Slow Cooker recipes

bluecherry74 · 26-11-2013 6:25pm

How do things like butternut squash and sweet potatoes fair in the slow cooker? Would I need to par-cook them?

I'm thinking of doing a curry or some kind of African stew next week. Any recipe suggestions would be great!

CaraMay · 30-11-2013 12:25pm

Hi as title says, does anyone have slow cooker recipes for toddler dinners which are suitable for all the family.

He has reflux and wouldnt be able for spicy foods etc

Dizzyblonde · 30-11-2013 5:17pm

CaraMay I've merged this with the big Slow Cooker recipes thread. There are quite a few non-spicy recipes in here, and the first post contains a list of handy links to recipes too.

boogle · 01-12-2013 5:21pm

I have a Tesco slow cooker. I find that when it's on low setting, the liquid in the pot is still bubbling. Is this too hot? I find the meat I cook for 8 - 9 hours on low is not that soft, it's a bit dry and chewy.

Stheno · 02-12-2013 12:31am

vibe666 wrote: »

i do my bbq ribs low and slow (4-5 hours) in the oven regularly and they are always falling off the bone.

for me though, the slow cooker is handy for 'set and forget' cooking.

hbonbr wrote: »

What setting do you use on your oven, please?

150 celsius for three to three and a half hours for me in the oven.

catho_monster wrote: »

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

2 ham shanks/hocks (about 2-3 lb each)
1 red cabbage,
2 sliced onions
4 garlic cloves
some thyme
2oz raisins
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch cinnamon (ground)
150ml white wine
600ml veg stock

Firstly do the ham in the slow cooker, I do mine overnight, put it in the slow cooker, cover with water and cook on slow/auto.

Next take them out (after overnight they will be falling to pieces) remove all the fat/bones, tendony bits.

Put back in slow cooker (I wash it out after the ham has cooked overnight, and use the stock/wine) and I shred the ham at this stage.

Then add all the other ingredients (chop up the cabbage) and slow/auto for another six hours.

Those measurements will feed 6-8 people easily, we have ours with baked potato usually

hbonbr · 02-12-2013 12:49pm

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

I've never had success with potatoes in the slow cooker, I always do them separately. I think you need the liquid to be bubbling in order for potatoes to cook and the slow cooker just doesn't get hot enough.

I use potatoes all the time in the slow cooker. I cut them fairly large, bigger than for boiling say, and put them on top, they are not in the liquid. After 6 hours they are fine. Sometimes, to hurry things along, I will have boiled them for 10 mins.

hbonbr · 02-12-2013 12:52pm

boogle wrote: »

I have a Tesco slow cooker. I find that when it's on low setting, the liquid in the pot is still bubbling. Is this too hot? I find the meat I cook for 8 - 9 hours on low is not that soft, it's a bit dry and chewy.

My Breville 6.5l also bubbles on low, I naively assume thats normal, though I take your point that the temp must be 100C there. Dunno why its dry and chewy, what meat, how big the pieces?

stevenmu · 02-12-2013 1:55pm

Yep, my breville will get little bubbles around the edges too.

FWIW the low setting will actually get to the same temperature as high, it just takes longer.

vibe666 · 02-12-2013 2:31pm

did a lovely gammon joint in it on sunday, then finished with a glaze in the oven and it was delicious.

soaked it for 24 hours, then fresh water in to cover it and about 15 each of whole cloves and black peppercorns with a 3 decent sized bay leaves.

put it on about 6am on high until the water got to temp, then on low for the rest of the day until 2pm, then into a fan assisted oven @ 200 degrees with a glaze and ready to carve about 30 minutes later.

only other prep was to have some cabbage and spuds pre-boiled to save some time when we got home. spuds went in as roasties and we did a cauli & broc cheese bake and some mash as well and 7 people pretty much polished off a 5kg lump of gammon with all the trimmings, so i did something right!

Antifa161 · 02-12-2013 5:29pm

Wasn't sure if this deserved its own threat but I figure plenty people here will have bought one: how much should I be looking at paying for a piece of meat to make pulled-pork? It doesn't have to be loads as will only be for 2-3 people. And is it likely they have these cuts (shoulder?) out or would I have to request it?

FortuneChip · 02-12-2013 6:20pm

Antifa161 wrote: »

Wasn't sure if this deserved its own threat but I figure plenty people here will have bought one: how much should I be looking at paying for a piece of meat to make pulled-pork? It doesn't have to be loads as will only be for 2-3 people. And is it likely they have these cuts (shoulder?) out or would I have to request it?

Only once have I gone to my local butcher and they've no had pork shoulder.
Leg joint would work too.

I think I got 4lbs for a tenner, and that was enough for three people with leftovers for the next day.

