Do you Cook at Disney

[mefordis]

Slightly off topic but can someone give me some crockpot tips? Everything I make has water down, diluted flavors!

For example, this week I have some marinated ribs. I'd just throw those in the crockpot for 4 hours, but if they turn out as they have in the past, I'll get soupy meat and much blander than if I had made them slow cooked in the oven.

Can anyone help? I want to love my crockpot!

 

[powellrj]

Slightly off topic but can someone give me some crockpot tips? Everything I make has water down, diluted flavors!

For example, this week I have some marinated ribs. I'd just throw those in the crockpot for 4 hours, but if they turn out as they have in the past, I'll get soupy meat and much blander than if I had made them slow cooked in the oven.

Can anyone help? I want to love my crockpot!

I know what you mean about being diluted. What you need to do is add flavor to the meat so its not so bland. For ribs what I will do is cook them until they are almost fall off the bone and then put them under the broiler with bbq sauce to finish them.

We love a pork loin with a can of root beer or Dr Pepper and a bottle of bbq sauce and cook it all day. It will be fall apart tender and then you add more sauce after its done.

I love a roast. I will add a can of rotel tomatoes and a package of dry italian salad dressing and cook it all day and it makes great sandwiches.

What I have found is you need to season your meat well or cook it and use it for something else. I will cook a chicken in the crockpot or a package of breasts and then use the meat for another dish that calls for cooked chicken meat.

 

[eyor44]

I cooked one time at Disney. Three families together and we cooked breakfast and dinner. I will never do it again. Too much work having to carry all the stuff needed with you and took away time from the parks. Plus I am on vacation meaning I don't cook and clean up the mess.
Perhaps if we were there for 2-3 weeks, then I would.

 

[Maggie Lizer]

I don't cook on vacation, but when I was little and money was tight, sometimes we stopped at a grocery store after a day in the parks and picked up a loaf of Italian bread, a bottle of salad dressing, a head of lettuce and some deli meat & cheese and made subs and salad for dinner. We used paper or Styrofoam plates and plastic utensils. Made everything easy for us.

Of course, this was back in the dark ages of the 1980s when there were only the big deluxe Disney hotels so we always stayed offsite and never in a suite, so we had no way to really cook even if we wanted to.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Slightly off topic but can someone give me some crockpot tips? Everything I make has water down, diluted flavors!

For example, this week I have some marinated ribs. I'd just throw those in the crockpot for 4 hours, but if they turn out as they have in the past, I'll get soupy meat and much blander than if I had made them slow cooked in the oven.

Can anyone help? I want to love my crockpot!

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Also, for ribs specifically: I prefer to use a rub instead of a marinade. Ribs have a lot of connective tissue and fat in them that will make the ribs tender in time with cooking. Adding spices to the ribs instead of more liquid will make them better, IMHO.

Here's what I do for ribs: I take a rack of ribs and cover them with a rub. I prefer homemade ones like these to ones you buy in the store, which are often mainly salt and sugar.

Then take the ribs and coil them around the outside edge of the slow cooker. That's it. No liquid or anything else necessary. Cook them on low for 8 hours, then take them out put them on a baking pan, add some bbq sauce and broil on low for about 5 minutes, just to set the sauce.

 

[sheetz]

Slightly off topic but can someone give me some crockpot tips? Everything I make has water down, diluted flavors!

For example, this week I have some marinated ribs. I'd just throw those in the crockpot for 4 hours, but if they turn out as they have in the past, I'll get soupy meat and much blander than if I had made them slow cooked in the oven.

Can anyone help? I want to love my crockpot!

In addition to using a dry rub you can also slightly prop open the lid using a rolled up piece of foil. That'll help the liquid to evaporate like it would if you cooked it in the oven.

 

[mefordis]

Thank you so much for the crock pot ideas!