Slow cooker taste

[blotchyskin]

I keep on flirting with the idea of buying a new slow cooker but I am always reminded of how everything tastes of slow cooker. The one I used to have just made everything taste very similar. Is there anyway to avoid this? Do I need to buy a very expensive one? Not cook tomato based meals? Any ideas would be welcome. Thanks.

My slow cooker recipes never had the flavour or texture of my delicious oven cooked recipes.

@goingtotown yes my thoughts exactly!

I broke our huge old one a while back (everything tasted the same apart from sweet things) and bought a smaller digital Lakeland one. That and the Poppy Cooks slow cooker book have turned me around completely! The tomato and spinach dhal I made was one of the best and certainly easiest I've ever had. I wasn't so keen on a couple of chicken dishes I cooked but think they just needed less time.

You need to get the knack of developing flavours before putting food in the slow cooker

eg. Yesterday I flash fried some stewing beef coated in peppery flour. Put that in the slow cooker, then softened onions and garlic in the same pan, before adding them in.
Finally I put a glass of red wine into the hot frying pan, used it to clean the bottom of the pan, and poured the whole lot in on top of the meat.

Finally added sliced carrot to the slow cooker, stirred, and put in on low for four hours. Flavours were really good.

You also need to reduce the liquid of normal recipes by 75%.

Never heard of this. Only use ours for chilli, bolognese or curries but it does a great job and saves a lot of effort.

I always think the flavour you speak of is caused by onions/leeks going in raw - they don't seem to ever cook properly from raw in the slow cooker and it leaves an unpleasant 'inbetween' flavour. I now fry off my onions or leeks in a pan for a few minutes and then add them to the slow cooker with all my other raw ingredients and I don't notice that taste now - just a suggestion. Mind you, I also don't think I have a very good slow cooker!!!😊

Agree I think it's the onions not being cooked off. By the way if you're thinking of doing it for economical savings, I don't think they are quite as economical as we think. As they are on for so long! I use a pressure cooker instead - instant pot multi - in which you can fry veg onions etc then add the stuff you want and it cooks quickly - with better flavour I think.

I've got an instant pot that pressure cooks, sautes, slow cooks.

Browning things gives better flavour than boiling. So you want to cook onions, meat etc before adding stock/liquid. Can do it all in one in instant pot.

I use the pressure cook to do rice as well.

I think veg dishes taste samey, I don't like a veg stew from it but meat or curry are fine.

Thanks for the useful info.

It's not really an economical thing more a time saving one. Can you leave things in the instant pot all day like you can the slow cooker? I've never actually seen them in action.

I precook whole unpeeled onions in the SC, then chop and use them to start recipes through the week.

I love my slow cooker and find it quite useful. BUT.... while the food is good and I'm more than happy to eat it, there is no doubt that the same recipe cooked on the stove is almost always better. It's a trade off for convenience vs taste.

I do agree there are some tricks and that it's way too easy for food in the slow cooker to be bland. Softening onions, garlic etc first definitely is better, ditto browning your meat. I also think that you can afford to be generous with herbs and spices - too often people will say, "here's your meat, onions, tomato paste, stock cube, water, veg, .... leave for 8 hours and it's delicious" and I think that's just going to be bland. Without a doubt, stews using stronger flavours like cinnamon, or cloves, or fennel or ginger etc seem to come out with a more individual flavour than more generic stuff. Our nanny used to do this amazing honey/soy/garlic chicken in the slow cooker - it was fantastic but that's because of lots of strong flavours.

Agree that you need to reduce liquid by around 50%. Things like paprika help too.I do beef in Guinness or red wine .Lots of seasoning and always pre cook veg as well

I only ever brown sausages before adding them to the slow cooker. Any other meat just gets chucked in as it is. I did make a pretty good chicken curry just before I went on holiday. Tbh I wasn't really expecting much cos I just chucked in a couple of skinless and boneless chicken thighs, an onion, some pasatta and some chicken stock. Then winged it with some chilli powder, curry powder, ginger powder and paprika. Once it was cooked in went half a tub of natural yogurt and it was shoved in the freezer for 2 weeks till I came back home. Really flavourful although I was slightly confused as to why it had a hint of coconut to it cos I definitely didn't add any coconut milk. Oh I did add in frozen mixed vegetables to bulk it out.

I definitely go overboard with herbs and spices when I use the slow cooker. Also live by the rule of "if you think there's not enough liquid in it, it's still too much."

I've never encountered this, and have used my slow cooker(s) for 25 years or so.
I rarely cook anything before putting it in (sausage being the exception as I don't like them looking so pale).
Whatever I cook in there tastes like whatever it is I am cooking. Each dish different. Never come across a 'slow cooker taste'.
No, neither of mine have been expensive. Current one is from Argos.

Mine neither, I have a feeling it's more your cooking than the slow cooker. A bad workman always blames his tools 😉

Use less liquid, barely anything. I cook- gammon, chicken and dumplings, curries, beef casserole, rice pudding, a whole chicken, cottage pie, Bolognese.

If you cook something tomato based do you use puree or canned tomatoes? Puree is better in my experience.

I get what you mean. I have had decent success from doing things like...chicken breasts cooked with a jar of pesto and some spinach and cream added in at the end, or chicken breasts with a spice paste added in and coconut milk / veg for a curry.

Basically, you need a decently salty / flavourful sauce that isn't too liquid.

Dh used to make stews in the slow cooker and they were utterly foul. I stopped eating them in the end although the dcs seemed to eat some of them. I then did a chicken casserole in it and it was really nice. Dh was surprised at how different it tasted. I worked out that anything tomatoey was the problem. The worst stews contained dried tomatoes which dh used to slip into everything. I banned them and things have been fine since.

He also never added salt to things and you definitely need salt.

I nearly started this thread myself an hour ago OP, I feel exactly the same way about food cooked in a slow cooker. I’ve tried twice over the last decade and given both slow cookers away. There’s usually a thread every autumn 😂, so we are not alone.

But it’s cold and I’m getting home late and tired at the minute.

I’ve got an instant pot. I love it for making a chilli as I use it to cook the dried beans, sauté onions/beef etc, pressure cook it and then switch to slow cooking BUT, the slow cooker on mine is fierce. There’s no way I would have anything other than burnt mush if I left it on all day.

The ‘instant’ brand slow cooker wins hands down in the GHI tests this year, but it is 7 litres and there’s only two of us at home.

I think I need one with delay start, timer and keep warm if I’m going to give it another go. I think it is a compromise personally, but I think I will try again.

I wonder what happens if you cool for four in one this size.

I’ve never noticed this; but I brown everything in the frying pan first, put the liquid in, bring to the boil and then put the whole lot in the slow cooker. We find the depth of flavour beautiful!

There are lots of slow cooker sachets which might help

I disagree that slow cooker meals all taste the same, but I do use quite a lot of herbs and spices.

I'm not sure they all taste the same but if I make a stew in the slow cooker and the same thing in my dutch oven it always works better in the latter. No idea why!

100 per cent this. I love my casserole dish and the same recipes in the slow cooker just don't seem as nice. No idea why.