What is the point of slow cookers?

[EachandEveryone]

My neighbour came around to admire it yesterday. It was her that persuaded me to get one, I am a nurse but have stopped nights for now. I batch cook sometimes but I’ve only myself to feed. I really don’t need a slow cooker do I? What does actually taste better in it? And doesn’t it make you living space smell of cooking all day? I’m in a flat and can’t stand it if I smell cooking in my bedroom😃

I love doing taco shredded chicken in mine.Great for when everyone comes in at different times.
It's like everything though,it takes practice.And I made the rookie mistake of touch water as well.

Also don't take the lid off.

I never knew jacket potato's could be slow cooked !!

Used it for stock, gammon and er that was it. Really didn’t like the taste or texture of anything I tried.

Love slow cooked food from the oven though....

@EachandEveryone

Well ive made a plan to do the Hairy Bikers sausage casserole when i get in from work tonight at 9pm. Its not specifically for slow cookers is there anything I should be doing different?

I wouldn't bother browning cubes of meat like beef or lamb, or skinless chicken thighs, but I'd definitely still brown sausages for a casserole, partly because any time DP hears the mention of sausage casserole, you see a look of fear in his eyes about a childhood memory of MIL making sausage casserole without browning and them looking like fingers.

If I ask him if he wants sausage casserole, he will say 'only if you brown the sausages'. DP and BIL still occasionally tease MIL about 'fingers casserole'.

I usually brown beef & chicken thighs, but don't bother with chicken breast (which in fact isn't the best to use in the SC, anyway.

Mine has lost its lid so I use an oval quiche dish that doesn't quite fit, plus foil. It means I can't leave it all day or overnight without burning, which is a bugger!

I find it absolutely comes into its own for tomato sauce (add any veg which needs using up to the tomatoes, blend it at the end - great for disguising veg). I then use the sauce as a basis for chilli, bolognese etc.

It also makes fantastic curries - the spices really get a chance to permeate everything. Oh, & gammon in coke is amazing, although it does really need a quick flash in the oven afterwards to brown & crisp it a bit.

The best tip is definitely to cut down all liquids. Assuming you've still got your lid...

What about frozen onions? Will they work in a casserole?

Can't see why not.

I do pig and beef cheeks in mine. Need lots of slow cooking then fridge overnight and remove any fat or bones . Fabulous and cheap.

Yes I use frozen onions in mine (although I leave them 10 or 20 minutes on high to defrost and soften before I add the rest)

I won’t cook any ‘meat’ not in a slow cooker - obviously sausages etc in the oven but if it’s a joint it always goes in the slow cooker on low all day - I’ve never had anything that doesn’t fall off the bone. For that reason alone I think they’re worth it!

I think they're only useful occasionally unless you regularly enjoy mucking about with raw meat and vegetables first thing in the morning, which I certainly don't.

But I work from home and can cook almost any time so if I want a stew or something like that then I'll start preparing it at about 4pm.

We're Jewish and we use ours to cook a stew called cholent over the sabbath. We chucked all the veg in last night, and it will bubble away until sundown tomorrow. I can smell it now, and it's making my mouth water!

I find you need a lot more spices eg coriander/cumin and a lot less water than normal. A recipe I use a lot for chilli uses about 5 tablespoons of spices/herbs altogether! Bean chilli, chickpea curry and sausage casserole with peppers are our go to. Mine has a timer and then goes to keep warm mode. It holds 4 meals so that’s 2 weekday dinners sorted with minimal prep ready for once I’ve wrestled a toddler into bed.
I am tempted by an instant pot...

I don't brown meat any more, I flour it and that's it. Flour thickens the gravy and stock cubes gives it colour.

Sausages I just put under the grill if I need to colour them a bit before I put them in. I put foil in the grill pan so no washing up, and re-use it if possible. No need to make extra work for yourself.

Slow cooker is good for making soups, dhal, and anything with dried pulses, cassoulet, well most things really.

All of the preparation time is the same because the meat has to be browned etc.

No it doesn't.

OP

Stick a lamb joint in it, nothing else and you will have the sweetest lamb you have ever tasted (my lamb is responsible for the buying of at least 3 slow cookers).

Cheap cuts of meat and pulses benefit from long slow cooking so you save money on what you buy and on the power used to cook.

Ideal to serve mulled wine, just put the wine and spices in and you are done.

Well ive made a plan to do the Hairy Bikers sausage casserole when i get in from work tonight at 9pm. Its not specifically for slow cookers is there anything I should be doing different?

Reduce the liquid by at least half, maybe 2/3.

Oh and a sc makes excellent suet puddings (steak and mushroom is my favorite), put water in the sc, prep the pudding in a pyrex dish, put a cloth or trivet in the sc so it isn't standing on the base and leave.

The same for Xmas pudding, jam roly poly etc.

You can do a cooked breakfast over night.

Now I have never had the legendary MN chicken that feeds 40 for a week but if I do a chicken in the sc it will be for roast chicken on day 1. Left over meat used for sandwiches afterwards.
day 2 I make a soup with the bones and the meat stuck to the bones.

Day three what's left of the bones stays in the sc and I add a whole onion halved (still with the skin on) a stock cube, a clove of garlic and use the stock to make a French onion soup.

Paddington this is a nice vegetarian recipe.

Since I've been wfh I do roast the vegetables first, but then pop them in the slow cooker with (double) spices. You can just put it all in the SC though. I cut them much smaller than it suggests too. Serve with cous cous and/or flatbreads and salads.

Ours gets used for casseroles over the winter. We both work night shifts frequently. The day before nights start I put ingredients in in the morning, then by the time I wake up from my pre-shift nap feeling groggy and horrible, dinner is ready and we don't have to think about it. It's great. We don't really use it in summer though.

How do you cook a jacket potato in there???

Baked potatoes

switch on sc
prick potatoes, rub with oil and seasoning
put in sc
leave for 5 hours

Some people butter the inside of the sc first.

@SOboredofcleaning

How do you cook a jacket potato in there???

I think you wrap them in tinfoil. I keep meaning to do it as at the moment we only have jacket potatoes on days I'mw working from home. Of course, with a month of lockdown ahead, I guess that's not a problem!

@ImaSababa won't it just be mush after being cooked for that amount of time ?

I use mine loads, especially towards the end of the week when I'm getting tired after work. You need much less liquid than you think and lots of herbs or spices. I often Chuck everything in still frozen

I have my first chicken casserole in there now. Does anyome know if dumplings work?

Am sure you can but never tried it myself, just Chuck a few in and see. Slow cooker is definite trial and error !

Any slow cooker recipes for chicken legs?