If you're hungry for something that has "butt" in its name, then you have the
sense of humor of a five-year-old, but the culinary taste of a respectable adult. So
whip out your slow cooker, and throw in your thighs, shanks, and yes, even, your butts!
If there's a running theme with meats that are ideal for the slow cooker,
it's that they're best when cooked at a low temperature over a long period of
time. That may be stating the obvious, but it doesn't mean it's any less true.
"True. True."
So to kick things off, we have pork butt. Occasionally known as a Boston butt, pork butts
aren't actually butchered from a pig's backside, but instead they come from its shoulder area. With
the high level of fat and collagen within that muscle, pork butt tends to become incredibly
tender and moist when cooked low and slow, making it absolutely perfect for the slow cooker.
So since there's no other feasible option to prepare pork butt besides
an extended cooking time, there's no reason not to use the slow cooker. It
pretty much guarantees you'll end up with a delightfully shreddable final product.
If we're being perfectly honest, we're not entirely sure the world really needs lamb
shanks. But lack of necessity doesn't have to be lack of deliciousness. Shanks are attached
to a sheep's shin bone, and they come with all the connective tissue expected from
such a frequently utilized muscle area. And like other bone-filled tough cuts of meat,
lamb shanks are absolutely perfect for a slow cooker.
Cooking lamb shanks at a low temperature for a long period allows the meat to tenderize,
resulting in an out-of-this-world final product. A slow cooker also
retains plenty of moisture in the meat, so you don't need to rely on your own
saliva too much. Although, we're pretty sure your mouth will be watering anyway.
One quick tip as you begin: before you actually throw your shanks in the slow
cooker, take the time to sear them before starting the cooking process.
You might not realize that pot roast is a specific cut of beef. But as it turns out,
pot roast is in fact just another word for chuck roast. No matter what you call it,
it's one of the absolute best cuts of meat for your slow cooker.
Butchered from the cow's shoulder region, a boneless chuck roast is full of the flavor you're
craving when your stomach has an unquenchable desire for red meat. With a high volume of
connective tissue, this incredibly lean cut takes a long time to tenderize while cooking. Thus,
it's the type of meat that needs to be slow-cooked no matter how you prepare it.
One step worth considering is searing a chuck roast's edges before placing it in
the slow cooker. After all, raw meat can always benefit from pre-searing before the slow cooking
process begins, since it enhances the flavor of both the meat itself and the surrounding dish.
The idea of cooking any type of ground meat in a slow cooker likely conjures images of
various stews and sauces. This assumption makes perfect sense. And in fact, it's a fantastic idea!
"Good idea, oh Lord!" "Course it's a good idea!"
Perhaps you're partial to chili, and you're just dying to make a batch in your slow cooker. Well,
you're in luck! Since this particular kitchen device offers a nearly foolproof path to creating
chili, particularly if you brown the meat beforehand, the only real question is which
ingredients to include. After all, you can legitimately do nothing more than toss the
ingredients into a pot, let them simmer for hours while occasionally stirring, and voila! A large
pot of effortlessly delicious chili awaits you as your final reward for your patience.
But don't stop there! There are even more ways to use ground meat in a slow cooker
besides chili. For example: meatballs! One tasty option involves cooking par-baked meatballs in a
vat of scratch-made tomato sauce, since that sauce eventually penetrates the meat during the process.
You may be wondering why chicken thighs are on this list instead of the larger, more-plentiful
chicken breasts. Simply put, there's no way around the fact that the higher fat level found
in dark meat lowers the risks of overcooking and drying out your meat while in the slow cooker.
Thus, in the battle of poultry in the slow cooker, we have to give the edge to the thighs.
Furthermore, since chicken thighs are known to contain a high level of connective tissue,
there's really no better option for this particular cut than slow cooking.
And despite chicken thighs' slightly high-fat content,
there's no reason you have to forgo a healthy meal when preparing it in a slow cooker. If you
do it right and take your time, you'll end up with a delectable, easy, and nutritious meal.
When it comes to beef brisket, you'll most likely imagine it cooking in a smoker,
or perhaps a barbecue pit. And that actually points to its strong suitability for the slow
cooker. After all, a smoker is nothing more than a different type of slow cooker, meaning there's
no reason to doubt brisket's compatibility with a kitchen-based slow cooker as well.
A cut of meat from the lower chest area, brisket comes from a frequently used muscle of the cow and
contains a rather unsettling amount of connective tissue as a result. As beef brisket is both tough
and overrun with the cartilage-like matter, you don't need to be a Chopped judge to recognize
why a slow cooker offers one of the best and simplest ways to break down its tough interior.
If you're still apprehensive about shifting away from the barbecue,
there's no reason to fret. After all, with the right ingredients,
you can rather easily infuse barbecue flavors into beef brisket in the slow cooker.
"What you have in your hand is the exact
step-by-step instructions on how to make my brisket."
If you've often found yourself baffled by the use of oxtails in the culinary world, then you're not
alone. Yet we have to admit there's something to be said for utilizing every single edible part of
an animal. For one thing, it reduces waste. And if we're being perfectly honest, oxtail actually is
an incredibly flavorful, tender piece of beef. When it's prepared in a slow cooker, that is.
