In which I accidentally make meat jello.

Guys, I don't love my Crock Pot. I feel like this is a big confession. I know most people love theirs all to pieces, and I feel a little bit broken inside because of my indifference. But try as I might, I just can't get it to cook me anything really yummy (the one exception being the homemade stock). I've tried a couple roasts and stews, but they are always just a little bit off for some reason. I always get so excited about using my slow cooker, but end up disappointed.

I think the first reason is the complete dearth of quality Crock Pot recipes out there. I don't want to dump in some meat, a package of ranch dressing mix, and a can of cream of chicken soup. I would really prefer to use real food if at all possible. I'm sure some of those recipes taste good, it just isn't what I'm looking for. The second issue is that I think I'm gone too long during the day. I leave the house by 8 and sometimes don't get home until after 7, which is a long time for a slow cooker to run. Mine is programmable, so it can go on low for 8 (or however many) hours and then automatically switch to "warm," but I swear my stuff still gets overcooked. I could still use it on weekends I suppose, but that seems to kind of defeat the point. Anyway, I haven't tried to make pulled pork or Chipotle style barbacoa yet, maybe my Crock Pot still has a chance to redeem itself.

Anyway, my latest slow cooker failure was oxtail stew. As I said in my last two posts, I was feeling adventurous last week. I've been interested in trying to eat from "snout to tail" and exploring different cuts, oxtail seemed like a pretty tame place to start so I picked some up at the farmer's market. I thought I would be able to find a good recipe, but nothing looked good to me so I decided to improvise. I browned the sections of tail, put them in the pot with carrots, half a green pepper, a bulb of fennel, a few cloves of garlic, and a can of chopped tomatoes. I covered it with stock, added some spices, and let it go for 8 hours on low. When it was done I sauteed some grated cauliflower in butter so I could have "rice" to serve with my stew.

The end result was just OK. The individual components tasted good, but there was nothing to bring them together. (Can you tell I watch too much Chopped?) The one good thing (so I thought) was that I'd have plenty for leftovers, and who doesn't love leftovers? Sometimes there is nothing better than not having to cook every meal. 

The only problem was when I pulled it out of the fridge the next day it was JELLO. I made MEAT JELLO. And it wasn't just a layer of fat on the top or anything, the whole thing was like one big Crock Pot shaped, meat flavored, vegetable studded, Jello Jiggler. The Jello salad from hell. Needless to say, we skipped the leftovers and I cooked again.

I always knew that Jello had something to do with bones, since vegetarians don't eat it, but this was a really good illustration of how that happens. It was less than appetizing. I don't eat gelatin often, but I don't think I'll have any problems turning down Jello shots in the future. 

Roasted Chicken and Homemade Stock

The farmer's market in my neighborhood is technically year round, but I guess we at the time of year when the farmers just have nothing to sell. There were no produce stands at the market last week, which was very disappointing. Next Saturday I'm going to try the market in the next neighborhood over to see if maybe they have more to offer. Anyway, the meat vendor from Smith Meadows Farm showed up, so my trip was not in vain. I bought some eggs and because I was feeling adventurous I also got a whole chicken and an oxtail. More on the oxtail later.

Although I roasted a duck for Thanksgiving, I've never done a whole chicken before. For some reason I found the idea really intimidating and kept putting it off. Man, was I being silly. Roasting a chicken is SO EASY and SO GOOD. Since this was my first time doing it, I decided to stick with a recipe which is uncharacteristic for me. I used Ina Garten's Perfect Roast Chicken recipe and followed it almost to the letter. The only things I did differently were to omit the onions (because I hate them) and to put some fennel fronds in the chicken cavity just because I had them and why not. Since my bird was a little smaller, around 4 pounds, my cooking time was closer to an hour. Here is the finished product:

Golden brown and delicious!

In addition to roasting chicken for the first time, this was also the first time I've cooked fennel. My husband and I both liked it. It has a subtle sweetness and I think it's great for these kinds of applications. Since I dislike onions so much I think I might start using fennel as a substitute for things like roasts, and maybe stews. It isn't my new favorite thing (like cauliflower was, haha) but I'm happy to add something new to my repertoire.

The hardest part of cooking a whole bird is carving it, but I think we managed to do that without butchering it too badly. We each had a breast and a drumstick for dinner.

In addition to providing us with a wonderful Sunday night dinner, I also got enough meat off the chicken to use in four lunch salads and I was able to use the carcass to make stock. After thanksgiving I made duck stock with our leftovers and I did that on the stove top since I was home from work and had the time to babysit it. This time I decided to try the crock pot, however, and it worked beautifully. Basically I just threw a bunch of stuff in and left it alone. First I added the carcass, and I left the aromatics inside the cavity. I figured they couldn't hurt. Then I added spices, mostly red pepper flake, bay leaf, thyme, and rosemary. I think I also added additional salt. I threw in the leftover roasted fennel and carrots, then added more carrots and two stalks of celery in addition to more fennel tops. Recently I read that putting acid in a stock helps leach the nutrients out of the bones and into the stock, which is where you want it, so I also put in a few dashes of apple cider vinegar. I covered it with water and left it on low for 20 hours. The result was beautiful, I got over two quarts of lovely, rich, dark brown stock.

I forgot to take a picture before I strained it, sorry!

I strained it into a pitcher so I could just pour it into whatever I want to use it for later in the week. I'm just obsessed with the color. It's so much darker than the store bought stocks or broths. Even Kitchen Basics, which was my preferred brand, is a few shades lighter than this. Making the stock was so easy I really have no excuse to ever buy it again.