Pleased to report that my first foray into the unknown world of the slow cooker was a success yesterday. There wasn't a recipe booklet in the box and the website wasn't any immediate help, so I improvised. I put the small organic beef joint into the Crockpot bottom, surrounded it with washed new potatoes - larger ones cut in half - and washed organic carrots - topped and tailed and cut into thirds - poured on enough low salt beef stock from cubes to cover it, and added a couple of sprigs of rosemary from the garden. The rosemary is looking very sparse from overuse, so I probably need to plant some more. Lid on and cooked on high - because we wanted to eat before midnight! - for about 4 hours. I then warmed some chilled Yorkshire puddings inside on top of the hot food - with apologies to my late mother who would have been turning in her grave at readymade Yorkshire puddings - and hey presto.
We all agreed it was delicious, with the beef so tender it was falling apart, and the carrots and potatoes very flavoursome. The only thing was, it wasn't really a roast - I couldn't have sliced the beef - so I still need to find out how to do that. Low rather than high heat, shorter time, less liquid? Perhaps I need a slow cooker recipe book.
One DC thought it was a Sloth Cooker, which is quite apt, and so that is what it will be called here forevermore.
It was good to be able to get on with other jobs - school uniform washing, a bath for a DC, the washing up and so on - with the hope of a good meal at the end and cooking aromas drifting around.
We had it with English sparkling wine I had actually bought as a Christmas gift, oops - as good as any champagne! - to celebrate the election result.
We are looking forward to pets returning to the White House. I hear the Bidens have two German Shepherds - Champ and Major. The Donald had no pets, quelle surprise.