{Lack Of} Recipe Rescue Help Needed

[Calamity Kris]

Let me start by saying I truly appreciate what Uno is trying to do for me.  Since he has retired, he has taken over the weeknight cooking duties.  I'm working lots of hours, so I really appreciate that.  Tonight he tried to make a slow cooker round roast.  Well, that didn't go so well.  I hope someone can give me a suggestion on how to save the meat, at the very least.

 

He started out by putting potato chunks in the bottom of the 8 quart slow cooker.  He put the 4+ pound round roast on top, fat side up.  He sprinkled some seasoning on the roast.  Good so far.  He then put the peas, carrots, corn, green beans and mushrooms on top of the roast and topped it all off with some sliced onion.  All good.  He was concerned there wouldn't be enough moisture in the cooker so he poured in a large carton of low sodium beef bone broth.  That wasn't enough liquid, so he poured in AN ENTIRE, UNOPENED BOTTLE of cooking sherry.  He latched the lid and turned the cooker on low for 7 hours.  I came home and could smell the sherry but it wasn't overpowering.  The meat tasted pretty good.  I think the veggies are donezo.  I could only taste the sherry, no other flavors with the veggies.  The potatoes weren't bad but they seemed to be a little under-cooked.  

 

The only "rescue" thought I have is to  slice the meat for sandwiches, use some of the liquid for gravy and pitch everything else.  

 

What say our esteemed crowd?

 

CK

[John Kloehr]

Most of the veggies are probably no good. Depending on how much sherry the potatoes absorbed, my idea with the meat and potatoes is a "roast" beef hash (I know, not roasted). There is at least the opportunity to add other spices to the cast iron skillet.

 

I have tried cooking with booze a number of times, I generally find using far less than a recipe calls for keeps it from overpowering a recipe. I treat it more as an alternate source of acid for tenderizing, like a little vinegar. I want it to basically cook off and meld long before the recipe is finished. A half cup of nice Zinfandel or Cabernet can help with tomato in a rich beef stew. This for  big pot of stew, 3 pounds of meat, lots and lots of veggies. and potatoes. Maybe a full 5 or 7 quart pot, whatever the biggest one in my set is.

 

Another item to consider... I never cook with an alcohol I would not drink. Anything labeled as "cooking" wine or "cooking" sherry is not fit to drink, therefore not fit to cook with.

[Boggus Deal #64218]

My suggestion? Get two more bottles of your favorite adult beverage. Drink one completely before starting to eat. Drink the second one as you eat. 
You won’t notice how it tastes!🤪

[Rip Snorter]

Slow cooker takes comparatively little liquid, as to wine, I add as specified. Veg / potato go in late.  There are lots of slow and pressure cooker recipes online - I just print one out and follow closely except herbs & spices which I alter to taste.  I make notes on the recipes, keep good ones and dump mediocre.  Once you learn the cooks who are nearly always good, off the top of my head 2 (Alton Brown & Pioneer Woman) it is safe to follow them.  I'll look in my looseleaf and add  a couple of names later.

[Alpo]

1 hour ago, John Kloehr said:

Another item to consider... I never cook with an alcohol I would not drink.

I agree. I learned that from Justin Wilson.

 

Cooking wine has salt added to it.

[John Kloehr]

1 hour ago, Alpo said:

I agree. I learned that from Justin Wilson.

 

Cooking wine has salt added to it.

I prefer to add my salt for specific purposes. For instance pasta needs some salt in the water for flavor (a little calculation will show the salt to increase boiling point does not, um, hold water). Salt helps veggies render water, very important for mushrooms, helps onions sweat faster and get the sugars into caramelization, and such. Once the saute or first boil stage is done, I'm done adding salt during cooking.

 

I add wine more for the acid than the flavor as I don't like boozy food, but appreciate the depth which can come from a quality red wine. And have used a Chardonnay for some chicken recipes, but not yet thrilled with any of those. At this stage of cooking, more salt is not needed or appropriate; at this stage in a recipe, additional salt can wait for when the dish is served, if it is even needed.

 

This might be due to a taste while cooking down telling me the bitterness or sweetness are out of balance, salt can move the center a bit. Once I got away from restaurants and in particular fast or convenience foods and started coking with "real" and "basic" ingredients, I have found very little salt is needed.

[Rip Snorter]

I don't know of a main course recipe where the alcohol doesn't cook off or burn off. There are some fancy desserts where alcohol remains.

[Subdeacon Joe]

Toss out the vegetables.   Cut the potatoes and beef into about half inch dice. Dice up some carrots,  celery,  and onions.  Sauté lightly, make a  cream gravy over them,  add in the beef and potatoes. 

