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!

oh i work nights too! what a brilliant idea!!

I have just invented Red Chicken Alain know as Chicken Bravas

Chicken drumsticks
Tin of chopped toms
Sliced red pepper
Sliced red onion
Garlic
Paprika
Chilli flakes

I'm so excited

cheeky bump....

It was very nice, I striped the chicken off the bone and then blended the sauce and left the lid off so it could thicken a bit then added the chicken back in.

Today I am going to make a sausage casserole, any advice? Was going to use;

Sausages, browned
Red onion, browned
Garlic
Red wine
Stock cube
Herbs
Pepper
Tin of toms?

Oh my god that was amazing

Did as above but only have a tin of chopped toms then left the lid off again as before to thicken. Served with naughty mash (that means butter) and broccoli.

I got a slow cooker for Christmas and need to start using it!!! I've got friends coming for lunch on Sunday with their kids and was thinking of doing beef casserole?? You guys need to add these recipies into the recipie section so I can add it to favourites and start cooking!!

Help!
Bought my slow cooker yesterday excited and am following to the last letter the recipe for Beef Stifado on MN. I've doubled all quantities, but the only fluid in the mix is a couple of slugs of red wine, 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar, and some tom puree. It looks, REALLY dry....

Anyone done it? help please! It's just been switched on, and I don't want to waste £6 of beef [aaaargh]

Don't panic. Forget everything you know about liquid and cooking. A slow cooker needs hardly any liquid. It's taken my a while but I'm starting to get there and if it needs thickening I leave tge kid off for a bit at the end.

For my sausage in red wine above I used half a tin of toms and a good slug of red wine.

Don't forget tge juices cone out of tge meat as well.

Thanks loads, Jeans. Peace is now restored.
Off for the day now doing various exhausting things with DC. CANNOT WAIT for grub tonight. No more Saturday night pizza hurrah!!

Going to serve with wild rice and crusty bread.

Do you brown mince before putting it in? DS1 has asked me to make him chilli con carne which I have never made before because no one else likes it. Was thinking i could make him a batch and freeze it.
I hardly ever use my slow cooker I'm to scared of timings and temp being wrong.

I tend to brown the mince to get rid of any fat and just break it down a bit and then add a few slugs of liquid extra(Worcestershire sauce)

spag bol in mine today.....ill let you know how it turns out!

Some people do and some don't, I didn't cause it was very lean anyway.

Have just returned home with 2 famished children. Am salivating now - the aroma hit me when i opened the door. Off to make the rice now and chop a bit of flat leaf parsley.

I'll let you know how it was.

I love my slow cooker - it's a godsend.

My favourite dish is chicken with chorzio and butter beans.

Chop up a red onion and put in slow cooker with some chicken thighs (you can brown off beforehand but it's not necessary), add in two tins of plum tomatoes, two tins of butter beans, some chopped up chorizo and a bit of stock to cover it all.

I tend to leave it on low all day as am out the house for about 12 hours but you could do it on higher temp for less time.

It's yummy.

I was sitting reading this thread when my shopping arrived so I have dug out my SC and now have a whole chicken cooking on top of some carrots and onions

Hamlyn 200 Slow cooker Recipes (currently priced at £3.48)www.amazon.co.uk/Hamlyn-Colour-Cookbooks-Cooker-Recipes/dp/0600620697/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329750996&sr=1-1 is a fantastic little slow cook book which tells you how long to cook each thing on high or low setting and has nice pictures and is compact so doesn't take up too much space on the shelf. I firmly recommend the lamb shank recipe and the lemon chicken amongst lots of varied but in my opinion contemporary but classic slow cook recipes i.e. appetizing rather than just looking like mangled meat in gravy. Also has some great desert ideas in the book which I am yet to try.

For me, now every two weeks I buy a whole chicken. I then fry up an onion, couple of leeks, some celery, a couple of carrots, add a splash of white wine, squeeze of lemon, couple of bay leaves, some herbs of choice and add a little boiled water so it has water all around it (chicken doesn't need much as it oozes juices when it cooks) and then place the chicken upside down (breast down) in the slowcooker for 5-7 hours on high. No need to brown the meat first unless it is being displayed as a roast or you need it brown or crispy.

