Antony Worrall Thompson joining us to answer your questions on slow cooking - Tuesday 18th January between 1 - 2 pm

[RachelMumsnet]

Antony Worrall Thompson is our guest next Tuesday lunchtime when he's going to be answering questions on how to get the most out of your slow cooker as well as giving us tips on how to prepare some delicious one-pot dishes either in a slow cooker or a casserole - just the thing for these cold wintry nights.

He will also be preparing one of the recipes from his new book Slow Cooking which we will film and show in Mumsnet Recipes. The webchat will run between 1 and 2pm so put the date in your diary and if you can't join us next Tuesday but have a question you'd like to put to Antony, post it to this thread.

@Scootergrrrl

Hi - do you really have to precook food before it goes into the slow cooker? It kind of takes away from the convenience of it all.

Hope they're being gentle with you in Justine's kitchen!

All five of them have been extremely gentle with me. So far...

Of course you can chuck everything in without pre-browning but you won't get the same flavour. The browning gives a wonderful caramelised flavour to the liquid content. Perhaps think about becoming a vegetarian... they don't need any browning!

will you be bringing out a regular cook book antony for the summer bbq season!!?

Not a recipe question, but as you said you are brave....

Have you given up smoking in the kitchen yet?

I always cook my chicken whole in the slow cooker but without water or stock - i simply stand it on a couple of balls of tin foil or some root veg, sprinkle some salt and pepper and maybe some dried sage over it and put it on high for an hour then low for about six hours - it's never dried out yet, in fact the meat is always tender and moist, so am a bit confused as to why you'd say it'd dry out?

@TheSleepFairy

Hello AWT Can you suggest some tasty puddings for the children that I can do in my s/c please.

In my new book, Slow Cooking, I have a few offerings for you - how about a chocolate saucy pudding, a chocolate baked cheesecake with a brownie twist, maple cream caramel, treacle sponge, jamaican coconut bananas (leave out the rum on that one)... the list goes on!

@SecretNutellaFix

I'm always a bit concerned about the amount of liquid to use.
Do you find that the majority of recipes say to use too much liquid? Or is the reason my food is runny because I have the cooker on too long. What tips would you give, as I have to leave mine on for 9hrs+ due to working day and no way of getting home at lunchtime to switch it on then.

If you have a good slow cooking book (like mine) you will find a section at the beginning called Slow Cooker, All you need to know. If you read this section, it will give you the basis for most slow cooker recipes. The key point is the liquid content is half that of a normal recipe, you can't, on a slow setting overcook any food, so if you are late home the food won't be ruined.

@CuppaTeaJanice

You asked for non-foody questions...

You are a patron of the pro-smoking lobby group Forest (according to Wikipedia).

If it weren't now illegal, would you prefer your restaurants to allow customers to smoke at the table? And do you not find the smells/tastes of a smoky atmosphere conflicts with the delicious and often delicate flavours that you are presumably trying to create in your dishes (or maybe you think it enhances it)?

Not anti-smoking, by the way, just interested in your opinions on experiencing smoke and food together. Seems a bit like listening to an i-pod at a concert in terms of conflicting sensations!

Just before I reply, Forest is not pro-smoking, but pro-freedom of choice.

I wouldn't like the law changed back for restaurants as I don't think you can enjoy a good meal with smoke surrounding you. But I do think pubs should have a smoking facility rather than ostracising many of their hardcore drinkers. As adults, we always have the right to choose and if you don't like the pub, you can always choose another one. Pubs are, after all, meant to be centres of adult social entertainment.

Hi
I read on an earlier thread to chop meat/veg into larger chunks.
What size should the chunks of say beef or chicken be?

@no1chick

will you be bringing out a regular cook book antony for the summer bbq season!!?

Give me a break, I've just finished two other ones! Low Fat Cooking and my latest, Slow Cooking. However, if you go to amazon, you'll find my bestselling Barbequeing and Grilling book published by Kyle Cathie.

