Slow Cooker Best Recipies

[Jillyreeves]

Hello

I have just acquired a Tower Slow Cooker off Freecycle but dont really know what or how to cook in it. I know there are lots of recipes on internet, but would welcome recommendations and tips from my fellow grapes.

Jilly

[annacruachan]

The slow cooker is ideal for tough cuts of meat as long, slow cooking turns them into delectable morsels. Use any stew or casserole recipe, cook it on top of the cooker for 10 mins to kill off any nasties and tip into slow cooker for a couple of hours.
I'm sure there are plenty of recipes online. Have fun!

[OllieMartin]

I've just had a search on allrecipes.com for 'Slow Cooker', and ranked them by public rating:

Allrecipes - Recipe Search

Some good looking recipes on there, might crack my SC out.

[OllieMartin]

In fact, cooking time on this:
Slow Cooker Beef Stew I - All Recipes

Looks ideal for putting on in the morning for the evening's supper.

Awwww, now my mouth's watering and it's 3 hours 'til lunch!

[Scottishnewbie]

i think i would die without mine! it is one of my favourite kitchen items. I always cook my chicken in them on low if you have a choice - really succulent, and yes all my roasts get doen in the SC. I also make things (stews, casseroles, soups, etc) in the normal way and then tip the whole lot into the SC to finish off and when i get in from wherever i am, a lovely hot meal awaits - great for winter time.

hope this helps

[Rhona]

I usually make my slow cooked things in a huge Le Crueset casserole then leave in a low oven all day. What's the difference with a slow cooker? Is it just more economical or something? Never tried one.

Also, most people seem to pop things in and just leave until it's ready. This means that you miss out softening onions in oil, sweating down the veg etc. Is the flavour still good despite missing all that out?

I'm vaguely tempted to get one, but not sure what the benefits are.

[phil the shed]

fry off meat put in slow cooker
add peeled diced veg
cover with stockinch or so above contents
put on medium
get family in car
head to peak district
walk chocolate labrador till knackered
come home 5 hours later to great smell throughout house turn to high add thickener
chunk up homemade bread
and enjoy
simples..........

[Alison]

I usually make my slow cooked things in a huge Le Crueset casserole then leave in a low oven all day. What's the difference with a slow cooker? Is it just more economical or something? Never tried one.

Also, most people seem to pop things in and just leave until it's ready. This means that you miss out softening onions in oil, sweating down the veg etc. Is the flavour still good despite missing all that out?

I'm vaguely tempted to get one, but not sure what the benefits are.

I'm guessing it's more economical as you're heating a much smaller area but my oven is a bit rubbish on low anyway - actually my oven is a bit rubbish full stop but that's another story.

Some of my recipes call for browing the meat, sweating onions etc first but quite frankly I can't tell the difference if you do or don't after about 10 hours of cooking so I don't bother anymore. I cooked a cheapo piece of topside beef in mine last weekend by simply lobbing it in with some seasoning, a couple of glasses of red wine, a chopped onion and a bit of water. No stock cube or anything and it was really really tasty. Put everything in cold at about 8am, turned the meat over about lunch time to put the top bit in the stock (no idea if this was necessary) and ate it about 8pm with some mash and carrots cooked separately (not enough room in my cook pot for veg with the size of joint I'd gone for). All I had to do was thicken the gravy and was sorted. And the house smelt nice!

[Jillyreeves]

I'm vaguely tempted to get one, but not sure what the benefits are.

They are cheap to run, they only use the same amount of electricity as a standard light bulb. Apparently

[Caro]

We bought our first slow cooker a couple of months ago, so bought a nice shiny cookbook as we had no idea what we were doing. We originally stuck to recipes, until we felt we had a better understanding of what we were doing - a better feel for it, if you like.

This was one of the first recipes we tried - it was delicious, absolutely gorgeous (and I'm not even that keen on lamb).

1tbsp olive oil
750g lean lamb (leg or chump steaks) cubed
75g diced pancetta
l large onion,chopped
2 finely chopped garlic cloves
2 tbsp plain flour
300 ml lamb or chicken stock
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp light muscovado sugar
2-3 sprigs rosemary
250g cherry tomatoes
seasoning

Serve with green salad and papardelle or rigatoni pasta

The recipe says to brown things off in a frying pan first - so

Brown meat in batches in oil, remove from pan
Add pancetta and onion to pan, stirring, approx 5 mins
Add garlic, cook for 2 mins
Stir in flour, then add stock, tomato puree, sugar, rosemary and seasoning, bring to boil.
Spoon the meat and any juices into slow cooker, add the onion mixture, then add the whole cherry tomatoes.
Cover with lid, cook on low for 8-10 hours.

We bought a slow cooker where you can use the casserole dish bit directly on the hob - saved a lot of faffing around :-)

So, a slightly posh Italian recipe, whereas, as everyone's said, they're great for normal casseroles - but it WAS gorgeous ...

Caro

[solway cropper]

We've had a couple over the years and keep one at the caravan as well....couldn't live without them. We like to skive off if the sun is shining so OH puts some meat in the slow cooker in the morning and it's ready when we get back in the afternoon/evening. They don't do veg very well...not hot enough but you can always finish off on the hob or in the oven.

[sunflower96]

i will be using that link for all recipes too as my oven door fell out the other night and shattered all over the floor so i cant use the oven now till i can buy a new one,so my slow cooker will be put to more use, ive had it for about 5/6 yrs and only ever cooked stew in it lol.

[Jillyreeves]

Thank you Caro, the lamb recipe sounds delicious will definitely give it a try. Got some beef for tonight so going to make some kind of stew, going to be my first attempt at cooking in it, fingers crossed.

[ginger ninger]

Hi Jilly, I've been having a rummage through some leaflets that I have and I came across one from these www.thebookpeople.co.uk and they have a "Ultimate Slow Cooker" cook book in it, thought you might like a look at them, it's £3.99, should have been £9.99,I use them all the time I'm sure other grapes have used them as well.

[Jillyreeves]

Hi Jilly, I've been having a rummage through some leaflets that I have and I came across one from these www.thebookpeople.co.uk and they have a "Ultimate Slow Cooker" cook book in it, thought you might like a look at them, it's £3.99, should have been £9.99,I use them all the time I'm sure other grapes have used them as well.

Thank you for the tip off ginger might put this on my Christmas list.