Fixing a crockpot meal.
November 18, 2015 2:46 PM Subscribe
I made took a simple chicken and noodles recipe and doctored it up a little bit with onions, celery, shallots, and carrots. Otherwise the same recipe (I added a like 2 ounces more broth than they called for, and cream of mushroom instead of chicken). I'm not sure what happened, but the result in my crock pot with ~2 hours remaining is very, very soupy, and doesn't look right at all. Is there anything I could do to salvage this and make it creamy?
If you have two hours left to go, don't panic yet! A lot of that may be absorbed by the noodles, which may puff up, and/or steam off.
If it's still soupy when it's done, just cook up some extra quick noodles and add them to the mix. It wouldn't really affect the taste too much.
posted by xingcat at 2:50 PM on November 18, 2015
If it's still soupy when it's done, just cook up some extra quick noodles and add them to the mix. It wouldn't really affect the taste too much.
posted by xingcat at 2:50 PM on November 18, 2015
Add some rice cook it well. Do you have some dehydrated potato (instant mash) around? A little bit of that stirred in would thicken it up. Stirred in at the end if still soupy. You will cook off a lot of the water too if you keep the lid open a crack. If you haven't put the noodles in yet they will absorb water too. Or make some dumplings to help absorb fluid.
posted by wwax at 2:50 PM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by wwax at 2:50 PM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Ah, not yet. I'll give that a try.
posted by codacorolla at 2:50 PM on November 18, 2015
posted by codacorolla at 2:50 PM on November 18, 2015
Did you add the noodles yet? The noodles should soak up a lot of the liquid. If you have added the noodles and the result is still too liquid, throw it on the stove to simmer until it reaches your desired consistency.
posted by Diablevert at 2:50 PM on November 18, 2015
posted by Diablevert at 2:50 PM on November 18, 2015
Assuming it's runny with the noodles in there already, perhaps fridge it? It might firm up overnight.
posted by answergrape at 2:51 PM on November 18, 2015
posted by answergrape at 2:51 PM on November 18, 2015
The addition of the noodles ought to fix it. In addition to absorbing liquid, they'll release some starches into the broth which will thicken it.
If that fails, you can always thicken it at the end with some corn starch. You'll need to mix the corn starch with a little cold water, add slowly and then return to a boil for a least one minute for it to do it's thing.
posted by purple_bird at 3:46 PM on November 18, 2015
If that fails, you can always thicken it at the end with some corn starch. You'll need to mix the corn starch with a little cold water, add slowly and then return to a boil for a least one minute for it to do it's thing.
posted by purple_bird at 3:46 PM on November 18, 2015
Response by poster: The noodles did indeed fix it, and I folded in a little left over cream soup which seemed to make it the desired consistency. Over all it's very hearty and delicious - exactly what I was hoping for when I picked out the recipe. Thanks!
posted by codacorolla at 3:49 PM on November 18, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by codacorolla at 3:49 PM on November 18, 2015 [4 favorites]
i just noticed carrots in your question. i recently found that carrots release water when cooked. so if i want to add carrots to something without making it runnier i now boil them separately first for a few minutes, then drain and add.
(to be honest, that sounds weird now i write it down. maybe i just had an odd watery carrot a while back and read too much into it.)
posted by andrewcooke at 4:09 PM on November 18, 2015
(to be honest, that sounds weird now i write it down. maybe i just had an odd watery carrot a while back and read too much into it.)
posted by andrewcooke at 4:09 PM on November 18, 2015
Best answer: Cream of ______ soup is pretty much a white gravy base plus whatever (mushrooms, chicken, celery, etc.), and a white gravy is substantially what happens when a powerful thickener thickener (roux) is added to milk. That roux has thickening power to spare, and so that's why it's in the recipe, not mere convenience.
5 ways I know of to thicken soups and stews, if they need it:
Corn starch is a good thickener, but it requires heat. if you're simmering pretty actively, that's good, but if the cooking is over, that's no good. You want to make the decision to thicken while it's still cooking, for this reason. As mentioned above, make a small amount "slurry" with cornstarch and water, and then stir in the mixture, and bring to a quick, short boil. If you don't make a slurry, you get gelatinous clumps.
Roux: great thickener, but requires a second, small pot or pan to cook in (unless you make it at the start!), and it requires dedicated attention for the couple of minutes it takes to make. Always with roux: if a little bit burns, throw it all out and start over-- roux is cheap-- and it burns like napalm, so don't let it touch you ever. Darker roux adds flavor and thickens less, so just cook the flour until it smells nutty and get it into the pot.
