Home cooks show off Crock Pot skills
M
argaret Goins of Montgomery got an extra special birthday present this year. Goins won first place in Alabama Living’s annual “Crockin’ It” cooking contest at the Alabama National Fair last fall. The competition just so happened to fall on her birthday. The judges loved her Crock Pot Pecan Pie recipe, which features Alaga syrup (one of the rules of the contest is that each recipe must feature at least one Alabama-made ingredient). Goins has been entering cooking contests at the Fair since 2004, and each year she enters nearly all the contests held at the Creative Living Center. She says she has a wall in her home that’s full of ribbons, and the last time she counted she was up to 53. She’d heard a friend talk some time ago about a Crock Pot dessert and decided to try one this year. (Desserts aren’t new to the competition; in fact, the 2016 winning dish was called Rocky Road Dessert.) Goins says she plans basically all year for the recipes she’ll enter in the fair competitions, since she enters so many. “I’ve got plenty of testers around,” she says. No doubt that makes her friends and family happy! – Allison Law
From left: The “Crockin’ It” contest third-place winner Felicia Moore; Lenore Vickrey, editor of Alabama Living magazine; second-place winner Tif Smith; Deborah Paul, director of the Creative Living Center; first-place winner Margaret Goins; and Huey Thornton, 2019 Alabama National Fair president. PHOTO BY ALLISON LAW
3rd Place
Felicia Moore, Hope Hull
Sticky Spicy Slow-Cooked Ribs
2 racks pork ribs Salt and pepper 1 13-ounce jar apricot preserves 1 cup ketchup ½ cup yellow mustard ½ cup soy sauce 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped 2 canned chipotle peppers in adobo, finely chopped Alaga hot sauce, to taste 3 tablespoons corn starch
Cut the ribs into two rib pieces, season with salt and pepper and put in the slow cooker.
1st Place 1 3 1 2 /3 1 1 /2 1
Margaret Goins, Montgomery
Crock Pot Pecan Pie
uncooked pie crust eggs cup sugar cup Alaga dark syrup cup chopped pecans cup margarine, melted teaspoon vanilla
26 JANUARY 2020
Spray Crock Pot with nonstick cooking spray. Place pie crust in Crock Pot and press the edges about a half-inch up the sides of the pot. In a mixing bowl, stir the remaining ingredients until well mixed. Pour on top of the pie crust. Cover and cook on high for 2-3 hours.
In a bowl, mix the preserves, ketchup, mustard, soy sauce, garlic, chipotle peppers and hot sauce. Pour over the ribs. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or 3 to 4 hours on high. When the ribs are cooked, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Remove ribs from the slow cooker to an oven pan. Remove the meat juices to a skillet on medium heat; add corn starch and cook until thickened. Brush the ribs with the sauce every 10-15 minutes, until the ribs are glazed and sticky, about 45 minutes. Serve with extra sauce.
What’s in a Name?
Most of us use “slow cooker” and “Crock Pot” interchangeably, but not all slow cookers are Crock Pots; it is the brand name of the first slow cooker on the market. Invented in the 1940s and first introduced in the 1950s under another name, it became the Crock Pot when the company Rival bought the invention and re-introduced it in the 1970s. Crock Pots proved instantly popular, but then, in the 1980s, sales waned when microwaves became the latest kitchen rage. Now they’re back in style. In the last decade, all brands of slow cookers have enjoyed a surge in sales. Some figures state an increase in overall sales of more than 65 percent since 2008. —Jennifer Kornegay www.alabamaliving.coop