It's been a bit over a month since I made this, so I'm hoping that I can remember all the changes I made. The base recipe was fine, but the flavour was a bit flat, so I did end up tweaking it a bit just to punch things up a notch.

Slow Cooker Bolognese

Adapted from Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1-2 carrots, grated
• 1-2 onions, chopped
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 c. tomato paste
• 1/2 c. red wine
• 1kg lean ground beef
• 1 1/2 c. whole milk
• 1 large (800mL) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 Parmesan rind (optional)
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. dark soy
• 2 tsp. light soy
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat.
2. Add celery, carrots, and onions and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook until softened (~10 minutes).
3. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook until fragrant (3-4 minutes).
4. Add the red wine and cook until mostly evaporated.¹
5. Meanwhile, in a separate pan, cook the ground beef and season with salt and pepper.
6. Stir the milk into the beef and cook until mostly absorbed.
7. Add the beef to the slow cooker along with the tomatoes, oregano, basil, thyme, pepper flakes, and parmesan rind (if using).
8. Cover and cook on low for 6-12 hours.
9. Taste and add sugar, soy sauces, Worcestershire sauce, and vinegar if needed.

¹ If you have an InstantPot, then these steps can be done on the sauté setting. Otherwise, transfer veggie mixture to slow cooker once this step is complete. ^Back

Sauerbraten (German Sweet and Sour Beef)

When I was in NZ last year, I found an excellent deal on beef brisket and came home with a nice piece. It went in the freezer to be cooked later... But then I never quite got to it before I left. So it was still waiting for me in the freezer when I returned this year.

Another time I might've tried to smoke and/or barbecue it. But we're kind of out of grilling season in this hemisphere now and, after a year in the freezer, it was a bit freezer-burnt, so I decided to go for a slow cooker option instead.

After giving it a bit of thought and tossing around a few different ideas, I settled on taking a crack at turning it into sauerbraten. I have fond memories of the sauerbraten that my dad made. And, while I don't have his recipe, I figured I could at least ask the internet and try to come up with something similar. And it seemed like the ideal thing to do with a big chunk of slightly freezer-burnt beef.

The recipe that I used recommends using a bottom round or rump roast for this, but I figured the brisket would also work quite well. And it did! I really enjoyed how it came out. That said, I'm sure it would be good with other cuts too.

Sauerbraten

Slightly adapted from Daring Gourmet

Ingredients

• 2 onions, chopped
• 2-3 carrots, cut into large chunks
• 1 leek, white parts only, thoroughly rinsed and chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. dried rosemary
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 juniper berries
• 6 whole cloves
• 10-12 black peppercorns
• 2 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 2 1/2 c. red wine
• 1 c. red wine vinegar¹
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 1.5-2kg beef roast (brisket, bottom round, rump, etc.)
• 1-2 Tbsp. oil or lard
• 4 slices bacon, chopped (optional)
• 1/4 c. flour
• 1/4 c. raisins
• 75-85g gingersnaps/gingernuts (6-7 gingernuts), crushed
• 1 Tbsp. honey

Directions

1. Combine the onion, carrot, leek, garlic, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, juniper berries, cloves, peppercorns, salt, sugar, wine, vinegar, and water and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
4. Nestle the roast into the marinade, cover, and refrigerate for 4-7 days, turning each day if the marinade does not completely cover the meat.
5. When ready to cook, remove the meat from the marinade and set aside.
6. Strain the marinade and reserve both the solids and the liquids.
7. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
8. Add the beef and sear on all sides. Set aside.
9. Add the bacon (if using) to the now-empty pot and cook.
10. Add the vegetables and sauté for ~5 minutes.
11. Add the flour and cook until no longer raw (3-4 minutes).
12. Pour in the reserved marinade, raisins, gingersnaps/gingernuts, and honey and bring to a boil.
13. Add beef, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 2-4 hours if cooking on the stovetop. Otherwise, transfer everything to a slow cooker and cook on "high" for ~6 hours. (Or use an InstantPot-style multi-cooker to do the whole thing in place.)
14. Once beef is cooked through and tender, remove from the pot and set aside.
15. If desired, remove the bay leaves, juniper berries, and cloves from the liquid and purée the veggies into it to make a thick gravy. Otherwise, adjust consistency by mixing in a cornstarch or flour slurry and boiling until gravy thickens to desired consistency.
16. Adjust seasoning to taste.
17. Slice beef and serve with the gravy (and veggies if you chose not to purée them).
18. Serve with a starch (potatoes, bread, etc.) and rotkohl (sweet-and-sour red cabbage) or another vegetable dish of your choice.

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¹ I couldn't find any red wine vinegar, so I just used white wine vinegar. Either is fine. I think that cider vinegar would also be good in a pinch. ^Back

Khichdas/khichdras are thick legume-and-grain porridges. This one contains wheat, rice, pigeon peas, and yellow split peas. They also generally contain beef, goat, or both. This one just contains a relatively small amount of beef, but I think that goat would also be excellent in it (either instead or as well).

This was one of those almost "too simple" recipes that made me a little nervous. Because while it contains a lot of legumes and grains, it doesn't have that much in the way of seasonings. It's mostly just cumin. Cumin, ginger, and garlic. And a little cilantro and coriander. But that's not a whole lot to hang your curry on! No asafetida. Not even any turmeric! But, honestly, it was still great! Even with the limited spices. And the beef came out ultra-tender!

While I won't go so far as to say this is a new "favourite", it was very good. It may not be as tasty as some of the other curries in the book, but it has an impressive tastiness-to-effort ratio! And it's also very cheap to make. The most expensive ingredient is the beef. And you only need half a kilo of that. And cheap stewing beef works just fine. So you don't need to spend a lot of money on the meat for it. And, other than that, it's dried legumes, rice, and wheat! All very affordable ingredients. And it makes a huge amount. So it's a great dish for feeding a hungry crowd.

