Have decided to embrace Autumn and purchase a slow cooker, now tell me your favourite recipes

[Katyathegringa]

I know there are loads of sites out there on the internet but I would appreciate some recommendations on the best slow cooker recipes/tips.

i find that chicken breast off the bone is fine as long as its in a sauce and you don't cook it too long. i do loads of it. i didn't get on so well with the whole chicken as it was dry on outside and raw in middle.

So what are wwe doing in our slowcookers today?

I'm doing mince with dumplings, and possibly a rice poud in the smaller one.

Sorry, my spelling is atrocious!

today, i will mostly be cooking a joint of gammon.

my first go...smothered it in honey and whole grain mustard...intending on having it for tea.

watch this space!

mummylin - thank you so much for the wonderful dumpling recipe! Manshape thought they were delicious and has already asked when we can have them again next!

chimchar - how did your gammon turn out?

chimchar how did the gammon turn out? DH is a bee keeper and we have loads of honey atm so I might do a joing of gammon.

awww. bloody hell. nearly had a really huge disaster!! gammon actually turned out really lovely.

i was short of time, so put it on high at about half one, and made sure i was back home by half six...it was half a gammon thingie..a semi-circle shape iykwim! lay it on an onion i had cut into 3, to make a little bed.....

came home to smell really bitter burning...yikes! went to see my slowcooker, and where all of the fat/honey/juice etc had been dripping off the meat, it had just been burning and burning away so it was a thick black nburned on crust all over the base of my beloved slow cooker....

anyway. took the meat out, it was just fine and beautifully cooked, lol!

i remembered a handy hint on here about boiling washing powder in a pan to remove burned on food, so i popped it in the sink, ran a drop of hot water over it and put in some persil....after a bit of scrubbing, i am very pleased to let you know that my crock has made a full recovery!

so there....alls well that ends well!!!

I have an oxtail in the slow cooker at the moment, should be interesting!

Hello all,

Well used the SC for the first time on Friday, made a spag bol, & it was lovely & so easy! I loved not having to dash around & not even think about it at all during the day!

Have a got a joint of beef in it at the moment so hoping it turns out ok!

Can someone tell me about this gammon in cola recipe? Is it nice?

I've got the Sara Lewis book on the way, didn't realise my mum had a copy so had a quick flick through & saw a lovely tomato & garlic chutney recipe in it that looks well worth trying.

I think I might do a sausage casserole tomorrow - anyone got any good dumpling recipes as I've not made them before but I really fancy trying them

Chimchar - glad crisis was averted! Maybe next time put a little water in, just enough to cover bottom? I haven't done gammon or ham in my slowcooker yet - will have to give it a go though.

Norma - have a looksee at the dumpling recipe that mummylin posted further up - i made them yesterday and they were delicious! Glad the spag bol worked well - i feel so lazy doing mine this way, but i wouldn't do it any other way now.

Really cold here today, so i feel the need for something warming and comforting. I may make a quick rice pud as i didn't make one yesterday.

I don't know if this one has been linked to or not before, A Year of Slow Cooking, but it has some lovely recipes in it, going to give the garlic chicken one a go!

Also has anyone got this book, is it worth getting?

Alouiseg 'I have an oxtail in the slow cooker at the moment' sounds like a euphemism for something rude to me!

Lol @ Fellatio, sorry not allowed to say lol or use @.

Anyway I've just transformed it into soup and it's fantastic, just like "proper" soup in a can :o it also has sherry in it which inevitably means I have tasted the sherry and my knees have given out. I love sherry :o

Oh that sounds lovely, Alouiseg - i love oxtail soup - can i have the recipe, if you don't mind?

Erm, onions and carrots in slow cooker, oxtail in slow cooker, cover with water, be generous and do cover all the meat because some of mine dried up. Put on low for all afternoon and a bit of the evening.

Turn off before you go to bed. The next day remove the vegetables and discard, take the oxtail out and pull the meat from the bones. Chop the meat up fairly small.

I skimmed the fat from the remaining stock then chucked the meat back in the stock and heated for a little while. I also added a generous slug of sherry.

That is the crappiest recipe I have ever read, but my cooking is a bit trial and error.

Speshally after some extra sherry (hic)

Btw, my oxtail cost less than a fiver and there is lots of meat on it.

Btw again, the butcher told me that all cow offal is known as ox!

I am daft and thought that an ox was some wild ginormous steer that roamed the countryside

D'you reckon it'd be ok without the sherry? I don't drink and begrudge buy a whole bottle to just put a small glug in!

Certain it would! I just like an excuse to open a bottle while I'm cooking!

Calvados in the apple crumble this evening. Perfectly fine without it though.

I can't bring myself to buy/eat Ox tail - daft really!

My beef roast did not come out well today, very dry but DH said it tastest nice (I feel naff today so just haven't fancied eating) & he's put the rest in his sarnies for tomorrows lunch.

I think I might make sausage casserole tomorrow the dumplings that mummylin has suggested

Anyone know a good sweet & sour pork recipe?

Deemented

I never add sherry when I make oxtail. Mind you I don't drink so I never think about adding alcohol to anything I'm cooking.

alouisa

i too thought ox tail was OX! ... had never crossed my mind that it wasnt!

Ooo going to ust mine off tonight and do a spag bol tomorrow. When we are having a big joint of beef for dinner on a sunday often we stick it in slow cooker night before and set oneof those plug timesr to comeon about 3am so by 12 its perfecto. Just my tip....

Hmm, sherry in the dinner and calvados in the pudding. I like.

I love sherry too. It's my Sunday winter's afternoon tipple of choice while I'm ironing (a bit drunkenly) and the roast is in the Aga.

I like chilled sherry espeshally (hic) with manchego cheese and olives, chorizo, and salted almonds.

I have no sherry in at present, so I have partaken of two large pre-prandial home-shaken vodka martinis. Very nice too.

so...here's a question....

can you start something off high and turn it down to low after a few hours, and vice versa?

also, is there a rule as to when you would use high or low, or is it simply a time thing....is low cooked for 10 hours better than high cooked for 5 hours??

in fact, any info is gladly received!

just put a joint of beef in now ready for this evening....hope its defrosted in the middle!!

chimchar - depends how quickly you want to cook things for - if i only have 4 hours i'd do on high, especially if a large lump of meat; if 6-8 hours then low. yes you can switch between the 2 - but you will need to be patient to see the effect