A hello and a question.

[Mordent]

Hello Discusscooking! I was invited here by the lovely and gracious CatPat. I'm not much of a cooker, single guy, no wives or kids, so try not to laugh at me too much. Here's my question:
I have recently inherited a crock pot. After looking at it for a couple months, I've decided to try making a meal as I hear it's super easy. Here's what I have:
1. 2.2lb boneless top round roast choice beef round.
2. 5lb Bag of potatoes.
3. 1lb baby carrots.
4. An onion.
5. 1lb of bacon.
6. 12 fluid oz of garlic/cracked pepper marinade.

What is the best way to cook these things in a crock pot? Do I need to add water? Salt? Pepper?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Mordent.

 

[CatPat]

Oh bless you, my friend!

Oh this is nice! I think I'd put the roast in first, and add a can of beef broth and a little water to cover it, and add some chives, maybe a small handful of that onion, and perhaps a dry package of au jus gravy for flavoring, and then put it to cook for 8 hours on the low setting.

In the last 30 minutes, add cut up potatoes and carrots. I'd put a slice of bacon in with the potatoes and carrots. You have to watch this, you do not want your potatoes and carrots to be mushy.

Also, you could marinate the roast with the garlic and cracked pepper marinade for 12 hours in the refigerator before starting this.

But others will have better ideas of this, I think.

Welcome, Mordent! I'm glad you are here.

Give this some time, for others will have very much better ideas for this.

With love,
~Cat

 

[CarolPa]

The only thing I would add is to brown the roast to get a good sear before putting it in the crock pot and then deglaze the pan and add that to the crockpot to get all those little browned bits.

 

[Mordent]

The only thing I would add is to brown the roast to get a good sear before putting it in the crock pot and then deglaze the pan and add that to the crockpot to get all those little browned bits.

Deglaze? Is that like "scrape" in layman's terms? How much water should I add?
Thanks!

 

[GotGarlic]

Hi, Mordent. Welcome to DC

You actually don't need a lot of liquid in a slow cooker because the process of slow cooking brings moisture out of the meat and vegetables. Deglaze means to add liquid - it can be water, wine, broth or stock - to the pan after browning and simmer it, scraping up the browned bits with a wooden spatula. This adds a lot of flavor to the pot roast.

I would marinate the meat overnight, then pat dry with paper towels, heat some olive oil in a pan, and brown the roast well on all sides. Meanwhile, clean and slice the onion and cut about 1 pound of the potatoes into 2-inch chunks. Leave the baby carrots whole.

Put the onion slices in the bottom of the slow cooker, put the roast on top, and add the beef broth. Nestle the potatoes and carrots around the roast. I don't think you need additional water; the liquid only needs to come a couple of inches up the side of the meat. I would save the chives for garnishing after it's done; they won't add much flavor and won't look nice after cooking for 8 hours. Also, I think adding raw bacon to a slow cooker will make the dish greasy. If you want to add bacon, cook it separately and add it at the end.

Since a slow cooker cooks slowly , people generally add the vegetables at the beginning. 30 minutes in a slow cooker won't be enough time to cook them.

Here's a site with lots of slow cooker recipes: A Year of Slow Cooking

Hope this helps.

 

[Mordent]

Thank you! I actually started it about an hour ago, added about a cup of water (I wanted to dissolve a beef bullion cube in something), and partially cooked half the bacon and threw it in. Potatoes/carrots went on the bottom (soggy is fine with me), onions around the meat, some pepper and garlic salt for seasoning. I'll report the results this evening!

 

[GotGarlic]

How long are you planning to cook it? You're in the eastern time zone, right? What time do you plan to eat?

 

[Mordent]

My inherited crock pot has an 8 hour low temp timer built in. I'm using that setting. US pacific time zone, btw.

 

[jennyema]

Yes, the potatoes and carrots would still be totally raw after only 30 minutes in a crock pot.

 

[GotGarlic]

My inherited crock pot has an 8 hour low temp timer built in. I'm using that setting. US pacific time zone, btw.

Ah, okay. I assumed you were in North Carolina, where Cat lives, so I thought you started it at 3 p.m.

 

[Mordent]

Nope. I met Cat on a political website. She has amazing common sense, intellect, and humility. Very refreshing around those parts!
I've got about 3 hours to go, just enough time to head to the corner bar and catch the football game. It smells great so far, though!

 

[GotGarlic]

Cool! Can't wait to hear how it turns out.

 

[joesfolk]

A couple of things you might need to remember. A crock pot can dry out your meat. Sometimes 8 hours is too long. The more you lift the lid the longer it will take to cook your food. You could just throw the meat in with a cup of water and some seasonings. It won't be as good as all the stuff everyone else has suggested but it is a place to start. Even just salt and pepper would do it for a beginning. Check out the manual that usually comes with the product. There will be recipes there. Good luck.

 

[joesfolk]

Oh..I see you already started it. Don't br surprised if your veggies pretty much dissolve after 8 hours of cooking. Hope it turns out well.

 

[CatPat]

Nope. I met Cat on a political website. She has amazing common sense, intellect, and humility. Very refreshing around those parts!
I've got about 3 hours to go, just enough time to head to the corner bar and catch the football game. It smells great so far, though!

So do you! You're very smart and you are so very nice to me on that whacky website. We won't speak of it here, thank God.

I can't wait to see how this turns out for your meal. This is very exciting to us; your first time with these foods and your crockpot.

Mordent, Mamma did say this to me: "If you can read, you can cook."

One of our members I think, suggested a crockpot cookbook. I think that's a great idea! Since you do not have a wife and children, you'll wish to look for a cookbook for one or two people. You'll be able to freeze leftovers for later meals, which does save very much time!

With love,
~Cat

 

[Addie]

Head to your local library and go to the cookbook section. You can use their copy machine to copy any recipes you see and like. Good luck with your meal.

 

[GotGarlic]

Mordent, Mamma did say this to me: "If you can read, you can cook."

My mom always says this, too. I would add that you should heed what you read, until you get some experience under your belt.

I had a friend who always overcooked a roast. She took it out of the oven when the recipe said to, but it didn't look done to her, so she put it back. After more cooking, resting and carryover cooking, of course it was overcooked!

 

[Oldvine]

Mama's are usually right. Sounds like you have a good start. I'm also on the west coast. What time did you say was dinner?
Good luck on the project

 

[CatPat]

How was it? I can't wait to know!

With love,
~Cat

 

[Mordent]

It turned out pretty good. I think the onion was too big, though. It's a little onion-heavy, flavor-wise. =(