Khichda

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. cracked wheat
• 6 c. water
• 1/2 c. skinned split pigeon peas (toovar dal)
• 1/2 c. yellow split peas (chana dal)
• 1/2 c. long-grain rice¹
• 500g stewing beef
• 1/2 c. chile-ginger paste²
• 2 Tbsp. dhania-jeera masala
• 1-2 tsp. black cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds³ (optional)
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 1/4 c. ghee
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds
• 6-8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Rinse and drain the wheat thoroughly.
2. Add it to the water and allow to stand at room temperature for 6-8 hours.
3. Add the wheat and its soaking water to a slow cooker or InstantPot.
4. Add the pigeon peas, yellow peas, rice, beef, chile-ginger paste, masala, black cumin (and additional regular cumin, if using), and 1 tsp. of the salt.
5. Either slow cook on "low" for 6-8 hours or pressure cook on "high" for 1 hour. If pressure cooking, allow for a 15-minute natural release. When the khichda is done, the grains should be very soft and the beef extremely tender. The consistency should be similar to congee/jook.
6. Once the porridge is ready, heat the ghee over medium-high heat.
7. Add the cumin and sizzle for 10-20 seconds.
8. Reduce heat to medium, add the garlic, and cook for a minute or two.
9. Add the garlic-y ghee and the remaining 1 tsp. of salt to the khichda and stir to mix.
10. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

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¹ Iyer calls for long-grain white rice specifically. I reasoned that, given how long it cooks for, there's no reason why I couldn't use brown rice instead. So I tossed 1/2 c. of brown basmati into my khichda. It worked great! Would definitely do it that way again in future. ^Back
2 I use chile-ginger paste rarely enough that I don't bother keeping it on hand. For this recipe I just tossed 1/2 c. of store-bought ginger paste into the blender with 6 fresh green finger chilies and gave that a whiz. It did the job and saved me trying to find room for another jar in the fridge. ^Back
3 I find black cumin quite strong and don't like excessive amounts of it. Neither does TF. So when recipes call for blak cumin, I tend to scale it back a bit. For this one, I cut the black cumin back to 1 tsp. and then added an extra tsp. of regular cumin to compensate. ^Back

I feel a bit bad about this one. Not only has it taken me months to get it written up¹, but I poisoned a house guest with it. So, you know, not my finest moment.

Let me explain. The dish itself was fine. But he has a sensitivity to vegetables in the nightshade family. Most notably tomatoes and peppers. He can handle tomatoes that are very well cooked. So canned tomatoes are usually fine. And a few chilies in a curry or stir-fry or whatever are usually fine. As are things like paprika and chili powder. So, given that, I had hoped that the cooked, smoked, canned, and simmered chilies in this wouldn't cause him any problems. And, I think if it had just been one or two chipotles, it probably would have been fine. Unfortunatley, the recipe calls for an entire tin of them. I only ended up using ~2/3 of a tin. But that was still apparently too much and ended up setting off a bad reaction. So it wasn't exactly the greatest start to the trip. Whoops!

On the bright side, if you're not allergic to the ingredients, this is a very easy and relatively tasty chili to make. I mean, it's not the best chili ever. But it's very simple to put together, so it has a reasonably good effort-to-deliciousness ratio. My main complaint is that it's lacking in legumes and veggies. It's basically just a big pot of beef. Which is fine as far as it goes. But it means it doesn't really work well as a stand-alone dish like a more traditional bean-based chili might.

Beef-Chipotle Chili

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. flour
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1.3kg stewing beef
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 onions, chopped
• 2 c. beef stock
• 1 (220g) can chipotles in adobo

Directions

1. Combine flour, salt, and pepper and dredge the beef in it.
2. Heat the oil over medium heat (sauté medium) in the InstantPot.
3. Working in two batches, sear the beef on all sides.
4. Remove beef from pot, sprinkle with oregano, and set aside.
5. Add the garlic and all but 1/2 c. of the onion to the now-empty pot and cook for 1-2 minutes.
6. Add the broth and chilies (including all of the sauce).
7. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil, scraping up any bits stuck to the bottom.
8. Return beef to pot, cover, and slow cook in medium for 6-8 hours (or high for 3-4 hours).
9. Sprinkle with remaining onion and serve.

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¹ I originally made it back in April. ^Back

This is a tasty stew, but I feel like it needed a bit more... something to perk it up a bit. You would think that with half a kilo of chorizo in the pot, it would have plenty of savoury umami and fat and spice and all that good stuff and it certainly smelled incredible, but -- for me at least -- the flavour didn't quite live up to what the aroma promised. Still... it was decent and very easy to throw together. Although it wasn't remotely ready in the time indicated in the recipe. I don't know if the InstantPot's low is just dramatically lower than whatever slow cooker they were using or what, but even after eight hours the beans were still fairly firm. And I even bumped the temperature up to "medium" for the last four hours of that cook time!

In the end it took a full 12 hours to cook! Four each on low, medium, and high. And it then got left on the highest "keep warm" temperature overnight as well. Next time I think I'd just start it on "slow cook - high" and aim for maybe a six-hour cook time. I'd probably also add a jalapeño or two as well. And maybe a bit of creole seasoning. Hopefully that would help round out the flavours a bit.

