Slow Cooker - The Recipe Collection

BabyKat

if i am making a stew i put in loads of 'real' veg as soon as it is chopped up, i dont pre cook anything that goes in my pot and its worked out okay.

davetaylor

mandy_moo_1 wrote: »

well.........did it taste as good as it looked? i forgot to check in here last night! bet it just melted in your mouth

i can't see any reason why you couldn't chuck the pork bones in with the chicken bones to make your stock...i bet it will taste scrummy!!

The chicken was just superb. I carved it i about 30 seconds using two forks!

It was moist and tasty. You could really taste the lemon and garlic through it.

I will do this again and again.

I got about 5 pints of stock as well!

mandy_moo_1

right looks like i'll definitely be giving this a go next time i do chicken.....might have to miss out the garlic tho, as DD & DS aren't keen on it

andybondy

I tried to use my Slow Cooker for the first time. It went a bit awry.....
I have managed to kill a chicken tonight by adding a little milk and water. Its kinda gone brown and tastes of scalded milk. I put three chicken breasts in it and I have never used a slow cooker before. Im thinking of how I can save it with some flavours, does anyone have any ideas?
Im thinking adding potatoes, carrots and perhaps some mustard (its a honey mustard flavour).
What does everyone think?

lv1109

I have never posted a recipe on here so bit nervous but feels a shame not to share it with you all!

Bag of diced beef (which I get from Farmfoods)
1 large onion sliced
2 carrots (thinly sliced)
2 oxo cubes
Filled up about halfway with water

I usually cook on low from when I go out in the morning (8.30am) to when I get in (5.45pm)

Then I add a tin of tomato soup and turn it up to medium or high for about an hour

To thicken it up about half hour before the end I add a mixture of (made in a mug):

6 teaspoons of Bisto (real gravy powder) and 6 teaspoons of flour, add a bit of water to make a paste and then keep adding bit more water until filled up, stirring in between each addition of water.

This cooks for about another half hour and then is ready.

Served over a pile of mashed potato, it is lovely. I really hope you like it!

Hatrick

I'm new to this forum, 75 years old, male, and have been cooking for about 10 months since my wife became unwell. You may find this post a bit OTT for a newbie but I'm thinking that it's about time I gave something back to someone for all the information I've acquired about many topics online over the years. You happen to be the (un)lucky recipients, so here goes.

After a period of following recipes I realised that my electricity bill was starting to look like Alan Sugar's bank balance. As 'Er Indoors' refused to go on the streets to help, there followed a period of frugality featuring a predominance of salads, of which neither of us is over-fond. Then salvation! An old, 2.5 litre, 115 watt slow cooker was discovered languishing in a shed, and now I'm a fanatical fan.

I've put together this post to provide some facts and tips, based on my own experience, to others starting out on the road to culinary competence.

FACTS.

When pottery - like a slow cooker pot - is fired during manufacture, it is heated, over a period of days, to between 1200 and 1300 degrees centigrade, then cooled, again over days, to room temperature.

The maximum cooker temperature in a kitchen is 250 degrees, and slow cookers considerably less, so the only way they can be damaged by heat is if there is a sudden change. Tipping a bowl of frozen veg into a pre-heated cooker may well cause it to crack because the points of contact are suddenly subjected to a 200 degree temperature change. Doing the same thing when there is already a hot liquid there is perfectly safe. Similarly, if the hot bowl were put onto a heated cooker ring the same sudden change would occur. A safe way round this, if you need to reduce a liquid, is to place the metal grid from the grill pan over the ring, at moderate temperature, put the pot on top, then increase gradually to boiling point. This is for electric rings: I've never used gas.

It is often suggested that water should be added to the pot when cooking (say)a joint or a meat loaf. This is unnecessary. It is perfectly O.K. to run the cooker for as long as you like with nothing at all in it; it will come to no harm. Liquid is only needed if the recipe calls for it, or you want gravy. Remember to use less liquid than the recipe suggests because it doen't evaporate. For the meat loaf, or something that needs a separate container, put the cold dish in the cold pot and allow the heat to permeate both at the same time.

Fuel costs.

All mains electrical appliances should have rating plates on them which tell you the voltage required and the power consumption in watts. Slow cookers seem to have them on the underside. Mine is 115 watts; modern, larger models, probably twice that. Below is a table showing the number of minutes or hours of output from I kw (1000 watts) of energy, each kw costing around 12 or 13 pence.

