Slow Cooker cooking exceptionally quickly!

[taylorwilde]

Hi all,

I'm a new mum and I bought a slow cooker to help batch cook meals. It has a 1.5L capacity. Today I wanted to make a beef stew.

I followed this recipe to the letter and cooked it on low.
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/slow-cooker-beef-stew

This should have taken about 8 hours. 3.5 hours later it's ready - although not quite as tender as I'd hoped as it cooked so quickly.

Can anyone help me figure out where I'm going wrong?

What temp did you have it on? Usually it’s high (4-6h)medium (6-8) and low (8-12)

Also smaller amounts cook quicker than if it’s full to brim

Sorry missed the low part! No harm keeping it on for longer the meat will just soften more.

How do you mean 'ready'? You can just leave it to keep cooking. The stuff I make is 'cooked' within a few hours as in it's safe to eat, but it's not 'ready' in terms of being a slow-cooked meal.

Has your slow cooker got different temp settings ? My very old one didn't have but my newer one does have

Also if you use less quantity , ie i
One pound of meat instead of two pound it will cook quicker .
I have found that a hour or so on either side of the cooking time is generally fine but such a big time difference seems to much.

If you leave it the full 8 hours it will be tender. That's kind of the point! Not sure what you by saying it's ready after 3.5 hours. Did you stop it and turn it off after 3.5 hours?

How did know it was ready?
Did the slow cooker tell you in some way?

What do you mean by ready?
If you want the meat to be more tender then cook it for longer

3.5 hours later it's ready - although not quite as tender as I'd hoped as it cooked so quickly.

Did the meat get more tender as you left it cooking for the full time? Maybe add some fluid if it had already died up ?

If the meat wasn't tender it wasn't ready!

@Brusca

If the meat wasn't tender it wasn't ready!

Yep. That's the whole point of slow cooking.

Thanks everyone.

The liquid had evaporated away and vegetables were fully cooked. I'll add more liquid and let it continue too cook next time.

Slow cookers often have two settings low and high.
For all day cooking you need the low setting.

@taylorwilde was the lid on properly, generally with slow cookers the liquid doesn't evaporate (it condenses on the lid and falls back into the dish), certainly not to the point of being dry. Generally with slow cooker recipes you use less liquid than in an oven dish.
If you want your veggies less cooked you can add them at a later point - if I make chilli I tend to add the beans slightly later so they still have texture.

I usually put it on high for an hour then low for a few hours. I also put the veg in after two hours so it’s not soggy as veg takes less time to cook than meat.