Slow cooker

bouicca21 · 24 November 2015 at 9:59PM

A year or so ago I bought myself a Morphy Richards slow cooker. With the weather turning cold I got it out today and made a beef casserole. It's been in several hours on low. When I tasted it I remembered why I don't use it much. The gravy/sauce has an odd taste, difficult to describe but sort of metallic/rancid. It can't be overcooked as the meat is still tough.

The casserole was made in a bog standard way - onions, carrots, celery and a bell pepper fried together, meat browned, added tomato paste, water and a stock cube, all tipped hot into the slow cooker. In the past I've tipped everything in raw with cold water. I've tried using it on low, on medium and in high. Same nasty taste, same difficulty in getting the meat tender.

Am I doing something wrong, is there some kind of special process for using a slow cooker? I am sure I never got this taste when using my mum's slow cooker, 30 odd years ago. I feel like throwing the swear word thing away.

Sally_A · 24 November 2015 at 10:48PM

I'm a big slow cooker fan, and have never had that problem - friends that have chucked out their old Tower ceramic pots and bought the newer metal and glass slow cookers say the taste is not so good.

I am VERY precious about my old ceramic slow cooker.

peachyprice · 25 November 2015 at 10:04AM

I've struggled with my slow cooker in the past, everything has always tasted the same, no matter what I put in it.

I find it takes A LOT of seasoning to get a decent flavour out of a slow cooker stew, far more than in the oven/hob because you don't get that lovely reduction of the sauce to give the richness.

I seem to have got it just right now. I use ready made stock not stock cubes, plenty of celery, no mushrooms (find they make it taste earthy). a good squeeze of tom puree. Sweet masala/sherry/port with the alcohol boiled out before it goes in, wine/beer that hasn't been boiled off just tastes foul. Not too many carrots (they make it earthy too) and parsnips. Onions and garlic fried until they start to caramelise. Tons of salt, pepper and fresh herbs. A couple of teaspoons of brown sugar really seems to improve the flavour.

It's still not my favorite cooking method, but does have it's place.

ciderwithrosie_2 · 25 November 2015 at 10:50AM

My lads refuse to eat any stews done in the slow cooker as they reckon it smells and tastes rank (too stewed!). They will happily eat the pulled pork and rice pudding I do in it though.

ivyleaf · 25 November 2015 at 10:56AM

I have one with a ceramic pot. I find it's the only way I can make stew that tastes like the ones my Mum used to make in a pressure cooker

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maryb · 25 November 2015 at 12:45PM

I always found they tasted rank as well so stopped using one. I infinitely prefer stews made in the pressure cooker. And as doing a stew from scratch in the pressure cooker is so quick I found there isn't much advantage to being able to set a stew going in the morning for when you come home - eg you probably need to do potatoes to go with it and by the time the potatoes have cooked the stew is ready

Pollycat · 25 November 2015 at 2:48PM

I've been using a slow-cooker for over 40 years and would not do without one.

The newer ones I have now (different sizes) don't cook as well as my old one (I keep my eyes peeled on ebay & in charity shops for a replacement) but I've not had any issues with taste.

I tend to put all meat & veg in raw (dust the meat with seasoned flour) and use stock cubes.

Maitane · 25 November 2015 at 3:09PM

I find that I have to put anything in my slow cooker on high for a little while before putting it down to low. If I leave it on low, it needs to cook overnight to get tender.

ariba10 · 25 November 2015 at 3:17PM

As above. It is a SLOW cooker.

It needs a lot longer than " A few hours " on low.

Pollycat · 25 November 2015 at 3:34PM

ariba10 wrote: »

As above. It is a SLOW cooker.

It needs a lot longer than " A few hours " on low.

I agree - but it doesn't explain (at least to me) why the gravy (water, stock cube & tomato paste) would taste rancid.
But then again, I've never tasted my stock after a few hours.

Maitane wrote: »

I find that I have to put anything in my slow cooker on high for a little while before putting it down to low. If I leave it on low, it needs to cook overnight to get tender.

I cook a lot of dishes on 'low'.
I did a beef stroganoff the other weekend, maybe on for 7 or 8 hours on 'low' and the meat was perfectly tender.

I do stews with lots of root vegetables (potatoes, carrot, swede etc) and generally cook them on 'low' and the meat & veg are always cooked within 8 hours.

MallyGirl · 25 November 2015 at 3:38PM

I have had my slow cooker for a few years but it only gets used for certain recipes. We are not big on stews anyway but the texture of the beef in a slow cooked stew never seems quite right to me. We like chilli/spag bol to still have a chunky texture so never do that sort of thing, and the one time I used it for bobotie it boiled dry and burnt it.
The things it does well for us are ribs, pulled pork, gammon joint, lamb shanks, chicken marengo. I did a great dhal in it once but made so much we are still working our way through the freezer stockpile! Yesterday's pork cheek casserole was quite good but I needed to ladle the stock into a pan and reduce it down even though I had added very little cider and no stock.

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Slow cooker

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