I forgot to take a photo of how it looked in the slow cooker because it was so late when it was done (bad time management on my part) but the cream and butter separated and even when I mixed it a ton it had little beads of the butter/oil and cream?
In our bowls it separated by the time it was brought from kitchen to the table!
Everyone said it tasted good and went back for seconds but it just looked weird?
Recipe:
7 yellow potatoes cut in 1 to 2 inch cubes with skin on
64 oz of chicken broth
1/2 pint half and half
8oz of sour cream
1/4 stick of butter
8oz bag of shredded cheddar cheese
8oz frozen chooped onions
Salt and pepper
Minced garlic, 2 teaspoons
6 hours on low
by refinemydreams
19 Comments
I should add, this was one of my first time ever times using my slow cooker, so I’m a total newbie and maybe this is a dumb question with an obvious answer 😅 I apologize if so
I’d skip the butter next time, there is more than enough liquid and fats in the other ingredients.
Did you add the half and half at the end or beginning? I usually add mine at the last 15min and stir it in then slowly
I think the sour cream might need to be added at the end too
Originally, I was going to say that’s way too much broth, but I always follow this recipe, and it calls for the same amount. I guess I never did the math, and I only use one 32 oz box of broth: https://www.themagicalslowcooker.com/baked-potato-soup/#wprm-recipe-container-11831
When did you add the milk? Actually, when and how did you use all of the dairy ingredients?
The half n’ half, the sour cream, and the butter.
It looks like the dairy fats separated out from the rest of the broth, which is what you see. Typically this happens when dairy gets too hot, it starts to break down.
All the dairy goes in at the very end. You want the tatters good and cooked before you add dairy.
Cornstarch mate
The water and fat are never going to emulsify and will always separate in a recipe like that, with nothing to hold them together. It might as well be oil and vinegar salad dressing, for how it will separate
If you have any processed cheese (I know, yuk) like those plastic-wrapped slices or maybe a tub of cheese spread like pub cheese, then put in a slice or a spoonful
They have chemical emulsifiers in them that will keep it together. If you happen to have sodium citrate on hand (NOT citric acid) then add a pinch, that is the emulsifier. But I’m figuring you probably don’t.
Other emulsifiers that will also add flavor, use your judgment are mustard, preferably dry powder but prepared will work and egg yollk. Temper the eggs before adding.
Alternatively, you can try thickening the broth and that will keep it together longer. Add some flour at the beginning of the cook and stir occasionally or cornstarch for the last couple of hours.
In addition to adding the dairy toward the end as others have suggested, you might want to temper it by adding a scoop of the hot broth to the dairy items, stirring them together, then adding it to the pot.
Dairy splits if it is hard boiled or cooked too long. Always add it toward the end.
Looks like somebody has a bowel obstruction with an NG to suction.
We typical only thicken the soup with the potatoes using an immersion blender. Chicken stock for the cooking liquid. Then we serve the loaded toppings at the end, including a dollop of sour cream at the point of serving. When it swirls in it’s delicious.
This is the slowcooker equivalent of “breaking your sauce”. Your creams separate into the solids and liquids with too much heat and agitation or acids. That’s the technical aspect.
What folks have said will prevent it from happening going forward, you can sometimes fix broken sauces but unsure how it works in a soup/stew with big chunks because it involves whisking.
Russet tend to disintegrate. Red potatoes are solid
Your dairy probably curdled a bit which results in fat separation and the extra fat from the butter prevented emulsification so it couldn’t recombine. Add your dairy at the end, always and either reduce, or skip the butter
We all start somewhere. Don’t let it detour you for future slow cooking 🤛🏻
Ew
As Grandma would say you broke the butter or cream
I’ve found it better to use heavy cream rather than half and half.