Spinoff: Slow Cooker Quandary

I think people generally put WAY too much liquid in the slow cooker. For example...when I cook a whole chicken, I put no liquid in the cooker. When I cook other meats, I put as little liquid in, as possible. I have put too much liquid in the past, and boy was it mushy and gross!!

hmmm thats weird my meat is always tender and delicious but not mushy. I dont know what you could be doing wrong. I know I do add some of my veggies later in the cooking cycle to prevent them from getting too mushy but never had a problem with my meat or with the veggies being soaked with fat. What types of meats have you tried?

I know what you mean. I used to have a cookbook full of traditional slow cooker recipes and they all basically all tasted the same: like a big chunk of mushy meat swimming in greasy, salty sludge. Yuck!
I have had some luck finding better, more interesting recipes online, especially on allrecipes.com. In addition to pulled pork, I have found some decent recipes for short ribs, baked beans, adobo (a Filipino stew) a few different soups/chilis and a killer Paula Deen mac n cheese recipe (fattening as hell but OMG!)
Keep experimenting, and if your food is drying out you're cooking too high and/or too long!

Sounds like you might be cooking too long.

Or using too good of a cut of meat.

Pick the cheap, tough stuff.

Also, for roasts and whole chicken, crumple up a few balls of aluminum foil and put them on the bottom. This will allow the fat and grease to go to the bottom, and keep your meat out of it. I've roasted chickens this way!

Hmm, I usually brown the meat before, I put it into the crockpot. Like stew.. I s/ p it then flour it, then lightly brown it.. Place it in the cooker, with the vegetables on top.. Then I pour a can of crushed tomatoes over this maybe some Worcester sauce and beef broth..

I also try to cook it on low.. For6 to 7 hours.
Meat comes out tender, the stew thick and veggies cooked.

A roast I do almost the same thing but I use a large white onion layer first, then the lightly browned roast with the veggies on top. I only add about a 1/4 of a cup of liquid...the roast will sit on top of the onions to cook.

It is the seasoning and the type of liquid you add, that gives the flavor. So if you use wine, a little goes along way.

We do not like meat that is sweetened..I also try to not cook with sugar. Here in Texas , we tend to use things with a vinegar base.. So I cook the meat and then add any type of sauce for only the last hour. Otherwise it can overwhelm the meat..

I crock pot spaghetti sauce and red beans mostly, so mush is not really a problem. :)

Bought beef roast on sale this weekend, cut it up in to "hunks" that would feed two people. Dumped one in the crock pot with a meatloaf seasoning packet, and just a little water (about and inch). Let it cook all day. It was a little mushy - next time I will not cook as long, but served it over fresh mashed potatoes. It was really yummy.

I think you need to cut back on the liquid and the cooking time. If it is coming out gray - well, yeah, beef cooked in liquid turns grey - add a dash of paprika for color. Or, go ahead and brown the meat in a skillet before putting it in the crock pot. This also adds another layer of flavor. I do this when I cook a hunk of beef down in red sauce in the crock.

Oh, I have an ancient, tall crock put - I long for a dreamy new oval one.

I use mine for soups, stews and chili and they come out yummy.
Next week I want to try ribs in bbq sauce in my slow cooker.
I just don't have luck with most roasts - I'm doing something wrong but I'm not sure what.
But people fight over my lamb stew - it just melts in your mouth it's so tender.
Have enough liquid in so that you can skim the fat off the top or use lean cuts of meat.

I say find a recipe you like and stick to it. I try to never put the meat directly on the bottom of the cooker but line it with onions, celery, potatoes, carrots, etc then put the meat on top of that.

Add water only according to the recipe. I use my slow cooker for ribs, chicken, chilli, stews and soups.

I've got to hop on my summer soup making extravaganza. I love cold summer soups. I'm about to try a tomato basil recipie that is to die for.

I make my own foil "roasting rack" so that the meat doesn't sit in the fat, and I usually drain it before putting in the potatoes, etc. i just roll up foil and put it on the bottom a couple inches apart and place the meat on top.

