Slow Cooker Tips for Cooking Wild Game and Anything Else

The Test Tube. One of my 5 slow cookers proved perfect for re-using the wax in the Test Tube, making it a recyclable test medium that really told a story. A good big game bullet’s wound channel. Plenty enough damage there.
There was a recent article in CNet: 5 Common Slow Cooker Mistakes. But they left out the two most important.
So what did CNet say, who is CNet and why is CNet, talking about cooking for Pete’s sake?
CNet, short for ‘Computer Network,’ mainly writes about and reviews electronic devices. I get a daily short version of it to keep up with viruses, but when I’m looking to buy some new app or cell phone, I check out their reviews.

The Test Tube. One of my 5 slow cookers proved perfect for re-using the wax in the Test Tube, making it a recyclable test medium that really told a story. The Berger VLD we tested on New Zealand goats a few years ago. After we tested them, some folks tried them on gophers. Unfortunately on game that small, they didn’t expand in time. But Eileen had no trouble providing the cook with a nice fallow deer doe one evening.
I’m guessing this slow cooker article came because of the new slow cooker devices that have lots more bells and whistles than the ones most of us own. For my part, I do own an Instant Pot which does qualify for CNet’s attention, but my 5 slow cookers are definitely pre-historic, acquired at rummage sales.
I donated the oldest and least pretty one to John for various handloading tasks (including re-melting the wax from the Test Tube, a bullet testing medium which was great but didn’t last long); then I have an ancient orange one, an avocado one, and a special occasion one shaped like a basketball, though mostly we fire it up for the Super Bowl.
My newest is an oblong, camo slow cooker my baby brother gave me for Christmas one year. That one is perfect for cooking down turkey legs for soups and enchiladas, the clean-out-the freezer, multi-meat Traditional Burgoo, and our New Year’s Day Open House Hoppin’ John. Turkey legs won’t fit my round 4-quart pots, and the Hoppin’ John draws a crowd.

The Wild Bowl has 100 recipes: slow cookers of any vintage, as well as Instant Pot and Dutch oven recipes for wild game from bull elk, to pheasants, to geese and ducks and pigs.
Not a locking lid or multi-function touch screen amongst them.
Oddly, the CNet list of mistakes fit those antiques as well as the Flash Gordon models.
- Don’t add excess liquid—you just dilute the flavor.
- Don’t add dairy products until the end. They might curdle.
- Don’t peak.
- Don’t fill the slow cooker to the top.
- Don’t add dried and fresh herbs until the end. They’ll lose potency.
![An oblong slow cooker or roasting pan with lots of broth and spices will reduce toughest cuts to pull apart elements that can be made into a lot of dishes, from enchiladas and tacos to the Traditional Burgoo [2283] in The Wild Bowl.](https://www.riflesandrecipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/wild-turkey-legs-in-slow-cooker.jpg)
An oblong slow cooker or roasting pan with lots of broth and spices will reduce toughest cuts to pull apart elements that can be made into a lot of dishes, from enchiladas and tacos to the Traditional Burgoo [2283] in The Wild Bowl.
But here are the two things CNet didn’t list:
- If your slow cooker is older than Paris Hilton, start it on HIGH. Then wait until the contents start boiling, gently, and turn it down to low. It helps to turn the slow cooker on high and add the broth and other liquids (except dairy) before you even start browning the meat. It’s like pre-heating the oven. It gives the cooker a head start.
Why? Most older cookers take too long on low to get the contents up to a safe temperature. Especially if you toss in still-frozen veggies or fridge-cold ones and, most important, don’t brown the meat. (See #2.)
- Browning the meat first adds a lot of flavor to a dish. It’s the Maillard Effect. Browning adds depth and sweetness to meats, onions, peppers—both sweet and spicy—and lots of other foods. That’s true with both commercially raised and wild meat. Medium to medium-high heat, with a bit of oil in the skillet, and the meat browned on the outside, but not completely cooked through-and-through is best. Then, to collect all the sweetness you just created, transfer the browned meat to the slow cooker, and scoop ¼ to ½ cup of that warmed up broth into the hot skillet. Rub up the tasty bits from the bottom of the pan and add all that to the slow cooker. That’s called ‘deglazing the pan.’ (And of course this is assuming you did not burn the meat and that those really are tasty bits not charred bits.)

An oblong slow cooker or roasting pan with lots of broth and spices will reduce toughest cuts to pull apart elements that can be made into a lot of dishes, from enchiladas and tacos to the Traditional Burgoo [2283] in The Wild Bowl.
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