By Margaret Malsam
It’s a breeze to clean up after preparing a meal cooked in one pot on top of the stove, in the oven or a Crock-Pot. In these days when everyone seems to be in a hurry, it’s so easy and hassle free to cook a whole meal slowly in one pot.
The late Chef James Beard praised slow cooking as “a true simmer” that allows poetic movement but no violent activity on the surface—nothing more than sounds of an occasional gentle plop or tiny pop of a bubble. You can create poetry in your kitchen with delicious, one pot meals.
History
Slow cooking—simmering at low heat for a long time—is probably one of the oldest forms of cooking invented by the human race. The oldest way to cook is most likely simply roasting fresh meat or fish over the fire.
Archaeologists digging near the hearths of dwellings in Ukraine have found cylindrical pits that may date back to prehistoric times. Evidence suggests that early cooks heated pebbles or stones, lined a pit with them, and then added whatever was available—fresh fish or meat wrapped in leaves. The medieval cooks, whose raw materials were limited, kept a stockpot going most of the time. It would be replenished with vegetables, grain or bits of meat. Thus, the one-pot meal was created.
Slow cooking was still in use thousands of years later among the natives of North America and on some of the islands, like Hawaii. Even today at an authentic Hawaiian luau feast is a whole pig is slow cooked for hours in an underground pit.
With our slow cookers and ovens, we don’t have to dig pits today, but slow cooking remains an economical way to prepare great meals with inexpensive meats. Slow cooking tenderizes meat in a special way that broiling or frying just can’t duplicate Almost any cut of meat will come out fork tender after it has been slow cooked for at least three or more hours. Along with great flavor, you’ll also have less shrinkage. You can also cook economical protein-rich foods, such as lentils and beans, in your one pot meal.
I like to first brown a beef pot roast and then slowly cook it in a Crock-Pot with dry onion soup mix and about two cups water. After cooking the roast for two to three hours, I add whole potatoes and baby carrots and cook another hour. I thicken the liquid with flour for a delicious gravy.
Making stews and soups is a natural for a one-pot meal. I often use leftover pot roast as a starter for vegetable soup. Leftover chicken makes a great chicken and noodle soup. Add fresh onion, celery and carrots for flavor. A pinch of saffron makes the chicken soup extra special.
An easy way to create a tasty bean soup is to cut up leftover ham (with the bone and stock if you have some) and simmer it with chopped onions and canned white beans. Use vegetable or chicken bouillon and chopped onions for added flavor if you don’t have the ham stock. It tastes even better if you soak dry beans in water overnight before putting them in the slow cooker with the ham or sliced smoked link sausage.
