Sometimes I forget how great crock pots are.
While working on the book, The Meals of War – Feeding the Great to the Grunts in WWII , I came across many veterans and foodies that converted WWII era favorites to cr0ck pot use. An original WWII Army cooking manual recipe made serving for 100 men. That’s kinda hard to fit into a normal kitchen pot!
Can you imaging how many crock pots it would take to make servings for 100 hungry troops? That’s a whole bunch of slow cooking. Plus, military cooks in World War Two were on the move. Speed was always a factor. When veterans returned home many missed the old “mess” standards and began to try and recreate some of the meals they enjoyed while in the service. This time it was in a home kitchen. Eventually, like with many recipes, some made their way from the stove top to the crock pot.
Thankfully some of the recipes that I worked with while writing the Meals of War had been converted down to home sized portions. I began to tinker with a few and eventually decided that I could post a few here as well as use in some of my books.
Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings
3 chicken breasts bone in with skin
3 cups water
1 teaspoon pepper
1 chicken bullion cube
3 – 4 stalks celery, diced
3 – 4 carrots, diced
1 small onion minced
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon pepper
2 cans canned small biscuits
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
Combine chicken, pepper, water, bullion cube, celery and carrots. Add Salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 2 hours on high. When veggies are tender de-bone chicken and remove skin. Add water and additional seasonings as desired. About 30 minutes before serving open canned biscuits and cut each biscuit into 4 -6 small pieces and add to crock-pot. Push pieces below broth. Cook covered on high until dumplings puff and swell up. Try not to over stir. Use inexpensive canned biscuits, not the huge, flaky ones.
Crock Pot Sweet and Sour Pork
1 1/2 pounds boneless pork chops cubed
1 can pineapple chunks
1/2 cup sweet and sour sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/ 4 teaspoon ground ginger
Salt and Pepper
1/ 2 teaspoon Soy sauce
Combine all in a crock pot and cook on low for 5 hours. Serve with rice or noodles with oreintal noodles.
Crock Pot Pineapple Chicken & Rice
4-6 lean pork chops
8 oz can crushed pineapple
1 can water chestnuts
1 1/2 cup water
1 cup rice
Combine all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on high 3-4 hours or on low 6-8 hours.
Kent Whitaker Cooks 