Slow Cooker recipes

I finally got around to picking up a slow cooker today and am really looking forward to getting stuck in

Have a 1kg ham fillet in the fridge, also picked up some veg to lash in with it but I'm hoping for some advice from you slow cooking experts.

Want to know if the ham would need to be soaked overnight to get rid of the salt or if I just lash all the ingredients in to the SC would the ham make the other ingredients / sauce real salty?

Any suggestions on how long to cook the ham for and what level?

Thanks in advance
Al

P.S. I'm starving after reading some of the posts on here, really looking forward to using the cooker regularly

Glebee wrote: »

Im guessing the ham would need a good soaking. Did you put it on yet.
Have not tried a ham yet but its on my list...
Going to pick up some lamb shanks for tommorrow...

Left it soaking overnight, going to stick it on shortly although not certain how much liquid to put in, based on some previous posts here the ham will provide a good bit of juice and I'd say the veggies would too.

In saying that though I don't fancy it being a horribly dry mess.

Will probably stick in a couple of stock cubes dissolved in a mug of boiling water and see how we fare.

the beer revolu wrote: »

Don't do that. It will add back all the salt you just took out.
Just add water/wine/beer/juice or unseasoned stock - it's easy to add a stock cube at the end if you feel it lacks flavour and salt - not so easy to get the salt out.

Ah cool, didn't realise that, thanks for the tip.

Gonna give it a blast, will let you know how I get on.

MurdyWurdy wrote: »

What cut of pork do people use to make pulled pork? I have a good slow cooker recipe book but it's from NZ and the cuts of meat are all called different things!

Shoulder is probably best imo.
Any cut would probably work, though.

i have a pork shoulder in the slow cooker at the moment.

it's spent the last 48 hours soaking in teriyaki marinade, so hopefully should come out tasty just like that, but some bbq sauce should make sure of it.

also trying out a trivet made from apples this time instead of my usual onions. should impart some good flavours as well as keeping it off the bottom until the juices start to build up.

aligator_am wrote: »

Ah cool, didn't realise that, thanks for the tip.

Gonna give it a blast, will let you know how I get on.

I love cooking my ham with a can of coke thrown in. Its the perfect amount and adds this amazing sweetness to it as it cooks. Tried it once and will never deviate now!

Stheno wrote: »

I do ham shanks for ten hours, then add red cabbage, water, thyme, cinnamon, cardamon and onion, and cook for another ten hours, it's delicious and not at all salty

Ooooh, that's going on my to do list. Could you give some ball park measurements for the ingredients?

vibe666 wrote: »

i have a pork shoulder in the slow cooker at the moment.

came out lovely.



Made a trivet with 5 apples and left it in all day on low, then mash the apples up and pull the pork, mix through and then drain the excess meat juices and put them with a can of bulmers in a pan with a teaspoon of English mustard, and 6 tablespoons each of rice wine vinegar, honey, tomato ketchup, good oyster sauce, light muscavado sugar and 6 teaspoons of tomato puree and reduce it down to a thick syrup before adding it back to the meat in the slow cooker for 30 more minutes.

Kali_Kalika wrote: »

Yes just the ham and coke. I usually stab the ham (great for stressful mornings! ) So it has deep holes down into it and I pour the coke slowly into those (yes, most of it runs down the sides, but some stays in there) pop the lid on and in fairness its a dinner I use when I've no idea when anyone is going to be home so for the "how long do I cook it" question hmmm, its 6-9 hours (on low) depending on the day, and whoever gets home first turns it to high for the last hour or the last one to arrive home. Times that I've actually tried to cook it for a certain time I left it in for just over 5 hours (on high) and it was perfect.

I've never had a bad ham come out of it despite my crazy cooking with it, its always been flawless so I really think ham is one of those things that cannot come out of a slow cooker badly.

sorry one more question do you steep it the night before in water to get rid of the salt?thanks

vibe666 wrote: »

came out lovely.



Made a trivet with 5 apples and left it in all day on low, ...

Thanks for this receipe.

A question: did you use any liquid e.g. stock, when you were cooking the pork?

casio4 wrote: »

sorry one more question do you steep it the night before in water to get rid of the salt?thanks

No worries - I'm always full of questions too! Far less goes wrong when you question the hell out of it!


I usually do a quick soak in the sink (cleaned out very well I might add) as I'm getting the slow cooker set up (aka haul it out from its hiding place), I usually use hot water and cover it as much as possible. As someone else said it really depends on 1) how salty the ham is to begin with and 2) how salty you like it.

I find with the ham that I usually get from my local butcher, it doesn't really need soaking at all and at times I wont bother just slap it in get on with it. But the likes of Tesco ham I will usually do that hot water soak for about half an hour. I got an Aldi ham last christmas (didn't get to my butcher in time for final orders) and it was lovely, on par with the butchers.

And I do ultimately find that the coke really cuts the salt out of the meat, or maybe its all the sugar - I've no idea unfortunately I'm no kitchen wizard scientist master. Just crazy enough to try stuff But all the times I cook ham - which is a lot because I have friends over a lot and will stick a slow cooked ham on in addition to whatever else I've cooked in case anyone doesn't like the main and everyone requests it at this point and bits to take home! - something must be going right!