauce ingreds. in with the meat from the beginning, so I did. I think I will try spice rubs instead and add the bbque sauce later.
Thanks again!!

 

[GiddyUpGo]

Steam can't really escape from a crockpot, I think that contributes to watery sauces. I've noticed the same sort of thing, and I usually cut liquid in half if I'm trying to adapt a recipe for the crockpot.

When I do BBQ ribs I mix apricot pineapple jam with the BBQ sauce, I think that gives it a little more body. I also save half the sauce and slather it on at the end, and keep some on the table for dipping.

 

[familymeals]

Hi Patunia,

You definitely don't need the same amount of liquid in a slow cooker recipe that you would use in a traditional oven baked casserole recipe. Reduce the liquid by at least 1/2. Don't fear that the meat will become dry - dishes in the slow cooker are always tender and moist. The only way you will dry out your meat is if you cook it for too long on the high setting.

Good luck!