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Have I bought a too big slow cooker?

I really wanted a slow cooker for batch cooking and bought a Morphy Richards 6.5l one not realising how large it would be. It says it needs to be half full to work properly yet today I put in 800g of stewing steak with a 500ml bottle of ale (Xmas present) and another 300ml of water with stock. It was only about 1/3 full.  I am worried I have got the size so wrong it won’t be worth using, or is it really ok to use less than half full? 

Also I’ve seen you can do jacket pots in them but this one seems to have liquid in all the recipes in the instruction manual. 

The one good feature is that the pot is aluminium so can go on the job to braise the meat before placing in the slow cooker outer. Saves on washing up! 

Any advice would be gratefully received!
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Comments

  • joedenise
    joedenise Posts: 17,323 Forumite
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    I wouldn't just be cooking 800g of stewing steak in it!  I would be adding loads of veg and probably some canned beans as well.  Certainly doesn't need loads of liquid with it.

    One of my favourite things to do in the slow cooker is a whole chicken and I just put 2 or 3 halved onions in the base and stand the chicken on top of them - no liquid at all.  Cook for 8 hours on low.

    To do jacket potatoes just wrap the potatoes in foil and then put them in the SC and cook for 8 hours on Low.  Once cooked allow to cool and then freeze excess.  Just reheat in the microwave when you want a jacket potato.

  • goldfinches
    goldfinches Posts: 2,325 Forumite
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    I have the smaller 3.5l Morphy Richards and agree that being able to use the pot on the hob is a real plus.
    I've been hesitating for a while between buying another pot for the one I have or just buying the bigger one because I find that mine really isn't quite big enough to steam puddings in basins or to cook more than 8 portions of any dish so I think you've probably chosen the right size.
    Mine works best when its two thirds full by depth so there's enough head room to stir it easily and to add in seasoning, drop in dumplings or use my hand blender to finish off a dish but it also cooks well because the liquid is at the right level for the heating elements to warm it.
    If you're new to slow cooking I found this Dorling Kindersley book really helpful Slow Cooking | DK UK in explaining the principles and now get most of my recipes from BBC Good Food, Good Housekeeping and Olive Magazine. I also found this series of books The Skinny Slow Cooker Recipe Book: Delicious Recipes Under 300, 400 And 500 Calories eBook: CookNation: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store excellent.
    I've now got to the stage where I can adapt recipes to suit the slow cooker and get them right first time and with hindsight I think it took me about 6 months of using mine twice a week to get to that level.

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  • joedenise said:
    I wouldn't just be cooking 800g of stewing steak in it!  I would be adding loads of veg and probably some canned beans as well.  Certainly doesn't need loads of liquid with it.

    One of my favourite things to do in the slow cooker is a whole chicken and I just put 2 or 3 halved onions in the base and stand the chicken on top of them - no liquid at all.  Cook for 8 hours on low.

    i agree that i'd not just cook the meat in it, i'd add veg and beans too when making a stew.
    i tend to use my big slowy when batch cooking things like chilli, bol sauce etc etc that benefit from a long slow simmer..... oh and for mulled wine (when allowed pals over :D )
    please remember with a slowy you only need about a third of the liquid you'd normally use in an oven stew or a stove top wonder cos it doesn't evaporate. beans, lentils, potatoes will suck up some liquid but you still need less and make stocks stronger than usual.

  • coffeehound
    coffeehound Posts: 5,741 Forumite
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    For smaller amounts, I spose you could put the food in a smaller bowl inside the SC and fill the SC bowl with water to 2/3rds full.  Being metal it should heat up pretty quickly.
  • To be honest, I have a SC of about that size (also christened 'the baby bath') which I inherited and I use it mainly for when I'm batch-cooking large amounts of stew, though I have done a whole chicken in it. For day-to-day stuff for the 2 of us, I tend to use my small one

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  • Lots of useful ideas, thank you! I did put carrots and onions in with the stew but I think I need to budget buying larger volumes of meat and veg to then batch cook and freeze lots of meals rather than just enough for another day. 

    Great idea about a smaller bowl inside with water around, they have a syrup pudding in the recipe book done like that. 

    I will keep playing 😁
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  • sheilavw
    sheilavw Posts: 1,640 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    My slow cooker is that size, there's only me now but I will make a meal and freeze some, if I put a chilli on or a casserole its only been a third full but its always been fine
  • goldfinches
    goldfinches Posts: 2,325 Forumite
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    Lots of useful ideas, thank you! I did put carrots and onions in with the stew but I think I need to budget buying larger volumes of meat and veg to then batch cook and freeze lots of meals rather than just enough for another day. 

    Great idea about a smaller bowl inside with water around, they have a syrup pudding in the recipe book done like that. 

    I will keep playing 😁
    I've just been looking back through my cook's notes on recipes etc. and realised that I was just the same as you when I first got mine in that I made what was then a normal quantity for me of bolognese sauce using just one onion and 1 tin of chopped tomatoes as my first dish and couldn't see what was so special about the slow cooker.
    Nowadays I make 8 portions as a minimum and gladly throw together a use it up soup thinking the more the merrier as I fling vegetables in.
    I've definitely found it excellent for things that need steaming as well as for dumplings which come out beautifully fluffy and moist so do persevere and if you'd like more recipe recommendations January 2021 Grocery Challenge — MoneySavingExpert Forum (recipes posts #4 - #10 ) or What are you making for dinner? - Page 815 — MoneySavingExpert Forum are always worth a read.

    "Only the most pleasant characters in this book are portraits of living people and the events here recorded unfortunately never took place"

    The Tiger In The Smoke
    by
    Margery Allingham
  • PipneyJane
    PipneyJane Posts: 4,475 Forumite
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    I really wanted a slow cooker for batch cooking and bought a Morphy Richards 6.5l one not realising how large it would be. It says it needs to be half full to work properly yet today I put in 800g of stewing steak with a 500ml bottle of ale (Xmas present) and another 300ml of water with stock. It was only about 1/3 full.  I am worried I have got the size so wrong it won’t be worth using, or is it really ok to use less than half full? 

    Also I’ve seen you can do jacket pots in them but this one seems to have liquid in all the recipes in the instruction manual. 

    The one good feature is that the pot is aluminium so can go on the job to braise the meat before placing in the slow cooker outer. Saves on washing up! 

    Any advice would be gratefully received!
    The short answer is "No, you haven't bought too large a slow cooker".  Mine is about the same size as yours and I use it on a regular basis.  As well as cooking stews - always padded out with beans and veg - my slow cooker is great for cooking joints of meat on the bone:  lamb shanks, shoulder of lamb, pork shoulder, ham hock with black beans... Anything that requires a long time to cook in order to be meltingly tender and fall off the bone.   I do whole chickens in it too, but they do have a tendency to fall apart.  (We call it "self carving chicken".)

     I used to have a smaller slow cooker, a 3 litre one, and found that it was impossible to fit anything that wasn't cubed in it. 

    HTH

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