Slow Cooker Chatter #19

Hello all you SC experts,

I am a self confessed SC virgin. I bought one (Ronson) on sale at the end of last winter and attempted to use it for the first time the other day.

OK so wanted to make this European bean stew that I normally make in the oven and bake on really really low overnight... so thought the SC perfect for this.

Anyway, I put it all in, turned it onto low and thought it would be fine overnight. I woke up at 1.00am (must have had a 6th sense) and went to check on it. Ahhhhh it was simmering and was on low. This stuff needs to cook realllllllly slowly and simmering is too fast. So at 1.00am I started taking it all out of the SC and moving into the oven to cook as I usually do.

So after my long involved story...my question is - should the SC simmer at low??? The base liquid was water (lots of beans and smoked meat).

Did it simmer because it was water based or does this SC overheat?? Having never used it before I have no idea what is normal. Obviously now I am so hesitant to use it again...

Over to you SC experts - any feedback you can provide would be appreciated. Help me overcome my dislike of the thing...

If you have your SC on low or high the temp will continue to gradually increase, but low means it will increase slower. Once you are at the temp you need switch to auto and this will hold it at that temperature.

I made a similar vege soup to the one you posted BG, on Saturday. The veges were cut up nice and small, but were undercooked, and it tasted really bland. Oh well. :rolleyes: I actually had the thing cooking for about eleven hours! I served it for Steph and I for dinner after about nine hours, and the veges were underdone then, so I let it go longer. Steph didn't touch it at all!

I put in it: crushed garlic, turnip, zucchini, quartered brussel sprouts, carrots, lombok, onion, tin of tomatoes, chicken stock powder, dried herbs, bay leaf, and black pepper (and water). :wall::wall:

Today, I am trying lamb forequarter chops, with barley, onion, carrot, potato, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and some water. Think I'll go turn it to high though. Maybe that will work better?

How would things cook if not covered with liquid in the sc? A roast has its own juices to cook with, so that wouldn't dry out. But what about what I'm cooking today? If I made the same thing again but without the barley, would it cook okay with no added water?

And when you guys put onion in the sc, do you cook the onion first before putting it in? I'm trying to save time (and dishes :redface:) by not browning meat, and so I don't want to have to fry the onion either, really going for the whole "one pot" concept (says busy me). Or should I fry up a heap of onion and freeze it?

i never pre-brown the onion - can't be bothered! i only pre-brown mince cos i can't stomach the pinkish shade of meat (even though its' cooked, it does my head in!) and cos i like it to be broken down properly

if your soup wasn't cooked (that really surprises me!) when you first put it on, put it on high to get the temperature up and then lower it once it is heated, so it's just low for the cooking part if that makes sense

everything you put in should have cooked up ok so i'm not sure what happened there!

ummm, for the stuff in the cooker - if you're making it into a stew, you'll want a reasonable level of water in it - but as long as there is some liquid in there, the steaming liquid should keep your meat and stuff tender. i think i'd be reluctant to expect that vegies would go soft (as in soup soft) without extra fluid added. if you're looking for steamed type texture, you could try it - have you looked at the "just slow cooking" website for recipes that have been tried and tested by real people?

most of what i make has high fluid content cos i freeze it for DH to heat while he's away - i don't want him to have icky dry reheats!

Ha! Thanks BG, I was kind of hoping you'd reply. I like mince to be broken up properly too, but haven't done anything in the sc with mince yet, so didn't think of mince.

The stew (well, I'm hoping its a stew, it may get a name change depending on how it turns out) I'm doing today has four cups of water in it, which is just to the top of everything in the cooker. I suspect it may be a bit much though. Actually.... no maybe not. On the stove I think I put about that much water in too (to just cover). I have just turned it up to high, so its done three hours on auto (which I think gets it up to temp then goes to low).

I have looked at the jsc website, they have sooo many recipes, I get a bit sidetracked. :rolleyes::doh:

Alioops - thanks for your reply...but my SC doesn't have an auto switch..

as low, high and warm... hints??

It is possible that the 'warm' setting is the auto, as in 'keep warm' maybe have a look at the brand on the net or if you still have the instruction manual see what that says.

