Cookin' it Old School

Do you use a slow cooker?

This is ours, a super old-school one that we got from Mike's Mom ages ago.  She got it second-hand when she was in university, and we took it on the understanding that it was just a temporary fill-in until we found a new one in the shops.  Six years later, we still use it several times a month.

This one really lives up to the 'crock pot' name - it really is just a stoneware 'crockery' pot, which sits on an electric heating plate.  Check out the date stamp on the bottom of the hot plate:

 Can you read it?  September 18, 1952 - I love it!  ;)

Its in really good condition, considering its age - it even has the original cardboard "Inspected by Underwriters' Laboratories Inc." label on it.  Something tells me that most modern kitchen appliances won't be in perfect working order sixty years from now!

Possibly the only drawback with this is that I don't trust it enough to leave it plugged in when no one is home to keep an eye on it (note the cloth cord, and non-grounded, slightly beat-up plug in the last photo!) - I can't quite trust this thing not to short circuit and/or melt the surface underneath the hot plate (hence its typical location in the middle of the stove top!).  It has occurred to me that this kind of negates the whole purpose of using a slow cooker, but its not enough of a problem to make me want to buy a new one!  :)

Today I'm using the crock pot to make Ginger Chutney Chicken - super easy, and really yummy!

1/2 cup (125 mL) mango chutney
1/4 cup (60-ish mL) hot sauce (or to taste, especially if its a strong hot sauce - I learned this the very hard hot way!)
2 tbsp (30mL) quick-cooking tapioca (often found in baking sections, or near the jello packs)
1.5 tsp (8 mL) grated fresh ginger OR 1/2 tsp (3 mL) ground ginger
12 chicken thighs (4 lbs), bone-in, but skinless.*  (I usually buy the non-skinned thighs and peel the skin off myself before tossing them into the pot - its not too difficult, and it saves a bit of money)

Throw everything but the chicken into the crock pot and mix it together. Then add the chicken, making sure to coat it with the sauce.  The recipe says to let it cook for 5-6 hours on low, or 2.5-3 hours on high.  Our crock pot only has on or off, and it tends to cook the chicken in about 3-3.5 hours...  you'll know its done when the sauce is liquidy, and the chicken is falling off the bones!

*The recipe calls for 12 chicken thighs, but we generally use the same sauce quantities with only 4 to 6 thighs.  We serve this over rice, and you have to have extra sauce to go over the rice!  :)