Red Bean and Chorizo Stew

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 450g dried red kidney beans
• 2 Tbsp. bacon fat
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1-2 jalape&ntile;os, minced (optional)
• 6-8 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 c. beef or chicken stock, divided
• 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. red chile flakes
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 tsp. creole seasoning (optional)
• 3 bay leaves
• 500g cured Spanish-style chorizo, sliced

Directions

1. Place the beans in a bowl and add enough water to cover by at least 3-4cm. Cover and let soak overnight.
2. The next day, melt the bacon fat over medium heat ("sauté - medium" in the InstantPot).
3. Add the onion, celery, and bell pepper cook until softened and beginning to brown (5-7 minutes).
4. Add the garlic and jalapeños (if using) and cook for another minute or two.
5. Pour in 1 c. of the stock and scrape the bottom to deglaze the pot.
6. Drain the beans and add them to the pot.
7. Add the remaining stock, vinegar, chile flakes, pepper, creole seasoning (if using), bay leaves, and chorizo.
8. Stir to combine, cover, and slow cook on high for 6-8 hours.
9. Serve with rice and/or crusty bread and season with Tabasco or similar hot sauce(s).

I wasn't entirely sold on the combination of beef and pumpkin for this stew, but I wanted to give it a shot and, actually, it really works! The mint doesn't really come through that much, but the cinnamon does and it adds a fantastic warmth to the meal. I'd be tempted to add a few parsnips or some other veggies next time, but I don't think it needs it. It's great as is.

The recipe is written for a slow cooker, so I made this stew in the InstantPot. And that worked quite well. It meant that I could do a little work in the morning and then just leave it to slow cook all day with very little "hands on" time. That said, I do think a stew like this would be excellent made in a big Dutch oven on the stovetop. It wouldn't be quite as set-it-and-forget-it as using a slow cooker/InstantPot, but it would still require very little active time and might produce even better results. Maybe something to try for next time...

Beef & Pumpkin Stew

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1.3-1.5kg stewing beef
• 1 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
• 3 bay leaves
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/3 c. dry red wine
• 8 tsp. red wine vinegar, divided
• 2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into 5-cm pieces
• 1 (400mL) can diced tomatoes
• 1/3 c. beef or chicken stock
• 450g baking pumpkin, peeled and cut into 5-cm pieces
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 1 Tbsp. fresh mint, chopped

Directions

1. Season the beef with 1/2 Tbsp. of the salt and all of the pepper.
2. Set InstantPot to "sauté medium" and heat up 1 Tbsp. of the oil.¹
3. Sear the beef in batches, flipping and turning to get good colour on all sides.
4. Remove beef from pot and set aside.
5. Add onion, thyme, and bay leaves and cook until onion softens (~6 minutes).
6. Add garlic and cinnamon stick and cook for another minute or two.
7. Pour in the wine and 2 Tbsp. of the vinegar and deglaze the pan.
8. Add the carrots, tomatoes, and beef stock.
9. Return the seared beef to the pot.
10. Cover and cook on low ("slow cook low") for 5 hours.²
11. Stir in pumpkin, increase heat to "high" and continue to slow cook until pumpkin is tender (1-2 hours).³
12. Meanwhile, whisk the remaining 2 tsp. of vinegar into the remaining 1 Tbsp. of olive oil.
13. Mix in the remaining 1/4 tsp. of salt.
14. Stir in the green onions and mint.
15. Once the pumpkin is tender, stir in the green onion mixture, season to taste with additional salt and pepper, and serve.

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¹ Or heat oil over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven. ^Back
2 Might only need 3 or 4 if doing stovetop method. Cook over low heat, stirring very occasionally, until beef is tender. Add a little more liquid if it starts to get too dry. ^{Back 3} For stovetop, increase heat to medium-low and continue cooking, covered, stirring occasionally, until pumpkin is tender. ^Back

This recipe is from a while ago. So long ago that I don't clearly remember making it or what substitutions and adjustments (if any) we made. I think we stuck pretty close to the recipe. Possibly just substituting California chilies for the pasilla since the latter tend to be fairly difficult to find here.

Despite not remembering the details of making this dish, I do remember the results. Much like other adobo recipes that we've tried, it did produce tender meat in a tasty sauce. I remember it being good. But I also remember feeling somewhat disappointed and let down because the results of this slow cooker version paled in comparison to the stovetop- and oven-cooked one that we made a few years earlier: Beef in Adobo. Although both recipes include very similar ingredients and proportions, making it in the slow cooker just couldn't deliver the same results. So, while I appreciate the convenience of being able to throw everything in the pot and walk away, I prefer the results of the slightly more involved cooking methods from the earlier recipe.

Slow Cooker Adobo-Braised Beef

From Cook's Country June/July 2020

Ingredients

• 45g dried ancho or guajillo chilies, stemmed
• 30g dried pasilla or California chilies, stemmed
• 3/4 c. salsa verde
• 1/2 c. orange juice
• 1/4 c. lime juice
• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground and divided
• ~1.3kg stewing beef
• tortillas, to serve
• 125g queso fresco or feta, crumbled
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Use kitchen shears to cut chilies in half lengthwise and discard the seeds.
2. Cut chilies into 2-3cm pieces.
3. Toast chilies over medium heat, stirring often, until fragrant (~5 minutes).
4. Transfer to bowl and cover with hot water. Let stand ~5 minutes, then drain.
5. Add salsa verde, orange juice, lime juice, sugar, cumin, garlic, chilies, 1 tsp. of the salt, oregano, and 1/2 tsp. of the pepper to a blender and purée until smooth. Pour into slow cooker.
6. Season beef with remaining 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper and add to slow cooker with sauce. Stir to combine.
7. Cover and cook until tender (4-5 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low).
8. Serve with warmed tortillas, queso fresco, and cilantro. Chopped avocado, sliced radishes, and minced red onion also make nice toppings.

I've been wanting to try out this recipe for ropa vieja since this issue of Cook's Country first came out back in 2017. My original plans to make it ended up falling through and it just never quite made it back to the top of the stack again after that.

