i got a slow cooker this morning

[ThatVikRinA22]

please tell me how to use it!

• ive no idea how to use them, what to do in them at all. Up until recently i have regarded them with suspicion....low heat + long time = bacteria soup in my book but i have been convinced by my friend who has bought me one for the princely sum of 12 quid this morning in Tesco!

so please help me become a culinary whiz with a slow cooker and post your slow cooker recipes!

thank you!

I made a cracking Spiced Lamb Tagine in my slow cooker last night.

500g minced lamb
1 large onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
3.5 cm piece of root ginger peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon all spice
2 tablespoons of plan flour
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
3/4 pint lamb stock (original recipe said 1.25 pints but I always use less)
300g new potatoes scrubbed and chopped into quarters/halves
300g butternut squash diced
2 diced carrots
50g raisins
300g frozen broad beans
100g frozen peas

Fry onions and garlic, add meat to brown. Add spices, ginger and flour then tinned tomatoes and stock. Bring to boil, add carrots, butternut squash, potatoes and raisins. Transfer to Slow Cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Add frozen broad beans and peas half an hour before the end. Serve with rice or couscous.

It makes absolutely loads! There's only me and DH and I reckon it will do us at least 3 meals.

Well I've had my new slow cooker for 4 days now, and have so far cooked:

Vegetable chilli
Spicy beans and chirizo
Split pea and Ham soup
Beef stew and dumplings

Everything has been delicious. I think it is my new favourite thing. Carrot soup going in this morning :)

This thread has been so useful, off to try a whole chicken.

My sear and stew Morphy Richards SC arrived yesterday and today I have cooked the pork recipe from the recipe book which came with it which uses pineapple - very nice, the pork was incredibly tender, but there was too much liquid, even though I followed the directions exactly. Still, I am sure it is trial and error with these things.

Can't wait to try some of the recipes which have been given upthread - particularly the ones using gammon.

marking place to return for inspiration...

Book marking again!

I made this the other week for after bonfire night, was lovely with crusty bread.

900g diced chicken
One smoked sausage or chorizo diced
1 onion
Couple sticks of celery
2 peppers (I used red)
500ml chicken stock
1 tbsp chilli powder, less if you prefer less spice
Large tin new potatoes
Plain flour

Fry onion in a little oil, add flour, prob 1 tbsp ish, and stock.
Brown the chicken if you want, I didn't.
Bung everything into the slow cooker and cook on high for 4+ hours. Divine!

Might be nice adding some beans next times do it.

.

Marky mark

I do fay ripley's bolognese in mine - whizz a stick of celery, one carrot and one onion in the food processor, 200g of tomato purée, tin of chopped tomatoes, tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, generous pinch of ground nutmeg and 500g of mince. Bung it all in (no browning) and put it on auto for 6-8 hours. I usually do a double batch with double the ingredients except use 3 tins of tomato and keep purée at 200g. It's lovely and freezes well.

Probably my favourite thing to do is to whack a whole chicken in (as big as slow cooker will alllow) along with a couple of carrots, an onion and a leek, sea salt, black peppercorns, bay leaves and top with water then just leave it for hours until the whole chicken has started to fall apart.

I then pick all the meat off onto a plate and discard all the yuck parts and skin. You get loads, a big dinner plate piled up (strangely satisfying) then sieve the stock into a big bowl. I tend to freeze half the stock at this point.

Put half the stock in a saucepan, add a few handfuls of tiny soup pasta. When it's nearly cooked, add half your shredded chicken and a bag of spinach. Heat through and ladle into bowls topped with Parmesan. Delish!

Then you still have half your chicken left over for a curry, pasta bake or similar :)

I've just bought myself a cheapo Argos one! Can someone recommend a slow cook book? We don't eat pork at all

(marking place to read later at leisure....)

Marking place...(slightly obsessed with slow cooking at the moment)

Oo thought I'd mention that WHSmith selling the Hamlyn "200 more slow cooker recipes" book half price for £2.49. I'm doing sausage tagliatelle at the mo, for the kids and their play dates after school

ive got a whole chicken in mine today however, I was rushing to go to work so haven't put anything in with it other than a little bit of water. Will it be ok? I don't want it to be bland :( We are having it with veg and gravy so shouldn't matter too much I guess.
I also put it in breast side up, does everyone usually do breast side down to retain moisture in the meat?

Just read this whole thread and am so hungry! We've had a slow cooker for about two years I reckon... never actually used it

Not sure what to try first. I have whole days at home so I think I'll try it when I'm around to obsessively check it's going ok.

Considering a brisket. Never tried it at all but tempted by the falling apart meat... would be much nicer than a dry roast. What shall I put in with it?

some stock (not too much) and onions on the bottom of the SC would be ok for a brisket

Thanks I'll make sure we get onions too then :) should I bung in some other veg/spuds do you think?

Salivating at the thought. I'd actually never even heard of a brisket until I kept seeing Howard mention them on Big Bang Theory :o

4 bay leaves and 3 garlic cloves are the other parts of the recipe I have and you can substitue stock with red wine.

The recipe is in the skinny slow cooker recipe book by foodnation, which I think is fab. I have used recipes in this book many times.

You can download it onto your kindle if you have one, for £1.99.

Sorry, cooknation not foodnation. Great book, totally recommended

AitchTwoOHoHoHo

Thanks for the book recommendations, I will have a look. :)

I am sulking because my shopping was delivered today and they had no briskets

Please help! My DH hates everything I've cooked in the slow cooker. I've followed proper slow cooker recipes and I've also tried adapting hob recipes. What I've found is that all spices evaporate in the liquid and lose their flavour, except chilli which becomes stronger. Only thing that has been successful so far is soup. I've done sausage stew, pot -roast masala chicken, rogan josh chicken, chicken curry, lamb curry, Moroccan meatballs, butter chicken, chilli con carne...

Any suggestions?