In my slow cooker today...

pammie39

pammie39 wrote: »

evening all

could i have some help please?
i have finally moved the spiders out of my sc, now it's ready to work it's magic!
ok.. i'm thinking of beef casseroll, hopefully an easy start, i've brought--diced beef, carrotts, red onion (for colour), brocoli, other veg in freezer if needed.
i'll turn on the sc at about 9/10am tomorrow, how long should it take?(i would like the meat as soft as possible)
how small should i cut up the veg? brought sauce mix, says mix with 3/4 water, will this be too much (if so how much should i use)?

thanx in advance!!!!

hi all

any help with this one please!!
i would like to start it about 9am

thanx all

Sublime_2

Good morning Pammie,

You can cook for as long as you like. It depends on when you are eating dinner to what setting, and how long.

As to how much liquid to use, it depends on how much food you are cooking. I usually add some tinned tomatoes, and some vegetable stock to barely cover, with some flour to thicken.

Just cube the vegetables and meat. Put veg at bottom, then meat, then any liquid to just barely cover the food.

Olliebeak

Not sure how long it would take in your particular SC - I'm just so used to my own now.

I would cut the carrot into thinish slices (or a mixture of thick and thin if you enjoy that little bit of bite/texture to them) - I've often heard folks say that carrots seem to take a bit longer than most other veggies in SC. Would also put the carrots in the bottom of the SC as this way they will remain completely submerged in the cooking liquid/stock.

Small dice/thin slices for your onion and small florets for the broccoli.

I would brown (just enough to seal it) the meat quickly before putting in.

What do the instructions say about the amount of water to add? If it's a packet casserole mix - it usually says to mix with cold water. I always use boiling water to get the SC off to a good start - so not sure how that would work with a packet mix - sorry to be vague on that point.

Hope it works out well for you - Slow Cookers are great when you grow in confidence with them - but it's very often a case of trial/error/personal taste.


Ooops got beaten to the reply lol. I'd left my page open while I went to do my porridge and then replied without checking first .

ANY_CHANCE

hi all i have some red and green lentils and some pearl barley are they ok to put in the slow cooker?
I was thinking of doing soup this morning i have some veges that need using up

do i just put it all in with some stock?

pammie39

thanx for the replys

i got a bit excited and started early.
i think i should have waited for your replys! meat went in first, then onions and carrotts, then i mixed them up!!!!!!. then i put in the water (cold) and powder, i didn't think it would be enough, i added more!
all ingrediants are completely submerged. (i didn't relise how big the sc is, there is only 3 of us).

when should i put in the mushrooms (button) and broccoli ?
now or at the end?

thanx again
sorry for all the questions


sorry

---

cooking on low, how long? (need soft meat and veg).

Olliebeak

ANY_CHANCE wrote: »

hi all i have some red and green lentils and some pearl barley are they ok to put in the slow cooker?
I was thinking of doing soup this morning i have some veges that need using up

do i just put it all in with some stock?

I usually pre-soak barley first but I know others just put it straight in. Red lentils I always just thrown straight in but have never used green ones so can't help with those.

Good Luck with the soup .

Just had a thought - you could bring the barley to the boil and simmer for a short while BEFORE putting into the Slow Cooker.

Olliebeak

pammie39 wrote: »

.......when should i put in the mushrooms (button) and broccoli ?
now or at the end?

thanx again
sorry for all the questions

Don't worry - Slow Cookers are quite forgiving. Can you turn it up to 'HIGH' to get it going and then turn to auto/medium to continue cooking? Mine only has one temperature - so if anybody with more experience has better ideas, go with theirs :rolleyes:.

Are the broccoli florest very small? If so, I would leave them a little while. If they're medium sized you could put them in now.

What about the size of your mushrooms? Whole button ones - put them in now; quartered a bit later; sliced ones about half way through.

pammie39

cheers olliebeak!
ok button mushrooms going in now, and broc (medium) about to be chopped and going in now as well!!

thanx again
will let you know tonight how i got on, fingers crossed please!!!!!

freakyogre

pammie39 wrote: »

oh freakyoger, you have made me laugh:rotfl: sorry!

well as a newbie to slow cookers i think marrow will be one too miss, mainly curried!!!!!!

my dad used to stuff marrow with mince meat and onion,and lots of gravey on top, i think he boiled it or baked it, not sure, but was good.

it would be great if someone would give out some info on this, i would love to try it again.



oh just had a thought----isn't marrow a quite watery veg anyway, that poss added to the watery curry!!!!

See, stuffed with mince does sound nice, I might try that next time. I found a nice recipe on here yesterday which was for a sort of marrow bake, so will give that a go with the rest of it, I just hope it isn't too watery.

My dad used to make curry in a pan, so I suppose the water could evaporate unlike a slow cooker. I took the lid off mine last night and let it bubble away for an hour or so and it did go thicker. Shame really as it looks and smells lovely, but just doesn't taste of anything!

Sublime_2

AlwaysHappy wrote: »

Just a quickie, after starting to read this thread I was motivated to get my slo cooker out of the garage today, cooked a chicken in it and then made stock from the carcass which smells delicious. Tomorrow, we are going out for the day and my son has asked for a quorn bolognese for tea, could I make it in the slow cooker - I have heard that mince meat benefits from the slow cook but am a little concerned that the quorn mince will just absorb all the liquid and become a funny texture - anyone tried it? The only meat I eat is chicken hence the quorn question.

I've never tried quorn in the SC before. Perhaps you could cook for less time? I would be quite interested to know how it turns out please.