Antifa161 · 02-12-2013 6:32pm

Tesco/Dunnes wouldn't have it would they?

awec · 02-12-2013 7:34pm

Antifa161 wrote: »

Tesco/Dunnes wouldn't have it would they?

Possibly if you are very lucky - you are more likely to find a boneless leg (which can also be used for pulled pork) and a lot of the tesco/dunnes ones would be stuffed.

Maybe the in-store butcher, but an actual butcher is definitely your best bet.

Faith · 02-12-2013 7:39pm

I've never seen shoulder in Tesco.

stevenmu · 03-12-2013 10:19am

I've got it in Tesco a few times. Whenever I've seen it, it has been stuffed with a sage/onion stuffing mix. I just throw the stuffing out and the meat is fine. It's not going to be as good as shoulder from your butcher obviously, but it's not bad, and if you spot it on offer it's a cheap way to get enough to feed 4 pretty comfortably.

vibe666 · 03-12-2013 10:20am

the important bit is, that it needs to be a cheap cut of that would traditionally be quite tough if cooked normally due to the fat content and connective tissues, but once you apply low heat for a long period of time, these connective tissues all break down and the fat gets properly rendered out without overcooking the meat, making it tender and juicy.

that's why leg and shoulder work so well, they tick all the above boxes.

just try and avoid anything too lean as it will dry out a lot more easily.

B0jangles · 03-12-2013 5:03pm

I love my slow cooker so much and I was just thrilled when I found a copy of Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook: 1400 Best Slow Cooker Recipes!

165 five star reviews versus only nine one stars; it has to be good, right?

Nope, it is full of revolting recipes that call for multiple cans of soup, dried onion soup mix, velveeta processed cheese etc etc.

Have a sample to whet your appetites:

Sloppy Chicken

28oz can boneless chicken
10.75 oz can cream of chicken soup
1 stack butter crackers, crushed
15 oz can chicken broth
1.75 oz can of mushroom soup

1. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker.
2. Cover. Cook on Low 5-6 hours, stirring occasionally.

This book was a New York Times bestseller.

bluecherry74 · 03-12-2013 5:29pm

Who uses canned chicken?

MurdyWurdy · 03-12-2013 6:04pm

Quite a few American recipes/cook books are like that - asking for things like using onion soup powder instead of taking 2 minutes to chop a fricking onion!

I've mentioned before I have a good book from New Zealand by Simon and Alison Holst. If you can get it online I recommend it!

Mr. CooL ICE · 04-12-2013 12:25am

Antifa161 wrote: »

Wasn't sure if this deserved its own threat but I figure plenty people here will have bought one: how much should I be looking at paying for a piece of meat to make pulled-pork? It doesn't have to be loads as will only be for 2-3 people. And is it likely they have these cuts (shoulder?) out or would I have to request it?

It varies. Ask around from butcher to butcher to find out. I've been charged €7 for 1.5kg, €24 for 2.7kg and €20 for 4kg, all bone-in weight.

Antifa161 · 04-12-2013 6:04pm

Ended up paying €9.20 for 1kg (although he gave me 1.2), without the bone (a mistake tbh but that's all they had).

Dolbert · 05-12-2013 12:53pm

I have a nice piece of bacon waiting for me in the slow cooker after work

I steeped it first and then threw it in with some diced onion and a can of coke. Hope it's nice!

beertons · 05-12-2013 1:01pm

Does the coke have to cover the bacon? What size bacon piece would you be using?

Dolbert · 05-12-2013 1:14pm

beertons wrote: »

Does the coke have to cover the bacon? What size bacon piece would you be using?

It's a small 700g joint, the coke only comes up about halfway which I'm hoping will be fine. I'll report back with my findings

r3nu4l · 05-12-2013 2:28pm

Okay so I was searching for vegetarian recipes and found this.

Now I don't normally eat chickpeas and thought this would be great. However, on cooking this I found the following issues:

Waaaay too many chickpeas
All I could taste was rosemary

So I played around with it and found that the following recipe works best (for my tastes)

1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
5 medium carrots, sliced
4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
0.25-0.5 teaspoons dried rosemary
500 mls chicken or vegetable stock
0.5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

I also add celery on occasion.
low for 8 hours
high for 6 hours

All done
I sometimes add some cornflour to thicken the sauce at the end.
Really simple to make, no fuss and tastes great. Also very healthy if you're looking for something with no saturated fats but still has lots of protein.

