Nov. 27, 2007
Local Cooks Demonstrate New Slow Cooker Techniques
WILL-AM host David Inge and WILL chef-in-residence Doyle Moore will team
up at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 3, for C is for Crockpot, an
all-new local cooking special on WILL-TV during Winterfest. They’ll do
some cooking themselves, and help guest cooks demonstrate how to prepare
scrumptious comfort food in a slow cooker.
Moore, who’s a regular guest on WILL-AM’s Focus 580, plans to
prepare a Black Forest Spoon Cake in a slow cooker during the special.
“It’s going to have chocolate, dried cherries, grated apples and
chocolate chips. Since you are cooking something for six hours, you
can’t cook the same way. It comes out like a wonderful soufflé,” he
said.
Ten different cooks will prepare dishes including an elegant beef
burgundy; family friendly crockpot supreme pizza; a quick and easy ham
and beans recipe; and a spicy shrimp jambalaya.
“The old thinking about crockpots was that it’s just a convenient way to
throw everything in a pot and come back when it’s done. That was back in
the sixties and seventies,” Moore said.
Slow cooker recipes have changed because people have learned a lot about
cooking during the last 30-35 years, he said. “They’re using the
crockpot for more complex cooking than just ‘dump and run.’ ” Learning a
few techniques can make the end result much more flavorful, he said.
Now cooks do some of the cooking outside the crockpot and some of it in
the crockpot for the same recipe. People stop the cooking in the middle
and add different things at different times, he said. Some people use
paper towels to soak up steam in the crockpot or put a casserole dish in
a bath of water inside a crockpot. “The new complexities add to the
success of good crockpot cooking,” Moore said. “There are far greater
possibilities than just doing a beef roast again.”
The show will have some more traditional slow cooker recipes designed to
simmer all day, and some newer recipes using different techniques. Inge
said he has a crockpot, but that he’s not a skilled user. “To me, the
great thing about the crockpot is that you invest a little time in prep,
and the crockpot does its thing and you go out and do your thing, and
you come back and it’s done,” he said. He said he’s looking forward to
learning ways of using a slow cooker other than cooking something all
day.
Support for C is for Crockpot is provided, in
part, by IGA Food Stores, Rubens Chocolates and the Beckman Institute
Cafe.
Contact:
Mary Barrineau
WILL AM-FM-TV
217-244-5080
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