Slow cooker smells a bit odd ?

JillD_2

Hi
I've got a DeLonghi slow cooker which I've had for about 6 months,and I use it maybe twice a month. Its quite big, not sure of the model, but I deliberately bought a large one so I could batch cook and freeze, or cook for a dinner party.

Anyway, its always pretty successful, but the house has a really weird smell when I use it. Its just smells of slow cooker, not of whatever is being cooked, and my hubby is now saying he won't eat the food (grr). nI do fill it more than half full each time, and I clean it well between uses though there is always a ring mark round it. There is no food on the elementy hot outer bit.

Anyone got any ideas whats causing the smell, or more to the point, how to stop it ?

Its done it from day one. I thought it was the newness of it but it doesnt seem to be improving.
Thanks in advance,
Jill

Angelselondon

My SC does the same, it's an oil smell, but the food is always fine. Bloke eats or goes hungry.

squeaky

A common thing there is that as you do lose a small amount of liquid, especially if your lid is too loose fitting, the liquid left "high and dry" on the side of your slow cooker pot will bake on and then burn.

So if you always have a tide mark of burnt stuff around the pot, just above your liquid level, this could well be the cause. It normally has no effect on the taste of your meal because it's baked on the side wall and is not IN the meal.

Try setting your lid, if it rocks or has a big gap somewhere, so that it sits fairly evenly.

JillD_2

squeaky you have hit the nail on the head. The lid is MEGA loose, like doesn't hardly rest on the pot at all. I thought it was meant to be like that. And yes, it has a burned on tidemark for every meal.

Should I get in touch with Delonghi and ask them about it I wonder ?

Doozergirl

My DeLonghi does it too but I don't think it's the burnt thing for me as it starts straight away and I don't recall any burnt marks, maybe just a bit of a gooey tide mark!

However, it gets a lot more use that before to and the smell has virtually gone now In the beginning I didn't really want to eat what I'd made either but it tasted fine!

Not much help I know, but just to say it does seem to go with use

squeaky

JillD wrote:

squeaky you have hit the nail on the head. The lid is MEGA loose, like doesn't hardly rest on the pot at all. I thought it was meant to be like that. And yes, it has a burned on tidemark for every meal.

Should I get in touch with Delonghi and ask them about it I wonder ?

The lids are not meant to be a tight fit, and small gaps don't matter - it's only if they are very bad that you can get this problem.

Mine isn't brilliant either, but I can wriggle the lid about a bit and even up the gaps which improves things quite a bit.

If you can't do this - then by all means have a word with them, and make sure that you tell them about your burnt on tide mark which smells awful and spoils things.

saving-grace

I have a Breville slow cooker. The instruction booklet says "when using for the first time you may notice a fine smoke haze... This is normal and is due to initial heating of the internal components"
There was a definite smell associated with this and the smell (though not the smoke haze) was there for the first few uses and was a little offputting. This is maybe similar to what you're getting. Anyway it doesn't sound right and I think you should contact the manufacturer and tell them you are unable to use the SC because of the unpleasant smell - which is true!

apprentice_tycoon

I'm not really a regular slow cooker user but 2 ideas come to mind, please feel free to dismiss them as rubbish.

Gappy lids - is it feasable to lay a circle of greaseproof paper over the food as it cooks so that it has an internal lid?

Smelly cooker - I'd run it with just clean water for a number of hours to see if you can get rid of the smell without jeopardising the food

squeaky

I'm not sure about the greaseproof idea. The cooker relies on steam cooling as it hits the lid and then condensing to form a water seal at the top of the pot.

It might work... or you just might get soggy paper

apprentice_tycoon

I think that the paper will hold up and not collapse, it's a trick used if you have a wide pan without a lid like a saute pan, you can cover it this way in the oven to stop the food drying out, foil will somtimes get food stuck to it but wetted greasproof doesn't stick

debtworrier

squeaky wrote:

I'm not sure about the greaseproof idea. The cooker relies on steam cooling as it hits the lid and then condensing to form a water seal at the top of the pot.

It might work... or you just might get soggy paper

Take some aluminium foil and scrunch it up into a loose sausage shape. Arrange the 'sausage' around the rim of the slow cooker crock, and put the lid onto that, pressing it down to make a seal.

You can also seal a saucepan with a loose fitting lid this way if you want to steam something.

HTH.