Crock-pot Cock-up

Never one to shy away from experimentation in the kitchen, I've naturally had my ups and downs.  Fortunately, there have been more ups than downs, but this week saw an epic fail on my part.

It's not often I have to throw something away - and yes, this week I had to throw (most of) a whole dish out it was so revolting.

The story starts with me getting the slow cooker (Crock pot if you're from 'over the pond') out from it's summer hibernation and starting to get back in the swing of slow, languorous cooking resulting in melt-in-the-mouth moist stews; thick, hearty warming soups or slow roast pieces of brisket and the like.  So  slow cooker installed on the worktop, I decide that a risotto must be doable in the slow cooker - and therefore bung in the ingredients, onion, garlic, herbs (thyme and oregano), chicken, stock and rice and pop it on and away I go.


So far so good - well I say that but it didn't look overly appetising at this point, but such is the art of a slow cooker that sometimes things which look the most unappealing and unassuming turn into things of great joy over the hours - this time it was not to be.

When I came home from the school run, the house is suffused with a wonderful smell of cooking chicken and aromatic herbs - at this point I'm quite hopeful for a good supper - then I get to the pot.  I look inside.  Somehow, all those lovely ingredients and that wonderful smell looks like something the cat threw up (if indeed I had a cat - that is what I would assume it to look like).  I taste it - oh my, it is so utterly revoltingly pappy that I cannot bring myself to eat it myself, let alone serve it to the family.  There's only one thing for it - rescue remedy.

I carefully pick out the pieces of chicken and rinse them under the hot tap - thinking I can transform the cooked chicken into another dish easily enough.  The wallpaper paste pot of rice is unceremoniously dumped into the bin.  The chicken was added to a tomato ragu and served with pasta and passable enough so not all was lost - thankfully.

I remain convinced that a risotto is slow-cooker friendly and am not entirely sure what went wrong with mine - perhaps I ought to look at a recipe -or measure some ingredients - you never know that might help!

Never one to be put off, I try the slow cooker again the following night - this time a somewhat 'out-there' recipe which involves cooking a ham joint on a bed of sugar.  And well, it was a triumph!  No messy burnt on sugar to deal with, just melt in the mouth Kassler with a sumptuously sticky sauce - perhaps only to be improved upon with a slug of rum next time, or some Chinese spices - I was hoping for leftovers for sandwiches for lunch - but no such luck.

The recipe I read called for 400g of dark brown sugar (not very easy to get hold of in Germany) - I only had 250g of light muscavado sugar so used that instead - and a ham joint - I used a peice of Kassler which is a smoked, cured pork from Germany, and that was it.  The recipe calls for 10 hours on low - but I only put it in at 1.30 so it had 4 hours on high then the leftover bit went on low for a couple more hours once the children had had their share!

The moral of the story - try, try and try again - never let a culinary disaster deter you from your dishes!