Mine has Low, High and Warm. Basically if you are cooking for longer (eg 10 hours), then use the Low setting, shorter time High (4 hours). It switches over to Warm when it has finished cooking.

How do I stop this happening....

Today I am making a sausage hot pot. I put it on and went out and 5 hours later I come home but bits of the sausage which were exposed or on the outer edges of the pot are dry looking and possibly yuck?? It was on low. I've had it happen when doing beef before too and the bits which looked dry were in fact yuck and a bit hard. How do you stop this if you're not home to stir it every now and then??

I would try putting an extra cup of water in.

Hmmm... it still wouldn't keep it covered completely though. I did think about that but wouldn't it water down the flavour too?? I used a recipe base thing from the supermarket.

Not sure, Maybe BG will pop in soon.

Thanks Ali :) I take it BG is the resident guru??

Cass, sausages tend to do this. Mine always rise to the top regardless of how much liquid. I havent had them go hard yet, but they do look a bit "yucky" on the edges

Danni, thanks! They weren't hard but some just looked a bit yucky like you said.

Didn't know you changed names lol. Congrats on Noah :)

OK, so its fine to put frozen things in but how much does this add to the cooking time?

Has anyone tried this and do you know?

I have a 6L ronson SC. Im thinking about gettinga smaller one, mainly becuase I keep wanting to make things that require the meat to be "covered with liquid" but becuase of the size of the SC this makes everything a bit too watery sometimes.

i don't find it adds more than about an hour extra for the frozen stuff Rayray - but then we only really use frozen breast fillets and don't add much time cos we don't want the meat to dry out...

i tend to just double the amount of stuff i'm cooking and freeze it rather than worry about watery food - and i bulk everything out with masses of vegies to add more flavour (and nutrition when DH is away)

We bought a cooker a few weeks ago - they're fairly inexpensive, too! And some of the recipes seem really nice! I'm going to try something tomorrow as a dry run before MrsP-the-first comes to our place to stay this coming Thursday. I was thinking of the beef curry, Swiss steak, or Beef and red wine. These are the three recipes I'm choosing from ... I'll let you know which one we choose and how it comes out both tomorrow and next weekend

Swiss Steak (my choice)

Beef Curry (MrsP's first choice)

Beef & Red Wine (the one we're probably going with for mumsie)

Hi, I just bought a slow cooker today and am sooooooo excited to be able to make all your yummy recipes! However, I am gone for ages during the day (leave for work about 7am and not home til around 5pm) so I won't be around to stir, add extra liquid or turn it off if it's cooked. All the slow cooker recipes I've seen suggest 6-8 hours of cooking on low - if I'm gone for 10 hours, will my recipes overcook? Is there something I can do to stop this?

get a timer plug!! the best way to do sc and work

Right, I'm thinking seriously of getting a slow cooker with some of my tax cheque. I haven't finished doing my tax yet so I don't know what I'm getting. But I can't spend too much on a cooker...I'm talking under $100, preferably a lot under.
Tips?

Also, I'm REALLY fussy when it comes to eating meat. It has to be really really tender and not fatty for me to even consider eating it. Will a slow cooker make meat tender and melt in the mouth?

danni - most slow cookers are under 100 to buy unless you go for a really big or ridiculously exxy one - and lets face it, they all do much the same thing! you can get them for less than $50 if you keep an eye on specials - but even full price, the bulk of them are under 100.

as to making meat tender - hell yeah. i'm not a big red meat eater at all - it just doesn't do it for me! but i've made some stuff with the cheaper cuts of beef and it just melts in your mouth. you cook on low for a long time and it is divine. it's pointless buying exxy meat though - just get the cheaper stuff cos it becomes so tender. just make sure, if it is a little fatty, that you trim it before cooking. i'm pretty much the same so i will trim everything. takes a bit of extra time, but it works out better cos fatty food gives me issues with IBS.

yep, slow cooker meat is melt in your mouth. I got my sc from big w (just their cheapie 5.5 litre one) and i think it was $88.

Thanks. I wanted to know particularly about meat because I would like to eat more red meat but will only do it if it's really soft and tender. I think DH would love if I made a beef casserol

you'll find if you cook it for the right amount of time, you'll have meat falling apart. i do a mean braise and half the time the meat is just in little pieces instead of the bigger bits i put in.

