What am I missing

jennybb

I have MR 6.5 L. I work part time - but 3 long days and have a 6 year old daughter. On those days it has been fantastic. It is great for casseroles in the winter and stops me resorting to temptation to get a takeaway, which we would have done in past times :eek: It's good to get home on a dark cold night with something wholesome ready to dish up.

However I totally agree with thriftlady about intensity of flavour. It took a bit of getting used to because I prefer to reduce a sauce and this just sits there It's taken some experimentation and some things - esp. with mince for example I wouldn't want to do in SC.

I know some people do whole chickens - don't expect it to compare with oven roasted - I only did that once! However, I love it for making stock - I normally chuck chicken skin and bones etc into SC as I am carving the sunday joint - add veg, seasoning and water and you're off. I find it difficult not to boil stock if cooking it on the hob - SC is perfect for it.

It's really good for bean and pulse based dishes as they thicken the sauce and take on flavours while cooking. I've had good results with cheap ham shanks in cherry coke (but finished in the oven) I often pot roast lamb in it, but finish in the oven to crisp the fat.

Brisket also good.

If I was at home, I don't think I'd use it as much. But I would miss it if it was taken away tomorrow.

It's useful with my lifestyle. I love to cook - but I think it could be good for people who lack confidence as there is an element of chuck it in and see what happens .

buxtonrabbitgreen

I use one for making a vegetable stew for the veggie DS when I am making a meat one as my oven is too small for 2 big stew pots, and I like to make enough for 2 days. i prefer stew on the second day. edited to say. My DIL says my son is always going on about how I used to make rice pudding in one when he was young, and I had forgotton I used to have one years ago.

Kantankrus_Mare

I wouldn't be without mine but agree its not ideal for cooking everything.

Always do a beef joint in it .............makes lovely gravy.

Always make stew in it......have never made it the traditional way and wouldn't know where to start :rotfl:

Couple of weeks ago we did braising steak for the first time. MMMMMmmmmmmmmmm was beautiful.

Not tried soups or stocks or curry as yet........only had it for 17 years LOL got it for a wedding pressie.

Id say get one and experiment.

savingsara_2

I got one just before last christmas from asda, reduced to £19.99 :j

Been very pleased with it so far.....yummy creamy rice pud (no skin, which suits me). The stews I've made so far have been brilliant, the meat just melts. If you want dumplings though you have to decant the stew into a saucepan and cook the dumplings that way. Chilli lacked depth of flavour, but with a few adjustments it'll get better and better.

No regrets.

PS if you get one make sure you put your root veges (carrot,potato, parsnip,swede/turnip) in the bottom, followed by sliced onions, followed lastly by meat then gravy and bouquet garni.

beedeedee

angelavdavis wrote: »

I have 2! One smaller one and one larger one. Both are old - small came from Mum and large one came from a charity shop for £3 - it was barely used! Neither are fancy - just single crock pots.

Use the small one for meals for me and OH (chicken/lamb/beef stews or lamb kleftiko - falls off the bone and melts in the mouth, or beef brisket - delicious!). Put ingredients in the SC in the morning, and return to a cooked meal in the evening. I also use it a lot of Sundays when we have lots of stuff to do and I normally would struggle to get my to do list done and cook Sunday lunch. I travel a lot with work, so if I am due home that night, I get my OH to get something out of the freezer (such as chili or spag bol) and put it in the slow cooker on low before he leaves for work so I just need to boil some spaghetti when I get home.

Other meals I have been known to cook are curries, lentil soup (just blitz down once cooked) and also mexican chicken (marinated in chili, beer, spices) to go into fajitas.

The larger one I use to cook down bolognaise, etc when I bulk cook. I generally brown off mince and add this with veg, tomato, herbs, red wine, etc and put in slow cooker and leave for a couple of hours on low to cook down.

It only costs the equivalent of a lightbulbs worth of electricity to cook this through, whereas my hob would be pricier.

I use mine usually at least once a week - more often in winter.

I found using them took some time to get the hang of and there are some things I don't use it for.

I personally don't like cooking a whole chicken (some people roast in theirs) - I find I can never rescue it before it completely falls off the bones!

Overall I am a fan.

I also have two - one large one small. Bought the large one first - but was a bit overawed when a meal for two barely covered the bottom, so went and bought a small cheap one for about £7 from local Co-Op. Much happier with it and use it about once a week.

JoKay_2

We did a fabulous rib of beef in ours on Sunday. We cooked it for about 5 hours on low, so it was very tender, but then finished it in the oven with the roast spuds for about half an hour - heavenly!!

We also do our curries in it - brown the meat, add the sweet potato (we do, anyway!) and sauce, and 5-6 hours later - yummy!

Agutka

:eek: I don't get on with mine at all, thank you MSE... I bought it because everyone on here was raving about them, yet I have never managed to make anything edible in it :eek:. Maybe if I had a smaller one than the 6.5l... No, never mind. Hubby nearly got rid of it during his last cleaning blitz, as it is just gathering dust, but having spent £30 on it I couldn't bear the thought, blaming myself for the poor thing's failures...
I'll have to give it more goes with some recipes off here, but I'm not holding my breath...

My casserole godsend was my Creuset pan... *dribble*

astep70uk

angelavdavis wrote: »

I get my OH to get something out of the freezer (such as chili or spag bol) and put it in the slow cooker on low before he leaves for work so I just need to boil some spaghetti when I get home.

Can I put pre cooked chilli etc straight from the freezer to the slow cooker or do I need to defrost it first? In which case, wouldn't it be easier to defrost in the fridge all day, then reheat in the microwave? Still trying to get used to my slow cooker!

angelavdavis

I usually defrost mine first. I see what you mean, but I personally find defrosted mince dishes like chilli go really watery when I defrost and heat up in the microwave

Agutka, if you can't get on with yours - eBay it!

thriftlady_2

Agutka wrote: »

:eek: I don't get on with mine at all,

My casserole godsend was my Creuset pan... *dribble*

I'm glad it's not just me then