Gastronomy without the Economy! 25 April 2010 at 12:28PM edited 4 May 2010 at 9:23PM in Old Style MoneySaving 107 replies 23.5K views

Lippycow

SWAN wrote: »

you're not the only one, it's really nasty isn't it? it just turns out boiled & soggy no matter what other nice ingredients you put in with it, a waste of a good chicken imho, definitely no gastronomy there,

on the upside, you get loads of lovely stock ... if you can face it after experiencing the vile smell it makes in your house _pale_

I gave my SC away in the end, it was great for soup, but turned everything else into homogenised mush

Try this way with a whole chicken in your slow cooker,i use this all the time and it turns out lovely.

Turn SC on to high, while it is heating put some oil and a knob of butter in a frying pan and brown your chicken.Chop up a handful of parsley and set aside,put chicken into the SC and then add parsley to the hot oil then pour over chicken put lid on.Test chicken after 3 to 4 hour depending on size of chicken.

MrsE_2

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Petmeds are doing a good price 10kg Persian ( I assume you use Persian for the small mouth?) £40.28 I don't get much cheaper than this at special rates! I have an issue with one of my boys eating too much and he gets porky with the nice food, he is a very big chap, but tends to put on a bit too much.

Sorry off topic. Aldi have British red tractor chickens ( I know odd breed!) for £2.99, but they don't seem to do the free range ones anymore they were about £4.50. I did one in the slow cooker with lemon, garlic and tarragon, but I don't think I like whole chickens done in the slow cooker, but lemon and tarragon with chicken is IMO always a winner and my fresh Tarragon is just coming back.

I use kitten (:o) but they are big enough now to move onto adult food, so yes it will be persian for Charlies very flat face & its formulated to help with kidney problems that persians are prone too as well, isn't it?

I would like a chicken done in the slow cooker either - TBH I'm not crazy about the slow cooker.

Swan_2

Lippycow wrote: »

Try this way with a whole chicken in your slow cooker,i use this all the time and it turns out lovely.

Turn SC on to high, while it is heating put some oil and a knob of butter in a frying pan and brown your chicken.Chop up a handful of parsley and set aside,put chicken into the SC and then add parsley to the hot oil then pour over chicken put lid on.Test chicken after 3 to 4 hour depending on size of chicken.

that sounds like it would get a better result with the hot oil & browning, but I've already given the SC away

Swan_2

Mrse wrote: »

I would like a chicken done in the slow cooker either - TBH I'm not crazy about the slow cooker.

I found everything I did in the SC tasted the same & was mushy, reminded me of institution food _pale_ & tbh I'm not a big fan of meat 'falling off the bone', I like my food to have a bit of texture & substance

it was great for soup though but that wasn't enough to justify it taking up so much space in my kitchen

MrsE_2

SWAN wrote: »

I found everything I did in the SC tasted the same & was mushy, reminded me of institution food _pale_ & tbh I'm not a big fan of meat 'falling off the bone', I like my food to have a bit of texture & substance

it was great for soup though but that wasn't enough to justify it taking up so much space in my kitchen

Never tried it for soup.
If you were doing veg soup (I love veg soup) would you boil it on the hob & then put it in the slow cooker or put it straight in the slow cooker?

I bought a big slow cooker (I hate little puts that you can't stir things in, I love big vessels that you can mix & stir properly in), but it only has two settings. If I remember rightly its very low for over 4 hours or high for less than 4????
Maybe I bought a duff one?
The only thing I ever cooked in it, was SOOOOOOOOO over cooked when I got in from work:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Optimisticpair

ceridwen wrote: »

Errr... "Square Foot Gardening" should be right up your street then - google for the website of Mel Bartholomew to read about it:D

EDIT: Hiya Kittie - noticing your post above. Long time no see..

And There's " Lasagna Gardening" for cooks who are not mathematicians

luckypanda

hex2 wrote: »

Sounds good to me. I have an excellent butcher near me which we use as a treat, and I also tried clareberry recently and rather approve of the beef. I also tried Abel and Cole for the first time this month which I may regret - the veg tastes so much better but this doesn't fit in with my desire to cut my budget.

Any suggestions for two venison steaks, two ostrich steaks and some cubed venison that are knocking round in the bottom of the freezer?

A lovely recipe for cubed venision is a chocolate, red wine and chilli stew. made it a while back and it is easily the tastiest meal I've ever had! I used a thomasina miers recipe (see bbc food site, I can't post links as a new user) and adapted it slightly to what i had/didn't have and didn't bother marinating the meat