Lid on, walk away
Every pot here follows the same shape: brown something, add liquid, put the lid on, leave it. The notes say how long the unattended stretch really is, counted from the recipe's own timings, and what has to happen before you can leave the kitchen. They run from a rice pot that is done in forty minutes to a chili that wants three hours on the lowest flame.
Locrio (Dominican Chicken and Rice)
1 of 8
Chicken browned in a sugar caramel, then rice and tomato stock go in the same pot. The hands-on part is the caramel, which the recipe warns gets hot enough to melt a plastic spoon. After that: fifteen minutes under the lid, one stir, five more. Dinner in about forty minutes, all in one pot.
Maffé (West African Peanut Stew)
2 of 8
A cup of peanut butter melted into onion and garlic, then tomatoes, broth and the browned meat. Thirty minutes covered, then carrots, potato, okra and greens for fifteen to twenty more. The one rule is to add the broth slowly so the peanut base stays smooth.
Ghormeh Sabzi (Iranian Herb Stew)
3 of 8
Beef or lamb buried in parsley, spinach and coriander with red beans and dried limes. The recipe says half an hour to three hours and that longer is better, so plan on the long end. It also says to make it a day ahead because it improves in the fridge, which makes it the most forgiving pot here.
Irish stew
4 of 8
Lamb chops, shallots, carrots, turnip, celeriac and potatoes, each seared before they go back in. That searing is the labor, done in batches so nothing steams. Then white wine, stock and an hour and a half in the oven. Soaked wholewheat grains go in too, so soak them the night before.
Beef Dumpling Stew
5 of 8
Beef, swede, leek and red wine in a casserole for two hours in the oven. The dumplings are flour, baking powder and suet rolled into balls and dropped on top for the last twenty minutes, lid off if you want them browned. Serve over mash.
Original Texas-Style Chili
6 of 8
No beans, no tomato. Cubed beef, suet and chile pods simmer in as little water as the recipe allows, in three stages: thirty minutes, an hour with the spices, thirty more after a couple of spoons of masa harina thicken it. The instruction to stir as little as possible is the whole technique.
Chili Colorado
7 of 8
Nine dried New Mexico chiles steeped, blended and pushed through a sieve make the only sauce. Five pounds of floured chuck is browned in batches, then simmers in that sauce for three hours on the lowest heat. The sieving step is what keeps it silky instead of gritty.
Beef and Guinness Casserole
8 of 8
A bottle of stout, a litre of stock and tomato sauce over floured, browned beef, then three hours at a low oven with a stir every forty minutes or so. The recipe has you grind whole peppercorns for the coating and save half for the mash it is served on.
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