Crock Pot, What am I doing wrong?

[lastlight]

It is a sin to leave your great grandmas dutch oven laying around! you need to be using that thing! The amount of flavor and love that will add to any and all recipes is unfathomable. brown the meat and braise the meat all in the same dutch oven. While you are braising the meat every once in a while take a wooden spoon and scratch the little brown crispy things off the bottom of the dutch oven to add even more flavor!

Agreed! I use all her cast iron skillets from
the early 1900s every day cooking at home. Only used the Dutch oven a couple times for cobbler... I need to braise some shanks now

 

[SO7mm]

I'm usually good at 6 to 8 hours on low in the crockpot with neck meat or front shoulder pieces with a lot going on. I also prefer the flavor from a Dutch oven but the crockpot is so convenient to leave going that I end up using it quite a bit. I don't brown the meat very long before I put it in the pot to keep it from cooking and I put broth 1/2 to 2/3 of the way up. Is the problem you're having from the same animal or different animals? I could imagine a real lean animal having issues in the crockpot even with the right cuts of meat.

 

[lastlight]

Deer, elk, moose. I just had leftover deer shank from last night. It was better than fresh. I’ll try the Dutch oven in a few weeks as I have plenty of neck and shank cuts.

 

[Pucky Freak]

I’ve tried many cooking methods, and crockpot results in the driest meat.

I’ve got the best results using a dry brine for 3 days, briefly brown in butter in the frying pan, then braise 75 mins in instapot, making sure the meat is not submerged. Tender, flavorful, moist.

The crockpot is not a lost cause if you still want to use it. You don’t need to run it so long if you do the following beforehand:
-use a tenderizer mallet to break up the connective tissue
-wet or dry brine
-brown in fat
-use the minimal amount of water in the pot

Looking at probably 4 hours in the crockpot vs 8