Slow cooker questions...

[shazsha]

I finally invested in a slow cooker (I blame you lot!) and am very confused.

I have looked at a few sites, each giving contradictory advice, so I have a few questions for you

Can you cook any meat/poultry in them? Can I just throw in a whole chicken?

Should you add liquid (some sites said not to).

Should you add everything at the same time( veg, meat, etc).

What's the best cut of beef to cook in it (as in roll of meat).

Can you give me some quick, easy recipes that I can cook in it then freeze?

And now for possibly the silly question ever asked on this board....Once I have frozen cooked food into portions do I have to take the portion out in the morning and let it defrost or can I just heat it immediately in the microwave oven?

[miasmum]

Hi Shaz,

I have never cooked a whole chicken in my slow cooker, but I regularly cook a joint of beef or gammon. Beef I put in a small amount of stock and gammon in cider or coke. About 2 ins, I cook them all day.

I don't bother browning stuff first I just bung it all in but I know other people do.

As for recipes I cook a chilli in there, bologanaise, or beef and gammon as above. I tend to just throw stuff in, so don't have proper recipes.

I would always defrost food first before cooking

[Kaz]

Shaz I'm sure you can cook a whole chicken, but like Shell I've never tried - I like my roast chicken with a crispy skin and you won't get that with slow cooking. I have often cooked chicken casseroles though, or curries, and it is very tender.

The beauty of the slow cooker is that you can cook really cheap cuts of meat in it and they become beautifully tender - brisket is wonderful, for example. You only need a little liquid, much less than an oven cooked casserole for instance. I cook mine with quartered onions, carrots, parsnips, maybe a slug of red wine......stock is good for the liquid, a cube in water is fine

There are masses of recipe books and recipes online but like Shell said you can just bung stuff in and it will come out fine - I don't pre-brown either, apart from sausages when I make sausage casserole, it is just a matter of personal preference I think.

I think you should always defrost food fully before slow cooking, as I always understood that it doesn't reach high enough temperatures to be safe otherwise......

[debih]

I have cooked a whole chicken in the slow cooker in a sweet and sour sauce recipe (I will try and find it for you although it could be a couple of weeks as all my cookery books are packed away in the inlaws garage whilst I am decorating).

The chicken tastes lovely - really tender and just falls off the bone. However, there is quite a lot of fat comes out of it and I never actually serve the sauce as it is really oily. The chicken takes on the taste of it though.

[Diflower]

The frozen meals (I presume you mean things like bolognese, stews, etc) can be microwaved from frozen or thawed first, doesn't matter

[Workingman]

Whole chicken works, but do not add too much fluid, and as Debih says you would be surprised at the fat that comes off and it needs to be removed before using the cooking fluid as a base for gravy. If quartered/cut in pieces you get a good coq au vin or chasseur.

Imo, brisket and braising steak are the best cuts of beef to use. The taste is to die for. All the minced/cubed beef recipes (spagbol, chili, stroganoff, bourguignon) work a treat. Braised pork chops are also a good bet.

I do not like to put veg in from the beginning as I find that they either go mushy or overpower the meat, but it's only a personal thing. And I use as little fluid as possible to start in the belief that you can top-up but not take out.

[Osc]

Mr. Osc is our slow cooker expert, and we are actually having a chicken this weekend - he has done it before, and as said, the chicken falls off the bone. He also does lamb shanks (wonderful) and ham hocks (also wonderful), plus bol sauce and chilli. He tried stews a couple of times early on and needs to tweak them a bit which I'm sure he will do in the winter. At the moment, I have carrot and butternutsquash soup simmering away in it, it really intensifies the flavour of the veg, and I just bunged everything in, turned it on and walked away, which is what Mr. Osc does too. We love our slow cooker!

[Workingman]

Ooh, lamb shanks and ham hocks. I had forgotten them.

[saundra]

i love my slowcooker as well
i do mince or braising steak mostly
as i can freeze whats left
i take things like stew or mince out of the freezer the night before i needed it
then microwave it

[Weka]

Last weekend I did a 2kg bolar roast in red wine. The kids slept well that night.