Hi everyone! Welcome to Le Gourmet TV. So today, I have got an action packed really busy day. I am going to leave the house early. I am going to come home late. I am probably not going to get a decent lunch and when I do get home, I am not really going to want to pull out my pots and pans and cook. So I am going to use the slow cooker.

Absolutely no reason to write off the slow cooker. This is a tool in your kitchen that you can produce excellent meals from. And you can make it as difficult as you want or in this case, I am going to make it dead simple, because I really don't want to spend a lot of time with it, but I still want to pull that flavour out. So, I have got just an array of very simple ingredients here that are going to be able to build that flavour over the slow cooking time.

I have got a couple of pork chops and just very simply salt and pepper. Season them up, both sides, and throw these into the bottom of the cooker. Pretty simple so far.

Now I have got some sauerkraut. You can use any brand of sauerkraut that you like. This is from a local daily. They make it in house, it's absolutely incredible. I don't think I could make at home that even rivals this. So we throw that in on top of our pork chops, just to cover the pork chops and over the slow cooking time that flavour is just going to melt into the pork chops.

Now you notice, I did not brown the chops ahead of time. That's a way to really build flavour in a dish like this. I don't have time this morning so I am not going to do it. If you really want to brown them up before you put them in, you don't have to cook them, just get that crust on the outside.

Now in order to make up for that flavour loss, I am going to use some of my homemade bacon. This is a bacon that I have cured at home and smoked. So that smoky flavour is really going to work itself into the dish over the cooking time. I am just going to take the pieces that I have already chopped up, I am going to throw them into the pot on top of what's in there already.

Then on top, just a little bit more pepper. And the last little bit is I am just going to put in a little bit of apple juice. Again this apple juice is going to add just an extra layer of flavour and you don't have to put much in because there is going to be a lot of liquid come out of the sauerkraut. Pour that on, getting about three quarters of an inch of liquid in the bottom of the pot and I think for this recipe and the amount of ingredients that I am using here, that's all you need.

Now, I am not going to add any potatoes but to this, you could add any vegetable that you want. You could throw in potatoes, you could throw in carrots, you could throw in a couple of onions or anything just to make it your own. You don't have to follow what I am doing. Just going to take this, embrace it, make it your own, find the flavours that you want. There are times when I throw mustard in here because I really like the flavour of mustard with all of these. You could put in anything you want. Make it your own.

So, on goes the lid and I am going to set this -- it has a setting called Auto. So I can set it at Auto and I am going to let this go for -- I think I'll be home probably in about 7 hours. When I come home from work, I will just dish out, maybe I will boil up a potato and mash it just to have on the side, but for the most part it's a meal in itself.

So, I guess I'll see you again in about 7 hours. So, it's absolutely wonderful to come home to a house full of this smell after a hard day of work. And we are all ready to serve. So, I have got some mashed potatoes on the plate and pull out pork chop keeping some of the sauerkraut and bacon on top, and the pork chop is so tender, it just completely felt apart.

A couple of extra pieces of bacon just to put on top. This is something that's hearty and it's going to warm your belly on a cool winter day. Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you again soon.
Slow Cooker Pork & Sauerkraut Recipe video