slowcooker question

[mum2sam]

Hi i was thinking of getting a slow cooker as ive heard many of you rave about them. But what things apart from stew can you cook in them also maybe a daft question but whats the difference between a slow cooker and a pressure cooker? Oh and one final question what slow cooker would you recommend its for a family of 3/4?

Ive just got my slowcooker what thing should i cook first. Something simple and easy to wean me in and also to convince dh that it was £30 worth spent Those recipies look loevly puff def give those a try once ive masterd the basics

Did you get any recipes with the instruction booklet? I started off with those - stews and soups mainly, then went on and bought some books.

There are quite a few other recipes on here if you search under "slow cooker".

yeah but they seem really rubbish im not very impressed with them they havent even listed stew

Thanks for these recipes Puff, think we'll have curry first!

have book marked this thread now thanks puff will be making moussaka at the weekend dh loves it.

quick question tho, i have bunged in the SC some chicken, onion, garlic, mushroom, sweetcorn, tinned tommies and baby tommies and added some djion mustard and ground spiced pepper along with some paprika, I'm not even sure how its going to turn out may be awful but I do want to add some double cream so when do I add it near to the end or now???? will be having it with some couscous

add near the end of cooking other wise it will curdle.

I'd put it in near the end too.

Anyone got any yummy soup recipes for the slow cooker?

i'll try to post some.........

the official crockpot (rival) site has loads of recipes (but as its US it some of the stuff I wouldn't know where to find it)

Thanks puff, you truely are the queen of the slow cooker! :o

Thanks for the link shellybelly

I'm thinking about getting one - what do you reckon about \link{http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000E5SPN/qid=1144612955/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/026-6668233-1152414\this} one? I don't know what to look for but it seems a good price?

looks ok to me! mine was a half price one from argos!

Slowcooker disaster please help....

I attempted to make beef stew using my slow cooker for the first time. I used 4 carrots, 3 parsnips, 1 onion, 1 leek, potatoes, 3 oxo cubes dissolved in 2.5 pints water and approx 250g stewing steak plus seasoning. I put it on a high setting for 6-8hrs but when i came to serve it it just appeared to be watery and bland. The meat tasted lovely and tender. But the actual juice was really thin and not very tasty at all where did i go wrong. Im not sure if its the slow cooker or just my crap cooking.

I'd say you might have put a bit too much liquid in - it doesn't evaporate when you use a slow cooker (I've done the same thing lots of times).

From the recipes I've used, I think you have to soften the onions first and fry for one minute with seasoning before putting in. Also brown the meat first. I think by mixing the seasoning with the onions it might prevent it from diluting in the sauce too much?

Also the type of seasoning makes quite a difference - i.e. dried thyme leaves rather than normal dried thyme keeps its flavour better apprently, although I don't know where you'd buy that!

mum2sam i had exactly the same problem to begin with, I now use cornflour one hour before serving to thicken it up (did a scrummy beef stew last week if you want the recipe, made up of course) also use dried or fresh herbs to add flavour and I like to put in a big splish of worcestershire sauce

i think its bucket chemistry tbh

definitely too much liquid - if you look at the beef curry recipe below, there's only 400ml of liquid in there, plus some chopped tinned tomatoes.

If I do an ordinary stew, I usually fry off the onions and meat, then turn down the heat, add a couple of heaped tablespoons of flour, cook another min or 2, then add any stock, bring to the boil, and then transfer everything to the slow cooker.

can you post the recipe shelly?

I made a stew thing in mine the other week and didn't put any liquid in. 3 carrots, 3 potatoes, 3 onions, about 1lb of really cheap beef and 3 stock cubes. Ended up with lovely gravy in the bottom. I don't like sloppy stew and it lasted ages.

God I love my slow cooker.

here goes

Stewing beef
Onion/garlic
Celery
Carrot
Peas (add 1 hr before serving otherwise they will look old and tire, bit like me!)
Kallo Low Salt Veg Stock/Teeniest amount of an oxo cube
Worcestershire Sauce
Sweet Potato/Normal potato
Mixed herbs
Port (red wine if you've no port)

roughly chop all your veg/pots, fry your onion and garlic till soft then add beef and brown, sprinkle over oxo cube (only a little if you are letting a young baby eat this or don't add at all up to you)

chuck all your veg into the slow cooker then once your beef is browned add that in, the pour in the port/red wine how much is up to you and pour over the kallo stock (i only use half a one in 250ml boiling water) splash on the worcestershire sauce and mixed herbs and cook on high. I improvise so if you want to add different veg then do. Mine has been on the go for about 3hrs so at 3pm will turn it down to low then 1hr before i serve i will also add some cornflour to thicken it. Its even better with the atora herbie dumplings which i'm putting in as well. Was funny last week coz i did it and it was absolutely amazing but dh and I had fell out over something so when i asked him how it was he just said mmm ok, the next day however he admitted it was one of the best meals i've cooked

Thanx guys i think i might too put too much water think im just used to it evapourating in the sauce pan. I willn give your stew recipes a go i didnt get any stew ones with the slow cooker.