think I goofed

Hi, I got some advice from a nice lady in the grocery store, but I think it's not working out. I
was cooking beef and vegetable soup in a crock pot. She suggested instead of water I use red wine
and beef stock. She said I should use half and half, instead of water. So I have half red wine
(burgundy) and half beef stock. It's been cooking a few hours, but it doesn't taste very good. The
liquid doesn't cook off in a crock pot. It also has carrots, onions, garlic, green chili, olive
oil, in addition to about 3 lbs of good roast. Should I spoon out most of the juice and replace it
with water?

Thank you very much for any help.

Jim

On Tue, 16 Dec 2003 01:21:18 -0700, Jim Kroger <jim@invalid.com>
wrote:

>Hi, I got some advice from a nice lady in the grocery store, but I think it's not working out. I
>was cooking beef and vegetable soup in a crock pot. She suggested instead of water I use red wine
>and beef stock. She said I should use half and half, instead of water. So I have half red wine
>(burgundy) and half beef stock. It's been cooking a few hours, but it doesn't taste very good. The
>liquid doesn't cook off in a crock pot. It also has carrots, onions, garlic, green chili, olive
>oil, in addition to about 3 lbs of good roast. Should I spoon out most of the juice and replace it
>with water?

What does 'not very good' taste like?

Much of the flavor of the other ingredients has already leeched out into the stock/wine. Replacing
it with water wouldnt be wise, IMO.

That seems like an awful lot of wine, to me. For a soup stock, at least.

It may get better in another hour or two.

-sw

On Tue, 16 Dec 2003 01:21:18 -0700, Jim Kroger <jim@invalid.com>
wrote:

> So I have half red wine (burgundy) and half beef stock. It's been cooking a few hours, but it
> doesn't taste very good. The liquid doesn't cook off in a crock pot. It also has carrots, onions,
> garlic, green chili, olive oil, in addition to about 3 lbs of good roast. Should I spoon out most
> of the juice and replace it with water?
>
>Thank you very much for any help.
>
>Jim

That's a lot of wine for a soup. Instead of throwing out the liquid, let some of it evaporate so you
have a stew :^)

Jim Kroger saw Sally selling seashells by the seashore and told us all
about it on Tue, 16 Dec 2003 01:21:18 -0700:

>Hi, I got some advice from a nice lady in the grocery store, but I think it's not working out. I
>was cooking beef and vegetable soup in a crock pot. She suggested instead of water I use red wine
>and beef stock. She said I should use half and half, instead of water. So I have half red wine
>(burgundy) and half beef stock. It's been cooking a few hours, but it doesn't taste very good. The
>liquid doesn't cook off in a crock pot. It also has carrots, onions, garlic, green chili, olive
>oil, in addition to about 3 lbs of good roast. Should I spoon out most of the juice and replace it
>with water?
>
>Thank you very much for any help.

Cook it some more - it should be great! It'll take a long time for the flavours to meld - crockpots
are designed for long slow cooking, much more than just a couple of hours.

(huggles)

~Karen AKA Kajikit

Nobody outstubborns a cat...

Visit my webpage: http://www.kajikitscorner.com Allergyfree Eating Recipe Swap:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Allergyfree_Eating Ample Aussies Mailing List:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ampleaussies/

In article <jim-3F8783.01211716122003@news.zianet.com>, Jim Kroger
<jim@invalid.com> wrote:

> Hi, I got some advice from a nice lady in the grocery store, but I think it's not working out. I
> was cooking beef and vegetable soup in a crock pot. She suggested instead of water I use red wine
> and beef stock. She said I should use half and half, instead of water. So I have half red wine
> (burgundy) and half beef stock. It's been cooking a few hours, but it doesn't taste very good. The
> liquid doesn't cook off in a crock pot. It also has carrots, onions, garlic, green chili, olive
> oil, in addition to about 3 lbs of good roast. Should I spoon out most of the juice and replace it
> with water?
>
> Thank you very much for any help.
>
> Jim

Too late for this one from me, BUT - beef broth is a great thing to use
- and red wine - but not half and half in a crock pot. I would use beef broth, and water (mostly to
cut the salt, but if I was using home-made beef broth, or low-sodium, I'd use all beef broth) and
a splash of red wine, very dry, for body.

In a crock, I'd skip the wine pretty much, because you're right - it doesn't reduce well.

But that's me, and your mileage may vary.

--
Nancy Howells (don't forget to switch it, and replace the to send mail).

Jim Kroger <jim@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:jim-3F8783.01211716122003@news.zianet.com...
> Hi, I got some advice from a nice lady in the grocery store, but I think it's not working out. I
> was cooking beef and vegetable soup in a crock pot. She suggested instead of water I use red wine
> and beef stock. She said I should use half and half, instead of water. So I have half red wine
> (burgundy) and half beef stock. It's been cooking a few hours, but it doesn't taste very good. The
> liquid doesn't cook off in a crock pot. It also has carrots, onions, garlic, green chili, olive
> oil, in addition to about 3 lbs of good roast. Should I spoon out most of the juice and replace it
> with water?

Three things come to mind immediately: 1) The wine (who's the maker?) you used is not something you
would normally drink and has overpowered the stock. You could try and remove some of the stock,
reduce it over normal heat, and see if that helps. 2) The amount of wine you used seems out of
proportion to the amount of beef stock -- but I don't use burgundy; it's too powerful/domineering.
3) The soup hasn't been cooking near long enough. How long is a "few hours?"

The crockpot won't reduce liquid like a normal stock pot; the lid seals and doesn't allow much
evaporation. Also, did you brown the meat prior to starting it cooking in the crockpot? That will
also affect the taste of the soup.

The Ranger