Consuming Passions: Slow cooking
As the weather turns thoroughly autumnal (for those of us in the Northern hemisphere, at least) thoughts turn towards warming comfort food. In the latest contribution to our Consuming Passions series, food writer Ellen Manning reflects on the simple pleasures of slow cooking. The world that rarely slows down, she makes the case for meals that do.
By Ellen Manning
There is something wonderfully comforting about walking into the smell of something that’s been slowly simmering all day. Maybe it’s the promise of a hearty meal, especially in contrast to a crisp evening and earlier dusk that usually accompany the return of slow-cooked meals. Perhaps it’s that sweet feeling of self congratulation that you organised yourself enough to prepare something the night before and get it in to cook before a busy day, knowing that the you of that evening would be hugely grateful to the you of that morning or night before for having the foresight to get dinner sorted.
Autumn is the time that it often feels things start to slow down, especially in the kitchen. The racy pace of barbecues and quick summer salads are replaced by soups and stews with their infinite possibilities when it comes to ingredients and flavour combinations. It’s when slow cookers and crockpots — the subject of entire books of hearty recipes and ideas—get dusted off and take pride of place back on the worktop, and when we go from light, easy meals to hearty comfort food—the kind that warms your cockles and reminds you it’s the season of crisp leaves underfoot, a chill in the air, cosy evenings and a need for sustenance and big feeds. Less Instagrammable, more satisfying.
As a less than confident cook (I prefer to do the planning, eating and writing about it than the actual execution), slow-cooking is definitely my bag. It’s less stressful, calmer, and more forgiving. Tough meat? Probably not after six hours, which gives brisket time to transform into a fall-apart delight of loveliness.
Any slight flavour issues? Plenty of time to correct them. And I undoubtedly am the kind of person that loves the aforementioned smugness of having actually organised myself in advance. They’re great for solo dinners and just as good for a dinner for two when you’ve both had a busy day. Even better, they are more than passable - in fact often preferable - for dinner parties. Instead of slaving over the stove and fretting about last-minute sauces and whether things are cooked right, you can focus on welcoming your guests, spending time with them, and the finishing touches on the feast you’ve already prepared. Whether entertaining or cooking a simple supper, slow cookers also lend themselves to cuisine from across the world, from Indian to Asian to Mediterranean fare. They’re not just for meat either, with a whole plethora of plant-based and vegetarian slow cooker recipes out there for the taking.
Slow-cooked meals come with some of my fondest memories. As a child my father taught me the delayed gratification of cooking French onion soup - something that can’t be rushed and needs several hours of love and patience. Not quite a slow-cooker stew, but not far off if you give it the time it needs. At university I mimicked my mother’s stews, overjoyed that cheap meat and a few vegetables could be transformed into a hearty meal far better than beans on toast (even the posh version) with just a bit of help from stock, seasoning and time. No swanky slow cooker at that time, but a reminder that a big saucepan over a low heat, or a crockpot in a low oven can achieve the same thing.
As a newly-wed, I found myself torn between the love of my career and a desire to cook for the person I loved, always struggling to do both in between long commutes and late finishes. I invested in a slow cooker and didn’t look back. Stews and casseroles became my friend, and I soon found myself experimenting with other dishes including curries and American-inspired pulled pork, creating even more tantalising aromas as we walked through the door and settled down for dinner together. As I write this, a few weeks post surgery on a broken ankle, it’s safe to say the slow cooker has been my saviour. I gather all the ingredients together, then sit—leg elevated—while I chop, dice and slice where needed, then throw it all in and hop off for a few hours while the slow cooker works its magic. It means that amid the uselessness of not being able to walk, drive or do much else, I still feel that I can cook something tasty not only for myself but for others too. A glorious combination of ease, therapy and satisfaction. So far we’ve had a rich, unctuous slow-cooked chilli con carne, as well as a massaman style beef and potato curry that saw eight hours of stewing, letting the spices infuse the meat, which became so meltingly tender it required just the slightest touch of a fork. The perfect comfort food, with the modest level of effort required being rewarded many times over by the deep flavour and general joy. It’s a style of cooking that doesn’t necessarily have to involve meat, with meat-free options working equally well.
