Delia Smith...tut tut tut!!

squeaky

loopylass wrote:

hi
i have just read all these posts about slow cookers and noticed a lot of people have them i really want to buy one so i can make more healthier meals the best one to get are there different sizes on how much they hold and also have anyone got any recipes like stews etc for the slow cooker and how long do you put meals in them for as you might have guessed ive never owned one so any help would be nice thankyou

Everything you ever wanted to know about Slow Cookers is here:-

The Complete Slow Cooker Collection

It can always be accessed either in the Kitchen appliances section (and the Cooking section) of the MEGA Index sticky or you can also find it via my signature any time you see it or...

..you can use the Indexed Collections link in the Blue Bar at the top of every page which looks something like this:-

Dobie

dinkydee wrote:

My Gas oven has a slow cook way of using it on the dial for gas marks. I think it could be cheaper to run than a slow cooker as gas is cheaper than electricity to use, does any one think this could be right?.

It almost certainly would have been in the past I'm not quite so sure these days. The price of gas is going through the roof at the moment & although electricity is also going up, it isn't usually by as much as gas (unless you're with BG that is).
If you really want to work it out you'd need the handbook for the oven or to contact the manufacturer & find out roughy how much gas it uses on the slow setting (it'll only be an estimate though because it varies according to the pressure in your area). You can then do a calculation of how much it costs per hour to run by looking at your gas bill & the cost per KW hour. Then to compare with a SC 1 KW uses I unit per hour so for ease of calculation assume it uses the same as a 100w bulb & divide your unit cost - shown on your leccy bill - by 10.
Seems like a lot of brain ache to me for something that probably makes almost no difference. I'd say since you've already got the oven - use it.

Sarahsaver

I would not feel safe leaving the gas oven on all day whereas i would with the slow cooker.
And salad spinners are great for spin drying small delicate clothes as well;)
Mine cost 2 quid and i bought it over 10 years ago.

mossy

umm slow cookers, there is just something about coming home on a cold day and being greeted by the smell of a well cooked stew yum yum yum yum yum. My mum bless her didn't always have a lot of time to cook for us but one thing I distinctly (sp?) remember is coming home to a slow cooked meal in the winter.

I've had a slow cooker for years before finding OS although I've never cooked a whole chicken in it so I'm going to do that on Sunday, will have to find the recipe on here that everyone is raving about, hopefully I can put it on in the morning forget about it and by the time we've got home from Church and had lunch it will be ready for tea. I have a salad spinner thing but I don't use it, I just use a collander lol. Its funny what things we all find indispensible (sp?).

bettyr

Where is the whole chicken recipe in the SC that folks love please?

SnowyOwl_2

hermit-crab wrote:

After reading the enthusiasm for slow cookers on this forum I invested in one. What a waste of money. The previous poster states that using a slow cooker is no different than leaving a saucepan on a very low hob. I could not agree more. Delia Smith is quite right not to rate them.

I thought that the difference between a slow cooker and a pot on the hob was that the slow cooker supplies indirect heat while the hob supplies direct heat. This difference - I thought - means that food in a pan left unagitated on the hob is likely to catch and the pan is more likely to dry out because the heat is unevenly concentrated on the bottom of the pan (thus the bottom of a pan burns before the sides). Food in a slow cooker is protected from the heat by the ceramic dish. The ceramic conducts heat evenly all the way around itself, as opposed to having a concentrated heat source at the bottom, thus the food cooks evenly rather than from the bottom up. I learnt from experience that if you do leave the SC on on too long you get a crusty mess in all the places food or liquid was touching the ceramic, rather than just at the bottom.

That's just my opinion and understanding of the two and why I think a slow cooker is safer, but I am probably wrong. Hence my surprise at Delia not being a fan of slow cookers - they are so useful for people who don't have time to prepare a stew or whatever when they get in after an entire day out.

squeaky

bettyr wrote:

Where is the whole chicken recipe in the SC that folks love please?

It's in the Slow Cooker Recipe thread which has been indexed to make it easier to find things.

The short cut to that thread is below, and any other time you need it just use the "Indexed Collections" link in the blue bar at the top of every page.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=490232

Gingham_Ribbon

I wouldn't be without my panasonic breadmaker after reading all the enthusing on here about them, but I don't have much room for gadgets and decided that a slow cooker was a waste of space and money for us. We don't eat meat and nothing seems to take very long to cook so I didn't see the point.

I used to have to fuss over pans of boiling pulses until I got a decent saucepan with a heavy base and a Lid. I don't think I'd ever use a slow cooker. But I get the appeal for people who eat meat.

KatrinaC_2

Gingham_Ribbon wrote:

I used to have to fuss over pans of boiling pulses until I got a decent saucepan with a heavy base and a Lid. I don't think I'd ever use a slow cooker. But I get the appeal for people who eat meat.

I don't eat a lot of meat either but there are LOADS of really good veggie slow-cooker recipes. I've just finished next weeks menus and we're having a veggie casserole and quorn mince spaghetti bolognese (with the remainder going for lasagne the next day).

It is *so* convenient to bung all the ingredients into the dish at tea time, keep it in the fridge until breakfast and then set it going before leaving the house.

Oh, and deviating off subject - who needs a salad spinner? I put my wet lettuce into a tea-towel and then stand in the yard swinging it around my head! I look like a wally but it works really well!

Kat

mummysaver

thriftlady wrote:

I love my salad spinner,it's magic

Me too! We get our veg delivered in a veg box, or extras from the market, and they are always muddy, so washing and spinning is alway necessary, the kids love this job!

Edit: I use a tea towel to dry it by flinging it around energetically in the garden, but this isn't such a good method in winter, or for the children to use (lands everywhere, and the rabbit and guinea pigs get it!),