slow cooker quick questions thread

kirsty822001

lol,,,its not even a gammomn joint i defrosted!! its a pork loin joint -- am sticking it in the oven with sage and apple :-)

muckypup

thanks zippychick, much appreciated! the serch on here does confuse me so i will look through later on x

kirsty822001

yes i wasn't sure as only ever cook stuff on low for ages in sc. soup in there now :-)

zippychick

muckypup wrote: »

thanks zippychick, much appreciated! the serch on here does confuse me so i will look through later on x

To be honest, it confused the HELL out of me to start with - then someone linked me to that thread and I've never looked back! :j

kirsty822001 wrote: »

lol,,,its not even a gammomn joint i defrosted!! its a pork loin joint -- am sticking it in the oven with sage and apple :-)

:rotfl: wouldn't be the first time someone got their joints mixed up on OS! What time do you want me?!:D

kmeast

Yay - picked up my new slow cooker from Argos today. Ordered yesterday at £8.99 & it has gone back up to £17.99 so glad I pre-ordered it! I was going to use it today as desperate to get started, but when I got it home the lid was damaged - so had to treck all the way back to swap it - Grrrrr!

Anyway - I am in work tomorrow & was wondering if my first attempt is safe to leave on its own - or should I wait til Fri when I can supervise it?

Also I have bought both braising steak for a casserole & a gammon joint - which should I try first for foolproof results?

Thanks in advance ....:D

wssla00

I leave mine on all the time with no probs. I would deffo go gammon first! Yummy Yum here is what I use:
One onion cut into quarters (no need to peel, you wont be eating it)
One carrot halved
One piece of celery halved
placed into the bottom of the SC
add the gammon
pour in a carton of cheap apple juice
switch on high for 6 hours or low for eight-nine

Enjoy
xxx

kmeast

Thanks wssla00 - think I will take your advice. When you say carton of apple juice do you mean a 1 litre carton? (just checking in case you mean one of those little ones that come with a straw stuck to it - lol!). My joint is only 750g as only me & a small mouth to feed. Also - do you eat the veg or is it just for flavour? And finally, what about the juice that's left - can you use that?

Sorry to sound so green - but this is all new to me!!

Oh - just had a thought - do I need to soak the gammon first?

mrsJef

Morning lovely people!

I'm slowly getting to grips with cooking from scratch and think its time i tried some slow cooker batch cooking over the weekend! So can you please help me out? I'm going to buy some mince so i can do bolognaise and then turn some into chilli (as suggested in many a post) I have lentils at the ready & oats & veg for bulking out but can someone please post the recipe & instructions on how to make first the bolognaise sauce & then how to turn it into chilli. Many thanks to you all for all advice & suggestions.x

zippychick

Hi MrsJef:hello:

Ok - here is a recipe which is simple and to the point . I would follow the recipe , up until it says to simmer- then i pop it in the slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours. Really the only difference for me between spag bol to chilli - is adding chilli powder (or fresh - your choice), and kidney beans. I would add the kidney beans at the end as I'm not sure if you are supposed to cook for long...

Bolognaise is pretty versatile - you can add all sorts of grated vegetables, can use passata or tinned tomatoes, you can add baked beans if you want. Some add celery, some don't .Some people add wine/sherry - some people add no alcohol.When adding lentils/oats - personally i use lentils and would add in once they are in the slow cooker. I would start with 3 handfuls then add more later if need be. I dont want too many lentils in....

You can browse this thread on bolognaise, to see the different methods and tailor it to your tastes. There really is no right or wrong way

I would fry onion and garlic and mince (and chilli if you want). Throw in the mince and brown, then i just add a couple of tins of tomatoes, some peppers (and what ever veg you want) , a touch of basil and a touch of oregano (half a teaspoon each to start - adjust later if you need) and a teaspoon of sugar (to take out the acidity of the toms). You could add your lentils here. Bring it to the boil and throw in the SC to simmer.

Hope that helps as you have a few methods to choose from
Note - i dont wash or prep my lentils, i throw them straight in from the packet
Zip

Edit - Pink was commenting on the oats/lentils thing a day or so ago, and she said

Pink-winged wrote: »

Hi Toomuchdebt,

I use veg and lentils to bulk out mince with great results. I've never tried bulking it out with porridge oats as I don't fancy that, but others have tried it with mixed results. You need to be aware that the oats really do swell so you can end up with bolognese flavoured porridge so if you choose this method just try using very little to start with. There are more thoughts on this thread:

Bulking out Meals?
I'll add your thread to that one later to keep the replies together.

Pink

zippychick

kmeast wrote: »

Thanks wssla00 - think I will take your advice. When you say carton of apple juice do you mean a 1 litre carton? (just checking in case you mean one of those little ones that come with a straw stuck to it - lol!). My joint is only 750g as only me & a small mouth to feed. Also - do you eat the veg or is it just for flavour? And finally, what about the juice that's left - can you use that?

Sorry to sound so green - but this is all new to me!!

Oh - just had a thought - do I need to soak the gammon first?

Hopefully WSSLA comes back to this. I've never cooked this specific recipe myself - but I can try to help a bit:o

Regards big or small carton of Apple juice - not sure. You don't need to cover the meat with liquid but if you do it's ok so either would work in my mind...

Regards the onion carrot and celery - WSSLA was suggesting they were put in for flavour. You can bin these, or you could blend them up at the end and add to the gravy

Regards the remaining juice, i would imagine you could make some sort of gravy from it

I have only cookd gammon once, and I didn't soak it... I think soaking it takes out some of the saltiness ? The gammon in the SC thread below will help for sure and give you different ideas

A couple of threads for you

Gammon stock

cooking a gammon joint in the slow cooker

Leftover gammon

hope that helps a tiny bit
Zip

Wssla - do correct me please if I am wrong :j:D