slow cooker quick questions thread

gizmo111

Why not just put whatever you need to in the SC bowl, leave the bowl in the fridge overnight and then put on, in morning? I put vege stuff in the night before with whatever sauce etc and then add meat in the morning.

SukieSoo

valk_scot wrote: »

I don't leave stuff to cool in the ceramic liner. It holds the heat too well and only cools down really slowly. If I want to cool the contents down quickly then I tip them into a couple of large shallow Tupperware containers and leave them sitting on top of a mesh cooling tray, so the air can circulate under and the metal helps conduct the heat away. It's the fastest way I know to cool things down to room temperature, bar pre-chilling the boxes.

As to leaving things out for hours, it depends on the temperature of your kitchen. My kitchen is unheated, thus cold, and it gets even colder at night. So I've never worried about cooling things overnight, especially not in winter! I wouldn't recommend leaving food out all day in high summer though, or if the central heating is on and your kitchen is warm. Try to find a cold spot.

Thanks - why is it that your brilliant method of sitting containers on mesh to help cooling didn't even occur to me? Feel a bit daft now. We don't leave the heating on when we're out during the day, but the house is really well insulated and, even in freezing weather, never gets really cold. So no cold spots. I think I'll play it safe and save the meals that need extra preparation or some pre-cooking for the weekend. I'm sure there are lots of recipe ideas here that need minimal pre-preparation - just have to persuade DH to be a bit more adventurous in his eating habits... I have friends with picky children who are less fussy than he is!

SukieSoo

Bronnie wrote: »

If you cook in the evenings, do you need to do it in the slow cooker? Cooking it 2 to 3 hours in the normal oven, will give you ample cooling time, ready for the fridge.

You can chill down a little more quickly by putting the bowl in a sink of cold water.

If it's very cold outside and safe to do so, put it outside securely covered for a while. My mum always used to set jellies like this in a bowl with a plate on top in the corner of the yard,when i was a kid (pre-fridge!!)

I agree with val re leaving stuff out!

I much prefer the slow cooker. I have tried using the oven but our kitchen, dining room and living room are all open plan, one big room. It's pretty large, but the oven fan still sounds noisy in the living room area, whether I use the big oven or the smaller combi-oven. If we had it on for 3 hours in the evenings, it would be really annoying/distracting.

I had even thought of leaving it outside, securely covered. Half of me thought it seemed perfectly logical, the other half thought it was a strange idea. Glad to know someone else has done this. :T

SukieSoo

gizmo111 wrote: »

Why not just put whatever you need to in the SC bowl, leave the bowl i n the fridge overnight and then put on in morning? I put vege stuff i nteh night before with whatever sauce etc and then add meat in the morning.

I did worry that putting a cold SC bowl straight from the fridge into the SC might cause it to crack, or it make take much longer to cook since even the SC pot would be chilled to start with. I think I might give that a try.

So I won't be risking leaving stuff cooling down all day or night - I'll just have to be a bit more organised [shudder - I am the least organised person on the planet!] And cook the meals with heavy pre-prep at weekends.

valk_scot

SukieSoo wrote: »

I did worry that putting a cold SC bowl straight from the fridge into the SC might cause it to crack, or it make take much longer to cook since even the SC pot would be chilled to start with. I think I might give that a try.

If you want to put the SC on first thing but not want to do the prep, make up the stew ingredients in a normal flameproof casserole then when you get up in the morning stick the casserole on the burner to warm up, switch on the SC to warm up, transfer the warmed ingredients to the warmed SC and leave to cook. I do this even when preparing SC stuff all in one go if I need a flameproof pan to brown the meat or whatever in...add all the ingredients, get it up to a rolling boil then put it all in the prewarmed SC.

SukieSoo

valk_scot wrote: »

If you want to put the SC on first thing but not want to do the prep, make up the stew ingredients in a normal flameproof casserole then when you get up in the morning stick the casserole on the burner to warm up, switch on the SC to warm up, transfer the warmed ingredients to the warmed SC and leave to cook. I do this even when preparing SC stuff all in one go if I need a flameproof pan to brown the meat or whatever in...add all the ingredients, get it up to a rolling boil then put it all in the prewarmed SC.

Thanks for the help. I've just got all the ingredients for tomorrow's turkey curry (except for the meat) prepped in a casserole dish in the fridge. Now I just have to hope DH will eat it - I'm fed up of the amount of free range organic chicken we've been buying (average £5.50 for a couple of breasts). Hopefully if he'll eat the turkey (and I can be a bit more organised) I'll save a fortune on the shopping bill

Penelope_Penguin

Glad you've got your answer As this has fallen from the front page of OS, I'll add it to the SC QQ thresd to keep ideas together.

PEnny. x

becky2812

Hi, just a quick question. my old slow cooked died! so i went and got a big 6.5L one. and everything i put in it seems really dry... i did a beef joint and that was dry and chewy, and the chicken casserole (diced chicken breast) was lovely but the chicken was dry again?? is there some thing wrong with me, or the slow cooker??!!

zippychick

becky2812 wrote: »

Hi, just a quick question. my old slow cooked died! so i went and got a big 6.5L one. and everything i put in it seems really dry... i did a beef joint and that was dry and chewy, and the chicken casserole (diced chicken breast) was lovely but the chicken was dry again?? is there some thing wrong with me, or the slow cooker??!!

I'm no expert..... are you putting in small portions? Could the heat settings on your new one be higher therefore drying food out?

gizmo111

becky2812 wrote: »

Hi, just a quick question. my old slow cooked died! so i went and got a big 6.5L one. and everything i put in it seems really dry... i did a beef joint and that was dry and chewy, and the chicken casserole (diced chicken breast) was lovely but the chicken was dry again?? is there some thing wrong with me, or the slow cooker??!!

What are you putting in with it? I fine that the bigger the joint to sqaush in the SC is the moistest. probably down to the side of the bowl heating? I always find whatever I do with chicken breast is a bit of a failure compared to oven.