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you'll find if you cook it for the right amount of time, you'll have meat falling apart. i do a mean braise and half the time the meat is just in little pieces instead of the bigger bits i put in.

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Excellent! That's what I wanted to hear...Will definately get one then, just a matter of time.
I ordered a slow cooking recipe book so I can't wait to use it now.

if it's the mc cormacks book, it's not very inspiring! i woudl avoid those packet slow cooker things as much as possible - they're not that nice really, and they're not a good way to use the cooker to start as they can be a bit dry (esp if you have a big cooker as the fluid isn't deep enough) - i would look at the recipes on here and try them out first hun - some great recipes that are relatively simple!

I've cooked twice in the slow cooker - a chicken casserole on high that took 6 hours, way longer than I expected it to! We had to eat it the next day 'cos it wasn't ready 'til 9pm! And I made a bacon and vege soup and left it on low all day. It smelled divine when I got home 9 1/2 hours later! And all the meat just fell off the bone. Thanks guys!

Oh and I agree about the McCormack's bases and recipes. I'd much rather cook from scratch and I didn't think the recipes in it were that exciting either! ;)

I have a topside roast (about 1kg) and am wondering what to do with it in the SC. I have a bottle of cleanskin red wine from Dan Murphy and we love garlic. Any ideas SC gurus????

Hi all!

I'm a newie to using a slow cooker (read: never used one before and have no idea! Lol)

And wanting some nice, cheap, tried and true slow cooker recipes! Meat and meatless ones are fine, it's only DH and I so no need to worry about particular veggies, well eat it all!

Would love any good, easy and YUMMY recipes to christen our slow cooker! Lol :)

Thanks in advance all :)

Hello all!
My Mum bought me a slow cooker for me last week, she said it would be a Godsend when bubs arrives!
I have to admit, I am loving it already and only used it twice. So far i've just used two different Mccormick sachets, a beef goolash and a chicken gurry, both were super yummy and easy.

Why didnt anyone tell me about these marvelous contraptions before?!?! It should be a must on every baby list, next to cot, nappies and capsules! :rofl:

Can't wait to read through the other threads and try lots of new recipes!

xo BBB

I loooooove my slow cooker! I use it almost daily during winter.
Mmm, soups and stews and corned beef etc etc etc :D

Just popping in to say I looove my slow cooker!

Used my sc yesterday, for the first time since I last posted in here (which, looking back, turns out to be 2008.... :redface: ). Thought I had better do a good thing, and get dinner happening for the family, since I would be at work. I defrosted and diced five or six chicken thighs, a few carrots, and two chopped onions. I added some chicken stock powder, two heaped spoons of smoked paprika, a tin of condensed tomato soup, and some water (maybe a tin or tin and a half worth). On high for six hours. Got a text from the Man saying it was delish, so I felt very happy. However, when I got home, he told me that he had added all these other veges and other sauce to it. :doh: so I don't know if what I made was good or not! Upon questioning, he seemed relatively satisfied with how it was all cooked. ???? huh? Further questioning, he said what I had done was cooked well. PHEW! Looks like my sc and I are still friends. lol. Tempted as I am to replace it.... I do rather like those ones that you can use the pan on the stove first though.... Anyone got one of those?

My mum has one of those Netix.

Tonight we had pumpkin and bean casserole. Half a butternut pumpkin, one leek, a cup of soaked beans, can of tomatoes and 3 cups of vegie stock. 8 hours on high, and away we go! Served on pepper polenta. Yums.

Okay, this might be a bot of a silly question, but I'm asking it anyway! What happens when you leave your slow cooker home alone and the power goes out? It happens relatively often where we live, but not for very long usually. With a mechanical switch sc, I don't see this as being a problem. But what happens with the newer ones which have all the buttons and whatnot? Thanks.

I would be wary of leaving it to be honest. Even though they are designed to be left unsupervised we got ours when living in an area that did this and I just couldn't bring myself to leave it for more than a couple of hours just in case.... We also tend to do massive cook ups which mean slow cooker is very full so we tend to have to stir it occasionally to make sure everything is under the fluid level and doesn't dry out....

I leave my slow cooker on while at work all the time, never had an issue with it, but we very rarely have black outs, so I can't answer the original question sorry.