cooking meat in slowcooker?

[amalnahurriyeh]

I'm a vegetarian who only really cooks meat from scratch on holidays, so I'm hoping someone here can help me out. I've got a rib-eye roast (a smallish one) for Christmas dinner tomorrow, and I'm considering making it in the slow cooker, so I can use the oven for cooking the veggies without having to worry about the timing for the roast. The original plan was to roast it with a mustard-white wine glaze. Can I do this in the slow cooker without any loss of flavor, or will it really need the high heat sear of the oven? Any suggestions for how to adapt the recipe?

Comments

[zats_clear]

this site has not failed me so far...scroll down for crock pot version!

I am doing the opposite for the holidays, making vegan-friendly meals for my SIL while she is here.

[alchemise]

I prefer to sear my beef roasts on the stove at high temperature before roasting them at a low temperature. Because then you get the yummy crust on the outside. But I think so long as you're going at low temp for a long time it's going to taste awesome. :)

[drgaellon]

Cooking it in the slow-cooker will not allow you to develop the crusty brown exterior. I would probably sear it off in a bit of oil in a frying pan on the stove before adding it to the slow-cooker. That will develop some of those high-heat browned flavors. The roast will still not be crusty; the brown part will dissolve into the sauce as it cooks.

[tree_and_leaf]

Slow cooked meat is awesome. It's true that you won't get the 'browned' flavour, but it's much more tender.

(Actually I meant to reply to the main thread - sorry).

I'm too lazy to convert to C for my everywhere-else friends...

[somewhatbent]

If you've got a *really nice* piece of meat -- and for the price of most of them, they better be -- I'd really suggest doing it in the oven. The key to doing it most effortlessly is a (remote) digital probe thermometer. The controller stays out of the oven and beeps when you're close to desired temp (and they can be had for ~$10-$20).

I do the opposite of many conventional suggestions by NOT searing in advance. I season my roast, let it sit at room temp for an hour or so and then roast, uncovered, started at 250F until the internal temp is 115F. (Set the alarm of the thermometer for this) By this time you should have whatever veggies on a baking sheet, oiled and seasoned as desired. Turn the oven up to 500F (yes, really -- *this* is where the crusty browning comes from) Reset the thermo-probe for 130 - NO MORE - and pop veggies into oven on rack below roast. When the 130 alarm chimes remove roast, cover loosely with foil. The internal temp will continue to rise for another 20 minutes (and 15-20 degrees)at least. At this point, determine the status of your veg, reduce heat to 300 or 350 depending on what you're cooking, and the roast and the veg will be done very nicely at the same time. The internal temp of 140-145 will give you a nice medium/medium rare at the edges to rare in the center. Don't overcook a rib-eye, even you have a guest who insists all red meat be overdone. A *well* cooked ribeye is not an overcooked one :-)

Re: I'm too lazy to convert to C for my everywhere-else friends...

[wendelah1]

This is exactly right.