Well, I am pleased to report that I finally made it and it is delicious!

The original recipe is written for the slow cooker with an initial sauté of the veggies on the stovetop. Given that format, I was able to do the whole thing in the InstantPot. It worked quite well. Although I did have to bump the temperature up partway through cooking as the "medium" slow cook setting didn't appear to be getting the job done. Nudging it up to high for the last three hours seems to have work though, so I'd recommend just putting it on high from the get-go next time.

I served my ropa vieja over Congrí with some green beans on the side to make it a complete meal.

Ropa Vieja

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country June/July 2017

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. oil
• 2-3 onions, halved and sliced
• 2 red bell peppers, sliced
• 1/4 c. tomato paste
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 1 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 1/2 c. dry white wine
• 2 Tbsp. light soy sauce¹
• 2 bay leaves
• 900g flank steak, cut against the grain into 4 pieces
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 3/4 c. sliced green olives
• 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium-low heat. (Sauté low on InstantPot.)
2. Add onion and bell pepper and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, for ~8 minutes.
3. Move vegetables to sides of pot and add the tomato paste, garlic, cumin, oregano, and 1/4 tsp. of the salt to the cleared spot in the middle.
4. Cook for a minute or two, then stir the vegetables into the paste mixture.
5. Add the wine and cook until nearly evaporated (1-2 minutes).
6. Add the soy sauce and bay leaves.
7. Season steak with the pepper and the remaining 1 tsp. of salt and add it to the pot on top of the sauce.
8. Cover and slow cook on high for ~6 hours.
9. Once meat is tender, remove steak from pot and shred with two forks.
10. Return meat to sauce and stir in olives and vinegar.
11. Serve over plain rice, congri, or your starch of choice. (I've seen both potatoes and polenta suggested as alternatives to rice.

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¹ I'd be inclined to try a mix of light and dark soy next time. ^Back

Refried (or Not) Beans

I would've sworn that I'd already written this recipe up, but I can't find it anywhere on the blog, so I guess I forgot. I got the recipe off of the BudgetByte$ blog. In her version, she doesn't actually fry the beans. She just seasons them, slow cooks them, and then mashes them with a little of the cooking water. I've done it this way before and it works great. I didn't think they'd be as good without the lard, but it worked really well! That said, if you really wanna go for broke, you can make them her way and then also fry them up with some lard and a bit of extra onion. Both ways produce excellent results.

Not Refried Beans

Slightly adapted from Budget Byte$

Ingredients

• 450g dried pinto beans
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 fresh jalapeño¹, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, bruised
• 1-2 tsp. chili powder
• 10-15 grinds black pepper
• 6 c. water
• 2-3 tsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Combine beans, onion, jalapeño, garlic, cumin, chili powder, black pepper, and water in a slow cooker or InstantPot. Do not add any salt yet!
2. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-9 hours.
3. Drain beans, reserving 1 c. of the cooking water.
4. Mash beans, adding some of the reserved cooking water to achieve the desired consistency. Make the beans a little wetter than you want them because they will thicken as they cool.
5. Add salt to taste.

Refried Beans

Ingredients

• 450g dried pinto beans
• 2 onions, chopped and divided
• 1 fresh jalapeño¹, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, bruised
• 1-2 tsp. chili powder
• 10-15 grinds black pepper
• 6 c. water
• 1/4 c. lard
• 2-3 tsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Combine beans, 1 onion, jalapeño, garlic, cumin, chili powder, black pepper, and water in a slow cooker or InstantPot. Do not add any salt yet!
2. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-9 hours.
3. Drain beans, reserving 1 c. of the cooking water.
4. Melt lard over medium heat. (Preferably in a large cast iron pan.
5. Add remaining onion and cook until softened and beginning to brown.
6. Add beans and reserved cooking water.
7. Mash beans and add salt to taste.
8. Cook until thickened but still slightly wetter than your ideal consistency. Beans will thicken as they cool.

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¹ For milder beans be sure to remove all the seeds and pith before chopping. For spicier beans leave the seeds and pith in. In a pinch you can substitute pickled jalapeño slices for the fresh, but fresh provides better flavour. ^Back

We've had a couple of beef roasts languishing in the freezer for... longer than I'd care to admit now. I'm just not a big roast person. I tried cooking up one of them as an actual roast and it was okay, but I couldn't help thinking that I would've enjoyed it so much more as a nice curry, stew, or chili. So, rather than trying to do another roast, I figured I'd thaw one of the remaining ones out and chop it up for curry. I know this may sound sacreligious; hacking up a beautiful roast and using it for stew/curry. But if I enjoy it more that way than I would as a roast, then why not?!

I initially ran across a simple recipe for beef rendang on a Dutch blog. It was enough to pique my interest, but the recipe looked a little plain. So I went search for other beef rendang recipes to compare and contrast and see if I could find any that looked a little more punchy. The chilies and kerisik (toasted coconut) sold me on this one.

