Why haven’t I been slow cooking all my life!?

[icebearforpresident]

After gathering dust for years i’ve actually started to use my slow cooker, 3 times in the last 4 weeks and I genuinely don’t understand why I haven’t been using it! Everything tastes amazing and I love not having to rush to get stuff ready by 6 o clock. This weekend I made chicken tikka and it was better than any supermarket ready meal or jar of sauce. The beef stew last weekend was also a roaring success, even the kids ate it.

Any recipes you can share, I plan on using it as much as possible from now on.

Place marking for recipes, but I love opening the door after a hard day at work and being hit by the smell of a hot cooked meal. So easy! Chicken thighs, a whole chicken, mince in bolognaise style sauce...

I use my slow cooker weekly and love it but...

Recently bought an electric pressure cooker, bloody game changer!

Cooked a joint of beef in 12 mins today and it was amazing!

Is it the chicken tikka masala you made OP? Can’t find plain chicken tikka on the site. If it’s good I’ll make it tomorrow 😀

I don't know why but it just doesn't work for me. Maybe my slow cooker is crap. I have a le creuset style casserole dish and slow cook lovely stews and bolognese in it in my gas oven though!

Following 😋

I cook a full chicken in mine and it's absolutely gorgeous. So juicy!

Yes wolfhounds, it was the tikka masala,

Are there really slow slow cookers? Most of the recipes seem to be 6/7 hours, but the latest anyone leaves the house is 8am and nobody's back before 5.30pm - and we probably wouldn't want to serve before 6.30pm. Does that mean a slow cooker is pointless for us?

Love mine, use it for curry, spag bol, stew, gammon, whole roast chicken, beef joint ... Also have a smaller one for rice pudding, bread and butter pudding etc.

There are some foods that are best cooked twice, especially beef stew and beef chili. You cant beat a slow cooker for those.

diamantegal you can use a timer plug.

I love mine! Mexican chicken is our favourite.

userschmoozer really? I don't need to fry stuff off and then flip into slow cook mode? Or does it do all that for me?

Clearly need to do some research - DS loves stews etc so this could be a perfect solution.

I bought a brilliant one last week from Asda. It's massive, has a timer that goes from low/med/high to warm when the time is up AND you can use the pan to fry things before you put it in the cooker. So no more separate frying pan to brown onions/meat. It's so good and was in the sale at £25.

I used it to make a stew, sausage and canelli bean casserole. Worked brilliantly.

I'm making this tomorrow - slowcookergourmet.net/slow-cooker-honey-crispy-chicken/

I do baked potatoes in mine and they are lovely, prick them all over rub olive oil and sea salt in, wrap them in foil and put them in on low for 8-9 hours. Also macaroni cheese is lush,
Pint and a half of milk
Tsp mustard powder
250g mature cheddar
50g Parmesan
100g cream cheese
400g macaroni
Cook on high for 2hrs
Warning 900calories per serving but god it’s good!

diamantegal If its beef or lamb you can brown it the night before, chill it, then put it on in the morning to start heating later in the day.
With pork or poultry its a bit more tricky, you can brown the meat, chill it fast then freeze it, then put it in the pot to cook from frozen. But you have to work out how much to adjust the cooking time.

I do a whole chicken fab gravy base and moist meat. Option to brown skin in the oven but I don’t as it’s healthier :-)

Most dishes can handle the extra time but there is the option of a timer plug as someone suggested . I don’t bother browning anything just chuck it in !

I don't get on with mine at all! I thought mine was just crap so bought another one with the same result - everything just ends up smelling amazing but tasting of nothing. I started putting it on later in the day but still the same. What am I doing wrong?

@romanticfatigue too much liquid diluting the taste ? You really don’t need much at all.

I don’t get on with them either. The texture of the meat is weird and everything is watery even though I don’t put much in. I follow recipes and have tried two different slow cookers. Both the same weird meals. Mince stuff is ok though.

I received a slow cooker as a wedding present from a relative who was a working mum, with advice that it was nice to come home to a meal and she was right! I used to put ours on before 8.00am and we'd probably eat around 6.00pm at the earliest.

I still use one, I don't work now but when I'm in late due to taking DD to activities, it is nice to come home to a meal.

I am not very adventurous though, and it is mainly stew!

I'm doing that macaroni cheese. Hell yeah.

@Charles11 when I did fajitas the other day and wanted less liquid I put a clean tea towel between the lid and top of the slow cooker pot

Here's a tip. If you don't have a cooker with two sections and you want to cook two things at once, use two roasting or slow cooker bags side by side.

I did a piece of brisket in mine for sunday lunch, first time ever having brisket - it definitely won't be the last, in fact I'm going to be reluctant to buy any other cut of beef now as it was that good. Simply placed the meat on onions, carrots and celery and added a mug full of stock and cooked on low for 8 hours.