I'm disappointed with my slow cooker

MrsE_2

squeaky wrote: »

One of things that first caught me out, especially when making stews and casseroles, was giving all the ingredients a good stir now and then.

It washes a thin film of liquid up the sides of the cooking pot and, since your pot is heated ALL the way up the sides - it's this that dries up and even burns and so contributes a lot towards the smell.

Next time - try part filling the pot, give it a stir, then top up your liquids to the desired level and only give a very gentle stir to finish off and avoid leaving a film up the sides at the top. See how it goes

You know what that could be it:T
Its a burnt (hence electrical) smell with no burn.

So put it all in & stir before turning on & then just ladle out?

morganlefay

No Mrs E you aren't mad or a bad washer-up, I had exactly the same thing. I bought a lovely oval, new, white SC from E Bay (can't remember what make) and the first time I used it I thought it had a nasty chemical smell. I assumed it was just 'new gadget' smell and that it would wear off, but whatever I cooked in it it smelt, and it made the food taste funny too. In the end I freecycled it and got a Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker which I LOVE. But last week I got my very old and small, one-setting SC out of the back of the cupboard and did pork cheek in it (which I can HUGELY recommend) and it didn't smell or taste nasty, so I'm wondering if it was just that model of SC - indeed perhaps that's why it was on e bay at such a good price. Is yours, by chance an oval, white one with a removable china crock and 3 settings ? I'm so glad you asked this question because I really felt like such a failure at not being able to make decent food in it, but I really couldn't feed us on stuff that smelt/tasted like that (and filled the house with the smell) :beer:

a_sav

Nice to know that there are others that agree that food from the slow cooker smelt/tasted electrical. Sorry with that and the house smelling of dinner no one ate properly, I gave it away !

Swan_2

I bought my slow cooker when I had no hob & oven for a year, & although it was useful, I never really liked anything that was cooked in it
it all had a kind of, for want of a better way of putting it, 'institutional' smell & taste

soup was passable, other things edible but not nice, & don't get me started on the travesty that is a whole chicken done in it! one of the most vile things I've ever had the misfortune to experience _pale_


I gave the cooker away ... to my ex husband

foxgloves

I've found the flavour of stews, etc, better when I've cooked the onions first in a bit of oil like I would do if I was making the dish on the hob in a normal pan. Can use my slowcooker crock on the hob so this isn't a problem. This seems to get rid of the sort of vague acrid backnote I was noticing when I first got the slowcooker & was chucking everything in raw.

MrsE_2

morganlefay wrote: »

No Mrs E you aren't mad or a bad washer-up, I had exactly the same thing. I bought a lovely oval, new, white SC from E Bay (can't remember what make) and the first time I used it I thought it had a nasty chemical smell. I assumed it was just 'new gadget' smell and that it would wear off, but whatever I cooked in it it smelt, and it made the food taste funny too. In the end I freecycled it and got a Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker which I LOVE. But last week I got my very old and small, one-setting SC out of the back of the cupboard and did pork cheek in it (which I can HUGELY recommend) and it didn't smell or taste nasty, so I'm wondering if it was just that model of SC - indeed perhaps that's why it was on e bay at such a good price. Is yours, by chance an oval, white one with a removable china crock and 3 settings ? I'm so glad you asked this question because I really felt like such a failure at not being able to make decent food in it, but I really couldn't feed us on stuff that smelt/tasted like that (and filled the house with the smell) :beer:

Mine is oval but its a brown (huge) Hitachi one.

MicheH

I am trying to be a fan of my slow cooker but it's very difficult. My children and DH moan when it's slow cooked food, doesn't matter what it is. Reminds me of how I felt with my Mams sloppy corned beef hash. I'm perservering and have rice pudding down to a fine art in it. I guess it's just learning how to use it to the best advantage.

MrsE_2

a_sav wrote: »

Nice to know that there are others that agree that food from the slow cooker smelt/tasted electrical. Sorry with that and the house smelling of dinner no one ate properly, I gave it away !

There must be a smell/taste off it & some of us who are sensitive to these things get. I have a very acute sense of smell.

morganlefay

MrsE wrote: »

There must be a smell/taste off it & some of us who are sensitive to these things get. I have a very acute sense of smell.

me too, MrsE, me too ! and it's not always an advantage I fear. If it's not the make of SC that's doing it (and I think the growing number of people on this thread who agree with you about the smell suggests that it's not just one make) , I think you might very well be quite right about the sensitive nose problem !

anguk

We don't like stews/casseroles done in the slow cooker either and find they have an odd taste, I much prefer them done in the oven. I do use my slow cooker for rice pudding and gammon joints and they're lovely, it's just stew type things that aren't very nice.