Guacamole - I make the most amazing choclate brownie mug cakes in my SC. Divine!

Hello and welcome to MN - hope you are enjoying the insanity experience.

Quick question about frozen food. Does frozen veg etc always need to be defrosted first. regardless of low or high setting?

@no1chick

which meat is easier to slow cook?

Tricky question! Probably chicken, but in this healthy world we live in, I can't possibly mention... the fattier the better! Either shoulder or belly of pork I'd say. Fat is where the flavour is! As a tip, you can always pre-cook, cool and refrigerate then skim the solidified fat off the top before reheating.

@NessaRose

I had a disaster the first (and only time) I used my slow cooker, I tried to do a pork belly and apple casserole, the apple went all mushy and the pork was not cooked through. (I followed the cooking guidelines that said to cook for 8 hours on high.) What did I do wrong?

Where do I start? Which apples did you use? Big mistake if you used Bramleys because they turn into sauce... High cooking is really for big joints and finishing off dishes, not for a casserole, where presumably you diced the meat. So I suggest using a Low setting and a dessert apple such as Cox or Granny Smith in big chunks. Hope that helps!

deemented could you share the recipe with me us?

Do you have a book you could recommend on slow cooking?

Right deemented if I can make cake in a slow cooker I am definitely buying one, is your recipe in the Mumsnet recipe section?

@insertexpletive

Hello and welcome to MN - hope you are enjoying the insanity experience.

Quick question about frozen food. Does frozen veg etc always need to be defrosted first. regardless of low or high setting?

Enjoying myself thoroughly, surrounded by all these gorgeous laydees!

In answer to your question, not really. You add green veg at the end of cooking with a High setting normally, so they will defrost and cook quite quickly. Vegetables like broad beans, or edamame beans can be given longer cooking anyway and the remaining frozen vegetables, to my knowledge, have been pre-blanched and need very little cooking.

Don't want to hog AWT's webchat so i'll put a thread in recipes later

Guacamole yes cakes usually turn out well ...... love the idea of Dees brownies in a mug

Oooh! an honourary MNetter obviously ~ using laydees

Opps I did use Bramleys.
Right I will try again and do follow your advice. Thank you.

My shelves are groaning under the weight of cookbooks, give me something to tempt me with your one - I do a Butter Chicken recipe in my slow cooker, but other than that it is just (like Fairy said above) vaguely weird tasting beef casserole, not sure what I'm doing wrong. What non-mushy, non casseroled recipes are in your book to make me want it?

@LoveBeingADaddysGirl

Hi AWT

what can I cook in my slow cooker that's not a boring chick tombased stew (prefer no bones)?

And a checky second question which celeb chef would you like to see slowcooked?

To your second question... That's really easy! Even after slow cooking, he's still going to be very gristly and tough, but that's the best I can offer for Gordon Ramsay.
Have a look in my new book for a large variety of different recipes!

Can you cook brown rice in the slow cooker?

I have a book which includes a couple of recipes using white and wild rice combined, which work well. But I would really love to be able to cook brown rice, to make something similar to Fay Ripleys one pot chicken

@molemesseskilledIpom

Just a quick question.

I love Byriani but it takes ages to make on the stove. Can this be made in the slow cooker so I can just leave it to work it's magic?

My new book has got a recipe for Turkey meatballs with tomato rice pilaf, which is very similar. But even in a slow cooker, ordinary rice generally only takes about 40 minutes, so you can't really leave it for very long. I can help you do a Biryani - sweat the onions with the spices first in a non-flavoured oil, then add your protein, whatever it is, with your rice. Toss to combine, then add 1 1/2 times by volume the amount of rice you have in stock or water. Then place a wet piece of greaseproof paper on top of the rice, then a lid. Pop into a 190 oven, cook for 18 minutes. Remove from oven but don't lift the lid for 5 minutes. Then give it a stir and all the liquid should have evaporated.