Interesting Stuff You Might Not Know You Could Do With A Slow Cooker

You knew you could make chili in a slow cooker, I'm sure. And soup. And stew. You might have figured out that it works pretty well for pot roast. Taco filling. And it's the numero uno best for cooking tough, bony, gristly cuts of meat and turning them into ambrosia, far better than a filet mignon. I'll take a slow cooked lamb shank or a few pork neck bones over that filet any day -- far, far more flavor.

But there are things your slow cooker can do that you may not know about. When I posted yesterday about the meat loaf I had in my slow cooker (and a terrific meat loaf it turned out to be, too), many Facebook readers registered surprise. Ditto when I posted about baking a cake. So here are a few talents you might not have known your slow cooker possessed:

* As mentioned above, it will happily cook a meat loaf for you -- or, as we say around here, it will "bake a beet loaf." So long as your meat loaf doesn't absolutely have to brown on the outside, it'll work in the slow cooker. (An example of what wouldn't work: Bacon-wrapped meat loaf. Your bacon would be soggy. Bacon's too good to deserve such a fate.) Here's how:

1) Make up your meat mix. By the way, I have successfully substituted pork rind crumbs, oat bran, low carb bread crumbs, and even a half-and-half mixture of coconut flour and flax meal for the customary bread crumbs, crushed cereal, or oatmeal. However, these have not been one-for-one substitutions, and may require some experimentation.

2) Now put a basket steamer in your slow cooker -- because of the adjustable "petal" edges, it'll fit any round slow cooker nicely. This is going to let the fat drip off your meat loaf, so it has a nice, firm, slice-able texture when it's done.

3) Take two pieces of heavy-duty foil, long enough to reach down to the steamer, across it, and back up the other side of the slow cooker, plus about two inches overhang on either side. Fold them the long way into strips about 1 1/2 -2" wide, and criss-cross them over the steamer, obviously going to one side of the stem in the middle. This makes a sling to help you lift your meat loaf out when it's done.

4) Dump your meat mix into the slow cooker, and form it into a nice, even mound, right over the stem and everything. Cover the slow cooker, set it to low, and let your meat loaf cook. My huge meat loaf -- three pounds of meat, plus eggs and pork rind crumbs and such -- took about 6 hours, and was done through, but gloriously moist.

5) If you like, you can lift out your finished meat loaf and remove the steamer, and use the drippings in the bottom of the slow cooker to make gravy. I did last night. Or you can make a glaze or sauce and simply serve some over each slice. Don't forget to use sugar-free ketchup if you're using Mom's old recipe!

* You can cook custard in a slow cooker. Indeed, you can cook anything you would normally bake in a water-bath in the oven; I've done pate this way with great success. You just need a round casserole that will fit down into your slow cooker. Fill it with the mixture to be cooked, cover it with foil to protect against dripping water, and put it down in the slow cooker. Then carefully pour water around it, up to about 1/2" below the rim of the casserole. Cover and set the slow cooker to low. Timing will depend on your mixture.

* You can bake a great cheesecake! This time around, you'll need a spring form pan that fits down inside your slow cooker.
1)You'll want to pre-bake any crust you make, then pour in the filling. Cover the spring form with foil.

2) Take a big sheet of foil -- at least 18" long -- and roll it into a loose cylinder. Bend it into a circle, and place it in the bottom of your slow cooker -- you're making a rack to put the pan on.

3) Add 1/4" of water, then put the pan on the donut of foil. Cover the slow cooker and set to high; most of my slow cooker cheesecakes take 3-4 hours.

Next time I do this -- which will be soon! -- I'm going to try a couple of clean tuna fish cans instead of the ring of foil. Should work just as well.

* You can roast nuts. Do 'em on low, and stir every hour or so. Takes a couple-few hours.

* As I've discovered, you can bake a cake or quick bread! I've discovered that my Bundt pan fits perfectly in my slow cooker, hanging from the rim, and the lid fits tightly over it. So far I've done apple-walnut cake and pumpkin bread, and they've both worked beautifully. About 2 1/2 - 3 hours cooking time, on high.

* I've also discovered that I can hang my smaller stainless steel work bowl from the rim of my slow cooker, again, with the lid fitting tightly. I successfully baked a cauli-rice dish this way, but it wasn't ready for prime-time. The technique, however, was fine -- I filled the bottom of the slow cooker with water to make steam, figuring that would transfer heat more readily, set the bowl full of cauli-rice mixture down into the cooker, covered, and baked on low for... I think it was four hours, but again, it wasn't good enough that I wrote it down.

* Believe it or not, a slow cooker is great for cooking fish. No, you do not want to leave the fish in it for 6 hours, yuck! Instead, set the slow cooker to low, and throw in a few tablespoons of fat -- butter, olive oil, bacon grease, whatever you like. Cover, and let it heat for 30-45 minutes. Now season the fat -- you could add lemon juice and dill, or garlic and oregano, or chili powder, or Cajun seasoning, lime juice and a little tequila and jalapeno, whatever you like. Lay some fish fillets, nice big sea scallops, big shrimp, whatever, in the seasoned fat, and turn it once or twice to coat. Now cover, and let the fish cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on thickness. The fish will be moist and succulent.

* Your slow cooker will let you make your own bone broth, even if you're not home to guard a simmering stock pot. Just fill it with bones -- naked chicken bones left over from roast chicken dinners are fine, just save them in a sack in your freezer till you have a potful. (You can do the same with steak bones, and make beef broth.) Cover with water, add just a little salt -- maybe a teaspoon -- and a couple-few tablespoons of any kind of vinegar. Cover, set to low, and let it cook for -- no kidding -- a whole 24 hours. Let it cool, strain, toss the bones, and use the broth for any broth-y purpose you might have. Like making soup. You know you can make soup in your slow cooker, right?

* If you use canned soybeans in things like chili -- I do, sometimes -- you can save money over the canned variety by cooking your own. However, soybeans are hard to cook soft, so here's how: Put a cup or so of soybeans in a big bowl. Cover them with water, and let them sit overnight. They will absorb the water and expand. Now stash the whole bowl in your freezer over the next night. The freezing water will rupture their little cell walls, making it far easier to cook the soybeans soft. Finally, put them in your slow cooker, cover with plenty of water. DO NOT SALT -- salt will make it harder to cook any sort of bean soft. Cover the pot, set to low, and let 'em cook for at least 12 hours, and longer won't hurt. I freeze these in 1 1/2 cup lots, in zipper-lock bags; one baggie full is about equivalent to 1 can of soybeans.

One more thought: You'll notice that several of these uses require a round slow cooker. If you're buying one, that's the shape to get. If you already have an oval slow cooker, I'm sorry. I don't know how to fit a steamer or a Bundt pan or springform pan into it. But you can still make fish and broth and soybeans and roast nuts and stuff.