Posted: 9/11/2012 2:33:53 PM EDT
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So any reason why I cant throw a couple frozen chicken breasts in a crock pot and cover with spaghetti sauce and some veggies when I leave for work? Seems like a great lazy way to make some sauce
I ask because I mess up Top Ramen just so we all understand what level I am on |
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NO! The chicken will be horribly overdone (it needs 4-6 hours on low MAX) and the noodles won't be right either. I just watched an America's Test Kitchen episode on this. If a slow cooker recipe calls for noodles, always boil them in salted water and add them to the dish just before serving. |
just had never done it with spaghetti sauce
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Quoted: NO! The chicken will be horribly overdone (it needs 4-6 hours on low MAX) and the noodles won't be right either. I just watched an America's Test Kitchen episode on this. If a slow cooker recipe calls for noodles, always boil them in salted water and add them to the dish just before serving. Noodles should definitely be left out of a crock pot. They'll turn into a thickener instead. If I understand correctly, there are two points at which meat (in general) will be tender, the first "cooking" will have it cooked but tender due to it's nature. After that it's "overcooked" and tough because all the connective proteins are hardened. For example, "stew meat" starts out pretty tough, and gets much tougher with quick cooking. With continued cooking, it starts to loosen up again and the meat again becomes tender. This is why we can eventually enjoy stew meat, it's been broken up. With a crock pot, meat is either barely done (added at the last minute, or used in a chunk large enough only to do the initial cooking) but most of the time people shoot for "cooked so long it's tender again". SOME meats, that is a long time. Some meats, the initial cooking is very quick (shrimp, scallops, squid) and it gets hard again fast. I bet the meat in this case will be passable, if not nice and tender. |
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If frozen, you'll be lucky to make it 6 hours on low without it starting to turn to lumps of hardened chicken uselessness.
When I do pork shoulder in the slow cooker (when I'm too lazy to fire up the smoker), it's about 75 minutes/pound and that's on LOW for a 12-14Lbs shoulder (which has a load more connective tissue/fat that boneless/skinless chicken breast). |
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Quoted: Quoted: I bet the meat in this case will be passable, if not nice and tender. Chicken != beef. And even with beef, you need enough fat/connective tissue to convert in order for the long cooking process to make it tender. It won't work with lean beef. OP mentioned chicken too, not beef.  Beef works fine in the crock, never had any too lean not to turnout tasty and tender. I cook beef for stroganoff, stew, enchiladas, tamales, and chili in the crock. I am not talking about ground beef. 
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