Beef Rendang

Slightly adapted from Rasa Malaysia

Ingredients

• 5-12 dried arbol or cayenne chilies¹
• 5 shallots
• 2-3cm piece galangal²
• 4 stalks lemongrass, divided; 1 cut into 10cm lengths and pounded, 3 green parts removed and white parts coarsely chopped (or 3 Tbsp. frozen minced lemongrass, divided)
• 5 cloves garlic
• 3-4cm piece fresh ginger, peeled
• 4-5 Tbsp. oil³
• 1 (3") cinnamon stick
• 3 whole cloves
• 3 star anise
• 3 green cardamom pods
• 700g boneless beef short ribs (or other cut of your choice), cut into cubes
• 1 c. coconut milk
• 1 c. water
• 1-2 tsp. tamarind concentrate⁴
• 6 kaffir lime leaves, very finely sliced⁵
• 6 Tbsp. kerisik (toasted coconut)⁶
• 1 Tbsp. palm sugar
• salt, to taste

Directions

1. Pour hot water over chilies to cover and set aside for at least 10 minutes.
2. Remove chilies from water and remove stems and seeds.
3. Add deseeded chilies, shallots, galangal, white parts of three stalks of lemongrass (or 2 Tbsp. frozen minced lemongrass), garlic, and ginger to blender or food processor and process into a paste. If needed, add some of the oil from the next step to the blender jar to help it break down into a nice smooth paste.
4. Heat oil over medium heat. (Sauté medium on InstantPot.)
5. Add paste, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and cardamom and stir-fry until aromatic (1-2 minutes).
6. Add beef and pounded lemongrass and cook for another minute or two.
7. Add coconut milk, water, and tamarind concentrate and cook, uncovered, over medium heat until meat is almost cooked (~10 minutes).
8. Add lime leaves, kerisik, and sugar and stir to combine.
9. Reduce heat to low (slow cook medium on InstantPot), partially cover, and cook until pot is almost dry⁷.
10. Season to taste with salt and sugar.
11. Serve with rice.

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¹ The original recipe calls for 10-12 and I think that would've been a nice number. I scaled it back to five because I was worried that the Kidlet would object otherwise. With only 5 chilies, there is no detectable spiciness whatsoever -- not even to the Kidlet's super-sensitive tongue! ^Back
2 I was all out of fresh galangal so I substituted 1 tsp. of galangal powder. Definitely use fresh if you have it though! ^Back
3 The original recipe calls for 5 Tbsp. oil. I used this amount but found the final dish somewhat fattier than I would've preferred. I'd try cutting it back to 3 or 4 Tbsp. next time. ^Back
4 The original recipe calls for 2 tsp. of tamarind pulp (presumably from fresh tamarind). I was going to use 2 tsp. of tamarind concentrate, but then got worried that this might be too much. I scaled it back to 1 tsp. I was happy with the final result, but I think 1 1/2 or 2 tsp. probably would've been fine. ^Back
5 I didn't have any fresh lime leaves, so I crumbled a few dried ones instead. ^Back
6 To make kerisik, slowly and gently toast fresh or dried shredded coconut in a dry pan. It's important to get it dark enough to impart good flavour without getting it so dark that it becomes burnt. Watch it carefully and stir often. Remove from heat promptly once browned. If your coconut was coarsely shredded, pound it thoroughly after toasting to break it down into very small pieces. ^Back
7 I initially fully covered the pot and set it to low for 8 hours. It was still looking very soupy after the first few hours though, so I bumped the temperature up a bit (from slow cook low to slow cook medium) and set the lid slightly askew. It still needed another 12-ish hours after that to cook down enough. The end result was delectably tender and flavourful though. The exact cooking time will vary depending on your pot and stove/slow cooker/etc. Check it periodically and use your best judgement. ^Back

Icelandic Thunder Bread (no molasses)

I tried another version of Icelandic thunder bread a few weeks back. I liked it, but I felt like the combination of brown sugar/molasses and whole grain flour made it taste more like a giant bran muffin than bread. It's honestly a nice option if you're looking for a lower fat alternative to the standard bran muffin!

I wanted something that let the rye shine a little more though. This recipe doesn't call for any brown sugar or molasses and uses a higher proportion of rye flour in the batter, so I was hoping it might provide a better rye flavour. That said, there's a lot more sugar in this recipe than the first one I tried. It's not a bad loaf, but it is very sweet. I think I'd probably halve the sugar if I was making it again. I've adjusted the recipe below to reflect this.

Icelandic Thunder Bread

Slightly adapted from The Travel Bunny

Ingredients

• 320g whole rye flour
• 85g all-purpose flour
• 100g sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 450mL milk

Directions

1. Combine flours, and sugar.
2. Sift in baking powder.
3. Add sugar and thoroughly mix.
4. Pour in milk and mix until just comgined.
5. Pour batter into greased and floured casserole dish.
6. Cover casserole dish and place on trivet inside slow cooker/InstantPot with enough water to come about halfway up the side of the dish.
7. Set slow cooker to high and allow bread to steam for 4 hours.
8. Carefully remove casserole dish from slow cooker/InstantPot, uncover, and allow to cool for 10-20 minutes.
9. Turn bread out onto wire rack to cool.

This is a bit of an unusual bread recipe. It's technically a "quick bread" as it's leavened with baking powder rather than yeast, but rather than spending a quick 30-60 minutes in the oven as most quick breads do, it gets steamed for several hours. Apparently the traditional way to bake this bread is by place in a pot and burying it near a geothermal spring to slowly steam its way to perfection. Given that geothermal springs aren't exactly commonplace here, I decided to steam mine in the InstantPot. This seems to have worked very well except for the part where I assumed that just having a lid on the casserole dish inside the pot would be enough and didn't bother trying to seal it. This resulted in a rather large amount of water finding its way into the baking dish so that the bread became quite wet around the edges. A quick blast in the dry heat of the oven seems to have dried it out without any ill effects though, so no major harm done!

There are a wide variety of recipes for Icelandic thunder bread floating around the internet. They all involve rye flour and baking powder. Interestingly, baking powder isn't always the only leavener; I came across one recipe that called for baking powder and yeast. Most just stick with a chemical leavener (like baking powder and/or baking soda) though. All the ones that I looked at also involved at least some amount of refined wheat flour. They also all call for a relatively high proportion of sweetener, but what that sweetener is varies from recipe to recipe. Some recipes call for granulated sugar, some use brown sugar; some add molasses, some don't. There's also usually some sort of dairy involved: usually milk, but sometimes buttermilk. There doesn't generally appear to be any fat added -- no oil or butter. So, quite a bit of variation overall, but the recipes still have enough in common that they're recognizable as thunder bread. They're a relatively sweet, steamed, chemically leavened, rye bread.

