I'm going to cook a chicken in my slow cooker for the first time ..

[hughjarssss]

tomorrow.

How would you do it?

[lou33]

no idea, but i read the thread title as "i'm going to cook my children in a slow cooker for the first time"

[hughjarssss]

lou

[MarkStretch]

oooo I want to know too. Everything I cook in a slow cooker tastes shit.

[badgermonkey]

I put in the slow cooker, put the lid on and switch it on. Don't add anything at all. But when I do it, it's to strip all the meat off the bones easily to use in curry/enchiladas/etc, not to eat 'as is' - it can be a bit bland on its own.

[MarkStretch]

Low/med/high? For how long?

[hughjarssss]

I want to cook a roast so probably do need to add something.

Intrested in what other people add

[MarkStretch]

So without sounding really thick- you put a whole chicken, raw, in the slow cooker, right?

[badgermonkey]

Er...low, and for the whole day. Usually put it in at 7am, before I leave for work, and take it out at 6ish. I find whole chickens rather robust in the slow cooker.

[badgermonkey]

Yep, raw, and I don't add liquid; there's plenty in the bottom when you take it out anyway, and you don't want it wet. You could add any of the usual garlic/lemon/herbs type things I suppose.

[MarkStretch]

Blimey. I am going to try that.

[yorkiegal]

Hi i do this all the time on a chicken in and on low for about 5-6 hours .

[hughjarssss]

Do you add anything yorkiegal?

[cadelaide]

But don't they come out rather pale? You're not going to get that lovely golden skin, surely?

[hughjarssss]

Hadn't thought about that

[badgermonkey]

No, you don't get lovely crispy skin, but you do get every single scrap of meat off the bones, and it's nice and tender. If I buy an expensive free-range chicken, I do like to know I've eaten all of it that I could!

[cadelaide]

Does it look nice enough to serve as part of a traditional roast meal, badgermonkey?

I'm tempted.....

[hughjarssss]

Thats what I'm intested in cadelaide

[Jahan]

I tried it once and it was rubbish. The skin was all sloppy and it was very bland.

I think browning it in some oil/butter first would work well.