In my slow cooker today...

newlywed

Hi magpie, mine has high, med and low and I leave mine on low setting from 7.30 am to 6pm and that has been fine.

Not sure if yours has high and low settings or not?

Akom

I bought a cheapy SC from MrT and the instructions said 4 - 8 hrs for cooking and a further 4 hrs on warm setting if my memory serves me right.

I've put in mine this morning:

Angus beef sausages, carrots, turnip, parsnip, tin of tomatoes, worcester sauce, soy sauce, oxo cube and some mixed spices i got from Morrocco.

MMMMMM, hopefully it'll remind us a bit of our holiday there.

pebblespop

do you need to add water to the mixture??

how much liquid do you have compared to the meat and veg.

Magpie.

It doesn't have different heat settings so I'm nervous about leaving it on.

I think I'll treat myself to a new one that I can leave on low!

Spicey

Nothing in mine today, because nothing in fridge. Looking at other posts decided to be more adventurous so going shopping.

Akom

I added about a cup of water and i only added that much because i forgot to say i had added pearl barley as well.

I'm still learning how much water to put in as i've not been using it long. It seems you need very little as lots of water will come out the veg. (i usually add about 1/2 cup if that. If you come home and it looks dry just poor a bit of boiling water to it left over from that cup of tea you've just made yourself after a hard days graft

cuffie

Im really sorry to ask dumb questions.....
If I was making, for example, beef casserole for 5 people and I was going to use a packet mix, would I need 2? There just doesn't seem like there would be enough liquid if I used 1? Or should I use beef stock cubes? Would I add cornflour or just normal flour to thicken it?
Ta! x

Pollycat

I have a very old (35 years) original Prestige Crock-Pot that I love and a fairly new Morphy Richards 6.5 litre one (aka the baby bath).

They cook things totally different, and to be honest, I prefer the old one.
To thicken, the new one says 'leave the lid off for half an hour or so', the old one says 'thicken with flour and re-cover'.

I can put the pot base of my old one into the oven (for dumplings), the new one says not to put it in the oven.

The new one says to cover the ingredients with liquid but I find that this is too much liquid.
Slow cookers need less liquid than ordinary slow methods of cooking as they generate liquid, so if you're adapting a recipe that is cooked on the stove top or in the oven, you'll need less liquid.

I think it's a trial & error thing, with a little help from your instruction book.

cuffie
not a dumb question at all.
I never use packet mixes, I use either water or stock but don't fall into the trap of thinking there's not enough liquid - there will be when it's cooked.
You can use either flour or cornflour to thicken.
I find that cornflour mixes in better than ordinary flour.

cady

i have put some left over chicken some frozen tamoatoe soup home made and some left over carrots that were due to be used and some chilli salt and some spices and make some spicy tomatoe chicken and might serve with rice or pasta im not sure ..... im pleased as im used all my leftovers up!!!

Cat_Addict

Cady that sounds lovely! Let us know how it turns out!