slow cookers

puddy

lostinrates wrote: »

I'm afraid I'm another who hates my slow cooker. I just don't get the insity of flavour I get when using the same ingrediants in the oven..plus, browning etc makes anothe rpan to wash up, making a one pot operating a two pot operation. FWIW I also expect tender metling meat. Its not the time I object too, its just...I don't like it much.

ive got to say im also in two minds about my slow cooker. i have the crock pot and if ive been out for the day and come home, theres an odd smell in the house, sort of unpleasant. then when you get nearer the food smells lovely, then when you eat it theres barely any flavour.

contrast that to the same dish i did, after getting a bit fed up with the slow cooker, when i did it in a casserole dish and the taste was sensational. i hadnt done anything differently.

i also object to the idea of the slow cooker being throw everything in, but in reality you got to pre brown, pre cook stuff which creates more washing up.

ive still got it and often think about using it but often was disappointed. my mum uses hers a lot and her food seems to come out ok, i wonder if theres a difference in makes?

[Deleted User]

I cook a chicken in there with no problems at all I don't eat chicken skin anyway as its just full of fat.But a chicken done in the SC just falls apart and is get for getting all the scraps of meat that often get throw away.I put about half a cup of water in there and a few sliced onion rings on the bottom and rest the chicken on the top.When its cooked I fish out the chicken and pour the remaining liquid into a pyrex jug.Once cool skim off the fat and you have the most beautiful stock jelly for free that will make a smashing basis for soup.No need for stock cubes.I often put the jelly stock double wrapped into a couple of poly bags and freeze until needed.A three quid chicken can be streeetched to make several meals this way, and the darker meat that fell off the carcass makes lovely curries that also get frozen for a later date.Meat is far too expensive to throw away and using a SC means that even the cheapest cuts can be made to melt-in-the mouth meals.I love brisket made in the SC for this reason

seraphina

Can't stand the wretched things. Also, I'm vegetarian and really don't want to eat veggies that have been cooking for 6hrs +

laloopi

I have the older version of this http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B000T76URQ. I use it more as a steamer and rice cooker than slow cooker but it's brilliant to have the option. I also stick hubby's dinner in it when he's late home on keep warm setting.

tryingtoruletheworld

I cook a lot of veggie meals in mine, things that can stand a longer cooking process like chilli, curry, soups etc. I think one of the main tricks to getting good flavour is not to add much liquid, as it doesn't evaporate.

SpikyHedgehog

I got mine as a present and had asked for a smaller one than I got... DH eats meat, the boys & I don't, DS1 & I eat stews, DS2 & DH don't...

So I find even with freezing the meals I've made in it I don't use it as much as I'd hoped. It takes organisation I find, to plan what & when I'll cook in it so that DS2 will have had school dinners so can be convinced to try a tiny bit with a sandwich as his main meal, and so that I'll have room in the freezer for the 2 or 3 extra meals I'll get out of it.

Saying all that, I do like using it and enjoy the food I've made in it! I try to saute my veggies the night before while I'm doing dinner so they're ready in the morning.

Sue-UU

We'd never bothered with one until tasting a meal our DD did in hers...it was superb! We bought a "Salter" one cheap from Argos and it's amazing. Our favourite meal is Carribean Chicken (Jerk Chicken) and have that regularly. It works out great as it always does us for 2 days and is mouthwatering from start to finish!

My advice, buy one! BTW. Our "Salter" is so easy to clean, perfect!

Sue

Doom_and_Gloom

I wouldn't be without my slow cooker. It is just for me but I have a huge 6.5L one. I make all sorts in it. Vegetable chillis, vegetable curries, vegetable stews (with vegan dumplings usually), rice pudding, I've cooked my chickpeas in there etc. I don't think I would be able to cope with a smaller slow cooker as I batch cook.
One reason I love my slow cooker is I can't burn myself - something that I do if cooking with the hob/oven. Another reason I really love it is I can just chuck everything in (I do not brown off anything before hand), not worry about it and 4-8 hours later (unless adding dumplings when you have to add them about 1 hour before finish) it is done so no waiting over a hob and no checking on the oven. The extra gets frozen and then I have home made ready meals sitting there for when I need them.

ALIBOBSY

I love mine-tip here ask around friends and family you may find someone who has one sat at the back of a cupboard unused, mine was free from my auntie who only used it twice.

I love that say in the morning when the kids are in school nursery/asleep I can find a quite period of time to get something in there for tea and unlike a pan stuff simmers away without having to worry about keeping an eye on it so it doesn't burn. Then when I am busy in that period from 3-4 I have less to try to fit in.

Re: the people who said they thought a normal pan or oven gave better flavour I reckon they may have been using the same recipes in the SC as they do in the oven/pan. When simmering on a stove or in an oven the sauce thickens and quite a bit of liquid evaporates. This concentrates the flavour. In the SC virtually no liquid is lost so you need to reduce the liquid added at the start. Things need to be thick and concentrated from the start.

I think of the SC as a pan on a low simmer which can't burn, so easy peasy.

Ali x

mizzbiz

I'm another that has reservations. I do a mean sausage casserole in the slow cooker, and Kleftiko comes out amazing too. But I once cooked a chicken in there and the smell was rank. When we ate the chicken tasted too earthy and smelly, and the veg that had cooked with it were, frankly, unpleasant. I feewl ill at the thought of eating it again. I also make a lovely shin beef stew in the oven but it did not translate well into a slow cooker.

So on the whole, some things come out better, others out worse. It's definitely worth having one though - nothing beats the feeling of coming home from work and just ladling out food into a bowl instead of cooking.