I need a slow cooker mentor....anyone... please....?

[Toowittoowoo]

I have been trying to use my slow cooker and I think it is wonderfully convenient for having tea ready 5pm on the weekend without having to curtail our weekend fun for me to go home and cook.

However, (and this is a big however), I have not liked anything I have made in it. I've been to the library and have got ever slow cooker recipe book they've got out. I have meticulously bookmarked useful recipes and have been trying them but I just can't get to grips with it. Can there seriously be that many bad recipes out there for the slow cooker?! The BBC good food Goulash is ridiculous!

So I want to cook a beef stew on Saturday when my inlaws visit and I don't know where to start. I need it to feed 4 adults, a 3 yr old and a 9 month old. I think if I can just crack the method of a beef stew then I can change the flavour and veg according to vary it for future weeks.

Please, please, please - I think a slow cooker would be really useful but I am a bit sick disastrous meals!

Not what your wanting but pop it in the oven on 150 Celsius for 6 hours, loads of veg, potatoes, a bit of stock up to the veg line cover with grease proof then a lid. Thicken with a bit of corn flour and water paste.

I hate my slow cooker too, I always think things don't cook right and have an odd taste. Plus we're vegetarian and a slow cooker doesn't much work for veg. I love my oven if it has a timer and turns off when the times up. Its about the same as a slow cooker but cooks more evenly. I'm sorry but I'm also no good with the slow cooker.

use less liquid than you would normally and season more....there's less evaporation and wishy washy results are usually from underseasoning

thickening...you can flour your meat at the beginning but if you are not starting stuff off then instant potato is a really great thing to use

use cheaper cuts of meat, you need the fat to keep it moist

and I know this will probably cause a ruckus, but I REALLY REALLY RECOMMEND starting it all off in a pan first....I do not care how many people tell you it isn't necessary, IMO it is the one thing you must do....onions and celery are not going to sweat, mellow and get soft and flavoursome in a slow cooker, and if you get some colour on the meat it DOES add to the flavour.

oh and if you have a butcher then really try to get some shin of beef and do one of Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's recipes...he has a couple for shin

one is chilli beef, I think and the other is sweet and sour, with apple juice, ginger and soy sauce...very delicious!

I love my slow cooker ! The only thing I would recommend is don't use as much liquid I, e stock or wine etc. As you would for a normal casserole, onions go a bit funny I think, so don't use them if you dont have to, there are loads of recipes on the mn site that have been tried tested and tweeked, I usually pop on there if I fancy a change to the normal stuff I do in mine, dont give up! my slow cooker has transformed my life ! Ok, bit exaggerated, but I do love it !

i often use a tin of toms as the basis for things. so if i was doing stew i'd use tin of toms, a stock pot cube thing (no liquid) and maybe a glug of wine or beer. then i'd add the things i normally would - meat, garlic, onions, herbs, root veg (chopped failry small as it takes ages to cook), maybe bit of chutney or some mustard. then turn on and leave, maybe stirring once during cooking. if its too liquidy towards the end i would mix some cornflour with cold water and add it about 30 mins or so before the end.

curry is another really easy one. tin of toms, patak curry paste, some meat/veg/chutney maybe.

gamon - i'm doing this tomorrow. i will just sling it in with a little water and maybe a whole onion and the glaze and finish in oven

I only use mine to slow cook meat, like leg or shoulder of lamb or pork, beef brisket - some cuts of meat have no fat and taste awfully dry and it does a fantastic job for that but stews and casseroles I think often taste over cooked, I think the slow cooker destroys the flavour. The flavour improvement of dishes that taste better the next day like curries etc doesn't get replicated by sticking them in the slow cooker for 8 hours.

I did this with venison but you can swap it for beef. It's my cheat's version so no cooking of onions or Browning of meat.

1 handful Sainsbury's chopped frozen veg, I think it has carrot, celery and onion.
2 handfuls frozen root veg.
1 pack venison. Think it was 500g
1 large tbsp flour over it all
0.5 stock cube dissolved in the tiniest amount of water.
0.33 of a ottle of ale. I put the rest directly in the freezer.
Think I also put in some new potatoes. AAnd pepper and a bayleaf.
Cooked for about 6 hours, I start on high till it's bubbling then low for the rest.

beef
1 onion chopped
a couple of carrots, parsnips, other veg chopped
stock cube
seasoned flour
boiling water
herbs/spices/salt and pepper to taste

dust the beef generously with the flour and put in sc. Crumble the stock cube over and add everything except the water.
Give it a good stir.
Add the water, you do not need to cover everything with the water, make sure you have about 2-3inches of water in the sc.
If you are including potatoes make sure they are covered in water - they can go gray otherwise. Or use whole new potatoes.

