...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.

So 2 hours to do a pizza in the SC that looks undercooked or 20 minutes max in the oven depending on toppings, thickness etc.

Similarly, you get people evangelising about scrambled eggs done in the slow cooker. I always find this odd.

You don't have to brown the meat though, it doesn't taste any different IME.

Melts marshmallows for making crispy treats 😀
Cooks sausages in gravy that my kids will actually eat

Chilli con carne

Pulled pork

I like it

Ooh now scrambled eggs. I have somehow in the last 5 or so years evolved into a person who is incapable of cooking ANYTHING egg based without it melding and burning to the pan so maybe that would work for me. I miss scrambled egg :(

I do use mine for a couple of particular dishes which I think taste the same done that way as the alternative ways BUT I totally agree that casseroles and stews taste crap done in slow cooker. They seem to taste all the same, every ingredient tastes the same, I thought it was just me who thought this so I'm enlightened!

I eat omelettes instead of scrambled egg because I have the same problem Bertie and I CBA to deal with the burnt on pans.

I've got 2 SC and don't use them from one year to the next.

The thing is.... I'm like miscella (apols if I've spelt that wrong), I'm what I call a pretty good cook (am shit at everything else) and if I have to thicken a casserole with cornflour, I've done something very wrong. The casserole goes a horrible milky colour when using cornflour and it tastes pasty.

I season and coat my beef with flour, then I caramelise it and that's the basis of beef in red wine or ale. Onions, mustards whatever added. At this point, I may as well just put it in my Le Creuset which honestly makes the most fab casseroles at 120degrees in my oven.

The caramelisation of the beef slowly releases the flour to thicken and darken the casserole and it tastes divine... usually 2 hours depending on size of cubed meat.

In the slow cooker, it is pale, insipid and watery and yes I half or quarter the liquid. It just doesn't have that rich taste you get from oven cooking.

So I think SC are great at mulled wine, soups (although I CBA to wait that long) or a chilli when you've got lots of people coming. But apart from that, no not really

I successfully made a chicken soup in mine last night. I used the MN Yummy Chicken Soup recipe.

Put all the veg in slow cooker, added the stock and finally chicken. I took the chicken out once soft/cooked and then blended the soup in a blender. I then shredded the chicken and added it all back into the slow cooker.

I remain unconvinced that anything actually tastes better.

Also what on earth are you doing to your casseroles on the hob/in the oven if you feel like you have to constantly watch them?!

So 2 hours to do a pizza in the SC that looks undercooked or 20 minutes max in the oven depending on toppings, thickness etc.
I'm a shit cook, partly because I hate it, and I can't for the life of me get pizzas to cook properly in the oven, no matter what I try and whether I use a shop-bought base, pre-made dough or dough that I've made myself. They always end up soggy underneath and burnt on top. When I make pizza in the sc it cooks fine - soft, melted cheese and a thin, evenly cooked, crispy base.

Doesn't the steam/condensation make the pizza soggy? Or do you cook it with the lid off?

I think it's all down to the slow cooker. Our old one made watery, quite flavourless dishes. The meat was often a strange texture and sometimes veg wouldn't be cooked. We were given a new one and everything comes out of it lovely, very tasty and if anything nicer than when slow cooked in the oven.

I wonder if it's people who like leathery tough meat or sauces full of fat juices or who have no taste buds who like food from slow cookers? It all tastes shite to me. I can cook juicy food that is falling off the bone in my oven.

I just can't imagine cooking a pizza in the SC. Apart from it being the wrong size, (do you cut it in an oval?) surely the condensation drips all over it. And you have to get it out the cupboard, heat it up, wash up the ceramic pot, dry it, put it away.

Turning on an oven and bunging it in is so much easier

Doesn't the steam/condensation make the pizza soggy? Or do you cook it with the lid off? I put a tea towel under the lid to catch the condensation.

I just can't imagine cooking a pizza in the SC. Apart from it being the wrong size, (do you cut it in an oval?) surely the condensation drips all over it. And you have to get it out the cupboard, heat it up, wash up the ceramic pot, dry it, put it away.

I just roll out the dough into the right shape. I line the sc with baking paper so the pizza doesn't stick and it's easily washed.

I sound like I belong to some sc pizza religious group and am trying to convert everyone but I'm not. I hate cooking and hate wasting time & money on something that I can't cook properly in the conventional way so found a way of having a homemade pizza that works for me

I have to say, the pizza is a new one on me! How the hell did you discover it?!

Nope. Am a good cook (never use packet sauces) and have found the SC to be great when I'm on the late shift and get home after 10.30pm. The house smells lovely, there's hot food waiting to be spooned onto a plate, great.

An 8 hour shift (plus travelling time and walking dogs) is too long to leave even the most robust stew in the oven, even on low, even covered, even with lots of sauce. It dries out on top and burns at the sides. And prepping takes five minutes - and I'd have to do it oven or SC...

Flyingflipflop I saw it on a sc facebook page and thought I'd give it a go. On that page I also learned how to make fudge, cake and porridge in the sc as well as the usual chilli, chillied sweetcorn, sausage casserole, stew etc etc. I like being able to just chuck everything in (I don't tend to brown stuff off first apart from sausages) and then it's like having a homemade ready meal for tea.

Ahhhh I thought it was ready made pizza!

Ihave, I shall be trying the pizza this weekend!!

But porridge takes hardly any time to make on the hob...

Flyingflipflop I hope it works; for some reason I'll feel really bad if it doesn't

I can make my own dough but it's a bit of a faff so I bought some frozen stuff from sainsburys. I have a 3l sc and only use half a ball.

This is actually cooking as I type. My dc have helped prepare it.

For pizza, my oven has a mode where it heats more for the bottom for making pizza.

Or you could get a pizza stone. No soggy bottoms and burnt tops. And it doesn’t take 2 hours (after all the rising time).

I'm considered a good cook, but it did take a bit of trial and error. Error being the full chicken....Tasted ok but looked weird, still the meat fell off the bone and made lovely soup.

Cheap cuts of meat, less water than you think or even half water, half booze

When I was working 13 hour shifts I would prep the meat, veg and liquid the night before the meat and the mix would go in a tub together in the fridge.

The before leaving for work chuck them all in SC, set timer plug, come home after shift to hot meal and house smelling of loveliness