After browsing a few different recipes, I decided to go with the one I found on Spruce Eats as I liked the sound of all the brown sugar and molasses in their version. The smell and flavour is wonderful. It had a certain familiarity to it that I couldn't put my finger on at first. Then I realized... bran muffins! The flavour is very similar to bran muffins. The crust is chewier and the crumb is a little drier and less tender, but the flavour it definitely there. There is, of course, no wheat bran in this bread, but the whole rye flour means there's a fair bit of rye bran. That combined with the molasses is enough to tick the "bran muffin" box in my brain. This isn't necessarily a bad thing -- I quite like it honestly -- but it is a bit different than I was expecting. The molasses completely drown out any rye flavour. I think it'd be interesting to try one of the recipes that uses granulated sugar and no molasses next time to see how it compares. I'm hoping the rye will have more presence in those versions. As a side-note though, this does make a really nice low-fat alternative to bran muffins. Most bran muffins are just chock-full of oil! Often as much as half a cup of oil for a small batch of a dozen muffins. This bread hits a lot of the same notes for me without any of the added fat. (It's not fat-free; there's still some fat in the flours and the milk, but it's definitely much leaner than your typical bran muffin.) Neat!

Icelandic Thunder Bread

Slightly adapted from The Spruce Eats

Ingredients

• 330g whole rye flour
• 220g all-purpose flour
• 15g (~1 rounded Tbsp.) baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1 c. milk, scalded and cooled
• 1 Tbsp. molasses

Directions

1. Find a baking dish that will fit inside your InstantPot or slow cooker and grease it well.
2. Combine flours and sift in baking soda.
3. Add salt and brown sugar and mix well.
4. Dissolve molasses in cooled milk and add this mixture to the dry ingredients.
5. Stir to combine. Dough should be fairly wet, if it's not add a little water to loosen it up (1/4-1/2 c.)
6. Turn the dough out and knead it for a few minutes. It should become a little less sticky as you work it. If it reaches a point where it starts getting stickier or seems to be developing a slimy texture, stop working the dough immediately.
7. Place the dough into the prepared baking dish and cover. If you don't have a lid to fit the dish, cover it with foil. Make sure the edges are well-sealed in either case.
8. Put a trivet in the bottom of the InstantPot/slow cooker and add a few cups of hot water. (How much you need will depend on the size of your InstantPot/slow cooker and the size of your baking dish. The water should come about halfway up the side of the baking dish once it's lowered into the InstantPot/slow cooker.
9. Place the lid on the InstantPot/slow cooker and set to slow cook on "high" for four hours.
10. Remove the baking dish from the InstantPot/slow cooker at the end of the four hour cooking period and check on your bread. If any water has gotten into the baking dish, you may need to dry it out in the oven for a few minutes.
11. Once the bread is fully baked and dry, turn it out onto a wire rack to cool.
12. Once cool, slice thin and enjoy with smoked fish, paté, and/or cream cheese for a savoury option or nut butters, jams, and/or butter for a less traditional but equally delicious sweet option.

This was fantastic! It takes a bit of time to cook but, as it's a slow cooker recipe, there's no attention or active effort needed after the initial assembly. It only takes about five minutes to toss everything in the pot and after that the biggest problem is being tormented by the delicious smells while it cooks.

The original recipe calls for beef chuck roast. I ended up using a brisket. It worked beautifully, although I did feel a bit guilty using a nice brisket for this. That said, I wasn't likely to be doing anything else with it any time soon and I figured it was better to use it for this than to have it sit in the freezer for another year and get freezer burned.

Barbacoa

Slightly adapted from Gimme Some Oven

Ingredients

• 1.5kg beef chuck roast cut into large (6-7cm) chunks
• 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-3 chipotles in adobo, minced
• 1 (120mL) can diced green chilies
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/4 c. lime juice (from 1-2 limes)
• 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 3 dried bay leaves
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/2 c. beef or vegetable stock

Directions

1. Pile everything into the slow cooker.
2. Stir to evenly mix and coat the meat.
3. Cook on low for 10-12 hours (or a bit longer if you prefer).
4. Shred meat and let it soak in the sauce/juices for 10-15 minutes.
5. Serve in tortillas or over rice with toppings of choice.

Vengayam Chana (Chickpeas in Onion Sauce)

This was the very first chickpea curry we ever made. It appeal to me because it allowed for starting with dried chickpeas whereas pretty much every other chana recipe in the book lists cooked chickpeas in the ingredients. This meant that I didn't have to worry about trying to cook a pot of beans before assembling the curry. I could just toss them into the slow-cooker and let them do their thing.

Vengayam Chana

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. dried chickpeas
• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 6 green cardamom pods
• 4 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies, stems removed
• 2 (3") cinnamon sticks
• 2 onions, 1 halved and sliced, 1 chopped
• 2 tsp. Sambhar masala
• 3/4 tsp. tsp. black salt
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 400mL diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp. tamarind concentrate
• 2 fresh green Thai or cayenne chilies, stems removed
• 2 c. water
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 c. unsweetened shredded dried coconut
• 15 fresh or frozen curry leaves

Directions

1. Rinse the chickpeas thoroughly.
2. Add water to cover and bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat, cover, and set aside for at least 1 hour.
3. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
4. Add cumin seeds, cardamom pods, dried chilies, and cinnamon sticks and cook for ~1 minute.
5. Add the sliced onion and stir-fry for ~5 minutes.
6. Add sambhar masala, black salt, and sea salt.
7. Transfer onion mixture to slow cooker.
8. Combine diced tomatoes, chopped onion, tamarind paste, and fresh chilies in blender and purée until smooth.
9. Pour puréed mixture into slow cooker.
10. Add 1/2 c. water to blender and swish it around to rinse out any bits left in the jar. Pour this into the slow cooker as well.
11. Add the remaining 1 1/2 c. water along with the cilantro, coconut, and curry leaves.
12. Drain the chickpeas and add them to the slow cooker as well.
13. Give the contents a stir, cover the slow cooker, and cook on low for 12 hours.
14. Serve over rice.