You’ll find various theories on the best approach to a slow-cooked meal or stew. “Sear the meat first to seal flavour in”, say some. “Layer the ingredients in a certain way”, say others. In fact, the physical layers sometimes become the very essence of the dish, whether it’s a layered breakfast casserole or a slow cooker lasagne. Slow cookers lend themselves just as well to soups as stews, with scope to create everything from a classic Bouillabaisse to a slow cooker chicken noodle soup. But if it’s a thicker dish you’re after rather than a soup, you might have to be mindful of how much fluid you add because added moisture produced by a slow cooker can mean it’s too wet. Of course, all these help, and everyone will have their own tips and tricks, along with a few basic things that seem to always help. Like chopping veg and meat into consistent sizes so it cooks evenly, adding hardier herbs earlier but more delicate ones later.
Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup from Gluten-Free Family Favorites by Kelli Bronski and Peter Bronski
Like any cooking, the key to slow cooking is depth of flavour. Yes, flavours intensify during cooking time and things like spices infuse into meat and vegetables, whether it’s spice seeping into a slow cooked shoulder of lamb, Asian flavours taking up residence in a dish like slow-cooked Teriyaki chicken, or herbs bringing fragrance and depth to an Italian pork stew. But equally, you’ll often have a fair amount of liquid in a slow-cooked dish and the last thing you want is for your flavours to be watered down. So I reckon it’s good to be bold. Use different flavours, season liberally, whack up the spice factor in things like curries or global dishes. I’m yet to produce a slow-cooked dish that’s felt like ‘too much’, but I’ve tried plenty that were a bit insipid.
But despite all the wisdom that’s out there, the joy of slow-cooked food for a lot of us is just how forgiving it is. Laced with the nostalgia of a more traditional way of cooking, yet super easy. Which means that if you don’t want to mess around with searing, layering and carefully constructing a dish in a crockpot, you really can just throw everything in for an easy slow cooker supper. Or if you want to go even simpler and steer clear of a slow cooker, a stew can be constructed by lobbing everything in a pan. Not quite tender enough? Cook it for a bit longer. Too much liquid? Thicken it up at the end by cooking off some of it, or adding a roux or cornstarch. Not even seasoning? You’ve got time to chuck more in. It also offers infinite possibilities — books like Andrew Schloss’s Art of the Slow Cooker or Beverley Blanc’s I Love My Slow Cooker offering up hundreds of recipes to inspire and delight.
Marrakech Chicken Stew with Preserved Lemon and Olives from Art of the Slow Cooker by Andrew Schloss
Greek Lamb Shanks in Tomato & Garlic Sauce from I Love My Slow Cooker by Beverly LeBlanc
It’s the kind of cooking lots of us don’t just want, but we need. The comfort not just of eating it, but of cooking without pressure, in a time-starved world where we just can’t dedicate the hours to preparation that some of us might like. And a reminder that even though many of us might live at 100mph, sometimes slowing down is everything.
About the author
Ellen Manning is a food writer, judge, award-winning blogger and event host. She writes on food and drink and travel for national newspapers, magazines and websites, as well as judging awards including the Great Taste Awards, the Class Bar Awards and the National Fish & Chip Awards. She also writes an award-winning food blog Eat with Ellen that showcases food and travel across the UK and abroad, working with brands including Jet2, Very, and more. She’s a regular events host, hosting stages at festivals including CarFest, Pub in the Park, and most recently, Truro Food Festival. She has also appeared on TV, including Channel 5’s Gadget Show, and is a regular on BBC radio. When she's not writing about food, she's probably eating it at home in Cornwall or all over the UK and Europe in her campervan.
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