Slow cooker- what's the point?

[SaagAloopa]

Every recipie I've tried in my slow cooker has involved me having to cook the meat on the hob first. So please can you explain to me in simple language what is the benefit? How does it cook if it does it so slowly, how is it safe? Is it more or less energy efficient? What is the point.

Searing (not sealing) the meat, ie browning it at a relatively high temperature, kicks off the Maillard reaction, which gives the meat a better flavour and texture when you casserole it.

It affects amino acids and their reaction with sugars, so also applies to vegetables, which is why it’s worth frying up onions and other veggies as well.

It may seem a bit of a faff, but you’ll get a vastly better result.

Agree with all who say about getting a meat thermometer, chicken needs to reach 73C, beef is 62C.

Whatever is in my slow cooker for 8 hours is bubbling away after about 5 hrs and then I turn it down to low and it keeps bubbling away. If you forgotten to add onions or carrots etc, bung them in the microwave to heat up and then toss them in.

Flavour is only there if you add it. I keep leftover sauce from previous meals (frozen) and bung that in too.

You can slow cook in a normal oven but it's expensive energy and I don't think it's as tasty.

I can’t believe that microwaved onions added towards the end imparts anywhere near as much flavour as onions sweated down in a pan in a little butter or oil until just before they start to colour!

I think that’s the issue that I, and many others, have with slow cooked food. Sure, it’s a hot meal with relatively low effort but there’s no way most dishes have the same depth and nuances of flavour as the same dish cooked with whatever the traditional method for the cuisine is. Of course, you can attempt to replicate it by browning things first, add liquid later, and less of it, adding more herbs / spices to counteract the dulling effect of slow cooking. But by the time you faffed around with that you’d have been better off cooking something from scratch than can be cooked in 15 / 20 or so minutes. Even beef stroganoff, cooked properly, only takes 25/30 minutes, and much of that is sweating down the onions!

I think you need to stop thinking of it as an alternative to a perfectly done traditionally cooked meal (which I agree, it's inferior) but a better option than a shitty microwaved ready meal or eating a bowl of cereal for dinner when you come home late and tired.
Have you timed yourself doing something like a stroganoff or bolognese? Actually from entering the kitchen until sitting down to eat? If you can genuinely knock out a full meal un under 30 minutes I'm impressed, but once you include heating rhe oil in the pan, sorting through the fridge and opening up the mince, prepping the veg and cooking everything I find it always takes much longer than you think. Especially if you need to empty rhe dishwasher and tidy the kitchen before you start, and when you've done all that you've got a load of washing up to do.
If I get in knackered at gone 8pm I just don't have motivation for that. A hot meal ready to eat I would dish up. But there are days when I CBA to even boil frozen veg to go with a meal so its easier to just eat toast over the sink and slump onto the sofa.

Oh I agree it’s definitely better than a ready meal chucked in a microwave. But there are plenty of things that I can have cooked from fresh in 20 / 30 minutes… assuming I have the ingredients to hand… Which I guess is my point - I’d cook something to suit the time available, rather than have a less good version of something that takes longer.

So I wouldn’t try bolognaise - cooked properly that takes much longer. Though batch cooked, frozen, and taken out of the freezer in the morning achieves the result of a quick meal that tastes good. Carbonara can easily be done in that time, as can any number of noodle or stir fry dishes, and any number of dishes with salmon or any other fresh fish.

But completely agree that there were times when I wouldn’t have the energy for that, but they’d also probably coincide with the times I couldn’t really be bothered to eat either. So poached eggs and toast would be fine :). Or Deliveroo’ed sushi. Or cereal 🤣

I agree with @Onlyvisiting

Monday to Friday I work full time, as does DH and have a 10yo that needs to be at school/clubs etc at specific times. So by the time dinner time rolls round there is no more effort left in me, especially when I look around and realise that after dinner and bedtime there's still housework and catching up on the work stuff I didn't get done, and wrapping Xmas present and all the other shit still to do.

So having a bubbling pot of not amazing, but hot and tasty enough food, that just needs scooping onto a plate is wonderful.

I generally chuck everything in it while the kettle is boiling for my morning coffee or the sink is filling for washing up breakfast pots. Then I don't need to think about it again till I want to eat it. It doesn't create loads more washing up for after dinner, just the plates and cutlery used to eat and the slow cooker pot.

I suppose I could spend a chunk of my weekend batch cooking and freezing a load of amazing food, but honestly by the time I've used up half the weekend catching up on the stuff I can't do during the week, I mainly just want to cuddle up on the sofa with DH and DD and watch a film, or sit with them in a pub for a lunch someone else is making.

It's not supposed to be gourmet food, it's about cheap, easy to do food that benefits from either slow cooking because it's tough or bc it needs to seep the flavour in. Its also cheap to run.

If you don't need any of those things, fab, some of us do and smugness isn't pretty..

Also microwave any veg to add to a stew/slow cooker/any other dish isn't the same, of course not, but its often better than not adding it, and it's better than raw veg.

