Slow Cooker advise please........

[lottiejenkins]

I had a large one years ago when my late dh was alive but found that everything tasted the same whatever i cooked. I have just got a bargain 1.5 litre Hinari Health Cooker for ds and I. How do i avoid making insipid stews and casseroles?

Make sure you fry off the meat first to seal it

Very little liquid, in fact I often use none, or make the sauce separately and add.

I second anchovy paste, I use it instead of salt in a lot of my cooking.
It gives a great depth of flavour.

this is my favourite ever recipe. No liquid at all, and a change from using the sc for stews/soups/casseroles.

I do all sorts in my slow cooker - soups, chilli, curry as well as the usual casserole things. I agree with the previous responses in that you don't need a lot of liquid. It's easier to add in than take away. There's lots of really good slow cooker recipe books out there and probably online too. I got a Good Housekeeping one when I got my slowy and it's marvellous.

I find that everything tastes the same, too - apart from a Stroganoff recipe I do which is gorgeous!

you can probably quite easily halve the amount of liquid a recipe gives you, especially if it's tomato based. Oh and lots of seasoning!

I never add liquid.

I cook gammon, rice pudding, stews, whole chicken, spag bol,.......

If you are just bunging in meat , veg and onions, of COURSE everything will taste the sam

Im going to try chicken curry tomorrow morning for tomorrow night, im relied inormed by my mn slow cooker expert that if i put three breasts in with a jar of Pataks it should take six hours on low!!

I find curries come out MUCH hotter than oven method - I make my own though not Pataks so don't know if that will. The flavours get more concentrated.

Valiumredhead, Do you have a recipe for chicken curry in sc? Pretty please?

Sorry, only just seen this!

I usually do lamb curry but chicken I would -

Bung diced chicken in the SC

In a frying pan I would saute some onions ( a lot! ) then add some flour to thicken then add 2 TBS medium curry powder ( it will get hotter in the SC) add some chicken stock made with 2 OXO cubes - keep stirring till it's fairly thickish, then pour over the chicken and leave it!

You can play around with hotter curry powder and more/less liquid depending on your taste. Oh and a squeeze of lemon juice and some apricots are nice too :)

I have nearly given up on my slow cooker as I do agree that the food often tastes the same and has a slightly weird taste that is in all the . Found only one dish a coq au vin that works well. I just bung casseroles in the oven. It seems that alot of people use them for jars + meat which I find very odd.

My slow cooker isn't slow enough!

It's a big Breville one, and even on its 'low' setting I find it cooks things way to quickly.

I'm about ready to give up on it (but not before I've tried Netto's falafel!)

Can anyone tell me how to do the gammon?

Pour boiling water over the gammon, to remove surface saltiness. Put it in the SC with a couple of TBS boiling water, lid on and leave on Auto for about 5 hours in my SC but longer possible in others.

Someone recently posted on another thread that she folds some foil up to go under the gammon so it doesn't stick to the bottom and can be lifted out.

thanks, valium

Roughly what size piece of gammon are we talking?

I just buy one of those gammon joints in the supermarket (value ones work just as well, or often they are on "3 for £10" deals and put it in the slowcooker overnight with nothing added. Comes out beautifully tender and there's enough for sandwiches, snacking and something like a carbonara for several days.

My mum does hers in coke.

Yes - 3 for a tenner in Tesco size