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The crackpot sounds more than a little loopy but it does great things. The crock-pot is a slow cooker and some people (bless their hearts) actually call it the slow cooker. There are stove top versions and as of late electric versions. Actually you can take the big old pot and slow cook with it on the lowest setting. Being the man of the age, I have an electric crock-pot. Actually, it belongs to my wife but it brings me great pleasure.

You can make chile (chilly or chily) in it. The kind you eat. The spicy kind. The one that starts with meat and includes beans and spices. That kind of chilly. I love the Texan style of chilly. Actually what I'm trying to say is the chilly with the meat cubes in it. Real meat and real spices. I even put a little bit of curry and a little bit of beer when no one is looking. A great cook keeps his secrets, secret. That is what you can do with a crock-pot.

Then there are the meat pulls. The pork, beef, or caribou pull. Take the toughest piece of the bull. You can brown if you're a little too complicated or you can just plunk the meat in there, immerse it in water and start cooking. Then you add the spices. Here is the secret to spices. Put in the recommended spices as soon as you begin to cook. They will begin to surrender their flavor and start mixing it up. Then in the last hour of cooking, put in the same quantity of spices to top it off. That is how you get flavor. The vegetables you will want to add halfway through the cooking period. You want them thoroughly cooked with the pull but you want them too dead.

You can also do either of the two dishes meatless but that would be considered so half hearted in so many part of the world.

How do you make the best stew? It helps if you start with stewing beef. It helps if you have time and if you add beef bullion. What is even better is beef bones. The goodness of beef is in the bones. The next best goodness is in the fat. The bad fat is really good tasting. That is why wolves love it. Mind you wolves can run like wolves and you? Well you can cook the best stew in town.

The best stew in town is made in the crackpot. Apply the same principals as the meat pull. Same deal with spices. Vegetables at the halfway mark. Add spices again at the last hour. The joy of cooking is in the adjustments. Sure you have your favorite recipe but a dash of this and a dash of that make for the best stew in town. You can do wonderful things with the crackpot. Then you can talk it up, without actually mentioning that "L" word.

Learn more about this author, Jobie Weetaluktuk.
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