ITEM POWER CONSUMED PER HOUR TIME TO CONSUME IKW

Oven 3000 watts 20 mins (about the time required to bring it to temperature)

Large ring (7inch) 1800 watts 33mins 20 secs

Small ring 1100 watts 54 mins 33 secs

Slow cooker 115 watts 8 hours 41 mins 44secs

Slow cooker 230 watts half the above.

An easy way to work this out for any appliance is to divide 1000 by the rating of the appliance and multiply the answer by 60. This will tell you how many minutes 1kw will last. Of course, as the elements are controlled by thermostats, it will actually last longer than shown above.

TECHNIQUES.

I'm sticking my neck out here but, in my limited experience, any meat dish which takes more than 20 minutes to cook on the stove or in the oven, and which is not required to be crisp, can be cooked better and more cheaply in a slow cooker.
Problems do arise with those dishes that are topped with a layer of potato which is not immersed in liquid. A simple solution is to press a sheet of foil down over the top so that the potatoes are cooked in the steam rising from below. They can then be browned under a grill.

Baked potatoes can be cooked - i.e. made edible - in a slow cooker, but are nothing like the real McCoy. I've tried them
baked, naked, in a dry pot, wrapped in foil, and coated with oil and salt, without observing any real difference, so I'll stick with the old way for the time being. It ought to work if a temperature of 150 degrees or so can be achieved, but my maximum is only just over 100. It might be useful, if the information is not in the handbook and the manufacturer can't tell you, to put an oven themometer in the cooker and test the temperatures attained at the various settings.

To brown or not to brown. I've tried both and am unable to tell the difference. But,- a big but - always brown mince or you will have clumps of meat looking like horse manure instead of separate grains.

Timing is extremely flexible. I recently put in a brisket joint, intending to cook for 8 hours, but an electricity cut occurred part way through and I forgot to switch off. It cooked for 16 hours and was perfectly O.K. next day. Along with flavour and cost, flexible timing has been of great help to me as a newbie cook because there is a time window of at least 2 hours during which the meal can be served without having spoiled through over-cooking.

A few other useful tips, unconnected with slow cooking.

If your cooking surface is level and you have a small, flat bottomed saucepan with a well fitting lid, there is a surprising and cheap way of boiling eggs ( they must be at room temperature ). Put 1 tablespoonful of cold water in the saucepan; if it doesn't cover the bottom, add a little more. Place a medium egg inside and turn to full power. The moment it starts to boil, switch off and leave the lid in place for 5 minutes. If it isn't quite done then, just put the top back on the egg, stand the egg cup in the saucepan and do exactly what you did before, but let it stand for only a minute or two. With practice you'll get perfect eggs every time at only a tiny fraction of the usual energy cost. No, I didn't believe it either, but it works.

A sharp knife is essential in the kitchen and there are often posts asking how to recognise the correct angle for sharpening. Here's how. Take a knife which you know to be sharp and slide it down your thumbnail with the blade held flat. It just glides. Now do the same again with the blade held at a slight angle to the nail. Keep doing this, increasing the angle by a little each time, until you feel it starting to scratch and trying to dig in. You've found the angle. Try it with a blunt knife and it will glide regardless of the angle.

Roast potatoes. Probably not perfect, but there have been no complaints from the management and it is cheaper and needs no oven cleaning:-

Prepare in the usual way, i.e. par-boil for 5 minutes, drain, allow to dry and give them a good shaking, with the saucepan lid on, until they look rather the worse for wear, then drizzle oil over and apply a good sprinkling of salt. Cook at 150 degrees in a deep fat fryer for 10 to 15 minutes until cooked through and lightly browned. Raise the basket and increase temperature to 190. Cook for a further 1 to 2 minutes. Serve.

Hope this is of some help.

ifonlyitwaseasier

great first post hatrick! and several tips and hints i'm keeping note of

all_change

title says it all really!

just wondering whether a simple thai green curry paste + coconut milk + meat would work well in a slow cooker, or if something weird would happen to the coconut milk?

Thanks!

SheepApnoea

know what you mean, i was worried that i'd come home to a curdled mess when i tried this, but it worked fine.

all_change

thanks for your reply, I thought the old-style board was finally stumped by a question...

my faith is restored!