So jeff got a crock pot. In celebration, i'm posting the very first thing I ever learned to pot. In a crock.
Crock pot rib stew
1 rack of pork ribs
1/2 bottle of fav bbq sauce
1 cube chicken bullion
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 tsp creole mustard (or dijon)
3 russet potatoes, cubed (i never peel then, just clean them really well)
1 1/2 c baby carrots
1 stalk celery, diced
1 c red wine
1-2 tbsp honey or brown sugar
4-5 cloves of peeled garlic
water
1 tbsp seasoned salt
1 tsp ground pepper
Brown ribs on each side in a large skillet (cook them over high heat until the sides turn brown). You will probably have to cut them up to make them fit, so brown in small batches. You don't HAVE to do this, but it carmelizes the outside of the meat and adds flavor. Transfer the ribs to the crockpot. Add celery, onion, carrots, potato, the bullion, mustard, spices, and garlic. Add wine, bbq sauce, and top off enough water to make it about an inch from the top of the pot. Basically, put everything in the pot, but leave enough room for the thing to simmer.
Turn the crockpot to low. Go to work. (you can prep this all the night before and refrigerate the container, and just pop it in before you go to work). Come home, put on a pot of rice, noodles, barley, or whatever. Take a large, flat spoon and a glass or jar, and skim off the inch of fat at the top. Stir the pot. Let it sit for 4 minutes. Skim off the new 1/2" layer of fat (you will let the jar or glass cool and either dump the contents into your trash or toss the entire jar). Serve up ribs and enjoy, the meat will literally fall off the bone.
You can use the same technique with any sort of stew friendly meat.
I took pics of all of this, but i'm out of time.
