We use our slow cookers for pork, beef or chicken recipes. What many of us are not aware of is that we can also use it in cooking fish. This is quite surprising because we all know that fish cooks fast and so there’s no need for a slow cooker in preparing a fish dish. Actually, when you cook your fish or other seafood in a crockpot, their natural flavors remain intact because the slow cooking process does not allow moisture loss.

You can use fish in preparing stew, soup, and pasta and casserole dishes. You can also poach and steam fish in your crockpot. To poach fish, simply place it in the crockpot, cover with water, stock or wine, and flavor it with your favorite spices and herbs. Bay leaves and parsley work especially well on fish dishes. Poaching time depends on the type of fish you are cooking as well as its thickness although usually it takes about 45 minutes. When using flat fish, braising would be a good way to cook it. Roll up the fish before putting it in the crockpot so that it stays intact and to keep the flavor locked in.

Cooking Shellfish in a Crockpot

Shellfish do not require long cooking times. If you are adding it to a stew or soup recipe, put it in towards the end of the cooking time so it can warm through. You can use shrimp for crockpot chowders, stews or soups. It is up to you if you want to take the shells off or not. Shrimps are also a good addition to dishes such as gumbo and jambalaya which can be cooked the normal way or by slow cooking. Mussels and clams can be added to stews particularly those with tomato-based and white wine based sauces.

Slow Cooking Fish

Compared to meat, cooking time in a crockpot is drastically shorter. It only takes three or four hours for fish to cook compared to meat which has a cooking time that is two times longer. Slow cooked fish cooked must be served once it is ready because leaving it in the crockpot will dry it out.

When cooking big fish such as salmon, cod, mackerel, and haddock, in a crockpot, it is best to have them chopped up into steaks. On the other hand, flat fish, being smaller, can be placed whole it fish, being smaller, can be placed in your slow cooker wk, in a crockpot, it is best to have them chopped up into steaks.n your slow cooker. Because these fish are not muscular, they are delicate and soft when cooked.

Alonzo Bolton is a food and nutrition researcher for http://dietrecipe.org/. He writes and researches actively on Diet Recipes and shares his knowledge at http://dietrecipe.org/ where he works as a staff writer.