slow cookers - a few questions!

Hiya,

We have one, we have a morphy richards one. When used we love it. Must use it more really, its out at present collecting dust..

You can do anything in it, i throw chicken in it with veg etc and cover it in gravy. put it on low before work and its ready for when we get home.

One thing I love about it, the meat is so much more tender when cooked in it

HTH

It's cheaper to run than an oven on low all day.

I make bolognese in it but you need to add more water than you think or it dries out a bit (not that I've done that of course, oh no!)

Jo

I just bought one from Asda for £7 - haven't used it yet but I figured for that price it was worth buying to see if I use it! If it lasts a few years and I use it a lot I'll get a nicer one!

I have one (Morphy Richards) and we use it a lot. I don't find it dries out though - it has a lid and nothing ever gets that hot that it all boils off. The opposite if anything, when water comes out of the veg.

The plus points for us are that you can use cheaper cuts of meat and they always come out very tender, any veg remain intact (don't turn to mush in a sauce), and you can stick it on in the morning and have dinner ready and waiting for you when you get in from work. Fab.

I have just seen the date of this post! I am not used to things from a week ago still being on page 1!! Oh well, that will teach me to not come over here very often...

They are fabulous. I live in Hungary where the meat is not always the best. It is great for cheap cuts of meat. You have to have the food up to a reasonable temperature before you put it in though (apart from some things). I start the dish on the stove and then bung it in the slow cooker. There are loads of hints and tips on the Internet- try "crock pot" as a search too- that is what the Americans call them.

Jo

One of the most popular ways of using a slow cooker is to prepare tough cuts of meat. These cuts are generally cheaper to buy because of the difficulty of preparing them. However, with a slow cooker, the meat is tenderized by the extended heating process. This makes them tastier and easier to chew. Some of the best, budget friendly, cuts of meat to use with a slow cooker are chuck steak, lamb shanks, pork shoulder, and skirt steak. So, I love to cook in slow cooker only rather than going to oven.

I love mine, I did a whole chicken(2 infact because we had a lot of people comingf for dinner) and it was amazing, i didn't need to carve it, the meat was so tender it just fell off the bones and i got so much juice to make a lovely gravy. I never roast joints of meat now because they are much nicer in the slow cooker. I also love doing chicken casserole.

The shape of your slow cooker will help determine your decision as well. My personal opinion is that oval slow cookers are better than the round ones or straight edges because you can actually cook whole birds of chicken in them. Imagine making roast chicken in your slow cooker? Yum One thing to note here also, oval and rounded edges tend to be easier to clean than square edges with awkward, hard-to-reach crevices. Besides that, check out the other parts of a slow cooker’s anatomy. Are the handles sturdy? Is the lid see-through? That’s very important, so you can check on your food without lifting the lid and causing moisture to escape. If you’re very busy, which most of us are, make sure that your new slow cooker is easy to clean too! Choose a slow cooker that have a removable crock and allow for much easier refrigeration of foods before and after cooking is a big plus here too. You can find most of my best slow cookers recommendation will need this shape and design requirement.