Slow cooker advice

[Maria2007loveshersleep]

Hi all, I want to buy a slow cooker to save time; my aim is to prepare meals before work / have them ready for our mealtimes at 6.00/6.30). Also: I want to use a slow cooker to batch cook over weekends. We are a family of 3 but I want to be making slightly bigger quantities (eg for 5) to have leftovers for packed lunch & also maybe for freezing.

Any suggestions as to which slow cooker to choose, also: what size? And other general tips?

Thanks , will try again today , think i will put on low all day maybe the auto stewing set quite high ....i have only just bought this one so may take time to get used to , the chicken was sooooo dry ....juice from chicken on base of pot along with a lot of oil ...can only conclude was from skin of chicken the fat ...
smelt like boiled chicken bones i guess , really awful ...but was in date ...

hayhoo will try again ...really hope works better today as heard so many good reports ..of juicy tender chickens ....yummm

will report back on todays process ..

Cooking a whole chicken, don't you use any liquid/stock?

I have done roast type meals both ways. Added no liquid and just relied on the liquid in the chicken and on the thick slices of veg (used onion, courgette, mushroom) that i sit the chicken on. Other times I think of it as a 'pot roast' and have put a layer of chopped veg with stock up to about 2/3 or 3/4 of the depth of the veg and then sat the joint on that layer.
I have found its taken time to feel comfortable using the slow cooker - I started off doing the classic stew/casserole type dishes and had a few disasters getting the consistency right. Different veg releases different amounts of liquid, so the amount of stock needed is a bit of a guess. At first my meals were too thin/watery so I was adding cornflour and letting them cook for a further 30-60 mins to thicken up. I'm now at the stage where I rarely reach for the cornflour. In fact its opposite sometimes and I've ended up with veg burnt/stuck to the pot - so its not always perfect!
Its only in the last couple of months I've started doing the large joints/roasts and I have to admit that I still get home and wonder if its worked - and so far fingers crossed it has!

choclab - i've been using a slow cooker for around 20 or so years and i've tried to do a whole chicken twice and failed. dry on outside and not cooked in middle. maybe its your cooker, as reading the threads on here some seem to be hotter than others. thats the conclusion i came to with mine anyway

glad I'm not the only one dream ....well just got home from work , the chicken smells awful again , but cooked as juices (what juices r there ) are clear , however not judy and falling apart like others claimed ....what AM i doing wrong ....

will be ok i guess but had such high hopes for this cooking chicken lark ....

maybe I'm best sticking to stews i it ..!!

That's such a shame it's not working choclab...
Hardly worth pursuing if it doesn't smell or taste good and just a waste of food and money.
I wonder what kind you have... If you ever decide to replace then go for the cheap one in Argos! Honest it really works...

its a Brevile one 6.5 ltr , £30 i have another slow cooker smaller to small for whole chickens etc so thats why i bought this big one , chicken was better than first attempt , glad i out about an inch of water in it as very little juice on bottom of dish , screwed up 4 foil balls for it to sit on , low heat for 7 hours ..
maybe i should have put foil on ?
or maybe my one is set really high hot as cooked quickly ...anyway tasted better than looked or smelt , but no way as nice as done in oven ..

any other tips welcome , was going to try pork ...maybe not ...

pork is fine in mine. and every other cut of meat i have tried, just not a whole chicken. shoulder of pork - there's a good recipe on here with barbecue sauce. i've tweaked it a bit and cook the pork in stock and the towards the end remove fat and stock and add barbecue sauce instead, once you've broken pork up a bit. gammon is also good (without barbecue sauce). lump of beef (not very toughest cut, but one above that) cooked in wine, beer or stock with/without veg and then thicken at end with gravy granules. turkey thighs good.

just not a whole chicken.

I just looked at argos and I think we have the same one but in different sizes - mine is the 3.5 litre - which fits a small-medium chicken. Maybe size affects the way it cooks?
A couple of tips of what I do - never open the lid, apparently each time you open the lid, you should add an extra 30 mins of cooking time. (As we're out we're not tempted to give it a stir, till someone gets home, by which point its probably already been cooking for 7 hours) I always season any meat sat on the top, it helps it look more attractive - so even if its not got the crispness of an oven roast, it has the colour and flavour.
My next experiment is a joint of gammon - planning on sitting it on some onion and then 2-3cm of coca cola. Will probably season the joint with the usual salt, pepper and might add some powdered mustard.

stickin - don't think size makes any difference as mine is 3.5 litre. maybe its difference in cooking speeds.

When I did a whole chicken, I must have bought one that had been pumped full of water. I put it in by itself, nothing added at all and about half way through the liquid was half way up the chicken. I emptied some of it out and then let it cook for the rest of the time.

The chicken was moist and falling of the bone. In fact the carcass was falling to bits, I think I cooked it for too long.

The skin went brown, but obviously didn't crisp. It smelled and tasted fine.