Dolbert · 05-12-2013 11:22pm

Dolbert wrote: »

It's a small 700g joint, the coke only comes up about halfway which I'm hoping will be fine. I'll report back with my findings

The bacon was nice and tender, it came out a little like pulled pork! There was a very slight hint of cola off the edges so quite pleasant, would do it again.

casio4 · 06-12-2013 9:23am

Dolbert wrote: »

The bacon was nice and tender, it came out a little like pulled pork! There was a very slight hint of cola off the edges so quite pleasant, would do it again.

did you steep the bacon over night? I did and there was no taste off it when it was cooked:(

Dolbert · 06-12-2013 11:59am

casio4 wrote: »

did you steep the bacon over night? I did and there was no taste off it when it was cooked:(

I actually only had time to steep it for an hour, so I let it simmer for that time to get as much salt out as possible.

the beer revolu · 06-12-2013 3:28pm

most ham and bacon these days is not all that salty.
If I'm boiling a ham, I usually don't soak it. IMO ham or bacon only really needs soaking if you're going to bake it.

A_Sober_Paddy · 27-12-2013 11:51pm

Hey all,

Considering joining the world of slow cooking as it make my live easier...having my dinner ready when i get home from work(well nearly:D)

I'll be only cooking for myself and was wondering what size cooker i should be looking at, ideally I'd be cooking enough for 2 servings, but my two servings(if it were a chicken dish) would have 4 chicken fillets in it and ideally a lot of veg when veg is called for...

Cheers in advance

Wexy86 · 28-12-2013 5:05pm

I'm using my slow cooker more and more these days, just makes life easier!

Not sure if this has been already mentioned but while googling I came across this website, 40 meals in 4 hours - has anyone tried it? would love some feedback

Does seem like a lot of prep but imagine how handy dinner would be for 40 days

hattoncracker · 28-12-2013 7:53pm

We cooked our Christmas ham in the slow cooker, was the best part of the meal! Just threw it in there with some honey and cloves on low for about 8 hours, turned the cooker off and then stuck it on a roasting dish, put a little maple syrup on it and finished in the oven for 20 mins.... Mmmmmmm!!!!!

Toast4532 · 29-12-2013 3:13am

I plan on doing a bit of beef in the slow cooker tomorrow. Have it marinading and all, dying to have it for dinner tomorrow.

Its 1.36kg, any idea how long I should cook it for?

Dizzyblonde · 29-12-2013 12:44pm

Since it's marinating I'd give it 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low. Any more and it might just fall apart - which would be nice too

Toast4532 · 29-12-2013 4:30pm

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

Since it's marinating I'd give it 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low. Any more and it might just fall apart - which would be nice too

Would four hours on high really be enough time to cook it thoroughly? My mother and granny will be eating it too, so if its pink at all they won't go near it

This is the slow cooker I have (not sure if that makes a difference)

http://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-sc356-slow-cooker-brushed-steel/100-2168.prd

casio4 · 29-12-2013 6:31pm

if it has a medium setting stick it on that for 4 hours:)

Dizzyblonde · 29-12-2013 6:56pm

Toast4532 wrote: »

Would four hours on high really be enough time to cook it thoroughly? My mother and granny will be eating it too, so if its pink at all they won't go near it

This is the slow cooker I have (not sure if that makes a difference)

http://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-sc356-slow-cooker-brushed-steel/100-2168.prd

It would be plenty of time in mine, but some posters have mentioned that the Tesco slow cookers can be a bit cooler so to be on the safe side you might need to cook it for 5-6 hours on high. I'd say that would definitely do it.

Edit: My daughter has the same slow cooker as you and 5 hours would be plenty in hers. I'd test it at that point, and if it's ready you could switch it to low for the last hour.

vibe666 · 30-12-2013 3:07pm

I find a digital meat thermometer is invaluable for doing large pieces of meat in the slow cooker, just to be sure if you're cooking on the fly like i normally do, rather than following a specific recipe just stick so you know 100% where you're very quickly.

recently I've been finding Irish ham/gammon/bacon etc. a lot less salty to begin with than I used to and have ended up leaving some joints a little tasteless due to mistakenly over soaking them thinking they would be the traditional Irish 50% meat 150% salt joints my mother in law usually gives that almost turns my head inside it eating it!

