slow cooker quick questions thread

MrsChaos

I've had my large Rachel Allen SC from Argos for a while and i'm quite happy with it, but it's too big for one meal and it cooks quite fast, even on the low setting.

I bought a smaller (3.3l) SC from Tesco's on Thursday - it's their own brand and reduced from £15 to £10. I'm happy with the size, but the braising steak and veg didn't cook properly on the low setting (not soft after 10 hours), but too fast on the high setting.

The only thing I can think to try is to give it some time on high and then turn it down to low, to see whether that makes a difference. Does anybody have any advice? I don't want to waste £10 on something that's not fit for purpose and clutters up my kitchen.

Thank you.

ETA Argos have a cookworks SC on offer at half price (£10, same size). Might go and take mine back to give that one a try. It has virtually no bad reviews on the website. There's also a Breville - same size, £15 (less than half price). I probably prefer that one, as it's oval, rather than round.

hmc

hi i have a lump of gammon to try in the slow cooker, when i click on the link for gammon in the recipies it says not a valid link? can someone point me in the right direction please. though i only want to cook it so i presume, like a chicken? little water in the bottom and whack on low all day

LazyLizzie

My slow cooker has lots of little scratches around the outside, and a a couple in the inside, they don't seem like deep ones though and I don't think any of them go all the way through. But the last time I used it, somehow it got black liquid stuff at the bottom in the metal bit where you put the other bit.
Is it still safe to use it?

LazyLizzie

I thought it'd be better to be safe than sorry so went and got a new slow cooker, the cookworks one in asda which is half price at £10. I only had it on for 4 hours and it was spitting water everywhere and it's bums burnt! The bottom of the bit you put your food in is burnt, and the metal thing as well.
Does anyone know if this one will be safe to use, or will I need to buy a 5th slow cooker? (I don't know how I keep breaking them. )

squeaky

It sounds as though you are over filling them. Some things, like pulses, can expand, and even though they do absorb water the net result is an increase in liquid level. That runs over the edge of the pot so gently that it trickles down the outside of the pot and down the gap into the cooker area. (For a bet your black stuff "goes all the way to the top somewhere" and is not just a puddle at the bottom?).

Take a pan scourer sponge thingy and make it quite damp and wipe the spongy side over the black stuff to thoroughly dampen it. Give it ten minutes or so and repeat.

Then pop a small (SMALL right?) drop of washing up liquid onto the scourer side and you'll find that most of the burnt on black stuff comes away quite easily. There'll be a few stubborn spots but even so they will come clean if you keep on going.

As for the spitting... normally the slow cooker works by making a seal between the pot and the lid. As steam from the cooking condenses on the lid it runs down and sits in the gap between the lid and the crock pot. On a lot of these modern (and cheap) cookers the crock pot surface that the lid sits on is not very even. So what happens is that in one or more places the gap is just a bit too wide and your steam can push past the odd bit of water that's in it and so it "spits". There's usually a fair amount of play in the position you can sit the lid into - so try moving it around a little once it starts spitting and see if you can't find a place where it stops.


HTH

Sarahsaver

hmc, gammon...onion, cloves and a can of coke, a bayleaf in too, leave it in all day. Yes a can of coke.
re. things too slow or too fast my sc has an auto setting which is great and its olnly a cookworks cheapie:)

hannahO_2

I've just received my electricity bill and I am over joyed :j

Since my first £5 investment of slow cooker this summer, I made loads of good meals and roast chicken etc and guess what? My bill for the last quater was 67Kwh compared to the same period last year which was 300Kwh and my bill was only £15. :T

It was one of the best investment!

Tinkabell25

Hi Guys,
My mum gave me a slow cooker for christmas, but i have no idea what i do with it! What do i cook? Does anyone have any basic recipes i can try out? The only thing i don't like is spicy food, so any suggestions or assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Many Thanks in advance,
Tink x

Psykicpup

Aww Tink there are soooo many good recipes on here ... I expect Pink Winged along to give you the links very shortly but what do you have in the cupboards that needs using up or throwing out .. lets start there..........

kittiej

I've currently got a whole chicken cooking away in mine. I got it reduced from Mr T's.

What type of foods do you like to eat? There is a slow cooker recipe collection if you look under the indexed collections