Is my SC faulty?

geordie_joe

Is my SC faulty or is it my brain?

Decided to try my Morphy Richards 48710 slow cooker for the first time today.

Diced some spuds, swede, carrots and skirt, all smaller than half an inch square. Chucked in half a tin of chopped tomatoes with herbs and topped up with boiling water.

The crock pot was about half full. I turned it on high for an hour then onto low for seven hours. Resisted the temptation to lift the lid and have a look/taste, didn't lift the lid once while it was cooking.

So, after eight hours, one on high and seven on low I switched it off and ladled half of the "stew" onto a plate and sat down to eat it.

It wasn't cooked, no where near being cooked! The veg were still hard, even the onion was a bit crunchy. The skirt wasn't too bad, a bit chewy like when you quick fry it without marinating it first.

So I dumped it back into the SC and put it on high. I was going to give it an hour, but remembered reading something about needing an extra 20 mins if you take the lid off, so I let it cook for an hour and a half.

After an hour and a half, which was 7:30pm, I was starving. But the stuff still wasn't cooked properly! A lttle better than the first time but still not edible. I went to the chippy and got some fish n chips.

Also, when I tried it the first time the food wasn't really that hot. After it had been on high for 1.5 hours it was hotter, but not so hot that I had to blow on it before putting in my mouth, and a spoon full straight from the crock pot with 2 seconds of turning it off wasn't uncomfortably hot to chew and swallow.

Am I doing something wrong, or is my SC not heating up enough?

I would have thought that a half inch cube of spud, swede and carrot would be cooked after 9.5 hours, 2.5 of which were on high. Even the little bits from the pointy end of the carrots weren't done!

It came from Argos and I have the receipt, so if you say it's faulty it's going back.

sophiesmum_2

Should definately have been well cooked after that length of time. I have the 6.5 litre Morphy Richards and put similar in but bigger chunks (half carrot size ) after 5-6 hours on low they are well cooked and meat is almost melt in mouth.
I would take it back personally.

sophiesmum

beard0609

Sounds faulty to me... should have been cooked easly after that lenght of time... back to argos!!

taplady

sounds faulty to me too, I'd take it back if I was you

lil_me

I have the 6.5 litre one aswell and usually manage most things on low/medium but put the meat in after cooking off and hot water in not cold is the only difference. 9.5 hours is a LONG time. Nothing was frozen was it ? If I even touch the sides on mine when it's on low it's very hot, same with the food in it, never mind on high.

I would look in the manual, there should be cooking instructions in there, have a look at recommended time/setting for similar recipes, if it suggests stews etc can be cooked in less time and on low I'd either be taking it back to Argos or ringing Morphy Richards themselves. I've found their customer service to be very good.

Mutantk

I don't have a SC but a Morphy richards bread maker - lil_me is right their customer service is very good but would recommend going back to argos instead. The reason is I called Morphy Richards 2 weeks ago about faulty bread maker and whilst they were very happy to replace it, they said they had been badly affected by flood damage and had been forced to relocate temporarily - therefore long wait for replacement - argos would be much quicker I'm sure.

geordie_joe

Thanks for all your replies.

The manual has several recipes for soup/stew but none say cook longer tham eight hours, most are 5-8 hors or 6-8 hours. It doesn't say which heat setting you should use.

When the SC had been on low for a few hours I could place the palm of my hand on the glass lid and it felt like a cozy hot water bottle. You know, just hot enough so you could hold it all night and be comfortable. The sides, metal, were not a lot hotter and I could put my hand on it for a long time and not feel and pain/discomfort.

Even when it had been on high for an hour and a half I could hold it with both hands for a few seconds and not feel any pain/discomfort.

Did this deliberately as yesterday I made a post about how they should only use enough leccy to replace the heat lost through the lid and sides. So I was interested in how much heat mine was losing.

I shall be taking it back as it's clearly not working. Might give MR a ring in the morning just to confirm it.

Just with I had a food thermometer so I could check.

Also, the liquid was not simmering when I lifted the lid, and there was no steam at all. The inside of the lid did have a few spots of liquid on it, but not much.

lil_me

Put it this way if I spill a little water/juices on the outside of my 6.5 one when on low it sizzles away in seconds and dries on to the outside. I can't pick the lid up without gloves. Sounds like you got a dud I'm afraid

geordie_joe

lil_me wrote: »

Put it this way if I spill a little water/juices on the outside of my 6.5 one when on low it sizzles away in seconds and dries on to the outside. I can't pick the lid up without gloves. Sounds like you got a dud I'm afraid

I'm sure of that, no gloves needed with this one.

Been on the argos web site and my local store has them in stock so I'll be after a repacement tomorrow.

I will may pay the extra for a larger one too. Half full this one does two meals for me, I reckon full the them manufactures limit it will make three meals. I quite like the idea of making 5 or 6 and freezing them.

After being married for 20 years then becoming single again, they said get a microwave, it will save you cookling time when you get back from work.

They didn't tell me it will only cook sh*te! Ready meals I can do ok, but I'm paying £2 for 30p worth of food. Try cooking a meal from scratch in it and it all goes wrong. Tatties come out half done and the sausages are like coppers truncheons, god knows where the gravy went!

But this SC sounds like just the job. Prepare your meal before going to work, instead of trying to cook it as fast as you can when you get home.

I'll let you know what happens tomorrow.