Slow cooker beginner - question/s

MoonChild91

Katiehound said:

MoonChild91 said:

 

I've recently learnt to make puddings in mine - highly recommended!

What kind of puddings are you talking about? please elaborate!

They're excellent for steamed puddings especially! You just put the pudding basin in, fill the slow cooker with water about half way up and whack it on high for a few hours. Also very good for making rice pudding, pie fillings/fruit compote (I stewed a load of rhubarb in the spring in mine and we've made apple butter too). They're also FANTASTIC at making big batches of hot chocolate or mulled wine in, and I've seen a few recipes for slow cooker fudge which I might have a bash at before Christmas. 

Something I've recently discovered is dump puddings, which don't sound great, but are almost half way between a steamed pudding and cake? This particular recipe I've made a few times now > https://www.thereciperebel.com/slow-cooker-gingerbread-pudding-cake/

katkin

Self saucing puddings are delicious - lots of recipes out there. This one is from a website dedicated to slow cooker recipes. 

https://justslowcooker-recipes.com/slow-cooker-chocolate-self-saucing-pudding/

There are lots of blogs and websites sites dedicated to slow cooking, the world's your oyster with a goggle search! 

Like most cooking at home there's always going to be an element of trial, error and experience. Lots of great advice and tips here - I do hope you give it a few more tries and enjoy the dishes. 

ariarnia

i second (third) using a timer so it comes on a little later and is ready for when you want it. they're quite cheap on amazon. some people use them to turn the lights on and off when they're on holiday. it's the same thing. but not if you would need to spend a lot on a new slow cooker of course. have you checked the manual for yours? there might be a delayed start function if its a posh one.

im also not very good at making gravy so what i do when i want a 'sauce' with my slow cooked thing or when i'm cooking a stew is to use a can of soup as the liquid or a tin of tomatoes and about half a tin of water. its' about the right amount and its then also not watery when it's done.

if you;re cooking something with lentils or oats or that's going to absorb liquid then i put in the volume again of the thing (so a cup of lentils with a can of soup and a cup of water). if you're cooking something like meat and veg then all you really need is enough water to cover the bottom of the cooker as the veg and meat will relate more water as it cooks. 

the most important thing is to not take the lid off the slow cooker. when there's steam inside then yo'll see water around the lid. this forms like a seal on the slow cooker and stops liquid evaporating. taking the lid off also reduces the temperature and means it needs longer to cook.

hope that helps

B0bbyEwing

maman said:

I don't use my slow cooker to prepare meals when I'm out. Instead I use it mainly for batch cooking Bolognese and chilli for the freezer. I think the food tastes better after it's been marinating than when it's freshly cooked. It's a big time saver (and healthy) to have home made ready meals. 

Ok stupid question time - but cooking from frozen. I'm always weary of it in that I just don't do it.

I'm sure some stuff is fine to cook from frozen but I don't know how you call it. Unless it's something from the supermarket that says cook from frozen on the label then I just don't.

So you batch cook a load of whatever, chilli for example as you say. Is this ok to cook from frozen or not? Does it need defrosting first?
Or rather you're not cooking from frozen as it's already cooked, but getting it to eating temperature is what I suppose I should say.

And then how do you call it for other foods?

maman said:

Incidentally @BobbyEwing, why are you using microwave rice? 

250g is an ideal size & it's just handy and relatively cheap. 
Chuck it in the microwave, 90secs, 120secs depending on the bag, done. Wife has about 80g, I have the rest. 

Probably cheaper to buy a 25kg bag that requires doing in boiling water but then there's the faff of that and the question of how much cheaper is it. If we're talking 20p for 250g vs 35p then I'm not really bothered. If we're talking 5p vs 35p then I'd probably consider it.

B0bbyEwing

QrizB said:

B0bbyEwing said:

But then my wife pointed out that the slow cooker itself goes off after a certain amount of time. Basically it needs you to be there to press the timer twice which knocks it in to low heat, then you need to press another button to set the duration you want, then you need to press the start button. You can't set it & leave it for it to then click on in x-hours time as all the display goes off & you have to start again.