Don't give up on the slow cooker! I love mine - there's a certain satisfaction about leaving for work in the morning and knowing you've already got dinner sorted for that night. One thing I stopped doing though was adding extra veg eg carrots as I didn't like their texture in the slow cooker, but I just do veg separately.

I do lots of chicken dishes: paprika chicken, white chilli chicken with butterbeans, chicken casserole, chicken in wine etc, also beef casseroles, goulash, I've got beef stroganoff in it today, sausage casserole (you have to brown the sausages first though) and I did a spag bol last week that was sublime. Just make sure you brown the mince first as that makes the flavour really rich, gives it a more normal texture and also gets rid of a whole lot of fat. I find the Schwartz slow cook sachets really good, but I've also used the normal Schwartz sachets and just adapted the recipes/volumes of liquid.

Check out allrecipes.co.uk for some good slow cooker recipes - and I also recommend a FB group called Slow Cooked Wonders which has hundreds of recipes, and is really good for inspiration.

Persevere, be a bit creative and you'll learn to love it!

PS I meant to say, I wouldn't rate BBC GoodFood for slow cooker recipes. They tend to have generic slow cooking recipes for ovens - just had a look at the Goulash you mentioned and frankly, you wouldn't do/want to do that amount of prep if you're just going to throw it in the SC!

I half the liquid with everything or cook the meat in liquid and then make a separate sauce

gammon is very easy put in gammon pour over 3/4 can of coke, drink rest of coke, let it cook until its falling apart, chuck the liquid

chicken also easy - put in whole chicken,season with salt pepper and herbs pour over a mugful of stock, let it cook, chuck the liquid.

pork tenderloin - put in pork plus teaspoon of chopped chilli, half teaspoon chopped ginger, teaspoon chopped garlic, let it cook in its own juices

I have had less satisfying results with anything stew-like but tend to just use a tin of tomatoes with some of the liquid drained off. It should look like the same amount of liquid as you'd want once the cooking is finished because the liquid evaporates but falls back into the pot.

I'm not keen on the fact that if you put in the meat without browning it and removing the fat you'll end up with lots of fat in the stew. If you're going to brown it you might as well just cook it properly.

I halve the liquid not half it!

thanks for all your tips and sorry I haven't replied earlier. I have tried 2 more meals since I last posted one was a beef stew with potatoes, carrots and pearl barley. It was quite outstandingly bland. I even used a full salt stock cube and a full bottle of beer but it was grim. Just tasted of nothing really.

I also tried the cowgirl stew from the mumsnet cookbook. That was fine but far too watery so I had to simmer it for 30mins on the hob. Best thing I have cooked so far but it is not very healthy so probably shouldn't be a staple meal.

I think it might have to go back in the garage as I can't cope with anymore teatime disasters !

I only use mine for making stock now which is good as just leave it and walk away. And, I have put a pork shoulder in to make pulled pork when that's the most convenient way of doing it - but it doesn't taste as good as one done in the oven and slow cooked that way. I'm with you - stews etc just taste bland - whereas ones in the oven taste better.

I coat the meat in flour, then fry it. The flour thickens the sauce. I then use a LOT less liquid than the recipe suggests and end up with an ok sauce. Or I do boil it down which is irritating but works.

I find tomato, chorizo and chicken ok, easier than the stew based ones.

small pasta (soup pasta) is fabulous if you have cocked up a bit with the stock....Orzo especially. Just make sure you have a good background flavour, enliven it with a dash of soy/worcestershire/brown sauce/ketchup/marmite if it is bland and chuck the pasta in....lid back on and depending how hot your SC is, the pasta should be cooked within an hour,and probably less.

I think you can do the same with rice, but we're not so keen on rice and oddly I think it makes stuff gooey whereas the pasta sucks up the excess stock nicely.