To think that slow cooker meals are tasteless?

[Twiz5218]

I was given a small slow cooker a couple of weeks ago. I have tried it a couple of times in an attempt to save energy by using the oven.

First time I made a chicken casserole and it was tasteless really, despite me seasoning the chicken and veg and frying them before slow cooking.

Tried to make a garlic lemon chicken recipe tonight and I couldn't tell the different between that and the casserole. It was just so bland. I added lemon juice, then the veg and chicken, and properly seasoned them with a number of spices and added garlic and butter cubes and set it off to cook. It was just tasteless. Incomparable to cooking the same in the oven.

AIBU? Am I doing something wrong?

instant pots aren’t as bad thanks to the ability to sauté inside the pot first, but it still isn’t as tasty as if it was cooked in the oven or the hob.

You're not understanding how it works and how to alter your faster/shorter time cooking styles to suit.

The liquid comes from the ingredients natural water content, meat and veg contains a lot of liquid, so add less.

Brown stuff first, and brown it properly - maillard reaction = flavour, sure stuff can be fully cooked without being browned but it won't taste right.

Seasoning - herbs and spices mellow out the longer they're cooked, you need to season more heavily for slow cooking - and don't be shy with the salt, if you're cooking from scratch, no tinned sauces etc, then there is NO salt in there unless you put it in there. Salt is a flavour enhancer, and its vital for humans to stay alive.

Don't mistake slow cooking for pressure cooking - one needs liquid, the other doesn't. (Easily done even before the days of the combination pressure/slow cookers).

We make a brilliant chili in our Instant Pot, its taken a couple of goes to convert from stove top to instant pot for seasoning, but now we've got it sussed, it's fab! I get much richer flavours, like chilli the day after I cooked it would be normally...without waiting a day!

I treat everything like a casserole and pop in a stock cube. Always delicious!

I’m interested in what counts as ‘cheap beef’ at the moment? Is there such a thing?!

I use a remoska and it makes beautifully cooked food.

I put everything in it the night before and pop it in the fridge then when I get in just put it on. Its quicker than the oven and cheaper.
Retains a lot of flavour.
Much prefer it to the slow cooker.

I follow Taming Twins recipes, always come out really tasty. The chicken curry is so simple but delicious. She's about to start her winter recipe series so lots of new recipes to try.
You can put everything in the pot the night before and then it's ready to put on in the morning.

Chicken has no flavour nowadays. I usually fry it slowly with onions until the onions are caramelised so make a very tasty gravy and the onion flavour infuses the chicken.

Also needs salt which seems to speed up the caramelising.

You’re doing something wrong. DH did a chicken korma in it the other night and it went down a storm. Korma is a particularly good one though as the flavours really need to marinade though.

The hot chocolate idea is genius

Yes, they're the ones I'm imagining - and they seemed to be the originators of slow cookers in my perception, or at least from the recipes put into the original SC books.

Shin and similar

If everything made in slowcooker taste the same it is because person uses same ingredients with minimal variations, not because of the gadget🙈 sorry

Yeah bland mush- thoroughly recommend air fryer. Very economical and makes food crispy but still moist!

These are for two different types of cooking though, it's not same at all.
I have both. Totally different things.

It's been said uptrend, but no need to add water.
Recent successes here have been
Garlic chilli chicken
Chinese style spare ribs ( finished off in oven)
Chicken curry
Pork shoulder steaks
All packed with flavour, not mushy, grey, or bland.

*upthread

This is a very helpful thread, and the recipes are making me very hungry! Thank you, everyone.

Chinese duck in it is considerably cheaper than buying the kit with half.
I buy frozen one (they start from about £5 for 1.9kg+), defrost, then rub salt, pepper, 8spice in and out, halved onion stuffed in. Cooking it on a breast side for about 6 hours until it starts falling apart, then take out, half, put skin up under the grill for 2 min or so (no need to preheat, just pop it in). Separate the juice and fat. After you take all the meat of the bones, pour bit of that juice over, the meat will suck it all in. Keep fat for starting dishes like stirfry or egg fried rice to use instead of oil.
The whole duck including cooking costs less than hapf a duck in the kits they sell for the crispy duck AND is bigger.

I think it’s been mentioned but a really good trick I read here years ago is to put a tea towel over the cooker , then put the lid on . It smokes up the condensation that collects on the lid and stops the sauce getting too watery . I do find meat needs to be pretty much covered in sauce to cook properly so this helps too much liquid forming .
As an aside years ago I thought I’d read that you could put jacket potatoes in a slow cooker , on their own . The pot cracked in half !
I don’t do chicken in mine , I like crispy skin not soggy chicken.

Stay well clear of pasta dishes though

Now I find lasagne comes out beautifully from the slow cooker

( I also use it for mulled wine and cider....)

I love my slowcooker and use it all the time for curries, casseroles, bolognese, pulled pork. I agree with the poster who says to steer clear of pasta dishes, and I wouldn't cook anything in there that needed to be a bit crispy like a roast chicken, but for anything like stew it's great!

I wonder if different slow cookers produce different results because I really don't recognise the "bland slop" lots of posters are talking about.

In general I half the liquid and double the spices.

One of.my favourite things to do is turkey legs. Just put them in with some honey, soy sauce and spices. No liquid. Cook on medium for 6 hrs or so. Make the best turkey sandwiches.

@Frenchfancy what size slow cooker do you have to fit a turkey leg in? The ones I've seen for sale have felt like something Henry VIII might struggle with.

I'm looking forward to this. Are the noodles spicey?