AIBU to rename our slow-cooker ridiculously-slow-cooker?

[JumpingJupiter]

So DH has had a slow cooker in the back of the cupboard for as long as I’ve known him. It’s never been used. Well, trying to make a baby-friendly dish for our little one (11 months), I decided to try doing a healthy beef casserole. I found a recipe which says the cooking time is between 1 to 1.5 hours. Followed all the instructions and started cooking it at 3.30pm so it would be ready for 5pm, which is when our little one eats. One and a half hours later and have just prodded a baby new potato with a fork and it’s rock hard. In fact, everything, the parsnips, carrots and all the other root vegetables, are hard. It’s like zero cooking has taken place. It’s now 5.30pm and am starving. Have separated half the casserole into a large pot and am now boiling that to death on the stove in the vague hope that we might have something for dinner tonight.

So my question is, AIBU to rename our slow-cooker ridiculously-slow-cooker? Do you think we’ll have anything edible in the next hour or should we get a takeaway?

Ur beef stew in 1-1.5 hours is definitely not a slow cook recipe

It doesn't sound like a slow cooker recipe - slow cookers normally take all day.

High for 4-6 hours
Low for 8-10 hours
Oven 1-1.5 hours

I suggest you get a take away and carrying on cooking stew until done. Reheat tomorrow on the hob and it'll taste even better

Beef casserole in the slow cooker is at least 8 hours, sounds like you have a hob recipe there. Usually I set mine going around 8am for 6pm dinner no matter what I’ve put in it.

Takeaway tonight and that casserole will be delicious tomorrow, sorry.

I'd cook a beef stew on the hob for 2-3 hours. Slow cookers take all day.

Slow cookers take all day, that's the point!

You need slow cooker recipes not standard-in-the-oven recipes! You put the casserole in the slow cooker in the morning, set it to cook then walk away and leave it until dinner time.

Beef should take 8 hours.
I’m guessing the recipe was supposed to be cooked in the oven.

That recipe was not for a slow cooker. That cool time is for the oven.

*cook time.

A slow cooker is 'slow' and intended to be switched on in the morning so that it has all day to cook, takes 6 - 8 hours on average for a stew.

In a normal oven, slow cooking would be any time from 1.5 to 4 hours depending on how low you had the temp.

On the hob, you could cook it in 1.5 hours as long as you could keep an eye on it for sticking/burning/running low on liquid.

If the meat is not stewing quality you might be able to cook it for a shorter time without it being tough.

Whoops! Just referred back to the recipe book and it states ‘Cover and simmer on top of the cooker or in a moderate oven for 1-1.5 hours’. I just assumed that the slow cooker would be the same sort of thing . Oops! We’ve now decantered the whole casserole into two pots on the stove and our little one is having an emergency pouch dish with some sweet potato wedges. Thanks for the advice. Wow, slow cookers really are slow! Will definitely give it another go and now that we’re a bit more clued up, will be sticking our next casserole on at breakfast time!

I don't make anything in the slow cooker that takes less than 6 hours. 1.5 hours is a hob or oven recipe. Persevere though (with a proper recipe) cos slow cooked food is amazing, especially when you've been out all day and come home to a house that smells amazing and no work for dinner. I recommend Pinterest for ideas.

I use my slow cooker several times a week.

I put it on in the morning before I leave for work and the dish is done by the time I arrive home 11 hours later.

It’s fantastic to walk in to a lovely smelling home and the evening meal nearly ready.

If you google “slow cooker recipes” you will get lots of ideas.

Thanks LadyFidget! Thanks NonaGrey! Will have a look at Pinterest and other proper slow cooker recipes. Tummy is rumbling thinking about it!