I do my husband's favorite (and now mine), ham & beans. Navy beans, soaked for a few hours. An onion and yellow bell pepper, and really thick chunk ham. I put a Swanson's flavor packet in and some spices, and just let it simmer all day. Delicious!!!!!!! Just keep checking the water about every couple of hours.

I think you are doing it wrong. Pot Roast:
HALF FROZEN Roast Steak is required for this. PRE HEAT your crock pot to high. Coat your Roast Steak in Lawry's Garlic Salt (do not like any other) and pepper then top with Warchestershire sauce - 1/4 cup. Cook for 2hrs. Then reduce the heat to med high and add veggies, bite sized - no crazy chunks please - potatoes, carrots, whole tomatoes (canned) with juice, celery are my "go to's" here. Cook on med high for another 4hrs. I literally layer the crock pot vs stir things in - Meat/juices - Potatoes - Carrots - Celery - Tomatoes and I do not "mix" them up - the potatoes may soak up some of the juice in cooking but not much - you will not get greasy yuck if you do it this way.

Another option works best in an oblong crock pot:
Cook Ground Beef (I like about 2lbs) or you can cook a Roast Steak in the crock pot on high for 4hrs (yes, half frozen), season with "taco" seasoning of your choice. La Victoria (my choice) enchilada sauce layered on the bottom of a preheated (med) crock pot with 4-6 white corn tortillas layerd (cover bottom). Then layer ground beef, sauce, more tortillas, ground beef, sauce, tortillas, cheese (good gooey layer) and cover - cook 20-30 (cheese bubbly) on med and you are good to go! You want it to appear saucy when you put it in to start cooking because the tortillas soak up the sauce. This is bascially an enchillada casserole, you can serve with rice and beans and sour cream (greek yogurt) and guac on the side MMMMMM

Okay, one more
Chili:
Ground Beef (about 1lb) cooked and FINELY crumbled. This needs to be very finely crumbled - I have even put it thru the food processor after cooking to get desidred crumble. In crock pot in the am put "Stew Meat" can be found in meat department cut up chunks, I typically put in 2-3lbs (my chili goes FAST!) with Lawry's Garlic Salt, Pepper and Warchestershire Sauce and allow to cook on med high - high for 3-5hrs depending. Once the meats are cooked add the seasoning packets of Carroll Shelby's Chili Spices (brown box looks like wood, used to be in a brown bag). Cayene is to your liking but keep the salt - salt + crock pot = YUM (and I typically do not cook with a lot of salt other than the Garlic Salt). Mix the meats up with the seasonings/juices from the meat in the crock pot - but DRAIN the Ground Beef! Add Light and Dark Red Kidney beans drained, but not rinsed (will reduce sodium, but you want some of the starches from the "juice"). I add two of each personally. Add 1 or 2 LARGE cans of Whole tomatoes (cut in half) with juices. You should have enough liquid, but if you do not you can add water, beef broth or tomaote sauce or a combo of the three to your liking. OOps! I added too much liquid - that is what the Masa Flour is for (comes in the pack). Cook for an hour.
I also like to take a small portion into my 1qt crock pot for my son and then add jalepenos and cayenne pepper for me and daddy to eat.

These are some of my "standards" in the crock pot, always come out PERFECT - just be sure to pre heat it like you would any pot, pan or oven!

Huh. I LOVE my slow cooker!!!! In fact, I have dinner (we are having chicken roll-ups) in it right now. I have never had any issues with mushy meat... it's always VERY tender and moist... Moist enough that it tends to fall apart, but definitely not to the mushy point. I'm not sure what would do that, since I have never had the occasion to need to fix it...

I want to toss in my favorite slow cooker recipe... ;) It's for "Hot Beef Sandwiches au Jus...

4lb beef rump roast
2 envelopes (10z each) dry onion soup mix
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp oregano
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 cans (10 1/2 oz each) beef broth
1 bottle (12 oz) beer
crusty rolls

Trim and toss excess fat from the roast, put in the crock pot. Mix everything else (except the rolls) together and pour over the beef. Cover and cook high for 6-8 hours, until it's shred-able. Then shred it, and plop onto the rolls, and use the extra juice to dip in.

