Slow cooker - but meat never tender!

[NumptyMum]

I have a Lakeland Slow Cooker (one of the big ones) which I got about 5 years ago, however I've never yet managed to get a stew with tender meat. What's the trick? Is it likely to be the meat? Or is the cooker perhaps too high in temp - and if so, how would I check this? Also, I usually used it about half-full, so could this be the problem?

I'm gutted - I always read people saying about how they love their slow cooker and the tender meat they get, but I've never managed it once!

It could be how long you're cooking for. Or what meat.

Probably cooking time... an extra hour or two is the difference between meat that's cooked and meat that falls apart

If using beef, go for skirt or flank, not just generic braising steak. It's the best cut of all!

I have a Lakeland cooker - you need about seven hours for stewing beef for it to be really tender.

I've not used it in a while, but the other day did a receipe using stewing beef from Lidl; I think I only put it on low this time, for about 6-7 hours. Sometimes in the past I've tried similar beef for 8 hours. Sometimes I've left it for 10 hours. I've tried it on high. I've tried it on Auto (starts high, turns low). I don't think I've EVER thought on chewing (chewing and chewing) into beef cooked in any of these dishes - wow, that it is tender, juicy or 'melt in the mouth'. Which is why I've pretty-much given up on slow cooking.

Does anyone ever get beef that does this, ie is cooked until it is soft, rather than tough? How did you manage it?!

GetStuffed - thanks for that info! Where do you find these cuts of meat? There are no butchers in our area any more (or there is one in the neighbouring town, don't think I'd be organised enough to go there though!). Supermarkets only seem to have braising or stewing steak. How can you find flank or skirt?

MrsPaddy would that be 7 hours on low? or one of the other settings? I'd love to get it right but am thinking the cooker is at fault - it has a tendency to burn things at the edges (ie the sauce)... or is that normal for slow cookers, to get a bit blackened at the edges?

I get it on the counter at tesco, it comes in kind of long broad strips and is great value. Or morrisons do it but in my opinion not so good quality. Homestlymitmgoes so tender it's tomdie for!

Oh dear. Sorry about the garble!

I put stewing beef in, I dust in flour and brown it off then put this on a thin later of veg then all other veg on top then add the stock hot, lid on, on high for 7-8 hours and its always tender, my sister used to add her meat to the top and it was tough and by putting the meat to the bottom sorted it for her.

How puzzling and frustrating. 8 hours on low or 6 hours on high is pretty foolproof for falling apart meat in my slow cooker. Are you putting enough liquid in? For a stew you need to cover up the ingredients. For a joint you can just put a small mugful of liquid. Is the cooker bowl at least 2/3 full?

yes put the meat on the bottom. make sure tehre is enough liquid to cover all the vegetables. I find that the meat gets tender when there is enough liquid to be reabsored in the last hour or so of cooking.
4 hours on high seems to be plenty but i hav e asmall slow cooker!

Thanks to everyone who is replying - I'm really hoping somewhere here among all this info I'll find the answer (or combination of answers) I'm looking for .

Getstuffed laughed out loud at the garble - did wonder what the hell you meant at first . Asda is our local supermarket, no beef counter so it's only pre-packed. Morrisons here is horrible (shame, I always liked them elsewhere, but this store is just depressing). Perhaps I'll just have to organise myself to go to town butcher once in a while.

Oops... Need to go help DS who is "washing the car" (he's 6, earning money for StarWars lego), will be back shortly!

I had mine on high OP.. I would say it was done after 5-6 hours but I leave it on for another hour if using stewing beef.
Mine does tend to stick to the edges at the rim - I wouldn't say burnt though. Anyway, Lakeland are brilliant at bringing stuff back and especially faulty goods. I think it is work going in with it.

Yes, like squidgymum.. I put the meat at the bottom. Then the veg. Don't add broccoli etc until very near the end

worth going in

Are you using meat with a nice bit of fat running through it? Sometimes if i use lean meat it ends up a bit dry.

I had this problem. The secret is to cut the meat into small bitesized chunks. Brown first then cook on high for at least first half hour if you can. And always boil any liquid before adding it.

If I'm doing a stew then the onions go on the bottom, then the beef, then the other veg with enough gravy/liquid to cover the veg.
If you're doing a joint of meat or a whole chicken etc then a couple of cups of stock should be enough.
I tend to use ours when we're out for the day so it's normally on for 6-7 hours on high.

Back again!

OK, other things I've NOT been doing, so will try doing.

Last time I had the root veg at the bottom, then beef, then fried onions over the top. I think this was to counteract the beef sticking to the bottom (which I think happened sometimes but I've not slow cooked for ages because of it not working out well). Next time I'll try beef at the bottom again, perhaps with just a few onions under and veggies on top.

Liquid - the stew I did last week I did NOT cover in liquid, I get a bit confused about this because it seems to vary - cooking in slow cookers releases more liquid, doesn't it? So I've been putting in just enough stock, or perhaps not enough. Next time I'll try just covering the beef/veggies at the start and thickening at the end if required.

I've not been browning my beef, but I've seen Jamie Oliver receipes saying not to worry about this so I'll try and get it working via more liquid/beef at the base if possible.

Beef with a bit of fat running through it - no, it's probably been lean meat. The meat generally is braising or stewing steak, cut in fairly big bits, but doesn't appear to be very fatty. If I can't get hold of fatty-looking beef, is there anything else I could do to improve it?

OK - so next time I have another go, I'll do the following:

1. try to get the right beef (fatty/skirt or flank)
2. plan on filling the cooker to 2/3 full rathen than 1/2 full (and make sure there's enough freezer space for the leftovers!
3. put the meat at the bottom (with a few onions under to stop sticking)
4. cover it with liquid
5. put it on high for 6 hours (or low 8 hours)

If I get this right, and the kids aren't chewing their stew for hours for once, I'll be singing the praises of you lot to the high heavens .

Also, a bit of alchohol tenderises the meat if i remember correctly, maybe a splash of red wine?

Fiddle I'd held out high hopes for my attempt at stew last week because I chucked in wine. No joy - but I probably hadn't chucked in enough stock.

I'm going to try all of the above (plus possibly wine) and if that doens't work, I'll just drink the rest of the wine, give up and just use the slow cooker for mega tomato sauces. I don't think my kids have ever had non-chewy beef/pork/stew of any description .

That's the idea! Drink enough so you don't care about the meat. I like it! I'll be round at 6.

Here's a foolproof recipe. Seriously, it never fails. Apologies for the lack of metric precision.
You need:
Shit load of beef skirt cut into biggish chunks
about 5 red onions, chopped into 4
punnet of chestnut mushrooms
3 cloves garlic
200g smoked streaky bacon, chopped into biggish bits.
Bottle red wine - not crap, not one you'd rather drink
chicken stock cube
boquet garnis
Tomato puree

Method
Fry off onions, mushrooms, garlic and bacon. Toss into slow cooker. Coat beef in seasoned flour and fry on high heat to seal. Toss into slow cooker. De-glaze pan to get all the burnt bits off. Toss into slow cooker. Squirt a big dollop of tomato puree in. Pour in 1/2 pint chicken stock. Pour in as much of the red wine as you can bear to part with - must be over 1/2 bottle, mind! Add bouquet garnis. Switch on.

The SMELL that will fill your house is like nothing else on this earth. Ingredients £15 max and do me 5 very decent meals. If it doesn't work I'll come over and show you how to do it!

There's a great group on Facebook called Slow Cooked Wonders with lots of lovely receipes and good advice from slow cooker enthusiasts. I bet someone on there would have your model of lakeland cooker and might be able to tell you if yours is faulty.