It's the annual "I got a slow cooker for Christmas, please come and share your best recipes/recipe book suggestions" thread

[BlatherskitedaboutChristmas]

MIL has bought be an enormous Crock Pot slow cooker. It looks lovely but I have no clue what to make in it. It's 5.7 litres but there's only me, DH, 5 yo DS and a very, very picky 3 yo DD.

Suggestions would be very welcome otherwise it's probably going to end up stashed in a cupboard and forgotten about and that would be sad.

[WingDefence]

Hi Sick (hope you're well and happy btw ) - I didn't keep the juices as I figured they'd be too salty so perhaps where I went wrong was that I should have kept it and reduced it to make a sticky, gingery sauce? And yes, I should also try a 'normal' pork joint instead of gammon in the future.

It was still lovely though, and I was extremely impressed with the ease of just chucking a joint of meat in the SC and having a delicious hunk of pork at the end of it!

[mckenzie]

I did a whole chicken in the slow cooker this week for the first time. I just sat it on three little rolled up pieces f foil (so that it wasn't sitting in all the juices) and cooked it on high for about 6 hours. Bloody lovely. The meat simply fell of the carcass. There is a group page on Facebook that someone told me about called 'slowcooker recipes' that's worth joining.

[Blatherskite]

Yes, I'm planning the brown sugar gammon one. I've bought quite a small joint again though because I didn't want to have wasted a fortune when if I mess it up again so I'm not sure how long to cook it for.

[justtired]

I've just put my whole chicken if for dinner later, it only just about fitted, there is no room on either side, is this ok??

[wrenster]

Should be fine, it will shrink slightly when it cooks anyway. Yum yum!

[justtired]

Thanks wrenster. Can't wait to see how it turns out, still undecided whether to turn it down or leave it on high as different people have said different things

[wrenster]

I do mine on high for 4 hrs and it falls apart. Just what you need in this awful weather!

[justtired]

Lovely thanks, it's smelling good already!

[bigkidsdidit]

The best one we do is : brown 1kg of lamb (cheap bits), three garlic cloves and two onions, chuck in with three chipped carrots, a lot of tomato purée, a bay leaf, a lot of fresh rosemary, two cans haricot brans and 300ml lamb stock. On high for 4h. We have it with garlic read, green beans and broccoli. Is delish :)

[bigkidsdidit]

Oh and I had gammon last night, I don't put anything in with mine though, just rinse the joint and bung in as it in for six hours.
Lovely

[Blatherskite]

[bigkidsdidit]

Hi, blathers!

[MABS]

gammon and brown sugar is a fave here :)

[Blatherskite]

How's Scotland?


Right, I'm definitely doing the gammon and brown sugar. Someone give me the idiots guide...

Brown sugar in the bottom of the slow cooker? How much? What sort of brown sugar - Soft brown, dark brown, molasses?

Gammon straight on top? Do I need to take the rind off?

Anything else?

How long?

My joint is 1.3kgs. I don't have Auto on my SC, it's High, Low or Keep Warm only.

[yoyo123]

Just cooked brisket.

I wanted an American type brisket rather than the "normal" one.
Browned the piece of brisket and in same pan softened onion and garlic, some tinned toms, large glass of red wine,beef stock, tomato puree and chopped rosemary, thyme and a bayleaf. Peeled some potatoes and added whole to the slow cooker. Bunged in a bayleaf or two and then cooked it on low for about 9 hours.
Before serving I added a bit more water to the juices and a spoonful of redcurrant jelly, turning the slowcooker to high , without a lid
wonderful! The meat shredded easily, we ate about half of it (1kg joint) and I poured the rest of the gravy over the meat and will use for a cottage pie.

[derekthehamster]

Yum yum, just done a whole chicken for the first time

browned the chicken in butter +oil, stuck a garlic clove into the cavity (recipe also said to use a quartered lemon, but I didn't have any) put it in the slow cooker with butter and oil mixture tipped over it, and cooked it for 5 hours.

It didn't fall apart, but it was so easy to carve and so moist

[derekthehamster]

cooked on high for 5 hours

[justtired]

I'm looking for ginger ale to do my pork in but they don't have the one sickandsad said about. Can I get any? Should it be non alcoholic or not or doesn't it matter?

[wrenster]

www.sixsistersstuff.com/p/new-recipe-index_22.html?m=1#Slow%20Cooker

Ladies, I thought I would share this with you, I came across it on Pinterest. It's an American site, but there are so many recipes it's crazy! Some of them require conversion to Engish measurements but it's easy enough. Quite liked the site as a whole actually and some very yummy baked goodies too! Hope you like.

[bigkidsdidit]

Hi blather, scotland wonderful :) a very nice life!

I'm making ratatouille tonight - lots f veg, a carton of passata and rosemary on low for six hours till all gloopy :) lovely. We have it with good sausages and french bread.

[WingDefence]

Thanks wrenster!

I wanted to shove something in the SC today but I think I need to learn to sort out the ignrdients the night before (or at least work out what I'm going to make) so that I can put it all in at breakfast time.

That'll be my job for tonight then :)

[wrenster]

No problem WingDefence, hope you find something you like.

I agree about preparing the night before, it makes life so much easier and you feel as if you've made a lot less effort for a scrummy meal the next day!

[justtired]

I've accidentally brought ginger beer not ginger ale for my pulled pork, do you think this will be ok anyone??

[OnceUponAThyme]

just tried the gammon and sugar last night, was tasty and dd loved it

I used a 1.2kg unsmoked joint and 400g light broken sugar.
I put 3/4 of the sugar in the bottom of the slow cooker and rubbed the rest of the sugar over the joint.
left it on low for 8 hours, turned once halfway through. definitely making it again!