This beef stew recipe from Cook's Country was a bit of disappointment, honestly. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't up to the standard we've come to expect from that publication, either; symbol and I agree that if we have a bunch of stewing beef to use up, we'd much rather use it on a beef curry, or on my family stew recipe, than on this.

On the plus side, it's a big hit with the kid, although that seems to be more for the buttered noodles we serve it with than for the stew itself. (The recipe suggests serving it over buttered egg noodles; we used a mix of white rotelle and brown macaroni).

Carbonnade

Cook's Country DEC/JAN 2019

Ingredients

• 2kg stewing beef
• salt and pepper
• 2 large onions, sliced thin
• 30mL corn oil
• 15mL packed brown sugar
• 60mL tomato paste
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 5mL dried thyme
• 45mL all-purpose flour
• 470mL Belgian-style beer or lager
• 250mL chicken or vegetable broth
• 60mL chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1. Season beef with salt and pepper and place in slow cooker.
2. Combine onions, oil, sugar, 2.5mL salt, 1mL freshly ground pepper, and 250mL water in deep skillet. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook, covered, until water is nearly evaporated, ~10 minutes.
3. Uncover and continue to cook, stirring often, until onions are soft and dark brown, another ~10 minutes,
4. Add tomato paste, garlic, and thyme and cook until fragrant, ~1 minute.
5. Stir in flour and cook for another minute.
6. Add beer and broth and simmer, uncovered, until slightly thickened, ~2 minutes after simmering.
7. Add onion/beer mix to slow cooker and stir to combine with beef. Cook until beef is tender, 8-10 hours on low.
8. Stir in parsley; season with salt and pepper to taste.

Nehari (Braised Lamb Shanks in a Fennel-Cumin Broth)

This curry involves a lot of strong flavours. I loved it though! The broth was delicious and rich. The meat was tender. And it went very well over a nice warm bowl of white basmati rice.

Nehari

From 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. plain yogurt
• 2 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 2 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1 tsp. cayenne
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 6 small lamb shanks (~1.4kg)
• 1/4 c. mustard oil
• 1 onion, sliced thin
• 2 tsp. fennel seeds
• 2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. black cumin seeds
• 2 whole star anise
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 2 Tbsp. rice flour
• 2 Tbsp. minced fresh mint
• 2 Tbsp. minced fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Combine yogurt, ginger paste, garlic paste, cayenne, salt, and turmeric to make a marinade.
2. Coat lamb shanks generously with marinade, cover, and chill overnight.
3. Heat oil over medium heat.
4. Add lamb shanks to hot oil along with all of the marinade.
5. Cook, turning occasionally, until the marinade evaporates and the shanks start to brown (~10 minutes).
6. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the oil starts to separate (~15 minutes).
7. Transfer lamb shanks to a plate.
8. Stir the onion into the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until it softens (~10 minutes).
9. Meanwhile, combine fennel seeds, cumin, black cumin, and star anise and grind fine.
10. Stir ginger into ground spices.
11. Once onion has softened, stir in the ground spice blend and let it cook for a minute or two.
12. Add 2 c. water and deglaze the pan.
13. Return the shanks to the broth and heat to a boil.
14. Spoon onion slices over meat and cover the pan.
15. Braise, basting occasionally, until lamb is falling off the bone (2-3 hours).
16. Transfer lamb to serving plate.
17. Sprinkle in the rice flour.1 Tbsp. at a time, whisking vigorously after each addition.
18. Bring sauce to a boil to thicken, then pour over the shanks.
19. Sprinkle with mint and cilantro and serve over rice.

This dish is so close to being vegetarian already, I always feel a bit guilty buying the pancetta for it. I mean, the chicken stock is easy: Just swap it out for vegetable broth. I don't really just want to omit the pancetta though and I don't feel like vegan tempeh bacon will cut it here. So I started Googling around for ideas. I found lots of suggestions for various types of tempeh and tofu bacon. There were also recipes for coconut, chickpea, and eggplant bacon. None of these felt quite right though.

What turned out to be more useful were the pages discussing the flavour profile and different attributes of bacon (and pancetta). Flavour-wise these pork belly products pack a huge wallop of both salt and umami. Bacon also tends to come with a certain amount of smokiness as well as notes of sweetness and a tiny hint of sour. Pancetta, being unsmoked, doesn't bring the smokiness that bacon does. And, although no one really discussed this, I feel like the sweet and sour elements are less evident in pancetta as well. Someone did point out though that pancetta often carries faint notes of nutmeg and fennel as these are sometimes used during the curing process.

Salt and umami can be provided by things like soy sauce and (vegetarian) Worcestershire sauce. Sweet can come from maple syrup or brown sugar. Sour can be in the form of apple cider vinegar or tomato paste. And smoke (if you're going for the whole smoked bacon experience) can come from things like liquid smoke, smoked paprika, chipotle chiles, or... actual smoke, as in you can grill or smoke your food to add some char and/or smoky goodness. Different recipes recommend these things in slightly different proportions, but the basic idea is the same.