 

Then:

 

Either make up some biscuit dough and drop on top,  then  bake. 

 

Or

 

Line a pie plate with pie crust dough, add the gravy mixture,  top with crust, and bake  

[Rip Snorter]

When I have the very rare bad recipe outcome, my dogs love it!  I do not have to eat poor food, even my own.

[Alpo]

51 minutes ago, John Kloehr said:

For instance pasta needs some salt in the water for flavor (a little calculation will show the salt to increase boiling point does not, um, hold water

Absolutely. It is so obvious when you eat spaghetti or rice or potatoes or grits and whatever moron was stirring them up in hot water didn't know there was supposed to be salt in there.

 

That, in my opinion, is why so many people - especially people up north - badmouth grits. The only time they ever eat them is in a restaurant, and I would say 90% of the time they don't put salt in the water when they cook them. They don't solve the water when they cook rice. They don't follow the water when they cook pasta. I suppose with those two the spaghetti sauce or the gravy is supposed to add the flavor that the carb doesn't have because you didn't salt it.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

This will sound stupid but my daughter went to college with a man who was a master chef.  He came to visit one weekend and we did a roast in a slow cooker.  Starting with bowl just a mite bigger than the roast.  He poured Coca Cola over it, covering it completely, covered it with foil, and let it sit for about an hour.   Rinsed it thoroughly and put it in the pot. 

 

Something in the Coke tenderizes the meat and leaves no taste behind, but it sure leaves a tenderness that is hard to beat.

 

I also steam the veggies before I add them.  Seems to make them more tender, too, but it isn't consistent.  if you use garlic don't add it until you're almost ready to take the meat out to serve it.

 

Try a tablespoon of soy sauce.  It doesn't have much taste, if any, but gives the meat a slightly sweeter flavor.

[Blackwater 53393]

I don’t like a lot of salt!!  It’s a corrosive!! 🤣

As others have said, the vegies are probably not worth fooling with!  Make a good brown gravy from beef broth, stock, or bullion and some flour and cook up fresh or steamed vegetables with it in a saucepan slowly! Season the mixture to your satisfaction as you go.

 

Warm the meat and potatoes and break them up. Then pour you gravy and vegetables over them and finish warming them, either back in the slow cooker or in the oven!

[Alpo]

31 minutes ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

This will sound stupid

I've been putting soda pop in my crock pot for years. Dr pepper makes the roast taste good. Ginger ale makes the roast taste good. Hell, even mountain dew makes the roast taste good - which is a good thing because mountain dew sure ain't good for drinking.

 

I used to put CoCola in there, until Coke decided that being white was bad, and I dropped them like a hot rock.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Ya got a dog?

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

Vegemite is what's wrong with it ......... shoulda added a spoonfull of Vegemite .......😉

[Calamity Kris]

5 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Ya got a dog?

 

Yes.  Believe it or not, she can't eat beef.  Really.  It make her very sick.  I have been told Dalmatians have a sensitive digestive system and can't process beef well.  Her kibble is turkey and peas.  

[John Kloehr]

3 hours ago, Calamity Kris said:

 

Yes.  Believe it or not, she can't eat beef.  Really.  It make her very sick.  I have been told Dalmatians have a sensitive digestive system and can't process beef well.  Her kibble is turkey and peas.  

Some dogs are sensitive to beef, most dogs are sensitive to the Allium genus. No garlic or onions (or shallots or chives ...) for dogs.

[Blackwater 53393]

3 hours ago, Calamity Kris said:

 

Yes.  Believe it or not, she can't eat beef.  Really.  It make her very sick.  I have been told Dalmatians have a sensitive digestive system and can't process beef well.  Her kibble is turkey and peas.  

My Dalmatian couldn’t eat onions and they would make him very sick.  But he could eat a whole cow and never even burp loud!

 

He was also a chocoholic!! Schoolmarm brought home a two pound Hershey Kiss that one of her students gave her for Valentines Day! We left it on the kitchen table and went out for a nice dinner and when we came back, he’d peeled the wrapper off neatly and eaten the whole thing!!

 

 I figured he would at least be sick, but other than trying to keep him off the ceiling for a couple of days, he never showed any signs of distress! He lived to be fourteen years old and if you were peeling a Hershey Kiss in one end of the house, he’d hear it at the other end of the house and be there for his share before you could get all the foil off!

 

He was a drunk too! He expected his share if Schoolmarm was having wine, he would intentionally knock over a beer and drink it if you didn’t hold onto the can or bottle! On his last night on this earth, he had steak, ice cream, and he drank a cup of coffee spiked heavily with Bailey’s!

