Slow cooker, not a clue what to do with it, any recipes greatly received.

[flaminhell]

Well I struggle every day to get dinner on the table before 8 ( I know bad show!!)between work, dc, and everything else my life is chaotic, and a friend recommended a slow cooker.

So I now have one, mum picked one up for me today, but have no clue really what I should do with it, and can you really leave it on all day cooking away, without charcoal, or 999 calls??

Any recipes or advice would be great I am counting on this revolutionising my life.

Thanks

My DS2's absolute favourite: lightly oil the interior of your slow cooker. Cut a couple of carrots into chunks, and do the same with an onion. Place a chunk of beef (I'm putting on 1.110kg brisket tomorrow) on top, close slow cooker and switch on to "low". Leave house. Return many hours later. Gorgeous slow-roast beef.

Hint: drain the juices and use them to make gravy by adding Bisto granules.

I don't think I've ever charcoaled anything in my slow cooker, nor have I had need of the emergency services; it's just like leaving a 100w light bulb on. (Well, mine is, but it's 25 years old!) I'm treating myself to a new recipe book which should arrive from Amazon tomorrow, so I'll let you know which recipes I try and how they turn out.

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Thanks oldlady that sounds like a good one, will give that a try, its a low/med/high one knickers, thanks for the tip, could have taken me days to get the dinner ready!!

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My top tip: use less liquid than you think you need, because it never reaches a temperature where it evaporates off the excess.

And never, ever think you can reduce the excess by putting the crock of the slowcooker onto the gas hob and boiling the Bejaysus out of it, because it will crack and you casserole will be all over the hob, and there will be no dinner, and then you'll discover that Morphy Richards don't make replacement crocks for that model anymore, and then you will cry.

Lol, miss thank you, I will not make that mistake now, although I am sure that may have been a problem at some point, seems reasonable enough idea, sorry your slow cooker made you cry!

I second the use less liquid that you think you need. In fact for most meat based dishes you hardly need any.

I often do a chicken casserole in mine by
fry onions and garlic, add to crock
brown lightly floured chicken pieces, put in crock.
Add small amount of water and dried herbs to the saucepan, bring to boil (this also cleans the pan), add to crock. Add any other veg.
Switch on. Get on with your day.

Corned Beef Hash in the slow cooker is blooming gorgeous (if you can get over the fact you're using corned beef).

Put following ingredients into the crock and cook on medium for at least 6 hours:

Sliced Onion
Cubed corned beef
cubed potatoes
tin of baked beans (minus tin)
chopped green pepper
half pint of beef stock from oxo cube
Tin of chopped tomatoes (again, minus tin)
Squeeze tomato puree
some oregano

Tis yummy.

I adore my slow cooker and use it all the time, it is esp. good for parties or if you're having people with kids over as they can eat hot food whenever it's convenient i.e. if the baby needs feeding or won't go to bed, it won't spoil!

You can get slow cooker cookbooks on Amazon, but tbh you don't really need them, anything that says 'cook slowly in oven' will be amazing in a slow cooker. Aga recipes are good too as they are also set up for long cooking. I even do (shame!) packet casseroles in my slow cooker and even they are fab too.

Best tip is that more expensive cuts actually don't work as well, try cheaper cuts of meat like brisket or lamb shanks as they have more fat so hold up better with long slow cooking. I find I can't bring myself to seal meat or fry onions early in the morning - yuk - so though I used to do it now I just sling it all in, and it tastes fine. Fave recipe is brisket, similar to OLKN's recipe but with a bottle of Newcastle Brown in for good measure. I'm hungry now, off to raid the fridge...

I get the cheaper beef cuts and make stew - just throw in whatever you have on hand. I put an onion on the bottom, cubed beef, a couple of carrots and potatoes cubed (or any other root vege), a tin of chopped tomatoes, an oxo cube, a bay leaf etc etc and just leave it on for about 8hours. Jamie Oliver does a fab stew called "Jools favourite beef stew" which is on his website. I usually leave out his more exotic ingreds such as the artichokes but it is a fab base, and the addition of the lemon/rosemary at the end is awesome
www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/meat-recipes/jools-s-favourite-beef-stew

My top tip is don't put too much wine in your stew, I must have oversloshed the red wine and as there's no evaporation the stew was extremely alcoholic tasting and really quite vile...

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Ohhhhhh ladies, thank you very much, I used it last night, did a beef stew, was very impressed, and found myself with time on my hands, had time to sit down with the kids and have a cuddle, and went to bed early.

Have to say bloody marvelous, thanks for the tips going to print them off and stick them in the recipe book. Keep them coming if you think of any more, thinking about a curry at the weekend, reckon that could work.