Blender method: Not good as good for noodle soups, but awesome with beans and potatoes. Take 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the soup liquid, remove any big chunks of meat and stalky herbs (veggies, beans, noodles stay in). Pour this in the blender and blend until smooth (it will release hot steam, so move clear and get ready for the lid to burp off). Even if you have a stick blender, remove some from the pot before blending. Blending at random in the pot leads to a lot of half-blended stuff which isn't desirable.
Gelatin: Best for clear soups/broths. Gelatin needs to be "bloomed": add sheets of gelatin to half a cup or so of hot water/broth, wait until it melts, and then add it in while stirring.
Chili method: add a handful of crushed plain tortilla chips. This works best early in the simmering, it often adds salt if the chips are salted, and it's best for thickening strongly-flavored things where chips are a natural accompaniment anyway: chili, any kind of dark stew, etc.
posted by Sunburnt at 4:17 PM on November 18, 2015 [9 favorites]
5 ways I know of to thicken soups and stews, if they need it:
Corn starch is a good thickener, but it requires heat. if you're simmering pretty actively, that's good, but if the cooking is over, that's no good. You want to make the decision to thicken while it's still cooking, for this reason. As mentioned above, make a small amount "slurry" with cornstarch and water, and then stir in the mixture, and bring to a quick, short boil. If you don't make a slurry, you get gelatinous clumps.
Roux: great thickener, but requires a second, small pot or pan to cook in (unless you make it at the start!), and it requires dedicated attention for the couple of minutes it takes to make. Always with roux: if a little bit burns, throw it all out and start over-- roux is cheap-- and it burns like napalm, so don't let it touch you ever. Darker roux adds flavor and thickens less, so just cook the flour until it smells nutty and get it into the pot.
Blender method: Not good as good for noodle soups, but awesome with beans and potatoes. Take 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the soup liquid, remove any big chunks of meat and stalky herbs (veggies, beans, noodles stay in). Pour this in the blender and blend until smooth (it will release hot steam, so move clear and get ready for the lid to burp off). Even if you have a stick blender, remove some from the pot before blending. Blending at random in the pot leads to a lot of half-blended stuff which isn't desirable.
Gelatin: Best for clear soups/broths. Gelatin needs to be "bloomed": add sheets of gelatin to half a cup or so of hot water/broth, wait until it melts, and then add it in while stirring.
Chili method: add a handful of crushed plain tortilla chips. This works best early in the simmering, it often adds salt if the chips are salted, and it's best for thickening strongly-flavored things where chips are a natural accompaniment anyway: chili, any kind of dark stew, etc.
posted by Sunburnt at 4:17 PM on November 18, 2015 [9 favorites]
To add to the "how to fix things like this" future reference bank, I frequently run into this type of problem when I take a non-slow-cooker stew recipe and adapt it to work in the crockpot.
My approach is to take a ladle, and lift out as much liquid as possible into a saucepan, leaving the solids of the dish in the slow cooker. Put the saucepan on the stove, no lid, crank the heat up to med/high, boil, stir as necessary to prevent burning, boil/simmer some more, until it's down to <25% original volume. The crockpot doesn't reduce liquids well at all, it's a slow barely-simmer (less steam) with a lid that's designed to let no steam out. Dump the reduced liquid back in; depending on how much liquid remained in the slow cooker that you couldn't get to with the ladle, perhaps add 0.5-1 tablespoon of cornstarch (slurried) to help thicken the remainder - but usually I can ladle out enough liquid that the whole dish is fixed just by boiling down.
posted by aimedwander at 6:53 AM on November 19, 2015
My approach is to take a ladle, and lift out as much liquid as possible into a saucepan, leaving the solids of the dish in the slow cooker. Put the saucepan on the stove, no lid, crank the heat up to med/high, boil, stir as necessary to prevent burning, boil/simmer some more, until it's down to <25% original volume. The crockpot doesn't reduce liquids well at all, it's a slow barely-simmer (less steam) with a lid that's designed to let no steam out. Dump the reduced liquid back in; depending on how much liquid remained in the slow cooker that you couldn't get to with the ladle, perhaps add 0.5-1 tablespoon of cornstarch (slurried) to help thicken the remainder - but usually I can ladle out enough liquid that the whole dish is fixed just by boiling down.
posted by aimedwander at 6:53 AM on November 19, 2015
perhaps add Tapioca? a tablespoon?
posted by SanSebastien at 9:19 AM on November 19, 2015
posted by SanSebastien at 9:19 AM on November 19, 2015
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posted by phunniemee at 2:49 PM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]