Slow cooker

[loupielou1]

Hi all. I'm wanting to try slow cooker bolognese so I can put it on in the morning and it will be ready for when I'm home (around 8/9hours). Just wondered if it's ok to put the mince in raw with the sauce rather than browning off before hand?

You can put it in raw, add maybe only half a can of tomato and stock pots, number dependent on amount of mine. Don't add any more liquid it will be like mush.

The only thing I would be brown would be mushroom if using and chuck them in at the end otherwise again, mush. You need more seasoning than normal too.

We never brown anything before putting it in the slow cooker

Whenever I do bolognese in slow cooker i must admit I tend to use same amount of tomatoes as if done oven top in pan. So a tin of tomatoes per 500g pack of mince. If it’s on 8 hours it’ll need to be on low though. (You probably already know that). I brown the mince if I’m home anyway, but it’s fine if you don’t. I do add grated or diced carrot and courgette too with the onion, and chopped pepper, they tend to thicken it as mostly disappear into the sauce I find.

I always brown the meats & the onions before they go in the sc - Improves the flavour considerably

I've put mince in the slowcooker for a bolognese before without browning it and I didn't like the end result. The texture was a bit mushy.

Since then I always brown the mince first and i think it tastes considerably better.