Slow cooker

YORKSHIRELASS

I know that slow cooking is not for everyone. My brother hates it simply because he thinks it overcooks things.

Personally I love mine and use it nearly every day. I cook just about everything in it, stews, pie meat, spag bol, chilli, meatballs, curry, pulled pork, whole chickens/joints of meat, steamed puddings etc etc. Everyone in my family is quite happy with the results.

My old 1970s tower slow cooker had to go because the glaze started to come off the inner pot so I replaced it with an £8 supermarket one and I cant say that I have noticed any difference. My dishes usually go in at 7am and we eat at about 5pm. For me it makes life so much easier, especially if my teenagers are coming in at different times and its so much cheaper than using my electric hob or oven.

Rainy-Days

I do have an electric slow cooker (3.5 litre) but my main slow cooker bit is on the range and I use a cast iron casserole covered dish for this.

I sear the meat off and lightly sweat off the onions as well, then I add boiling water from the kettle and I really make use of the Knorr stock pots and I have also found now that the Oxo herbs and more little pots are just amazing as well added in toegther. If you are doing beef the red wine and rosemary one really brings out the flavour. I give it a good seasoning and then it goes in the simmering oven for hours. - maybe eight or so hours. I take it out every now and then and stir it. I probably put the carrots in maybe half way through! I tend to use cornflour as a thickener and for me that really works because it means I don't have to 'cook out' the flour! I also add a splash of Worcestershire Sauce and some tomato puree as well.

Never had a metalic taste with either the electric (Russell Hobbs) or simmering slow oven. Try and see how you get on with the stock pots! It could be the stock cube thats the problem, but other than that I don't know why you would have this situation.

bouicca21

When I first tasted it, it had been on low for about 6 hours and meat still tough. Left it in overnight and meat was tender. The odd taste is still there but not so pronounced. I will experiment more!

Waffle_On

I have a modern sear and stew (metal pot) slow cooker, and I have never had a metallic taste either. Are there any ingredients common to all the recipes you have tried that might be causing it?

As the others have said, you may need to adjust your time expectations, as individual slow cookers can vary a bit. Also, start off on high until you've got everything in the pot, and possibly for a while after that to help it get up to heat. Where possible, add ingredients hot, e.g. water should be from a just boiled kettle. Avoid taking the lid off to check it until you think it's ready - each time it comes off you add at least 30 mins to the cooking time.

freezspirit

Sorry got to ask what type of bowl/pot your slow cooker has: non-stick coated aluminium or ceramic?

If metal then that might explain taste. I went off a lot of food dad cooked in the pressure cooker but if same thing was cooked in ceramic slow cooker I ate it.

Like others have said on high first then on low for rest of cooking.

Pollycat

freezspirit wrote: »

Sorry got to ask what type of bowl/pot your slow cooker has: non-stick coated aluminium or ceramic?

If metal then that might explain taste. I went off a lot of food dad cooked in the pressure cooker but if same thing was cooked in ceramic slow cooker I ate it.

Like others have said on high first then on low for rest of cooking.

WOW!
That's news to me, I thought all slow cookers had ceramic pot inserts.

peachyprice

bouicca21 wrote: »

When I first tasted it, it had been on low for about 6 hours and meat still tough. Left it in overnight and meat was tender. The odd taste is still there but not so pronounced. I will experiment more!

Goodness. What cut of meat were you using? My (ceramic pot) one does a shin of beef stew on low in 4 hours, anything longer and the meat dries out.

bouicca21

It's a ceramic type insert, though not as heavy/solid as the very old one my mum had.

And yes, the time seems overly long to me, too. It had been in 6 hours when I first tasted it, expecting it to be done. I then left it overnight, and in the morning the meat was tender.

An acquaintance talks of making stock from bones in hers, i hate to think how long that would take in mine. So far I've only ever done stews. In the past I've tipped it all in cold and put it on high for a few hours before turning it down to low. That has taken well over 12 hours too, so this time I started the stew off on the stove just as I would if intending it to go into the real oven, and tipped it into the slow cooker hot. Then set it to low.

And, peachyprice, can't remember which cut it was, but definitely better than shin. What make is yours?

MallyGirl

I use mine for stock from chicken carcasses - 6 hours to overnight for this

peachyprice

bouicca21 wrote: »

And, peachyprice, can't remember which cut it was, but definitely better than shin. What make is yours?

Mine is a Crockpot.

I wonder, as it's taking so long, whether the meat is turning rancid from sitting at such a low temperature for all that time.

Last week I made a stew, put all the ingredients in the ceramic pot the night before and left it in the fridge. I put it straight from the fridge, put it on high for half an hour just to bring it up to temp quickly, it still only took 4 hours (shin comes out lovely btw )

Yours definitely doesn't sound right, I know it's a 'slow' cooker, but that's just taking the biscuit.