Slow cooker newbie

[Gettingbysomehow]

First day ever using a slow cooker. Ive done what the booklet said to cook a chicken. Its on high and its been on for an hour. The light is on but it doesnt seem to be doing anything. No cooking smell or change in the chicken. Is this normal?

Is this a ceramic slow cooker? Does it feel warm on the outside?

Yes I would think so - I usually do stuff for about 6 or 7 hours on low. Agree with pp - put your hand on it to see if it feels warm.

I normally preheat my cooker for 15mins and add a bit of freshly boiled water to the base just to get mine going if I’m putting cold food straight into it, I find the cooking time increases by an hour if everything goes in cold.

It is heating up now after I put boiling water in. Thanks for the tips 😄

Totally normal! Slow cookers are deceivingly slow — nothing seems to happen for the first couple of hours and then it all comes together at the end, so don't panic.

One tip now you've got it going: brown the chicken in a pan first before it goes in next time. The slow cooker won't give you any colour, and searing first makes a massive difference to the flavour of the finished dish.

Also, resist the urge to lift the lid to check on it — every peek adds a good chunk of time. And make sure there's enough liquid in there, especially on high. A whole slow-cooked chicken is one of my favourite things for a lazy roast dinner, you'll be converted once you taste it.

My tips:
never believe the recipes where you don’t need to cook onions / peppers etc - everything tastes so much better if you’ve fried it all off a bit first
Lean meat needs high for 4-5 hours (chicken breast particularly)
Fatty or meat on the bone needs low for 8+ hours
I never add water - stock pots and tinned tomatoes yes but never actual stock as it’s too liquidy as it doesn’t evaporate
Most meat will end up shredding it’s quite hard to keep things solid!
Jamie’s gammon in coke is the whole reason slow cookers exist

I recommend the Dean Edwards Cook Slow book, it's only 99p on Kindle at the moment and covers lots of the basics.

Thanks everyone. It did look very anaemic so I gave it a quick burst on high in the oven at the end.

I had a good whole chicken recipe that used a paprika rub which a) flavoured it but also gave it a bit of colour

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/nov/29/slow-cookers

This has some useful tips.

I am not a great user of my slow cooker. But it is really good for some things.

Beetroot.
quince.
citrus when making marmalade or orange and almond cake.
Rice pudding.
Porridge.
Christmas pudding as you can shove it into a corner somewhere out of the way, pop the pudding in, add the water and walk away. No need to be worrying if it’s boiling dry.
Caramelising onions in bulk or for soup.

Just allow the time.

I love my slow cooker because it’s great for someone like me who is very very lazy about cooking but likes hearty food. I typically buy pre sliced mushrooms, carrots, peppers and onions so I can just pour them in, add a tin of tomatoes, 400-600 grams of whatever meat is on offer or I fancy, a couple of packs of whatever seasoning mix I have or fancy and a couple of tablespoons of chia seeds to thicken the sauce and add hidden fibre. I turn it on low at breakfast time then it’s easily ready for dinner time. I sometimes give it 15 mins on the hob to concentrate the sauce especially if I resorted to frozen veg which lets off more water. I often throw in whatever veg is in the fridge drawer that needs eating right near the end like greenbeans, asparagus because it adds a bit more veg.