How to soften my beef... and moisten my chicken!

[cjt110]

I buy beef - frozen from Asda - that we can afford.

I took extra effort the other day to fry off and seal with onions etc before putting in the slow cooker with herbs spices and stock. Cooked on low for 3 hours. Turned off for 2 hours then back on low for a further 2.

It was like old boots.

And also, whenever I cook chicken in the slow cooker, it goes dry. I might put it on low for 5 hours.

Is it the technique or the quality of meat?

Oh this is me!

No idea about the beef but I often have chicken on low for 8 hours and it's never dry.

@SneakyGremlins It isn't ever like moist or succulent. It's dry-ish when you bite into it... stringy if you like?

When we do beef in the slow cooker we either have it on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours (approx) and it falls apart it's so tender. Maybe extend cooking time or put it on high rather than low?

I wonder if a shorter cooking time might help. I used to put the slow cooker on in the morning before work on low and by the time we were eating I the evening almost everything was tough. Bought a timer to turn the slow cooker on later which helped a bit.

Eventually I gave up on the slow cooker and now use my oven on the timer cook, so far no tough casseroles.

@gigglingHyena I had thought the same so bought one of those timer switch things. No real difference and the SC is relatively new

Oh, I get what you mean - I bring my chicken in straight from the lack and then just leave it. Always seems to work for me - maybe it's the 8 hours?

Might be the wrong beef. You need tough slightly fatty cuts for long slow cooking. Plenty of collagen fibres to melt down to gelatine when cooked. Neck cuts or similar. Lean steak will be awful in a stew.

from the lack?

Perhaps it's because it's cheap beef?

What sort of cuts are you using? What does the label say?

Are you leaving enough fat in there? All meats need an amount of fat/oil in order to be 'moist' - it's not usually water that's missing but fat.

Supermarket beef is a bugger for being way underfat in this country, for perfectly reasonable health reasons. You may improve matters with a couple of glugs of olive oil. I've not used frozen beef for a while, but it was always the lowest rung quality wise and always really, really fatless. Brisket, shin, skirt are all good for stewing, with appropriate fat levels - you'd have to do a price check. Trim off the chunks of fat, they're no good, but the meat needs to have fat in the muscle, 'marbled', to stew really well.

For the chicken, if it's chunks go for thighs, else try not skinning it, or if you're doing whole try popping it in breast-down. For just breast, glug of olive oil. Chicken has a "0h - good - 2h - bad - 4h - good" curve over time, there's this period 2-4h where it comes out a bit shoeleather.

If it's marbled like your link, that's pretty good! If it's just dark red, too low fat.

@villainousbroodmare It just says Diced beef. 100% beef.

@SpoonBlender Thanks for the tip.

@spoonblender... a bit of both I'd say... Have said to DH I@ll not bother getting it again because it's just been so crappy the last few times we've had it.

Cook your beef in red wine to tenderise it. I put mine in the slow cooker for about 8 hours and it's fine.

Perhaps it's because it's cheap beef?

There's cheap and cheap, though. If you're slow cooking, then you can use shin of beef or oxtail. Both are cheap, even if they are decent quality. For example, here. But if you buy cheap beef which is a low quality example of a less suitable cut, then it will be tough.

@ReflectentMonatomism Thanks for the link. Ill have a look for an equivalent in Asda

Try next time to find whole cuts of neck, brisket or skirt as Spoonblender says. Hack out any big chunks of fat. Leave any bones in for flavour. Never let it boil - the barest simmer is what you want. And cook for a long time. Tbh a butcher is a far better source of meat than a supermarket and need not be expensive.

I find putting an onion inside a chicken makes it more succulent and tasty.

I think beef is best in slow cooker but also depends on the cut, personally I prefer brisket in the slow cooker for the day is delicious x

There's a jamie Oliver beef stew recipe that never fails me, this one but I add mushrooms to it, and chopped bacon lardons or pancetta when frying off the veg as it adds the fat to break down the meat
No browning of the meat required either, and I used whatever diced beef I have as long as I add the bacon it seems to work

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/beef-and-ale-stew/

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/slow-cooker-pot-roast%3famp I used this recipe last week and it was lovely, next time I will swap the beef stock and red wine quantities though to fit with my son's taste in gravy.

When I do chicken I put in a layer of onion, mushroom and carrot and add about 100ml of chicken stock. High for 1 hour then low for 4-5 hours. It's beautifully moist. Still need to leave to rest covered with foil and a tea towel. Liquid makes great gravy.

Throwing bacon bits (lardons, pancetta) in to juice a stew up is always a winner, fat again plus salt, but it's not a cheap method.

I never fry off beef before adding to the slow cooker and it always turns out lovely.

I don't know if you have a farm foods near you but we had their diced beef a couple of times and were convinced it was shin. It's in a blue bag and it's Scottish too so nothing dodgy. Really cheap and tasty stewed.

5 hours on low just isn't long enough, you need 8. As for chicken, I think breast is terrible in the slow cooker - thighs are much more suited to slow cooking and are cheaper.