Mmmmmmm.... It re-heats awesomely too. :)

Oooor... an awesome side dish... Orange-spiced sweet potatoes.

2 lbs sweet potatoes (peeled and diced)
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup butter cut into small pieces
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp grated orange peel
Juice of one medium orange
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
(optional) chopped toasted pecans

Mix it all (except pecans) together. Cook on low 4 hours, or high 2 until the potatoes are tender. Top with pecans before serving. :)

Really any piece of meat that is cooked that long with that much liquid is going to fall apart.

At least for me that is an accepted fact so what I do is make the loose meat taste divine. The flip side of all the liquid that is soaked in is properly seasoned the liquid makes things yummy. :)

If you want the roast to stay firm put a rack in the bottom and reduce the amount of liquid.

R. - ditto.

Are we cooking it too long? I've heard that can be a problem (heard it on MP), but we haven't used the slow cooker since I found that info.

Pulled pork is the only thing mine gets used for as well for the exact same reasons. It should be renamed the pulled pork cooker.

The only 2 things I usually make in the crock pot are beef stew and bean soup. My husband doesn't like slow cooked chicken.

For stew, I add beef(small amount), broth, celery and onions that disappear, large potato chunks, lots of carrots, small can of tomato sauce, and spices. We start it the night before, and then start checking to see if it's done around lunch. After being chilled as a leftover, some of the extra fat can be skimmed off.

Now that we have a pressure cooker, a lot of times we make the same stew in it instead. Same ingredients, same taste but broth isn't as thick. Done in 35 minutes. Tonight we tried making pulled pork. Turned out great, and done in 1 hour.

OMG - mine does the SAME thing!! I can put chili in it and it's okay or meatballs (frozen) and it's okay. Otherwise - mush mush mush!! Okay off to read the responses!

Oh and I wanted to add I've tried thawed chicken and beef as well as frozen chicken and beef and have cooked it on high and low - all turns out the same! Covered full or not, too!

We actually had a delicious dinner tonight. I feel as you do and don't use mine much. Tonight we had a Morrocan style chicken stew. I took the skin off some chicken thighs and marinated them in a little oil and gorham masalla (sp?) seasoning, curry, smoked paprika, onion powder, cinnamon, s&p, & some cumin. I browned the thighs well in a pan and added them to the slow cooker along with some tomato paste, chopped canned tomatoes & beef broth. I sauteed 2 onions, some chopped carrots & a little celery. Added that to the slow cooker and then added 1 can of white beans and a handful of raisins. I served it over brown rice with a little dollop of sour cream and sprinkling of cilantro on top. Yummmmy. If you don't fuss with it once it's in the pot, it won't fall apart until you pull the meat off the bones as you're eating it.

It sounds like maybe you are cooking the meat too long,and maybe using meat that is too fatty. It also helps to brown the meat before you put it in the slow cooker.

One of current favorite slow cooker meals is
Tortellini Soup
1 15 oz can Italian diced tomatoes
1 32 oz box of chicken broth
1 10 oz package of frozen chopped spinach
1/2 or 1 Eckrich smoked turkey sausage, cut into 1/2 round pieces (from a package of 2---you don't need much to get the "umph" in flavor it offers)
1 10 package of frozen summer squash
2 carrots, sliced in small rounds
1 (8 to 10 oz) package frozen, cheese filled tortellini
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 green or red sweet pepper, chopped
1 tsp Italian herbs
1/2 tsp garlic (or more to taste)

Add all ingredients to the crockpot, cook on low for 4 or 5 hours. Serve with whole wheat bread or rolls.

You can change it up however you want--add more sausage, or take out sausage & add cannelli (white or Northen beans) in place of it; add zucchini in place of summer squash or leave out all together; make it more tomato-ey by using a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes, or crushed tomatoes, and cutting back the broth by 1 to 2 cups). You can make it more stew like by cutting back on the broth and/or tomatoes.

My favorite crockpot recipe books is the one by Better Homes & Gardens. I've tried a bunch of recipes in it and have never disliked any of them.