Slow cookers

[Julian Mince]

I'm a bit late to the party I guess, but I've just bought a slow cooker. "Why have you bought a slow cooker Jules?" I hear you all shout at once. Well, I've been living off air fried sausages and burgers lately because I've totally lost my cooking mojo. Some friends and my sister suggested getting a slow cooker - bung all the ingredients in, switch it on, sod off to work, come home to a welcoming smell of cooked dinner.

I made my first meal overnight - a stew. I've realised my error already - I should have switched it on at breakfast time so it was ready tonight and not now, but I've just tried a piece of beef and wow. I chose shin as I thought that was a cut which would be a good test and goodness me, it just fell apart. If I'd been Greggggggggg Wallace, I'd have munched the living daylights out of it. I'm going to try a curry next.

[Phillip Phlopp]

Yep, they are brilliant for stews and Foxie uses it for cooking the fillings for pies. It also works very well for cooking a whole chicken where the meat falls off the bone and leaves a fantastic stock for other meals/gravy

[Lisa]

I made a slow cookered chicken & sausage stew yesterday, I brown the chicken & sausages in a wee bit oil & butter & chuck them in with onions, carrots & mushrooms, spot of wine & stock with a sprig of rosemary on top then go away and forget about it for the rest of the day. Smashing!

[Phillip Phlopp]

Good point about browning the chicken first, a slow cooker doesn't add colour like a roasted chicken.

[Sandra]

So, I’ve just gone one better and bought a Crockpot. It does slow cooking, pressure cooking and a whole lot more. I’ve always used a slow cooker since we first got married, so lovely to come home to a cooked meal after work.

I brown the meat and onions, leave it in the fridge overnight, then put it on in the morning. Always a tasty dish. I also do full chickens on a bed of leeks, onions and carrots, gorgeous.

I would just say you don’t need as much liquid in the slow cooker as if you were putting a stew in the oven, Jules.

[Julian Mince]

It does sound like an exciting new world has been opened up!

I take your point about water Sandra - I think I overdid the water in Stew Mark 1 but I'm sure it'll be fine. Lesson learned for next time

[Lisa]

I don't like browning chicken then sticking it back in the fridge but I have everything chopped the night before ready to throw in if it's a weekday.

I used to have a pressure cooker but never replaced it when I broke the lid. I haven't got an airfryer yet...

[Red Baron]

We bought the airfryer that is also a slow cooker and a pressure cooker. It gets used constantly, the pressure cooker is great for making soups, stews and we have cooked chickens in it, the advantage being you can crisp the skin up at the end.

[Julian Mince]

Stew update: Lush.

[Julian Mince]

We bought the airfryer that is also a slow cooker and a pressure cooker. It gets used constantly, the pressure cooker is great for making soups, stews and we have cooked chickens in it, the advantage being you can crisp the skin up at the end.

I should have done that instead of getting an airfryer then a slow cooker. I still have my Grandma's Prestige Pressure Cooker and used to do all kinds of things in it. Well, curries mostly. Must get it out of the shed and see whether it's still possible to buy the big O rings and rubber pressure jobbies. I recall Dad and I having fun trying to replace the current one many years ago.

[Phillip Phlopp]

Here's another simple recipe...

Smoked gammon joint, costs about a fiver and big enough for two meals for one bloke

Put joint in the cooker pour in cider, add bay leaves and pepper corns, leave all day turning once. Wrap in foil, make mash and parsley sauce and veg du jour.

Eat half.

Next day, sliced gammon, eggs and chips and bread and butter (no veg unless you're a bit odd)

[Julian Mince]

^^^^ ooh yes!

[Phillip Phlopp]

Even if you use a dry cider the meat is quite sweet, I think the cider extracts the salt from the gammon.

[Lisa]

I may make this for Mr J.

[Phillip Phlopp]

How about these recipes for the slow cooker?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/collections/ ... mfort_food

[Red Baron]

I was looking at those yesterday

[Julian Mince]

How about these recipes for the slow cooker?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/collections/ ... mfort_food

Oooh ta PP - bookmarked!

[Lisa]

I was looking at those yesterday

As was I. We had slow cookered chicken paprika last night .

[Mo]

I bought a slow cooker for Ally and Fraser for their first christmas in their flat. Bless

[Julian Mince]

Permission to swear a lot?