slow cooker help! need to thicken

arkonite_babe

purplepatch wrote:

First ever attempt at slow cooking today and I couldn't resist having one sneaky look a couple of hours ago to see how it was doing (it's been cooking on low since 11am). The sauce seemed very runny and I can't imagine it's going to have thickened much especially given that the lid is on and it can't evaporate and reduce.

Its due to be ready in about half an hour - what do I do to thicken it up? Any ideas please. Was going to stick it onto the hob for a bit of rapid boiling, but wondering what others can suggest.

Purplepatch have a look at the [post=675236]Slow Cooker threads[/post] in the cooking and recipes section of the mega index for tips and recipes.

There's also the Slow Cooker Index which can be found at the top of the forum in the blue bar under our indexed collections.



HTH

kazzy

I don't have slow cooker but i slow cook in the oven.I put a csserole in at say midday on 100 degrees till about 5pm-then i turn it up to 180 for half an hour-if the sauce is too runny-just stir some cornflour in(already mixed with cold water) or very thick gravy(from granules).The meat is always tender.

BTW I always cook lamb like this-especially rack of lamb.I slow cook it in the oven for about 3/4 hours on 100 and then just turn up for 1/2 hour at the end.It just falls off the bone.

Pink.

Hi Purplepatch,

Sorry it's too late to be much help for your meal tonight, but I usually add some cornflour mixed in water when I'm first adding liquid to the slow cooker. There are some good ideas on how to thicken the liquid in a slow cooker on this thread:

How do i thicken up.....

Pink

purplepatch

Pink-winged wrote:

Hi Purplepatch,

Sorry it's too late to be much help for your meal tonight, but I usually add some cornflour mixed in water when I'm first adding liquid to the slow cooker. There are some good ideas on how to thicken the liquid in a slow cooker on this thread:

How do i thicken up.....

Pink

Thanks Pink, that thread is exactly the sort of thing I was trying to find - I did try doing a search but obviously not using the right key words :rolleyes:.

The chicken dish was really nice and I'm planning to do a beef hotpot later in the week, so I'm sure these tips are still going to come in useful.

andyl

with regards to thickening you could try Lentils which are great in a soup or stew,also you could use "pearl barley" never used it myself but i know it popular with the erm older folk!!!!!!! hope that remark has not offended any one

helen81_2

After some help from you great people on here my pork SC pork casserole is just about done but seems too watery...how much cornflour do u usually add and do I just pour it in and get the lid back on pronto so the Sc doesnt lose too much heat or is it ok to leave the lid off for abit while im adding and mixing in the cornflour? Is it possible to overcook meat in a SC so it goes all rubbery...I don't want OH to moan!

Pink.

The amount of cornflour depends on the amount of liquid you want to thicken. I usually use a couple of teaspoons of cornflour mixed with cold water until its the consistency of double cream. Pour it in vey slowly, stirring well or it with make your gravy lumpy. It's really trial and error but it's better to add too little and then add more if you need to.

This older thread gives lots of ideas on how to thicken liquid in the slow cooker:

How do i thicken up....


Pink

tootles_2

You can also use cornflour to replace an ounce of flour when you are making shortbread, makes it nice and short. a teaspoon full in castor sugar when making meringues makes them dry out really crisp.

I also use it for makiing cheese sauce etc instead of the traditional roux, I have a cholesterol problem and its one of the ways of making sauce without using too much fat, just use a couple of teaspoons in the milk along with about half a teasp of dried mustard and keep stiring, no salt but a good grating of black pepper, then as it starts to thicken add the cheese,

culpepper

I mix my cornflour into things like you would custard powder.
mix cold liquid into the cornflour in a cup and when its stirrable,add hot liquid from your stew or whatever,a little bit at a time.Once it is pourable,pour it in and stir to disperse it.

kittiwoz

As the other posters say you need to mix the cornflour with a little cold water to a cream before adding it to your gravy or you will get lumps. You can use ordinary plain flour to thicken if you first rub it with an equal quantity of fat before stirring it into the gravy. Alternately a foolproof way to avoid lumps and add some extra flavour is to stir in gravy granules. Whatever you use you will need to have the lid of for a while to stir in the thickener well. It doesn't matter if the temperature drops a little while you have the lid off because you don't want the flour to cook before it's properly dispersed through the sauce.

You can cook meat to be tender in one of two ways: Either cook it at a high temperature, eg. grill or fry, for a short time and don't overcook or cook it gently, eg. stew or casserole, for a long time and don't undercook. So in a slow cooker the longer you cook the meat the more tender it will be (provided the water doesn't boil off). Roasting is another slow, relatively gentle, cooking process but needs more care to get the meat cooked through but not dried up since you're not adding liquid.