 

NO!! The booze and stuff didn’t kill him!!  He’d been suffering from heart failure for almost a year and the vet told us that there was nothing else he could do and to just keep him comfortable and happy.  

He’d had an episode earlier in the afternoon, but was up and around for supper. He bummed some steak off of me and later demanded some of Schoolmarm’s ice cream!

 

When we turned in for the night, Schoolmarm fixed herself a coffee with Bailey’s and set it on her nightstand beside the bed and went to the bathroom!  Ol’ Harley climbed up on the bed and drank the whole cup before she got back to the bedroom!

 

He then took his place between us in the middle of the bed and went to sleep!  He had his last attack about two in the morning and went peacefully around daybreak!

 

If he’d had the chance, he would have eaten every last bite of Uno’s pot roast! I guarantee it!!  (but you’d have to pick the onions out of it first)

 

 

[Eyesa Horg]

RIP Ol' Harley 🙏

[Blackwater 53393]

1 minute ago, Eyesa Horg said:

RIP Ol' Harley 🙏

He’s been gone just over twenty years now and I still think about him every day!!

 

Hey!! Kriss!!

Ya’ could slice the roast really thin and nuke the ‘taters a bit to finish cooking ‘em! Then just dump a jar of readymade dark brown gravy over the whole thing and dig in!!

 

Simple and speedy!

[Alpo]

1 hour ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

He was also a chocoholic!! Schoolmarm brought home a two pound Hershey Kiss that one of her students gave her for Valentines Day! We left it on the kitchen table and went out for a nice dinner and when we came back, he’d peeled the wrapper off neatly and eaten the whole thing!!

Kid came to the door one day, selling World's Finest chocolate bars. Remembering how much I loathed having to sell candy, I bought his entire box.

 

Ate one and left the box sitting on the dining room table while I went to work. When I came home the living room was covered in white paper and yellow foil, the box was laying on the floor and there was no sign of the candy bars.

 

I called the vet. IS TUCKER GOING TO DIE????

 

How big is the dog - 19 pounds (cocker spaniel).

 

How much chocolate - 23 one and a half ounce bars --- approximately 36 ounces.

 

"No, he won't die. He might be hyper. He might throw up. But he won't die."

 

Did not affect him in the least.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

One time I had a bag of hersheys kisses in my car. It disappeared and I forgot about it, until months later when I had the heater repaired and they were found stuffed into the air ducts.

[Capt. James H. Callahan]

1 hour ago, Alpo said:

Kid came to the door one day, selling World's Finest chocolate bars. Remembering how much I loathed having to sell candy, I bought his entire box.

 

Ate one and left the box sitting on the dining room table while I went to work. When I came home the living room was covered in white paper and yellow foil, the box was laying on the floor and there was no sign of the candy bars.

 

I called the vet. IS TUCKER GOING TO DIE????

 

How big is the dog - 19 pounds (cocker spaniel).

 

How much chocolate - 23 one and a half ounce bars --- approximately 36 ounces.

 

"No, he won't die. He might be hyper. He might throw up. But he won't die."

 

Did not affect him in the least.

My wife has gotten on the everything is bad for dogs bandwagon. Funny, when we married she had a little yorkie/mutt. Peanut loved onions from Chinese food, fed her those for years. She only lived to be like 14.

JHC

[Blackwater 53393]

44 minutes ago, Capt. James H. Callahan said:

My wife has gotten on the everything is bad for dogs bandwagon. Funny, when we married she had a little yorkie/mutt. Peanut loved onions from Chinese food, fed her those for years. She only lived to be like 14.

JHC

EVERY dog is different! Harley ate nearly everything, including a poinsettia! That nearly got him. He was only six months old and the vet got him through it. We gave him fruit punch Gatorade for a week after the surgery to repair the damage and he loved that stuff for the rest of his life! Onions were about the only thing that would make him sick!

 

Traveller, Harley’s offspring loved raw potatoes. Well, he loved potatoes any way he could get ‘em, but you had to keep the pantry closed tightly or he’d get in there and eat the potatoes out of the bag! He couldn’t stand cow’s milk. It’d make him really sick.

 

Jezzy could and DID eat everything she saw! You’d better not lay around too long or she’d start looking at you like a meal!

 

Calypso, our most recent addition, is almost totally lactose intolerant! No milk, no ice cream, only certain cheeses! But I’ll be damned if she didn’t go digging in a trash bag that I took a little too long to get out to the bin and she ate some old mushrooms that Schoolmarm had thrown out!  NEVER PHASED HER!!

