Will a crockpot make any beef tender? page 3

[noodletoy]

my b/f insisted on buying a crokpot and has attempted a few times to cook tongue in it. the results have been disappointing but he can't cook to save his life. ok, sausage in the toaster oven.

i braise. it's nearly impossible to overcook tough/fatty cuts this way. brown the meat. remove. brown some root veggies, like carrots and onions. add red or white wine or beer. some oj maybe. add back meat. garlic, ginger. dried thyme and peppercorns. get to a boil. simmer on low heat, like all day, or in the oven at 250 for as long as it takes. cook it the day before you want to eat it.

[magicmerl]

Can't figure out if it needed less or more time.

I'm going to go with 'more'.

[noodletoy]

I'm going to go with 'more'.

+1. people are so conditioned to lean, quick-cooking meats. do not fear the heat!

[tfarny]

Yes to long cooking, not peeking, adding an acid such as lemon or wine (tomato paste is great, too). I'm just finishing an awesome crocked pork shoulder + hocks that I did very, very little to and I can't believe it's this good. about 4 lb meat, a big onion, diced, a spice rub of salt, pepper, cayenne, and a couple other things, 6 hours in the crock and then top with balsamic vinegar or lemon and copious fatty liquid.

[sbhikes]

I buy a 3lb chuck roast and before bed I plop it into the crock pot with water to cover and salt. In the morning it's done. About 12 hours on low. I get gelatinous broth and enough chuck roast for various meals for an entire week.

[KerryK]

This could be a variety of things:

Was it frozen when put in the crock?
Bigger than usual?
Good amount of liquid?
Fat content?

9 hours and tough sounds under crocked to me. I've always seen tough UNDER crocked but not OVER crocked.

It wasn't too bad, but definitely not melt-in-the mouth and my 93 yr old Dad was a bit disappointed. Some of it was tougher than other parts. To answer your questions, it was completely defrosted, less than 2 lbs, I loosely followed this recipe Kalyn's Kitchen: How to Make Pot Roast in a Crockpot and Recipe for Balsamic and Onion Pot Roast (but added a full 1 cup of bone broth and 1/2 cup water), and I think it was pretty fatty. I'll try longer next time and more liquid.

I'm going to go with 'more'.

Yeah, I'm thinking so...

I buy a 3lb chuck roast and before bed I plop it into the crock pot with water to cover and salt. In the morning it's done. About 12 hours on low. I get gelatinous broth and enough chuck roast for various meals for an entire week.

OK, you COVER it with liquid and cooked it longer. I know what I'm changing next time... Thanks all!

[tfarny]

Actually you don't usually need to cover it, in fact the meat will give up quite a bit of liquid on its own. Sounds like you just got an extra-tough piece of grassfed beef, which has happened to me, too.

[DarthFriendly]

I just got a "pike's peak roast", have no idea what that means, but it's going in the pot with wine, some garlic and onion maybe a ton of mushrooms. Dunno, will find out.

[lambchop]

poaching beef in milk is delightful

[Lynna]

Just don't cook it too long. I made a stew with grass fed stew beef and cooked it for longer than 8 hours - and the meat came out dry. There wasn't a lot of fat with it. I'd say not longer than 4 to 6 hours.