Preparing oxtail with the bones and fat intact is crucial to developing
this cut's proper depth of flavor. Of course, the inclusion of those fat and
bones is precisely why the slow cooker is positively perfect for preparing oxtail,
as it will melt the fat down without sacrificing any taste.
Since oxtails are often utilized as a main component of stews in British households,
you may just want to consider potential slow cooker stew recipes that feature oxtail.
Just be sure to take the necessary steps to avoid producing an overly oily oxtail stew when you do.
Pork loin may be mistaken for the similarly named pork tenderloin on occasion,
but the differences between these two cuts are quite apparent with a simple eye test. The long,
thin, tube-shaped tenderloin is easy to distinguish when placed beside a shorter,
thicker loin cut. Additionally, while tenderloin is far too lean to endure anything beyond a quick
sear or roast, the larger, fat-capped loin is perfectly suited for the slow cooker.
Since pork loin tends to be much less tender than the aptly-named tenderloin,
cooking it in a slow cooker allows its tougher muscle fibers to break down and soften over
time. In fact, you may find that it's quite similar to pulled pork made with pork butt,
though it just barely misses matching pork butt's slow cooking prowess in that area.
But we're not here to rank any cuts of meat, but just to provide general guidance
on what types to use. So if you're in the mood for a super simple pork loin meal,
then you're absolutely good to go with your slow cooker.
Once again, we have a cut of meat that you might find a little puzzling on its own,
with a name that might just also make you chuckle uncontrollably: beef cheeks.
"Cheeky monkeys, all of you."
But the relatively ridiculous nature of beef cheeks is precisely what makes the slow cooker
such a desirable option for preparing them. After all, beef cheeks are exactly what they sound like:
the tissue from a cow's cheek muscle. Since these muscles are frequently utilized by cattle, beef
cheeks are incredibly tough before cooking, which therefore makes them ideal for the slow cooker.
You've probably realized at this point that tough, almost leathery cuts of meat
are generally best served by the slow cooking process. Since beef cheeks fall
into this category, it's no surprise that they need plenty of time to tenderize.
Of course, not everybody can devote every single day in the kitchen to a process this lengthy.
But when you can find the time, beef cheeks can absolutely be transformed into a rich,
melt-in-your-mouth meal in a slow cooker. There are some who may prefer smoking beef cheeks,
but there's no reason to lose faith in the slow cooker.
As we've already mentioned, the name "pork butt" is a bit of a misnomer, since that cut actually
comes from a pig's shoulder muscle. But that's not the case when it comes to the cut of beef
known as rump roast. In this case, as you might expect, rump roast does indeed come from the cow's
actual backside. Not only that, but since it comes from the muscle responsible for a cow's movement,
rump roast is extremely lean, thereby making it ideally suited for the slow cooker.
Since nothing tops a slow cooker when it comes to tough cuts of meat,
it's no mystery why the rump roast deserves a spot in your slow cooker rotation. It's
ideal for similar reasons as the chuck roast. Rump roast is beset with connective tissue,
which remains nearly inedible if it's not cooked down properly, i.e., slowly and over low heat.
Rump roast may not technically be categorized as a pot roast,
since that moniker is reserved for chuck roast. But when you use a
slow cooker to prepare rump roast, you'll never notice a difference.
Have you ever cooked an entire chicken in a slow cooker? Perhaps the mere thought of that
concept sounds absolutely ridiculous to you. But there's no reason to be chicken about attempting
a feat as stupendously easy as preparing a whole chicken in the slow cooker. Ultimately,
when it comes to the absolute best cuts of meat to slow cook,
one of the best options isn't a "cut" at all: it's the whole thing!
In addition to the incredible ease offered by slow cooking a whole unbutchered chicken,
doing so also provides a chance to utilize every part of the bird in some beneficial manner. For
one thing, the chicken's meat gets so tender and juicy in a slow cooker that it nearly melts off
the bone. Thus, you can quite literally obtain every single scrap of meat found on the bird.
Furthermore, the chicken's bones can be effortlessly removed after
cooking. They in turn can be used to create a dynamite homemade chicken bone broth for
future use. And everybody knows how delicious leftovers are when put to new, creative uses!
We could probably use the phrase "falling off the bone" to describe any cut of meat that's
been prepared in a slow cooker. Well, at least the ones with bones in them. Sometimes, though,
it can be fun to defy expectations. But other times, it's actually best to do exactly what
everyone is expecting you to do. And in the case of beef short ribs, we have to agree with anyone
who describes it as "falling off the bone tender." And as you've probably already figured out at this
point, that makes it one of the absolute best cuts of meat for your slow cooker.
When it comes to slow cooking beef short ribs, why bother trying to find some fancy-pants way
to describe a cut of meat that legitimately falls off the bone after cooking? The proof
is in the pudding, or in this case, it's in the beef. If you prepare short ribs
in the slow cooker, you'll discover firsthand what we're talking about.