 

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

10 hours ago, Sundog said:

Serano Peppers.... make sure they are the small, hot type.  They make everything a lot better. Also try this... black pepper... diced sweet onions, sliced green bell peppers.  Squeeze some lemon juice on it.   Steamed broccoli... some carrots... turn up the heat for 2 minutes... or set it right down on the fire. Try it...

 

You will be fine.

I'll go with that if you'll leave the broccoli in the grocery store

[Calamity Kris]

10 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

He’s been gone just over twenty years now and I still think about him every day!!

 

Hey!! Kriss!!

Ya’ could slice the roast really thin and nuke the ‘taters a bit to finish cooking ‘em! Then just dump a jar of readymade dark brown gravy over the whole thing and dig in!!

 

Simple and speedy!

 

Uno's thinking about that one.  With the playoffs going on now, we can have some nice sandwiches while watching the Dodgers play.

[Calamity Kris]

9 hours ago, Alpo said:

Kid came to the door one day, selling World's Finest chocolate bars. Remembering how much I loathed having to sell candy, I bought his entire box.

 

Ate one and left the box sitting on the dining room table while I went to work. When I came home the living room was covered in white paper and yellow foil, the box was laying on the floor and there was no sign of the candy bars.

 

I called the vet. IS TUCKER GOING TO DIE????

 

How big is the dog - 19 pounds (cocker spaniel).

 

How much chocolate - 23 one and a half ounce bars --- approximately 36 ounces.

 

"No, he won't die. He might be hyper. He might throw up. But he won't die."

 

Did not affect him in the least.

 

In California, there is a wonderful chain of candy stores called See's Candies.  Their confections are to die for.  

Each year for Easter, they make a large 4 ounce chocolate egg, filled with things such as peanut butter.  The eggs were often delicately decorated and nicely packaged for a beautiful presentation.   A friend of ours purchased one of these eggs for her son.  She placed it on her night stand, planning to give it to him in the morning.  She then went downstairs to prepare dinner.  Her Airedale found the egg and devoured it.  He then began running around the house like a maniac, jumping on furniture and charging up and down the stairs.  She chased him upstairs, trying to grab him and put him outside.  He ran across the bed, turned at the wall and started to run back across the bed when the promptly stopped in the middle of the bed..................and threw up.  Then she saw  the wrappers on the floor and immediately knew what happened.  She was mad at him for a week after that.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

12 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

My Dalmatian couldn’t eat onions and they would make him very sick.  But he could eat a whole cow and never even burp loud!

 

He was also a chocoholic!! Schoolmarm brought home a two pound Hershey Kiss that one of her students gave her for Valentines Day! We left it on the kitchen table and went out for a nice dinner and when we came back, he’d peeled the wrapper off neatly and eaten the whole thing!!

 

 I figured he would at least be sick, but other than trying to keep him off the ceiling for a couple of days, he never showed any signs of distress! He lived to be fourteen years old and if you were peeling a Hershey Kiss in one end of the house, he’d hear it at the other end of the house and be there for his share before you could get all the foil off!

 

He was a drunk too! He expected his share if Schoolmarm was having wine, he would intentionally knock over a beer and drink it if you didn’t hold onto the can or bottle! On his last night on this earth, he had steak, ice cream, and he drank a cup of coffee spiked heavily with Bailey’s!

 

NO!! The booze and stuff didn’t kill him!!  He’d been suffering from heart failure for almost a year and the vet told us that there was nothing else he could do and to just keep him comfortable and happy.  

He’d had an episode earlier in the afternoon, but was up and around for supper. He bummed some steak off of me and later demanded some of Schoolmarm’s ice cream!

 

When we turned in for the night, Schoolmarm fixed herself a coffee with Bailey’s and set it on her nightstand beside the bed and went to the bathroom!  Ol’ Harley climbed up on the bed and drank the whole cup before she got back to the bedroom!

 

He then took his place between us in the middle of the bed and went to sleep!  He had his last attack about two in the morning and went peacefully around daybreak!

 

If he’d had the chance, he would have eaten every last bite of Uno’s pot roast! I guarantee it!!  (but you’d have to pick the onions out of it first)

 

 

Had a beagle, a pet, but we were raising beagles at the time.  We went to a church Christmas party and she ate a whole two pound Whitman's Sampler box.  When we got home there was chocolate puke and other doggie excrements all over the house.

 

Dad and I took her to the vet while Mom and Sis cleaned up.  Doc said she seemed okay but we should give lots of water and let her stay out doors.   She survived for about nine more years but there wasn't anything on Earth that get any chocolate in her again.

[Rip Snorter]

Had a big Lab who ate all the Easter Chocolate (considerable) for 2 kids and was just fine.  In theory, should have been a near fatal dose.  Variability!