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, and another favourite is lamb kleftiko if anyone fancies the recipe.

Yes please Ladyflip

I have a goulash on the go at the moment. It smells lovely.

Very tempted by the gammon with apple juice, cloves and spices. It sounds lovely!

Am noting down some of these recipes again :)

Going to do gammon (thanks Vicar for the recommendation) and also tempted by the chicken and chorizo casserole

Keep them coming lovely mners x

We bought a slow cooker last week but have been really disappointed. The house smells Devine but the meal itself always has very little to no flavour. Any tips?

pickelshops - what did you cook? Try curry as this is really easy - tin of toms, curry paste, chopped onion/apple/leftover veg meat, chutney, stock cube. bung in stir and stir once during cooking.

bolognese is pretty easy - use normal recipe but don't add water, just the stock cube.

chilli - normal recipe without water. sometimes i use beef chunks instead of mince.

add flavour with garlic, more herbs, mustard, lee on perrins, tin of toms........

brown meat!!! HA HA. chuck things in bowl and stir once. thats the way to go.

marking fat place

Oh I have always browned my mince and onion for spaghetti Bol.

I'm going to try tomorrow with no browning.

The gammon in brown sugar sound amazing.

I usually do a whole chicken in my halogen oven, it's ace

By the way, those of you wondering how to get disintegrating whole chicken out of the pot:

Before putting chicken in, fold a longish strip of tinfoil in half and put under chicken so the ends come up the sides of the chook and out the top of the pot.

Put lid on and cook.

When removing chicken, pull foil ends to lift chickadee et voila

:)

Marking to read later ...

I tried gammon in sugar yesterday. I think my gammon joint was too small and my slow cooker too big. It burnt, smelled horrible and turned into shoe leather. :( Gutted!

Sorry about your gammon Galena and your tip for getting the chicken out is a great idea!

I have a spag bol simmering away in mine at the moment, I just chucked the mince in on its own for 20 minutes first and it browned itself a treat. Then added everything else, brilliant!

I also had a mini brainwave, I grated the onion instead of chopping it, so much quicker

I have a beef casserole simmering away in mine today. Although it seems not to be cooking very quickly. I'm jinxed today!

Ho hum. I think my slow cooker's fubared. I wonder if it's from getting so hot yesterday without enough liquid. The casserole isn't simmering at all even on high, and the metal outside is touchable - hot, but I was able to leave my hands on for a while. Tell me it's not buggered... [hsad]

I'm trying the chicken on leeks & carrots now.

Smells lush!

No lush smells here - just warm casserole with raw veg. :(

Chicken chargrills and oven chips in the oven...

Should I have put liquid in my slow cooker with a chicken? I didn't....

Feeling empowered now to "chuck it all in and go"
thanks all!
OOOhh off to Pinterest too...

No liquid with chicken, PickledCat.

and purple, the key is, not too much water...

My spag bol was lovely.

You're not having much luck are you Galena

Controversial - I didn't like the texture of the chicken think i prefer it roasted in oven!

pickled/galenas - i use our slow cooker a lot - 3 times this week. But i can't do whole chicken in mine - the outside is dry and tasteless and the inside not cooked - i've tried it twice and they've both been inedible. maybe it depends on the cooker.

if veg isn't cooked you need to chop it into smaller pieces. root veg in particular.