Slow cooker - heat setting help

[DoodleCat]

Thanks in advance for help.

I bought a Morphy Richards slow cooker in the sales (the one where you can sear stuff in it on the hob too). I've tried about five recipes in it so far. Every time it gets near the time it should be finished I look at it and it just doesn't seem to be nearly ready so I whack it up to High and it starts actually seeming to cook. For example, today I'm doing a chicken which should take 8 hours (it said low heat but I went for medium), 4 hours in I looked at it and it didn't seem even slightly different so I've put it up to High. It's warming and there's a bit of a smell of chicken in the house now.

Is it just that I'm new to this and should trust the recipe/cooker or is it usual to need the high heat most of the time?

Thank you!

[OnlyTheDepthVaries]

I have the Morphy Richards Sear and Stew. I make sure everything is boiling in the pot on the hob before removing the pot to the slow cooker....which I have pre heated. I then leave it on hot for a while and then reduce to low if I am leaving the meal to cook all day. Mine seems to crack on with a good simmer on low.

[DoodleCat]

Ah, that's the one I've got! Okay, I'll try with hot stuff and high for a bit to get it going. Thank you so much, I feel daft worrying so much over a slow cooker :-)

[CurlsLDN]

I have a slow cooker, but not the same one as you. However I wouldn’t expect to smell chicken at only 4 hours out of 8, the tasty smells come in the last hour or so.
I’ve never had to adjust the temps, I find everything comes out beautifully at 4hrs in low or 8 hrs on high

[DoodleCat]

Thank you! I think I am just being paranoid.

[Duckies]

When you say 'look at it's, do you take the lid off? If so, resist the temptation!