Slow cooker disasters

[Yumchips]

So everytime I use a slow cooker the meal is a disappointment. I've used two different slow cookers in my life and neither results have been impressive. I've been following some food people on Instagram who have released books etc on slow cooking recipes. All seems very practical and easy with their tried and tested good ideas, seems a win win scenario. I measure and follow the recipes with almost scientific precision. Yet the end result is always a disappointment. Is it just me? I'm giving up slow cooking for life now but I want to know. Am I the problem?

@AtomicBlondeRose I think you've hit the nail on the head. I think it's a very tricky thing to judge from afar. I always find the slow cooker cooks things inconsistently and is always rather wet.

I accidentally melted the cable into the pot - still not sure how, carelessness I guess 🙈 Binned it. Have never wanted another one!

I can cook 3 decent meals in the slow cooker. 1 is a curry, the other is pulled pork and the last one is jacket potatoes. Other than that, I agree with you, it all just tastes wet. I really tried last year & used the bored of lunch books…everyone hated or at best tolerated all of it. Not one good meal. Plus they were all quite time intensive with halfway through faffing around. I need to chuck something in, go to work and come back to it cooked. Not go through 15 different steps on the way.

Well I do a lot of batch cooking and store meals in the freezer or fridge

So I make up 5 days of porridge in advance and I like to have something warming and fruity with it to dollop on each day

So around 5 apples, dont always peel but sometimes do, chopped and cored, chuck them in, with cinnamon. I dont add sugar, the slow cooking really sweetens them up

I could do it on the hob I suppsose but it means I go away and just leave it.

Then I just put it in a pot for the week and have a dollop for my 5 porridges

Actually I never tried porridge in it, that might be an idea

And rice pudding was something I wanted to try

Problem is I got so pissed off with the thing that we hvae put the slow cooker in the cupboard and bought a Ninja Combi which claims that it acts as a slow cooker, albeit you have to put a pot in it with a lid.

I use mine for doing pot roasts, curries, casseroles/stews and bolognese/chilli. I think I must be lucky as the recipes turn out ok :) I've got an IP and a Ninja Foodi. They each hold a lot, so I'll do a big batch cook of things in them, then portion the food out for freezing.

I tend to use the pressure cooking function more (can cook more recipes in one day using the pressure cook function!).

I've seen recipes for porridge and such like being in the slow cooker and love the idea of that! I've never tried it though!!

Always seal the meat, reduce the liquid in the recipe and add bunches of herbs. I cook tagines, casseroles, mince dishes, lentil daals etc. I never thicken with cornflour and find it turns out ok. Even just slow cooked chicken thighs simply seasoned and add a tiny bit of stock. If I went on masterchef, I would have to take my slow cooker 😂

@soupfiend how do you do salmon filets? Does it taste like poached salmon?

Slow cooked meat and stews (and other stuff in sauces) will never get that lovely richness as they're not hot enough to cause the Maillard reaction:

www.seriouseats.com/what-is-maillard-reaction-cooking-science

@Scampuss but I always deal the meat before putting it in? I definitely could not face a slow cooker meal without sealing the meat beforehand.

Another vote for Taming twins! I must have made most of their slow cooker recipes by now and all have been simply great.

Just got an air fryer so let's see how their recipes work for this contraption😅

@soupfiend thanks that's very interesting. So am I right to think you're not add any liquid at all when you put the apples and cinnamon in?

Just to add...thank you OP, I forgot that I had some beef in the fridge that needed cooking. I've just gone and chucked that into slow cooker with some veg. :) I'm off work tomorrow so can divvy that up for meals/freezing.

That sounds truly revolting

I'm starting to think that there's only two possible camps of slow cooking people : you either love it or hate it. I think it's much more polarised than I had initially given it credit for.

At least you're not my friend who, when we all lived together abroad, decided to make us bolognese in the slow cooker. But she poured mince and everything in on top of the element and popped the lid on, forgetting about the actual dish altogether 🙈 went about her business all day. How she didn't burn the house down I don't know!

@TicTac80 🤣🤣🤣 hope your meals come out better than mine did! I'm also a big ninja fan. I have the 15 in 1 and rate it very highly indeed. I love jacket potatoes in the air fryer (after microwaving them first for 10 mins) as the air fryer gives them a lovely crispy skin!

Searing the meat first and cooking on low for everything is my tip! Never use the high setting

It tasted like poached salmon but with more flavour some how

All I did was pop them in, flat on the bottom (only 2 I did at the same time) and then took them out, perhaps after an hour it was, it was quite a time ago

I thought they were fabulous but because of the time taking I havent done them for a while. Its making me think about doing it again!

The only things I find work really well in it are things like indian, beef bourginon and chilli. Stuff which really benefits from a long slow cook. Chicken seems to disintegrate. Vegetables turn to "school dinner" mush. We have quite a nice gammon in cola recipe but I miss out some of the ingredients (kidney beans, I mean there is a time and a place, this is not it).

No I dont add anything

But just thinking, a bit of butter wouldnt be amiss.

I hate food cooked in a slow cooker. I love food cooked in a cast iron pot in a low oven, there is no comparison. Nothing to do with too much liquid and all that stuff, the texture of food is different in a slow cooker.

Just sealing the meat isn't enough, that's why slow cooker stuff lacks depth.

Exactly. No comparison at all.

We love our slow cooker. The Taming Twins slow cooker chicken satay is one of our household favourites. Delicious. We also do a really tasty pulled pork, and a veggie chilli. And we never sear the meat beforehand - defeats the purpose of dumping everything in and forgetting about it for a few hours.

A game changer for us was using slow cooker liners. No more of that odd, generic "slow cooker" taste.