...to think there’s nothing that a slow cooker does better?

[Bebepoor]

Cheaper running costs maybe. More convenient with timer etc, granted. But not better tasting than the traditional way of simmering for hours on hob or sitting in low oven.

I use mine in combination with conventional cooking. It's part of my arsenal of gadgets. So I would use it to cook steak in ale - sear meat coated in seasoned flour first etc, long cook in sc then make into pie in the oven. I don't want my oven on for hours or overnight. But I also cook leg of lamb on the BBQ at a steady 140 - did this at Christmas whilst turkey in the oven.

it doesn't have to be either or but in combination to make cheap meat edible

I think people who can't cook from scratch or like shit food (like those who mentioned they use frozen veg and packs of casserole mix confusedor jars of ready made sauce) like slow cookers.

Or they might be like me, people who can cook perfectly well from scratch, but have to work in a shop at all hours and over holidays so that people who like to cook 'from scratch' can go and buy their ingredients at ten o clock on a Boxing Day night...

Frozen veg are rank though! There's just something about them! What is it? My
Mil always serves them with a roast and they're so weird!

Your recipe sounded disgusting sorry not sorry

Good grief.. beef stroganoff is not a slow cook recipe! It takes about 5 minutes to whip it up in a frypan! That's if you use good steak. If you don't... well ... I suppose you could do it in a SC but it wouldn't be stroganoff as I know it

arbitrary thanks for the link. Now I understand why all the food from the slow cooker is underwhelming to me.

Never get the convenient bit. You need to put stuff in the slow cooker before leaving for work!! If I feel lazy in the evening and didn’t want to cook what I planned, I usually do a stir fry of what I got. Like yesterday’s dinner turned from an oven dish to a wok one. Dinner in usually 10min. Chop up the chicken, add marinade, make sauce, stir fry. Done. I cook the broccoli separately and used oyster sauce for it. All in one wok too.

Never understood the problem with waiting too long for food after work. You can get a couple of stir fries out in 10min

beef stroganoff is not a slow cook recipe! It takes about 5 minutes to whip it up in a frypan!

This exactly. I use pork and ready in 5 min too. It’s just pan fry steak and mushrooms,add paprika, creme fraiche, salt, dome. It’s another of my lazy night dinner. And what I mean by you can get something out for dinner on the stove top much quicker. Just don’t do oven if you are short of time.

I find the trick is to cook off the meat, onions, veg etc in a pot on the hob, add the liquid, bring to the boil, simmer then transfer to the slow cooker.

Agree stroganoff is a quick, pan-fried meal.

Goulash is good in the slow cooker though - similar flavours - done with beef shin - mmm

I like mine, but only for very specific things. It's good for cheap cuts of meat, and you need to add virtually no liquid. Do for a stew, I will add a bit of wine and a stock cubes, or reduce the stock hugely if I am using home-made. Basically, you should only add liquid if it is for flavour.

I think marketing them as time savers is false advertising. Time redistributors would be more accurate. You dont save time, but you do your prep at a different time. It doesnt have to be in the morning, it can be the night before.

I think people who can't cook from scratch or like shit food (like those who mentioned they use frozen veg and packs of casserole mix confusedor jars of ready made sauce) like slow cookers.

Not at all.
I love my slow cooker. I will often make a tagine, madras or cassoulet in it.
I cook from scratch, grind my own spices etc. I work from home, but that often entails popping out for supplies, meetings, trips to the post office, plus I have teens so lots of taxi runs.
I can prepare my meal in the morning, brown off meat and spices and leave it to gently cook all day. I couldn't leave a pot on the hob and leave the house.

I think it is important not to put too much liquid into a dish as reduction towards the end of cooking is limited. Unlike stove top cooking it can be helpful; to quicken cooking and reduce catching with excess liquid which can easily be reduced at the end. With a slow cooker this won't happen and will impact the taste significantly if you rely on thickening instead.
I make my ragu is my slow cooker, it is the best- cooked for 7 hours, not too much liquid, the sauce darkens as it cooks , and is nicer than when made on the hob.

I think marketing them as time savers is false advertising
Agree. Well, it saves time if you leave it in all day when you're out at work but i'm not a fan of doing that. After all, I wouldn't leave my computer on all day unattended or my oven on all day.

But maybe I'm a bit over cautious since a friend had a fire start. Thabkfully they were only in lounge so came through and put it out.

So for instance last night we had a botched together lfound in the fridge recipe that was quick to whip up... diced chicken breast, chestnut mushrooms, white wine, fresh herbs, creme fraiche. It took about 15 minutes.

Unless you are slow cooking a big joint or something, I can't see what use a SC is (fine for soup, mulled wine, steamed puds) . And if I was slow cooking lamb shanks for instance, I'd be doing it in a Le Creuset on 120 in the oven because the taste intensifies in the oven but it dissipates in a SC

Curry is the best in slow cooker
Cola gammon lovely
Chilli
Spag Bol
Whole chicken with lemons and garlic 4 hours on high is lovely

Beans and rice!

Speak out that all sounds lovely but it would still taste nicer cooked on the job or oven

Hob even!

This thread is quite funny - all this showing off left, right and centre about superior cooking skills/tastes!

Does it have to be all or nothing? Some things work well in a slow cooker, some don't. I've had some lovely dishes, but some that are definitely not great. I'm not the most careful cook, so I figure that the times it's gone well I've (inadvertently) got all the variables right. The other times - not so much... Those who sing the SC's praises have presumably got the knack sorted.

Roussette yes, but we don't all want to be cooking in the evening.
It depends on your lifestyle.

Evenings a frantic here.
DD needs to eat at 5pm latest, OH isn't in until 8pm, DS needs to off to his evening job at a supermarket by 6pm

So making a slow cooker style meal (from scratch) meets our needs,
OH would prefer to have a plateful of unctuous slow cooked cassoulet than a reheated diced chicken breast in creme fraiche ( although I am sure it was delicious when freshly cooked. )
.

franktheskank perhaps- but I work- I don't have time to spend 4 hours nursing something on a hob.

I've only used mine once.

I haven't got time for prep in morning.

Can you prepare browning the meat the night before, refrigerate whole thing then put on in morning itms

I do get that speakout but I suppose I think by the time I'd cooked rice to go with a SC curry, or new potatoes/veg to go with a casserole, I may as well have done it on the hob or in the oven and frozen portions ready to just heat up.

But everyone is different, of course. And I imagine one pot dishes that you get totally right in a SC are fine.

Good grief.. beef stroganoff is not a slow cook recipe! It takes about 5 minutes to whip it up in a frypan! That's if you use good steak. If you don't... well ... I suppose you could do it in a SC but it wouldn't be stroganoff as I know it

Yes but not everyone can afford good steak

I know MrsM and actually Delia Smith does a v good recipe for a slow cook peppered beef recipe that might suit a SC. Will go and look for it and post if I can find it.

But proper beef stroganoff is good steak and quick cooking, yes.

Here it is.

I've done it and it's good, but haven't done it in the SC, only the oven.