Using a slow cooker - techniques and tips

Olliebeak

The meat goes in raw. You can brown it first - if that's what you like to do - but I think that you'll find most of us just throw it in raw with the vegetables. Some folks may parboil the veggies first - but I've found that if you cut them up fairly small that's not needed. I suppose it depends on your personal taste, but I prefer some veggies not to be too mushy. (eg I keeps some leeks back until halfway through - so that they are at least recognisable as leeks).

The whole point of the slow cooker is to keep everything as simple (and time saving) as possible - so just throw it all in together. To give things a 'headstart' I use boiling water from the kettle to dissolve any stock cubes and add that to the SC, then top up with more boiling water until the veggies are covered - you don't want any potatoes going black because they're out of the water!

If it's any help to you, I had mine for a month before attempting to use it. The darn thing was almost laughing at me before I plucked up the courage to try it out. For your first attempt, I would recommend trying out something while you're still at home - so that you get to watch it and build your confidence in it's ability to 'get on with the job'!

Good luck!

lollyred1

Thank you thats are tea on before 5 month old monster gets up:T

newlywed

OK been working on convincing OH to get a slow cooker - think it's working

Do I need to get a timer if I'm going to be out for 10 hours a day - or will the recipes be ok on low for that long?

noonesperfect

I usually coat casserole meat in seasoned flour then brown it quickly. I also give onions a bit of a headstart by microwaving them for a couple of minutes.
General rule:- root veges in the bottom (try and cut everything about the same size), meat on top then liquid to cover (it doesn't evaporate at all though).
I normally decant the stew into a large saucepan, thicken it then cook the dumplings on top of the stove for about 20 minutes.
If you've quite alot of gravy and veges left over you can always liquidize, freeze and use it for gravy in a shepherds pie, it's lovely!!

kittykat500

I notice that most people claim that the meat falls off the bone when using a slow cooker. In my experience the meat usually goes black and hard after 10 hours cooking on either low or high!!Anyone got any idea what I'm doing wrong? I generally brown the meat before putting it in but that's not the reason for it looking black!

Olliebeak

The only disappointment that I've had with meat in the SC was with something called 'potroast' from ASDA. I found it to fall apart in the dish BUT when eating it was very chewy - I think it was something to do with the actual fibres of the meat. I just couldn't cut across them either.

The next meat I tried was stewing steak (was actually shin beef) from ASDA and it turned out 'real melt in the mouth' when done with veggies for 'Scouse'.

Since then I've used ham shanks, chicken, pork and turkey and they've all been great.

Incidentally, I've never floured or browned any meat before putting into the bowl.Did you make sure that the meat was covered with water when you were cooking?

Just remembered, I DID do a sausage casserole one day and browned the sausages first - but only because I wanted to release any excess fat from the sausages and also didn't want to have insipid looking sausages served up.

Skint_Catt

I find most of my SC meals taste of the samey nothingness. Theres' no flavour and the only meat that tastes well done in it is pork.

The_Swiss

HeY! Its The Swiss from Chester. I have just got back from work 16.25hrs. I put a 1.5kg whole gammon in the 2.5ltr SC at 13.30 hrs. I poured the syrup from a small tin of halved peaches in the pot. So there was very little liquid. I then skewered the peaches with cocktail sticks onto the exposed side of the gammon and then poured honey on the top (Looks good!), the honey gets captured between the peaches, in fact, turn some of the peach halves upside down so the honey gets captured in the hole where the peach stone was, when you baste the gammon, it gives a slow release of the juices. I put it on medium at 13.30hrs, its now 3 hours later and when I walked in the house Boy! Did it smell good. My wife gets home at 5.30pm so another hour and it will be perfick!!. Going to serve it with asparagus, mash made with sweet potato, swede and parsnip and a light cheese sauce. I am going to slice the peach halves because they are still moist to decorate the plate then sprinkle some chopped parsley over the mash. O what a night! Don't you just love that slow cooker! The Swiss:rotfl:

Brooktop

I'm finding that with previously frozen - but thawed - stewing steak that we're having to brown it first (and bring it up to temperature) which somewhat defeats the object.

I will try and put it in raw next time and cook it on high all day (from 8.30am to 7pm normally) - because cooking it on Auto just results in tough meat.

chef123_2

Tip 1. Whatever you cook in a slow cooker cover with a sheet of foil prior to putting on the lid. This ensures an airtight seal to keep flavours in & stops cooking smells wafting around the house.

Tip 2. Adding too much water or stock dilutes the juices for gravy & also affects the taste of the joint. No need to add more than minimal stock, as the joint will give out far more juices than you started with anyway.