My Slow Cooker and Me

Once again I take on the slow cooker!  I wanted this thing so badly, and it was a gift from two special people in my life, and I have never, ever met an appliance I couldn’t master, but I may have met my match!  Pork with red cabbage seemed perfect.  A nice warming fall dish (although the temperatures in Philadelphia got up to around 80°) a dish that would not only be a great dinner, but make some terrific leftovers.  When I went to the grocery store, I was rushing, a bad start, you might want to stop reading now…

OK, thanks for sticking with me.  Well I was looking for a nice fatty piece of pork, maybe some country ribs, or a part of a shoulder, but didn’t find what I wanted, so I got a pork loin.  One of the results of living in our fat phobic nation is that meat is now trimmed of pretty much as much fat as can be reached by minimally skilled workers (but that is another rant post).  And pork, a traditionally fatty animal is now raised to be as lean as possible, and for the purposes of slow cooking fat =flavor, as well as some nice texture for the cabbage.

I understand slow cooking as a technique, in fact I consider myself a top-notch braiser, and the way I prepared this it really was a braise.  I browned the meat before putting into the slow cooker, and let it do it’s thing.  I think one of the things I am suffering from is my unwillingness to follow recipes.  I find that most of the slow-cooker recipes I come across involve a lot of sugar and pre-made sauces, and if I were a bit less stubborn I might find the times/temperature advice helpful.  I keep saying next time (I have not divulged my every attempt here).  And I say it again…next time I will find a recipe and follow it.  Maybe you have a good one you can send me ♥

Because I think the flavor of the final product is really good, I have posted the recipe.  I think with a fattier piece of meat, and better timing this could be a really outstanding dish.  I will not be defeated, and I will not give up!  I welcome your advice and feedback on mastering my slow cooker.  Many years ago I had a pottery studio that I shared with two partners and some artists who rented space form us, whenever one of us would become frustrated and start cursing the clay, the floor, the wheel or whatever, someone would remind us all “A poor craftsman always blames his tools” (please excuse the gender specificity)  and I remember this when I start to blame my poor innocent slow cooker for my own shortcomings…