Sounds as though you need a dumber slow cooker (one without any smarts) or a fingerbot to press the button for you.

Something like this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265850885199

Although spending £30+ to switch on a slow cooker seems a bit much to me - not very moneysaving!

A dumber slow cooker is half the price:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325284713626

I've no doubt that it's probably better with one of these kinds of slow cookers.

Bit like learning recently these heat pump dryer things are the most efficient tumble driers. Never heard of them before.

But I'd be shelling out when I have a perfectly good [appliance] at home. When it (slow cooker / dryer etc) breaks then I'd look at replacing it but not much point in replacing it when it's good.

B0bbyEwing

Pollycat said:

There's actually lots of slow cooker threads on here but I can't search very well on my phone.

Don't worry about it. I think the search function on the PC isn't great on this forum.

B0bbyEwing

ariarnia said:

i second (third) using a timer so it comes on a little later and is ready for when you want it. 

I've already mentioned the timer situation a few times I'm afraid.

Unless I go out & buy a new slow cooker just so I can use a timer then it's not happening.

maman

I did some rough calculations and I'm getting  about 16 x 250g portions of cooked brown rice from 1kg pack in Aldi. That's 7p a time compared with the microwave pouches at 35p. Obviously cooking costs on top of that. It takes 30 minutes to cook 4 x 250g portions as that's all my saucepan holds. If white rice then cheaper still I think.

As for reheating. It depends how much you plan ahead. If you take e.g.chilli out of the freezer the night before then it will defrost and reheat until bubbling on the hob. If not, then microwave to quickly defrost and if you want to be extra sure put it on the hob for a few minutes. HTH. 

Pollycat

B0bbyEwing said:

maman said:

I don't use my slow cooker to prepare meals when I'm out. Instead I use it mainly for batch cooking Bolognese and chilli for the freezer. I think the food tastes better after it's been marinating than when it's freshly cooked. It's a big time saver (and healthy) to have home made ready meals. 

Ok stupid question time - but cooking from frozen. I'm always weary of it in that I just don't do it.

I'm sure some stuff is fine to cook from frozen but I don't know how you call it. Unless it's something from the supermarket that says cook from frozen on the label then I just don't.

So you batch cook a load of whatever, chilli for example as you say. Is this ok to cook from frozen or not? Does it need defrosting first?
Or rather you're not cooking from frozen as it's already cooked, but getting it to eating temperature is what I suppose I should say.

And then how do you call it for other foods?

maman said:

Incidentally @BobbyEwing, why are you using microwave rice? 

250g is an ideal size & it's just handy and relatively cheap. 
Chuck it in the microwave, 90secs, 120secs depending on the bag, done. Wife has about 80g, I have the rest. 

Probably cheaper to buy a 25kg bag that requires doing in boiling water but then there's the faff of that and the question of how much cheaper is it. If we're talking 20p for 250g vs 35p then I'm not really bothered. If we're talking 5p vs 35p then I'd probably consider it.

I'm pretty sure Maman isn't talking about cooking from frozen in the slow cooker.
Rather doing a large batch of say chilli in the slow cooker, freezing it, getting it out when you need it and reheating however you like...hob, microwave but not in the slow cooker.
I would never put anything frozen in the slow cooker.

I cook my raw rice in the microwave.
It takes about 12 minutes plus 4 minutes standing.

Katiehound

I cook  rice in the microwave too.

1 x mug full rice  + 2 x mugfuls boiling water- 10 mins on high

I wouldn't cook anything from frozen- except perhaps a bought pastry thing like salmon en croute- which yes, states it can be cooked from frozen.

defrost first. Then it  takes less power to cook

basic white rice from most supermarkets is around 45 pence for 1 kg so we are talking  11 pence for 250g dry weight. I've no idea how this works out when cooked as I am doing it for my old dog so judge by scoops rather than weight.