AIBU?
what sized slow cooker fits a 1.6 kilo whole chicken
Alrighteo · 30/11/2019 14:01
AIBU to as on here when google just bunged up a load of chicken in the slow cooker recipes when I searched the title?
Most I would be cooking would be 1.6 kg.
3.5 kg one do?
Do you need the auto button on a slow cooker?
AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 30/11/2019 15:02
I have an oblong metal one because it's lighter than the crockpot I used to have, and that takes a whole chicken easily. It is probably the model before this one, it's ancient...
www.amazon.co.uk/Morphy-Richards-Accents-Stainless-Slowcooker/dp/B00888ZZD8/ref=sr_1_1?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21
Being able to fry things in it before using it as a slow-cooker is a definite plus too.
AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 01/12/2019 18:32
I can offer you a chicken-garlic salt-and-paprika-and-lemon-juice recipe if you like those flavours: really simple to do.
It goes
Peel and cut up into one-inch square sort of size one large potato per person who will be eating the meal
Ditto one large carrot per person
Put them in the bottom of the slow-cooker
Sprinkle them with one tablespoon of paprika (smoked or ordinary according to taste) and one tablespoon of garlic salt
Add one tablespoon of lemon-juice, or more if like me you love the stuff
Mix it all up with a wooden spoon so the dry ingredients are not all on one surface of each bit of veg
Take the string off the chicken and put it on top of the spuds and carrots
Sprinkle about a teaspoon of salt over the top of the chicken
Put it on to cook at high for three hours, or a bit longer (I never really work out how long it has needed, because I don't have a set "we must eat at this time" in the evenings because of being retired).
The difficult bit is lifting out the chicken to carve it; two spatulas are really needed for that, or it tends to come apart. Not that it really matters because it still tastes good, but it can get messy.
And then you use the bones and other uneaten bits (which taste slightly of paprika and garlic) to make stock in the slow-cooker and use the stock and any bits of chicken meat left over to make a Lovely Nourishing Soup for another day, with any veg you need to use up and some noodles or rice or split peas or other thickener in it, plus seasoning to your taste. I add a dollop of red wine as well because it makes it smell so wonderful even if you don't really taste it.
AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 01/12/2019 21:34
It doesn't need any more liquid, 666onmyhead; the lemon juice stops it from burning at the bottom for long enough for the chicken to start producing its juices. The potatoes and carrots end up a bit more than half submerged in delicious thin lemony gravy.
Sometimes I add a tin of chopped tomatoes when I am puttingstuffin, but that is for the taste not the liquid in them.
The usual mistake when someone has just got a slow-cooker is adding too much liquid; almost none evaporates out, so pretty-much all the water in all the ingredients stays in the bottom of the pan. Do you find your stews are extra-runny? I used to before someone warned me about it.
Alrighteo · 02/12/2019 19:21
@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime
I'm not supposed to be adding salt to my diet.
Is there any alternative to the garlic salt? I imagine 'gravy' is very salty as would the veg? How does the chicken end up garlicky and tasting of paprika when it's just sitting on top of the veg, not in it, or glazed with it.
Haven't tried new SC yet, so this will probably be the first thing I'll try.
Maybe if I mixed the paprika and lemon juice around with the veg, then put some chopped garlic cloves on top, followed by the chicken? Do you think that might work?
AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 03/12/2019 18:28
I think the garlicky lemony juice tends to be put onto the chicken when it's served, but it does taste of it a bit too. Something to do with everything you put into the slow-cooker staying in it, not escaping through the lid, maybe.
And I can see no reason not to omit the salt if you don't want too much sodium in your diet, and use chopped up garlic or maybe garlic granules instead of garlic salt -- I have a husband who really likes things salty so I stuck with the original recipe, but only because I am too lazy to experiment.
I am getting more and more anxious: this family absolutely loves it as it is, but maybe we are just weirdoes...
Alrighteo · 03/12/2019 19:01
Lol, don't worry, if I fuck it up, it will be me experimenting.
I 1. can't stick to recipes and 2 can't stick to recipes. Lol
I've never heard of garlic granules.
Note to self: Spend more time exploring the wonders of Tescos!
I can't add salt to anything, so it makes for pretty tasteless food, but it is what it is. I'm supposed to avoid high salt foods, but went rogue at the weekend and boiled gammon and then cooked the kale in the salted water. Technically I didn't add any salt lol.
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