Pork stew in a slow cooker: recipes and cooking tips

Canned meat in the form of stew will be useful if you urgently need to feed several people, and there is no time for cooking.Especially when it comes to field conditions where it is quite difficult to cook something. In addition, the stew is well kept, but buying it in the store, we may be faced with the fact that the contents of the jar can hardly be called this tasty product. It's a shame to pay for a huge amount of fat, frozen broth, bones, cartilage, and similar ingredients.

So that your expectations are not deceived, it is better to make the stew yourself. To understand whether it is profitable or not, perform simple arithmetic operations. In the finished factory stew meat accounts for about 60% of the total mass, all the rest is related ingredients. Even if you add up the cost of meat, spices, the cost of electricity and your efforts, you still get cheaper. And most importantly, you will be confident in the quality of the product.

You need to start with the choice of meat. Practically any part of pork carcass is suitable for a stew. It can be brisket or ham, head or knuckle. Making such blanks is important for people who grow pigs on their own, because you still need to recycle all parts of the carcass. If the finished product fat should be small, choose lean pieces, otherwise you can take any. Some parts, such as the head, are dismissive, but this is in vain, since it is rather fleshy and inexpensive. Nevertheless, there will be more trouble with it.

It is very convenient to use a slow cooker to extinguish meat, because:

• the non-stick coating of the bowl prevents the meat from sticking, it doesn’t need to be interfered often and to add a lot of water;
• under a closed lid, the broth will not boil, will not “run away”, and the pieces on top will not wear down;
• A long cooking process can be postponed while you are away or awake, and the heating function will maintain the temperature of the internal contents.

Each housewife, of course, has her own signature recipe, but in order for it to appear, the stew will have to be cooked more than once. Let's look at some options.

For the classic pork stew we need:

• pork - 1.5-2 kg;
• salt - a tablespoon without a slide;
• bay leaf - 2-3 leaves;
• black pepper - 5 peas.

Step-by-step cooking process is as follows.

1. Washed, dried pork cut into small pieces, omitted in a slow cooker, add spices.
2. It is not necessary to add water, because in the process of quenching a liquid will come out and the meat will be cooked in its own juice.
3. We choose the program "Quenching" for at least 4 hours.
4. After cooking, the meat will break down into fibers. If you need very small pieces, you can simply divide it with a wooden spatula right in the bowl.
5. Fold in cans or containers, top up with the resulting broth. For long storage space between the lid and the fat should not be at all. From one kilogram of meat an average liter jar is obtained.

More budget option is prepared from the pig head.

1. Clean the head without cheeks, eyes and tongue should be cut into several small parts and soak in a deep saucepan so that the water completely covers it. All parts must be well soaked.
2. Then we put everything in a bowl and leave to stew. On average, a pig's head can weigh up to 5 kg, so it will take about 5-7 hours. An hour before the readiness add salt and pepper. Salt should not be enough, because it will affect the shelf life.
3. After the cooking time is over, remove the pieces, let them cool and disassemble. Pour broth into a separate bowl. It is better not to merge completely from the bottom, because there may be small bones.
4. Disassembled meat is sent to the banks, fill with fat and roll.

In any of the above options, you can put onions and carrots, but this will reduce the shelf life. It is better to cook them peeled, whole, and take out after readiness.

The method and shelf life of the finished stew depends on the processing of meat and dishes.

• If the volume is small, you can store the stew in the refrigerator in any tight-fitting container convenient for you.
• You can also decompose the stew in plastic containers and store in the freezer for up to six months. This method is convenient, but then it will be necessary to worry about defrosting in advance.
• For long-term storage for the winter, cans with meat laid out in them are autoclaved. If not, then the banks must be sterilized. The easiest way to do this is to put the already washed and dry jars in the oven for 20-30 minutes. So that the glass does not burst, they are placed in a cold oven, and only then it is heated. Iron caps boil in water. So that they do not rust, they grease the inner side before closing. For reliability, you can put the already rolled jars in a wide saucepan, pour half the water and boil for at least half an hour. Keep such blanks should be in a cool place.

The lump stew can be served as a separate dish or with a side dish in the form of vegetables and cereals. To do this, it just needs to warm up. Crushed, homogeneous mass is allowed to use to create hot and cold sandwiches as a hearty snack, both at home and in nature.

In addition, braised pork can be the basis for a large number of dishes.

To prepare the simplest option, add onions, carrots, potatoes to the water, and boil it all for 15 minutes. Then put the stew, salt and greens, wait another five minutes. Fragrant meat soup is ready.

From the stew, you can cook a version of pilaf. For this:

1. in a cauldron in pork fat from a jar, fry finely chopped onion and julienne carrots;
2. then add the remaining meat, steamed rice, garlic and spices;
3. pour all the water on two fingers above the rice;
4. cook until the water evaporates (approximately 20 minutes).

Rice can be replaced by pearl barley or buckwheat. And if the stewed meat warmed in a pan is mixed with boiled macaroni, then you get their version “in a naval manner”.

If you don't like messing with dough, simple and quick baking is still possible.

1. Take a pack of ready-made dough, defrost, divide into two parts and roll.
2. For the filling, fry one onion. From the pork, select only pieces of meat without broth and fat, so that there is no excess liquid. In order to increase nutritional value you can add a little boiled potatoes.
3. Put one layer on a greased baking sheet. Place the stuffing on the dough, cover it with the second layer and seal the edges. This cake is baked for a short time, because the filling is ready.

To learn how to cook pork stew in a slow cooker, see the next video.