Slow cooker nastiness...

[coveredinsnot]

Why does everything I've made in my slow cooker so far taste like school dinners? I've tried making spag bol twice, once it was like rubble (not enough fat, I now know), and the second time the meat just disintegrated so much, it was grainy, without the rich unctuous flavours you can get when making a spag bol on the hob.

I've also made a beef stew and a vegetable soup in it, both of which made the house smell like an old people's home, and both of which were quite uninspiring. I really thought the meat would be really lovely, but it just tasted dry.

Please tell me what I'm doing wrong! I am very disappointed!!!

Yeah, I kind of agree, I don't bother doing mince things for the same reason. It does depend on the cut of meat I think, as I've done braised beef that was really really dry.

IME fattier meats work better, so pork/lamb shoulder and chicken thighs do best.

Lovin your name OP

So what cuts are the best? I've read contradictory information in different places - some say as low fat as possible, others say fatty meat is better... one must be right, or does it just depend on taste?

I've found a high school dinner sort of taste and smell if I use carrots in the slow cooker. I can remember being given canned carrots at school and the taste is very reminiscent.
I find too that fatty meat is the best (although we have such crap meat in Switzerland it is really trial and error).

Just from my own experience, I have done very lean bits of pork and beef and they went stringy.

Meat where you can see the fat (like shoulder) stays moister, but it's not to everyone's taste obv.

So what I don't get is that if I make a stew on the hob, and let it bubble away for a day, cheap meat turns amazing. I put it in the slow cooker, and it tastes like shit. Makes me wonder what the point of the slow cooker is? I thought it was supposed to be good for cooking cheap cuts... oh well! Maybe it's just people who like their food dry and manky and smelling of farts?! (I'm joking of course... it's probably just my awful cooking...)