Crock Pot Nemesis

[kai]

Hello and thanks for reading my post. I like to cook but am not that great at it so I'll be anxious to read the threads here.
I'm currently a bit exasperated - I'm in the process of ruining another crock pot meal because potatoes absolutely hate me. They hate me.
In general, I love potatoes - but all they do in my crock pot recipes is get harder and crunchier. I don't get it. I'm cooking a chicken chile recipe that has 2 sliced russet potatoes included in it, and after 4 hours of cooking on low immersed in a chicken broth/diced tomato sauce, I think they're harder than when I started. This is not the first time I'm at wit's end on why potatoes don't work for me.
I recently tried a similar recipe with Yukon gold potatoes and the same thing happened - it was even worse. After cooking a long time, I had to fish out my plywood potatoes and tried to boil them, thinking I could just add soft potatoes back into my crock pot mixture. No dice - just as hard, if not harder after 25 minutes of boiling. Then I put them into the microwave - nope, didn't soften them one iota... It was as though I'd done something to make it so they wouldn't soften under any conditions.
Anybody have an inkling of what's going on?? Any help would be SOOOO appreciated! Thank you and happy cooking!

 

[Andy M.]

This may be an obvious question but are the potatoes in a liquid?

 

[MSC]

If they're immersed in liquid as you wrote, can't think of any reason why they shouldn't cook...perhaps you've been hexed!
Anyway, Plan-B could be boiling the spuds to your desired softness and put them in the crock pot for the last hour of cooking so they can absorb the juices/sauces.

 

[kai]

Andy M - yes, there are 3 cups of chicken broth in the recipe.

MSC - great idea - maybe the way to go for me...thx!

 

[Josie1945]

Kai, Welcome to DC.

Josie

 

[DaveSoMD]

I find that if I put the potatoes towards or on the bottom and then put the rest of the ingredients on top they tend to cook better. Be sure they are completely immersed in the liquid.

4 hours is a very short time to cook a recipe. Most recipes I have that include potatoes usually have a 6-8 hour cooking time on low.

Also, remember that if you take the lid off to check on the food you loose a lot of heat. I think I read that for every time you take the lid off you should add 20 minutes to the cooking time.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

High altitude may be a factor in cooking time, too!

 

[Selkie]

Many crock pots, especially on low, even after 4 hours, have hardly begun to simmer yet, let alone boil enough to cook sliced or diced potato. When cooking any root vegetable in a crock pot, turn the pot to "high" bringing it to a boil as soon as possible before turning down to low on simmer.

I know that the ideal use of a crock pot is to add everything at once and walk away until you can see your dish is finished, but you must bring it to heat first! And if you are going to be home during this time, cook the foods that take the longest first, and then add those take a medium amount of time, and lastly the foods that take the shortest time.

 

[DaveSoMD]

High altitude may be a factor in cooking time, too!

GREAT point! That would definitely need to be taken into consideration. I found this online:

"If you live at a high altitude, you might need to increase your crockpot cooking times by up to fifty percent! This is because the air pressure in the atmosphere is lower. Water boils at 212 degrees F at sea level. If you are boiling water at 7500 feet however, it boils at 198 degrees F, which makes a big difference to your crockpot recipes. The difference in the water boiling temperature affects the food cooking processes and therefore the flavor of the food as well as the cooking time."

 

[pacanis]

I would agree that you need to increase your cooking time. I cook quartered potatoes in a crock pot on top of everything else, typically a roast, with no immersion, and they always come out soft. I cook for at least six hours.
Being chili you could always dice the spuds. That would lessen their cook time and may benefit the chicken from not overcooking.

 

[Claire]

the high altitude thing makes sense, I didn't see where you live. I don't use a crock pot much any more, but I did (and do) find that bringing your ingredients up to temp before cooking helps a lot in a number of dishes. It may sound odd, but a lot of recipes for any and everything assume room temperature or even warmer ingredients, and since a crock is at low heat by definition, may work better if you simply nuke the ingredients (in this case the potatoes in the broth) to boiling before dumping into the pot!

 

[babetoo]

i always put potatoes, carrots or any other long cooking veg. on the bottom. generally don't add liquid to pot, unless soup, etc. there is plenty of liquid from meat and veg. they are always done and a bonus is they hold their shape. good luck. i do bring it up to temp. by starting it on high for a couple hours.

 

[kai]

So much great info here - thanks everyone! I'll definitely be using the advice given and appreciate everyone's thoughts!

Looking forward to being a member of the forum!

 

[DaveSoMD]

BTW... Welcome to DC kai!

 

[kai]

Thanks Dave - I'm a Poe fan, so your tag line makes me smile!

 

[DaveSoMD]

Have you heard his entire take-off on it?

 

[kai]

No - did someone redo the whole poem? I love to read that!

 

[DaveSoMD]

No - did someone redo the whole poem? I love to read that!

This is the opening of the Good Eats episode Fry Hard II ....

YouTube - Good Eats S4E3P1: Fry Hard II - The Chicken


He does a great cooking take off on the poem , complete with a bust of Julia Child.

 

[kai]

Hysterical!

 

[powerplantop]

GREAT point! That would definitely need to be taken into consideration. I found this online:

"If you live at a high altitude, you might need to increase your crockpot cooking times by up to fifty percent! This is because the air pressure in the atmosphere is lower. Water boils at 212 degrees F at sea level. If you are boiling water at 7500 feet however, it boils at 198 degrees F, which makes a big difference to your crockpot recipes. The difference in the water boiling temperature affects the food cooking processes and therefore the flavor of the food as well as the cooking time."

At the camp where I am working at the boiling point of water is 188F. But most people don't live at this altitude. Good thing I only have to eat lunch on site.