slow cooker quick questions thread

*niptuckfan*

i never bother browning/microwaving first and always been cooked! the best thing with a sc is to leave it alone if you keep lifting lid you will loose the built in heat. you can always thicken/thin if required when its done. with sc you really cant go wrong! enjoy :L

Pinkylouloubell

Thanks for the repllies, does the food nrmally bubble in the pot though,
Im quite panicking now??

janeym8

yeah my food always bubbles in it as its doing right now and the clinking noise of the lid is becoming annoying lol


janey xxx

Pink.

Hi pinkylouloubelle,

It sounds as though you are doing everything right. Slow cookers that are made today seem to be a higher wattage than older ones and do seem to cook things more quickly. I replaced my old one with a Morphy Richards recently and it cooks a meal in half the time that my old one did so has taken a bit of adjusting to.

This recent thread may help:

Should slow cooker boil like his?

I'll add your thread to the slow cooker quick questions thread later as your query may help others.

Pink

boredjellybean

sorry I am being a bit lazy here but I am fairly new to having a SC & tend to cook the same 2-3 things, I really fancy a beef stew topped with dumplings but have no recipes - any ideas?

also any good books for SC out there as mine came with nothing

bjb

Pinkylouloubell

Thank you for the links to the other threads.

I turned it down to low now and just gave it a quick stir and was peased that it hadnt stuck anywhere.

I guess after years of having to stir food in the saucepan it takes a bit of getting used to!!

Thanks again.

Pinky

pandora205

I'm cooking a beef casserole in my slow cooker today too. I just cut everything up and threw it in (stewing beef, onions, carrots, garlic, beef stock and red wine with some seasoning and a bay leaf.) I didn't bother to brown the meat. It is all cooking fine - currently on high but I may turn it down. It bubbles all the time.
I'll stir it once or twice as I'm cooking big quantities just to make sure it is all mixed. I didn't have peppers or mushrooms but would have added those if I had them. I'll add some gravy granules (not much, just a bit to thicken slightly) for the last few minutes.

I've also microwaved some baked potatoes, which I will brush with oil and finish on high in the oven. It'll be lovely around 5-6 pm.

It's a very easy meal!

boredjellybean

me again and sorry if this is the wrong place to post this (still quite new to this site)

i am looking for lots of SC recipes & despite trying to trawl through many pages on this thread (have now got a headache) am wondering if anyone has a recipe for meatballs cooked in the SC

many thanks bjb

tattoed_bum

i think i may be taking this slowcooker thing to far ,i have never owned one before and i mentioned about getting one ,my gran has just gifted me hers and so has my MIL so i have two on the go now one with sausage hotpot in and the other with curry in both make enough for two meals for my family so lots going in the freezer after ,i love this one pot cooking thing

trying-very-trying

foreversomeday wrote: »

I have a quick question about chicken!

I am fairly new to using my SC and I tend to follow recipes rather than experiment much. I usually brown/seal meat and partly fry veg in the same pan then add liquid and get to boiling before transferring to the SC which has been on to preheat while I am doing this. However if the meat is cut up small, which it usually is, I would be prepared to guess it is probably cooked through (or almost) by the time it goes in.

However every time I cook chicken in it it always seems to come out with a really dry texture! I can't understand it as surely cooking in liquid ought to keep it moist. Anyway, the other day I made a chicken dish which I had made before but used leftover cooked chicken which had been in the fridge overnight. I still warmed it through in a frying pan and brought the liquid to the boil before putting it all in the SC, but the chicken was lovely when it came out and not dry at all.

Any ideas what I've been doing wrong? I'd rather not have to prepare and cook chicken ages in advance for my SC as to me that defeats the object of it, although I suppose I could prepare all the veg etc the night before as well.

I'm not sure what you're doing wrong. Maybe you're overcooking the outside of the meat before it goes in the sc? I put a whole chicken in unbrowned with all the veggies, leave all day, never lifting the lid, and the meat just falls off the bone and is very moist. I don't have the problem that some people seem to have re the veggies being hard, maybe I'm just lucky. I use a 135w sc if that makes any difference.

I've never used my sc for left over cooked meat.