The point of browning the meat is to get what's called the Maillard Reaction. This involves introducing the meat to a searingly hot pan to start the interaction between the proteins and sugars in the meat and the heat and that's what gives you a more complex flavour and texture.

You can skip this stage but IMO, you don't save much time and the result is worth it.

Yes, this, and also to add that it’s not just about how long you have but also when you have that time. Slow cooker stroganoff and stove top stroganoff both take 20-30 mins - but the former can be done at any time before 11ish. The latter has to be done in the exact 30 mins before dinner when my 2 year old is going berserk. If you get delayed by the doorbell or a phone call, your dinner ends up 15 mins late and bath and bed also late. If you’re doing it in the slow cooker, no matter what time you get it on you can eat 6:30.

If i is something that needs browning you can do that in the oven at the end.

Eg a whole chicken will cook beautifully in a SC but the skin will not crisp much so you can stick it in the oven for 10 mins.

Yes you can leave it on for hours, I have been known to keep a soup going for 24 hours.

Stroganoff is not a good example- it's traditionally made with steak, so slow cooking is not appropriate.

I rarely brown meat, just lob it in with stock etc. Chilli, stew etc. But I don't like thick sauces.

The best thing we use ours for is making stock- just lob chicken bones and veg peelings in with water overnight and ta da!

I was never a fan of the actual standalone slow cookers we had. Everything always tasted the same and was never hot enough.

Then I bought an oven with a slow cook function on it (didn’t buy just for that) and it’s amazing. My electrician did say that a low setting on a normal oven would do the same job.

So now I have a pan I can use on the hob to brown, if needed, and then the same pan goes straight in the oven.

Just gently saute the onions, and meat in the bottom of a power multi cooker first, then slow cook to desired temperature. It tastes so good, and lovely and tender, no difference to slow cooking on the hob.

I don't know many people who use only slow cookers these days. Chucked mine out years ago, in favour of my multi cooker. After burning a chilli on the hob, and ruining a good pan, I invested in one. Young dcs and standing over cookers aren't a good mix. I can't be bothered either, and know my family, and I will eat better this way, great for batch cooking as well. I prefer my bolognese, and chilli in it. I use the oven for the rest. I only use the hob for steaming veg, cooking poached eggs/beans/frying etc. I'll never do a one pot slow cooked meal on the hob again.
Everyone says I'm a good cook, but I bloody hate cooking, and find it boring. It is a chore, and a means to an end for me. Baking is more my thing.

Tbh I rarely use my SC now, so rare that the other day when I did want it, I had to hunt for it :) ( ox tails, need as low and slow as you can get )

But I treated myself to a multi cooker two years ago and tbh I use that or my air fryer six days a week and get food on the table very quickly

I find the multi cooker very very versatile

I do use the Pressure cook function a lot cos Im out the door at 5:30am having fallen out of bed five mins before and I love that I can have a roast chicken and roasties cooked within 40 mins so a full roast dinner on the table within 60mins using the steam roast function

I love my air fryer too. We bought a bigger one to fit more in. It cooks, and reheats pizza great as well, and it is so quick! We love ours!

How are you all thickening your slow cooker sauces? Do you use corn flour? I find everything’s too watery because there’s no evaporation. So if you’re cooking a beef stew in stock, even if you just use a little bit of stock it’s still going to just be a thin watery sauce, whereas if it’s done in a pan that evaporates a lot.

I use less water to start and then I reduce on the hob and add cornflour or regular flour depending on the dish.

Im a fry the beef in seasoned flour first lass but otherwise I use either a cornflour slurry or a flour and butter roux. Both need the flour to "cook" so I drain off as much gravy as possible without making a pure hash, into a glass jug, add the roux or slurry, bring it to the boil in the microwave, whisk well and put back in the slow cooker. Do that 30 mins before you are ready to serve and the flour should have cooked out and you have a good gravy

Only use 1/3 of the liquid you would on the hob.

Dust the meat with flour before putting it in the SC.

I agree, add less liquid at the start. If adding a thickener at the end, make it in a small jug with the liquid from the meal itself and gently stir through.

Cooking mince and a joint of beef in the slow cooker are two very separate things. Mince doesn’t need slow cooking to tenderise.

I have a small slow cooker.
I poured a packet of powdered oxtail soup, tin of chopped tomatoes, 100 gram of tomato puree, stock pod, 100 ml of hot water, then
a shake of garlic granules, shake of onion salt and stirred the lot well.

Into this I added 2 red onions, whole, and 400 grams of chopped up lamb steaks.

I rinsed 100 grams of barley and boiled it in boiling water for 15 minutes, drained and added it too.
You could add peas, carrots etc if you prefer instead of the barley or as well.

I cooked it on low over night so 8-10 hours.
Served on creamy whipped potatoes, absolutely delicious and the whole family loved in on a cold day.

Slow cookers do have their uses but they do tend to make the house smell like cat food.

Than you need to change your recipe, as that isn't normal