ksmith | (no subject)

Finally finished pulling together the tax stuff for the CPA. It's in an envelope and ready for tomorrow's mail. Finished up my post for the Ninc blog, which will go live on 1 April. Nope, not fooling.

Made pork ribs in the crockpot with a sauce of red wine and tomato paste and fennel, garlic, onions, celery, and carrots. I made the mistake I always do with these recipes in that I didn't brown things enough during the pre-crockpot cooking. Plus, my best frypans are nonstick, and you don't get the browning you need with coated pans. Ina Garten made this recipe with beef short ribs, and she used a dutch oven/casserole type pot that could go from burner to oven. I needs me one of those.

The ribs were still really good--meat fell off the bone, and as usual, the sauce contained a wealth of juice from the veggies, and tasted very good. But it all would have been better with more browning.

While the ribs cooked, I baked banana bread. After I ate, I went out and shoveled the deck and driveway. Temps had risen to around 40F, and the snow was falling out of the trees in fist-sized clumps and melting into a slush that set like cement when I tried to push it with the shovel. Heavy, heavy snow. Density of neutronium.

I am tired.

Oh look--Monday's coming.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sounds good.

I cheat and brown my crockpot meat under the broiler. It's faster and I can be chopping veggies at the same time, with no grease splatter. Yeah, I'm lazy.

I tried browning it ahead of time by baking at 450F. It worked kinda, but not as well as I would have liked.

Broiling might work better than baking. Does a charm on stew meat.

Here's a suggestion for the "browning" problem, particularly for ribs: Brown them under the broiler/on the grill after they've been in the crockpot. The change in heat methods adds a nice crust without drying out the meat, which is still as tender as ever. Further, that gives you time to reduce some of the cooking juices to a sauce on the stovetop at the same time.

Aside: Yes, nonstick pans do brown things nicely. What they don't do is leave much fond behind for the sauce... but fond doesn't do well in low-temperature moist-heat environments like a crock pot anyway. The key is that one must "brown" things at a much higher temperature in a nonstick pan — if the recipe calls for medium, crank it to medium-high.

— Jaws

The key is that one must "brown" things at a much higher temperature in a nonstick pan — if the recipe calls for medium, crank it to medium-high.

But all the instructions I've read for nonstick pans state that they can't take higher temps or the coating can be damaged. I try to never crank it beyond medium.

Nonstick pans (at least the older ones) can't take sustained cranked-to-the-max heat. Newer pans can; and newer pans can also take heat that is still higher than one might use for browing in, say, a cast-iron pan.

— Jaws