slow cooker quick questions thread

skintlass

Hi, I've reserved the slow cooker on special offer at argos - its the cookworks round 3.5ltr one - and its £8.99 which is a good price I think. Has anyone any experience of this type of slowcooker and opinions, good or bad on it?

organic_wanabe

JackieO, that's how I do mine but I find it's even better when I spoon a couple of tablespoons of treacle over it (after the slow-cooking) and then give it a short blast in the oven. I never buy cooked meats now - even for sandwiches.

squeaky

skintlass wrote:

Hi, I've reserved the slow cooker on special offer at argos - its the cookworks round 3.5ltr one - and its £8.99 which is a good price I think. Has anyone any experience of this type of slowcooker and opinions, good or bad on it?

I'm sorry I don't know much about this one - though it has been mentioned before. I'm sure that someone will be along soon

Redbedhead

We got the 6.5 litre Morphy Richards SC for CHristmas and used it last night to make chilli. Don't think H followed the instructions re how much chilli powder to add though! Was a little bit on the hot side but once cooled down with sour cream it was lovely.

We managed to get a meal for 2 plus 2 freezer portions out of it (I put a warning on top of the freezer portions re the chilli powder!!) so we are happy!! Am off now to have a look at other things we can do. Think I might try a sausage casserole as we have lots in the freezer.

twink

skintlass wrote:

Hi, I've reserved the slow cooker on special offer at argos - its the cookworks round 3.5ltr one - and its £8.99 which is a good price I think. Has anyone any experience of this type of slowcooker and opinions, good or bad on it?

i have the cookworks slow cooker and no problems with it, i did brisket in it on xmas day and it was lovely, just watch that the lid fits properly, i had to take my first one back, the lid needs to fit near enough to the rim otherwise works great

tiff

I have the Cookworks one, really pleased with it for the money.

melt71

Used my new slow cooker for the first time yesterday. We made a sausage casserole type thing. I made it up as I went along, we had onions, carrots, potatoes and pork & apple sausages. I added about a pint and 1/2 of stock plus herbs. It was lovely, but I must remember that carrots take AGES to cook in it as I don't like them crunchy. We made 2 portions for last night, 3 further meals plus one 1/2 meal which will be used to go with something else.

Lovely! I'm impressed so far, I'm planning to make a nice soup to go into freezer portions this weekend.

Does anybody know if you can cook pasta/rice sucessfully in the slowcooker?

squeaky

Rice will do quite well as a pudding, not sure about plain rice.

Pasta doesn't do very well at all. Goes all soggy and sticky. Unless I haven't got the timing of it right.

chickadee

Hi, I have never been happy with my slo-cooker. It is very old, around 16 years old in fact. It hasn't had that much use though. It is a Tower slow cooker and it has a ceramic pot and lid. It has low, high and auto settings but everything seems to end up textureless and tasteless, especially if I put carrots in, they always end up flavouring everything else. When I use it I put it on before leaving for work (about 8am) then when I get home it is about 6.30pm. This is 10.5 hours. Is this just too long, is my slo-cooker cooking too hot, or do everyone elses slow-cooked meals end up like textureless carrot-flavoured stew?

I would love to get it right as I hate having to start cooking when I get home from work and I feel left out with most of you raving about what wonderful gadgets they are!

Please help.

lizzyb1812

My own experience is that 10.5 hours is too long - and it's probably more like 11 once you've got in, got the kettle on, picked up the post, etc, etc. I use mine at the weekend or when I have the day off, cook more than I need and freeze portions to reheat on busy work days

You could try putting on the cooker overnight and decanting the results into a clean, cold dish in the morning to put into the fridge just before you go out. Then reheat in the microwave in the evening.

As for the carrots - leave 'em out if you don't like the effect/taste.

Slow cookers are a bit like Marmite - you love them or you hate them. :rotfl:
If they don't work for you, don't use them.

I do appreciate what you say about not wanting to cook when you get home from work - to get round this I meal plan, batch cook and freeze. And I'm not the world's best organised person so this usually means doubling up on the pasta sauce or sausage casserole and freezing some for another day/next week.

lizzyb