Slow going

If you thought all slow-cooked meals taste about the same - bad - then "Slow Cooker Revolution" by the editors at America's Test Kitchen should dispel you of that idea. The City Cook newsletter has a wonderful review of this book HERE.

Sous vide pasta

Crockpots are good for things that need to be cooked for a long time, slowly, but often, the meals that are best with a slow-cooked sauce have elements to them that do not need to be cooked as long.

Case in point today: spaghetti.

The sauce went in around noon, and by 3 p.m., it was smelling pretty good. Next up, pasta. But heating up a big pot of water that will later just be drained seemed like a waste. Could there be a better way? I knew if I just threw in the dry pasta into the sauce, it would cook, but it would absorb all the liquid and the starch would leach into the sauce, making it gummy and not so appetizing.

But with the vacuum bags from the store, there was another option: Put the dry pasta, broken in half, in the bag with water; seal; then put the washed bag into the sauce to cook along with it until dinner time.

It worked - well, it sort of worked.

When I checked on it two hours later, it had more than doubled in size. And when I opened it, it was in separate strands, but it was overdone and very starchy. I rinsed it and got most of the starch off of it, then added it to the sauce. Topped with Parmesan, it was good, but not great.

From what I've read on sous vide cooking, the length of time shouldn't have been the problem, so perhaps I used too much water. Next time, instead of doubling the water to pasta, I'll just use a bit more than what's needed to cover it.

Crockpot confit

Confit, pronounced CON-fee, is the slow cooking of a meat in its own fat. And one of the best meats for this is duck, especially the legs.

If you cut up a duck for its breasts for dinner, put the rest of the duck (legs, backs, wings, necks and giblets - everything except the skin) in a pan. Season well with salt, pepper, thyme and onion slices, cover and put in the refrigerator. It will need to marinate for up to 24 hours.

To get most of the fat needed to start this process, put the skin you removed from the breast in a glass container and heat it in the microwave for 15 minutes, covered. You should get about a half-cup per breast skin. Drain through cheesecloth and set aside.

The next afternoon or evening, brush off any remaining salt and put the duck in a crockpot. Heat the fat gently and pour over the duck. Turn the crockpot on low. After about an hour, if the duck isn't submerged in fat, add olive oil to cover. Check again in about three hours. If the wings get done first, remove them, cover and set aside. When the meat is all done, remove it from the fat and cool. When the fat cools a little, strain it through cheese cloth. You can skim the fat off the top from the liquid after it is refrigerated and use it for another confit.

Take the meat off the bones. You then have three options: Eat immediately, either as is, or crisped under the broiler; can the duck; or cure in a crock in its fat.

Why don't we cook at home more?

The New York Times had an article yesterday headlined "The Commander in Chef," which called on Michelle Obama to set an example by cooking a meal at home occasionally, and went on to cite some statistics about how few Americans cook at home. Yes, the reasons are sound: Cooking can be a chore and many people don't have the energy once they come home from work.

But much of the problem is setting priorities and sharing chores. If you enjoy cooking and eat with someone else, ask them to clean up. If someone else does the cooking, offer to clean for them, or help them with the prep. And make dinner a focal point of your day. Plan a few meals per week (don't plan for every day, because things happen - someone may ask you to join them for dinner, for instance, or there may not be enough time to cook between work and night meetings or entertainment, and you can probably squeeze in another trip to the store later in the week if necessary). If you're tired when you get home, do what the French do; pick up a fresh baguette on your way home, smear it with jelly for the kids (maybe you, too) or maybe just a little bit of good butter. and enjoy it while you relax with a glass of cool water (or something stronger, if that's your pleasure). Once you're relaxed, get on with the dinner prep.

And think of dinners that taste great and don't take all that much time to prepare. 

• For cheaper cuts of meat, start them in the crockpot before you go to work. 
  
• When you're ready to start preparing dinner, fix the rice or fresh potatoes first (they usually take the longest, and stay hot the longest, as well). 
  
• Pound chicken breasts to about a half inch so they cook fast and evenly. 
  
• Roll out hamburger patties between two sheets of wax paper to about 1/4 inch before slapping them on the grill (for the best cheeseburgers around, roll them even thinner, put a slice of cheese, or blue cheese crumbles, top with another thin patty, seal the edges well and grill).
  
• Summer squash halves cook in about 8 minutes, try stir-frying greens, or start corn on the cob in the microwave and finish it on the grill (add butter or a mixture of olive oil and seasonings when it's done).

I'll post about do-head prep tomorrow.