In my slow cooker today.... part 2

Diflower

I've put a gammon joint in mine for the first time - good job I trust all you lovely people on here:)
There was a little carton of apple juice in the cupboard which neither of us drinks, so I chucked that in with it.
It's not for tonight, it's for sandwiches and probably a meal or 2 in the week, so I can take it out whenever it looks done enough.

rhcp

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

It will be delicious. Only problem is it gets so tender it falls apart at times. Not that it tastes any different. I find using an electric knife is easier on it.

HHx

It worked out quite well and it tasted really good. There were a couple concerns though.

There was quite alot of fat that came out of the gammon, which was ok as it was, but if I wanted to put any vegetables in there they would have been saturated in fat. Is there anything I can do about this?

The gammon I bought was 1.2kg from Lidl, but after draining of the fat and cutting of more fat I got 0.6kg of meat. I thought i'd get more, so this is something to think about when buying meat and the price per kg quoted. I need to be very money saving!

marmiterulesok

I'm doing lentil dhal.I'm using brown instead of red lentils,can't see that it'll make a difference.

Diflower

rhcp wrote: »

It worked out quite well and it tasted really good. There were a couple concerns though.

There was quite alot of fat that came out of the gammon, which was ok as it was, but if I wanted to put any vegetables in there they would have been saturated in fat. Is there anything I can do about this?

The gammon I bought was 1.2kg from Lidl, but after draining of the fat and cutting of more fat I got 0.6kg of meat. I thought i'd get more, so this is something to think about when buying meat and the price per kg quoted. I need to be very money saving!

I did the same piece of gammon - and got exactly the same amount of meat. I could understand if it had been vastly overcooked, but it wasn't.
I've usually done bacon/gammon in the microwave, and know that the last time I did one of the Lidl 1.2kg joints, I got just over 800g of meat.

So while I was curious to see how it did in the sc, I will be going back to the microwave method in future.
Here's how:
I do mine in a steamer set - deepish dish, mesh insert and lid with airholes. But an ordinary microwave plastic bowl is fine.
You'll have to weigh the joint in lbs (or convert) as these are old instructions!
Either way, put just a little water in the bowl - 1/2" - then put the meat in the bowl or mesh bit; cover.
Cook for 1 minute per lb on high, then 12-14 mins per lb on medium.
My current microwave is 800w; I do it on full power for the first bit, then at 50% for the rest.
It's just about always right, to test if it's done insert a skewer, if it comes out easily and cleanly then it's done. Perfect every time:)

The 1.2 kg joint would be 2 1/2 lbs. So, 2 1/2 minutes on high, then 13 x 2.5 = say 32 mins on medium.
I have no idea though what the costings would be for the different methods.

You can of course still then take off the wrapping/skin and then glaze it in a hot oven.

rhcp

Diflower wrote: »

I did the same piece of gammon - and got exactly the same amount of meat. I could understand if it had been vastly overcooked, but it wasn't.
I've usually done bacon/gammon in the microwave, and know that the last time I did one of the Lidl 1.2kg joints, I got just over 800g of meat.

I must admit that I was a bit disappointed. I try to budget on 50p per 100g, so if half is going to be fat, I need to readjust my thinking. I will give chicken a go next, when my freezer empties a little bit, and see if that is any different.

May give your microwaving a go, but it also says on the label to boil it for 1 hour. Maybe i'll try other things before going back to gammon!!

Diflower

I just find the microwave easier as with boiling you have to pay it more attention, but I also cook it in the Remoska sometimes, with veg and pulses, etc.

The liquid in the sc wasn't fat, it set as almost all jellied stock, with just a tiny layer of fat.
You could also (if you haven't already) look at gammon shanks. Morrisons have them for £1.74, they vary in size but the last one I got was enormous. I cooked that in the sc (plain), and got a huge amount of meat off it.

wibblehead

I was looking forward to a whole chicken done in the slow cooker (Not tried a whole chicken before) and came home from work tonight to find it stone cold - my mum advised there had been a power cut in the area this morning. £4 down the drain!!! Not good in this era! Why today!! Couldn't save it as it had been hot at the beginning so fear lots of bacteria have had a chance to grow!

Sorry for the moan everyone but when you're trying to save the pennies and make the effort it's annoying when something happens that's otside of your control!

FunLovinCriminal

MissShoes wrote: »

Sausage casserole made from 6 chopped up sausages, 3 handfuls of pasta, a can of chopped tomatoes, a jar of pasta sauce, 2 chopped onions and 5 grated carrots, a spoonful of red pesto and salt/pepper/herbs

Costings:

6 sausages- 1.25 (24 for £5 in Mr T)
3 handfuls of pasta- 0.20
chopped toms- 0.33
pasta sauce- 0.95
2 onions- 0.20
5 carrots- 0.15
pesto- 0.17
salt/pepper/herbs- 0.20



= 3.45

I think I've got 3 large portions so £1.15 per portion

Miss Shoes. That sounds lovely. Do you need to brown the sausages or cook the pasta first?? This may be whats in my SC tomorrow

camNolliesMUMMY

chicken biriyani using leftover veg and chicken from sunday.

Laura007

Im going to attempt the pork joint and coke receipe, but im not sure how much coke to use?
Should i use enough to cover it or a smaller amount?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Laura x