I find then that the meat falls off the bone... which I then either add sauce to and eat/freeze or keep as cold meat in the fridge for up to 3 days. If I have added enough liquid to the chicken to cook, I have instant stock , which I cool, skim off the fat and also freeze for use with risottos, soups etc. I love now buying a whole bird (more economical than buying cuts) and not spending so much energy/money in cooking it as a slow cooker uses much much less than my oven. Also, I can prepare it in the morning when I am fresh and DD in nursery and it is ready for the evening. So much satisfaction.

I always brown meat and onions beforehand as I think it gives more flavour and colour.

Irish stew is delicious - chunks of spuds, chopped onion, chopped carrots (2 or 3) browned casserole beef pieces (Authentic irish stew uses lamb but I hate lamb) and about half pint beef stock depending on your quantities. Cook on low for 6 hours . Mash it up a bit before serving.

Also Jamie Oliver ( I think) says don't add seasoning until the end as it gets lost in the cooking process.

Am trying the whole chicken for first time today. Very nervous - it still looks very naked, not sure if I can do without the lovely brown crispy skin

Oh marks place!

How did I miss this thread? I love my slow cooker! I've always added liquid to cover contents now duly noted I don't need to!

I've been dying to try a whole chuck but wasn't sure so added that to my list for shopping!!!

Ham in coke - do I just chuck in joint n coke? Fancy trying with cherry cola! But do I need to gaff like you do with the one on the stove? Or is it a bung it in the oven job?

Also the beef stifado welshmum is it a sc recipe or normal? I love Greek cooking! My landlord when I lived in Cyprus made the most delicious lamb kleftico! In his out door "bbq type thing" overnight it was the nicest I every tasted!!!!

Hope you are having plenty of lovely tender meals. Apologies if anyone has already posted variations of it, but my staple is:

1. Gammon joint, as small or large as you need. Smoked or unsmoked. Put it in boiling water and add a small cup or glass of apple juice (to go up to the meat surface which is upside in the pot), and add to the liquid: 2 fingers' length of celery, an onion cut in half (peeled but otherwise not chopped up), a carrot (peeled, top removed, with a slit cut lengthways, 4ish or more whole peppercorns, a bayleaf or bouquet garni and a teaspoon of mustard (if you have got it and/or like it). Cook for between 4-6 hours and turn the joint over once or twice to submerge the other surface.

Believe it or not the original is a beef recipe for a very good cut, and it tastes amazing, but gammon is cheaper for general eating. The vegetables soften up in cooking and you can eat them with the meat or chop a bit more once cooked to use in gravy.

Ooh, ok, if you like Greek, I also really like mushroom stifado, as in the SC, the mushrooms stay beautifully whole and juicy. Can eat cold as a dip maybe with the addition of feta, or just scoff with pitta bread. Look up Keith Floyd's recipe if you can. I don't fry the onions before putting them in the SC but cut them into very thin rings. I swish them around in the vinegar and olive oil in the cooker itself while it is heating up, then bung the rest in after 10 mins or so. I also added lemon balm as I didn't have any lemon and I will have to see how that turns out.

Seasonal slow cooker bump

Not read whole thread (yet) but just to say re watery spag bol or whatever - take the lid off or have it half off for the last hour or so. It'll reduce.

For those who fancy a change:
Chicken in BBQ sauce in the slow cooker
Brown a whole chicken in a knob of butter in a frying pan and lob into the slow cooker.
Melt another knob of butter and fry an onion for a couple of minutes. Add the following to the frying pan:
4 tablespoons of tomato ketchup
2 tablespoons of vinegar
2 tablespoons mango chutney
half a teaspoon of dijon mustard
1 tsp sugar
1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce
Bring this eye watering goo to the boil then tip onto the chicken and cook. It doesn't look like nearly enough sauce but it will have magically altered into delicious bbq sauce by the time you get home from work. Only sometimes you have to go to work smelling of vinegar and onions!!