Slow Cooker Question

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 9/15/12 at 5:11pm

Hey, hoping somebody here has first hand experience and can help me out.

As fall is rapidly approaching I'm ready to bust out the soups and stews and other cool weather foods. Has anyone done a soup in their slow cooker that uses pasta? I'm specifically looking at orzo. Did you pre-cook the pasta and just add it at the end, or did it cook up ok sitting in the slow cooker all day?

Any first hand experience/advice is much appreciated.

Posted: 9/15/12 at 5:25pm

I tend to throw everything in together and if it gets a little mushy so be it- the convenience makes me put up with a lot. I haven't used a lot of pasta in the slow cooker tho.

My favorite is to toss in the cheapest pot roast you can find with a bag of those baby carrots, a couple onions hacked up and some small red or gold taters. Add a can of tomato soup (or diced tomatoes) and a can of mushroom soup and let that mother simmer all day on LO.

Pulled Pork is my hunny's fave- Start with the cheapest PORK roast you can find (My market had "pork shoulder" for 1.29 today~!) and put the whole thing in the cooker. Cut up some onions and season to taste- steak seasoning, a BBQ rub, black pepper and garlic- whatever you like, really, but season WELL. Cover and put it on LO all day. When you come home you will smell it before you open the door. When you are ready to serve a big hungry crowd, drain off the pot. You can use the (defatted) broth to make beans or soup or just dump it. Drain it completely. Take two forks and start "pulling" the meat- it will separate into threads. Discard any skin or bones- the fat will have all but dissolved. Pour on BBQ sauce to taste and stand back.

You can also do the same roast with Mexican seasonings and use the resulting meat for tacos or burritos (I like a can of those Ro-Tel tomatoes in there too) or season it up with sage, rosemary and garlic, cook it a little less and serve the meat in chunks with gravy and box stuffing if you are trying to get a man to propose.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 9/15/12 at 5:34pm

Those all sound good. I do love my slow cooker, my grandmother's stuffed cabbages come out absolutely amazing in it. I've just never done anything with pasta in it, and Google results seemed to be divided 50/50 as to whether pasta works in it or not. The no-boil lasagna noodles seemed to have the most proponents, but I'm not looking at doing lasagna (that's one I want to be home to smell baking, and the amount of prep doesn't make the slow cooker aspect of it any good to me).

I also love doing pork and sauerkraut in it for my New Year's Day lunch/dinner.

[Master Bates]

Posted: 9/15/12 at 5:46pm

I also love your grandmother's stuffed cabbages. I must say.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 9/15/12 at 6:04pm

Pasta is almost always best pre-cooked and added at the end. (The last hour) The starch that is released during cooking isn't always plesant in your food.

Even when I add rice, its pre cooked.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 9/15/12 at 6:10pm

Thanks, dramamama.

That seemed to be the prevailing wisdom for the pre-cook and add at the end arguments when I did a Google search, so I think that's the direction I'm going to take.

Here's to fall and cold weather comfort foods! Bring 'em on!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 9/15/12 at 6:21pm

"I also love your grandmother's stuffed cabbages. I must say."


Not funny.

At all.

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 9/15/12 at 9:23pm

I also cook the pasta separately. I throw it in (coooked)during the last 2 minutes. Very small pasta like orzo fares better than BIG pastas, which get GLUE-Y,which I hate.
Also, if you're freezing leftovers, the pasta gets even worse. The texture of the soup or stew is better when you add the pasta right before serving.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 9/15/12 at 9:30pm

I too don't think cooking pasta for 8 hours or more would be very good. My mom ended up leaving some in water on the stove, not cooking, for a couple of hours once when someone came over unexpectedly. When we got to eating it, it was all soggy and gross.