So, I have some ideas of how to handle the flavour side of things now, but there's also the issue of texture. Tempeh is great. I really like tempeh. But I don't think it's got quite what I want in the way of texture for this. Tofu is probably a bit closer to what I'm looking for. In a pinch, I'd probably slap a marinade on some tofu, fry it up and chuck that in. I feel like it might still be missing something though. Then one of the pages I was browsing suggested olives as an idea for something that would provide some of the same texture of pancetta (albeit with a decidedly different flavour). I like that idea! Olives. Brilliant! I think we now have a plan for how to make these beans vegetarian!

Please note: I haven't actually tested this recipe yet. I just think it sounds like a good idea. I'll test it and report back the next time I'm making γιγαντες πλακι.

Vegetarian Gigantes Plaki

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 4 onions, chopped
• pepper, to taste
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 6-8 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 150g green olives in brine, drained or 75g green olives and 75g cubed tofu bacon
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. fennel seeds, ground
• 1 (828mL) tin whole San Marzano tomatoes, broken up
• 450g dried butter beans (aka jumbo lima beans) or great northern beans (if you can't find the others)
• Parmesan rind
• 8 c. vegetable broth
• Parmesan and crusty bread, to serve

Directions

1. If you feel like being fancy you can saute your onions and garlic in the olive oil first and then toss in the spices and olives/tofu and cook them a little bit. If you're not feeling fancy, just dump everything in the pot in one go and set it to low for 10-12 hours. It'll be delicious either way.
2. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Serve with extra Parmesan grated on top and a piece of crusty bread on the side.

Slow Cooker Brunch Casserole

Ingredients

• 30mL unsalted butter, softened
• ~350g bulk breakfast sausage meat
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 red bell peppers, finely chopped
• 15mL tinned chipotle in adobo, minced
• 5mL adobo sauce (from the above)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 5mL ground cumin
• ~400g baguette, cut into ~1cm pieces
• ~350g pepperjack cheese, shredded
• 750mL half-and-half (10%) cream
• 12 large eggs
• salt and pepper
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced

Procedure

1. Cook sausage, onions, and bell peppers in a large skillet over medium-high heat until well browned, ~10 minutes.
2. Stir in chipotle, adobo sauce, garlic, and cumin, and cook until fragrant, ~30 seconds.
3. Transfer sausage mixture to a large bowl, add bread, and stir until thoroughly combined.
4. Grease slow-cooker with butter.
5. Arrange half of bread mixture in an even layer in the slow cooker. Top with ~1/3rd of the pepperjack cheese. Arrange remaining bread mixture in another even layer on top.
6. Whisk together cream, eggs, 5mL salt, and 1mL pepper in a bowl, then pour evenly over casserole. Using spatula, press gently on bread mixture to partially submerge.
7. Top with remaining cheese.
8. Cook on low, 3-4 hours, until center registers 160° (TODO: what units? probably F?)
9. Let cool, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Top with scallions and serve.

Slow cooker asian beef ribs

Via damndelicious.net (warning: plays sounds). I wasn't actually that happy with this recipe -- I think I wanted something with a more robust, curry-y flavour profile -- but I gave some to my friend Ash and they were extremely happy with it.

I made a few changes relative to the original recipe, mostly amping up the garlic dramatically so there would be a few slow-cooked cloves in among the beef.

Ingredients

• 128mL dark soy sauce
• 128mL beef broth
• 64mL brown sugar
• 8 cloves garlic, four minced, four whole
• 16mL ginger paste
• 5mL sesame oil
• 5mL red pepper flakes
• 2.5kg beef ribs or equivalent (I used one pack of beef ribs and then half the recipe weight of stewing beef, since we have a dramatic surplus of the latter)
• 32mL cornstarch
• 32mL parsley
• 16mL sesame seeds

Procedure

1. Mix together soy sauce, broth, sugar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, and red pepper flakes.
2. Combine with meat in slow cooker.
3. Cook low for 6-8 hours or until tender.
4. Whisk together cornstarch with 64mL water. Stir into sauce.
5. Cook on high until desired thickness is reached, ~30 minutes.
6. Garnish with parsley and sesame seeds.

Γίγαντες Πλακί (Giant Baked Beans)

I found this recipe during some aimless Internet wandering. It looks to be a slow cooker adaptation of γίγαντες πλακί (gigantes plaki) or giant baked beans. Apparently dried runner beans (γίγαντες) are traditionally used for this. I couldn't find any, so I tossed in some great northern beans instead. And wow! Did they ever come out nice! This one is definitely a keeper. This was both easier and more delicious than any other baked bean recipe I've ever tried. Seriously good.

Γίγαντες Πλακί
~450g great northern beans (or gigantes if you can find 'em)
2 bay leaves
~1 tsp. red pepper flakes
6-8 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
4 onions, chopped
1 (28 oz.) can San Marzano tomatoes, smashed/broken up
a few sprigs of thyme (or maybe 1 tsp. of dried)
~1 tsp. dried oregano (optional)
~150g cubed pancetta
1 good-sized hunk of Parmesan rind
8 c. chicken stock
2 Tbsp. olive oil
pepper, to taste
crusty bread, to serve

Apparently with the traditional method, you cook the pancetta and vegetables first and build a fond and all that good stuff. I think the beans are meant to be soaked overnight as well. However, this slow cooker version just has you throw everything in the pot at once and cook it on high for six hours. My slow cooker is currently out of commission, but letting it simmer on the stovetop all afternoon certainly seems to have done the trick. I did have to add a bit more water partway through cooking, but that was no trouble. And other than that brief intervention, it was completely hassle-free!

And did I mention that this is probably the most delicious bean dish I've ever tried? Ever. Seriously. This made a huge pot of beans. We've been eating them for a week. And I'm okay with this! I'm not tired of them yet and I will certainly be making more in the future!