My solution recently is to just slice off a tiny bit, rinse and cook it quickly in a pan just to get a taste for it first so I know much soakage is needed. Seems to be working so far anyway.

frag420 · 02-01-2014 1:33pm

Picked up a slow cooker yesterday. Its a 6.5 ltr Morphy Richards. I didnt realise how big it was so was wondering how does one adjust recipes to suit a 6.5 ltr capacity. As in I dont want to be making over 6 ltrs of curry but if the recipe says cook on medium for 6 hrs do I need to adjust time/heat if I am only half filling the cooker? Would only using half the available capacity damage the cooker? is there a min capacity I should fill it to for to work proper?

cheers

frAg

Dizzyblonde · 02-01-2014 4:07pm

frag420 wrote: »

Picked up a slow cooker yesterday. Its a 6.5 ltr Morphy Richards. I didnt realise how big it was so was wondering how does one adjust recipes to suit a 6.5 ltr capacity. As in I dont want to be making over 6 ltrs of curry but if the recipe says cook on medium for 6 hrs do I need to adjust time/heat if I am only half filling the cooker? Would only using half the available capacity damage the cooker? is there a min capacity I should fill it to for to work proper?

cheers

frAg

Mine's a 6.5 litre one too, and you don't have to make any allowances for smaller amounts. the timing etc is the same. I mostly make stews for 2-3 people in mine, or cook small ham joints. The really good thing about having a large slow cooker is that you can comfortably fit a big piece of pork in to make pulled pork

A_Sober_Paddy · 03-01-2014 1:08am

So I've been looking at a couple of slow cooker recipes and a lot of them seem to call for brown sugar, is there really a need for this is Teriyaki Chicken, Cashew Chicken and even Sesame chicken?

If there is, is there a healthier alternative?

BaZmO* · 03-01-2014 1:20am

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

So I've been looking at a couple of slow cooker recipes and a lot of them seem to call for brown sugar, is there really a need for this is Teriyaki Chicken, Cashew Chicken and even Sesame chicken?

If there is, is there a healthier alternative?

There's nothing 'unhealthy' about brown sugar.

thegreatiam · 03-01-2014 10:51am

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

So I've been looking at a couple of slow cooker recipes and a lot of them seem to call for brown sugar, is there really a need for this is Teriyaki Chicken, Cashew Chicken and even Sesame chicken?

If there is, is there a healthier alternative?

Dont think of your food intake in terms of ingredients but as your diet as a whole.

a couple of spoons of sugar in a whole meal is not going to affect your diet, a tub of sugar a week will.

Just calculate the ingredients into your macro totals using myfitnesspal or similar and stay under your requirements.

A_Sober_Paddy · 03-01-2014 11:03am

thegreatiam wrote: »

Dont think of your food intake in terms of ingredients but as your diet as a whole.

a couple of spoons of sugar in a whole meal is not going to affect your diet, a tub of sugar a week will.

Just calculate the ingredients into your macro totals using myfitnesspal or similar and stay under your requirements.

I know, but a lot of the recipes I've seen and like call for brown sugar, ideally i'd like to reduce my sugar intake a bit, some of which call for 1/2 cup of sugar for 4 servings

thegreatiam · 03-01-2014 11:16am

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

I know, but a lot of the recipes I've seen and like call for brown sugar, ideally i'd like to reduce my sugar intake a bit, some of which call for 1/2 cup of sugar for 4 servings

fell free to reduce the sugar a little. Mostly the sugar will be in a sauce or a glaze, so you wont really be eating that much sugar. unless its so tasty you lick the plate clean

and a 1/8 of a cup is about a 2 spoons i think (80 calories), if you have minimal added sugar in the rest of your diet then you'll be grand.

BaZmO* · 03-01-2014 11:35am

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

I know, but a lot of the recipes I've seen and like call for brown sugar, ideally i'd like to reduce my sugar intake a bit, some of which call for 1/2 cup of sugar for 4 servings

1/2 cup of sugar is about 100g
divided by 4 = 25g (per serving)
which is actually not that much when you consider a can of coke has about 40g of sugar.

homemadecider · 03-01-2014 12:22pm

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

I know, but a lot of the recipes I've seen and like call for brown sugar, ideally i'd like to reduce my sugar intake a bit, some of which call for 1/2 cup of sugar for 4 servings

Without being smart, why don't you just choose different recipes? A lot of chinese recipes are very sweet hence the sugar. I also find that if you're using American slow cooker recipes the ingredients can be horrendous.

We regularly use the slow cooker to make things like meatballs, curries, bolognaise, chilli etc - no sugar in them.

frag420 · 03-01-2014 4:07pm

Back again......so the curry turns out delish! Loads left over to freeze for office lunch. Anyway I just bought a 2.5kg topside of beef. I have halved it and wondering best way to roast it in slow cooker? Any and all suggestions welcome!

Marty McFly · 03-01-2014 4:12pm

BaZmO* wrote: »

1/2 cup of sugar is about 100g
divided by 4 = 25g (per serving)
which is actually not that much when you consider a can of coke has about 40g of sugar.

That's till the equivalent of 6 spoonfuls of sugar per serving, given the average person should only consume 9 per day that's a fair whack of sugar although on average most people are consuming 20 odd spoonfuls of sugar which is horrendous.

A can of coke should not be used as an indicator all fizzy drinks and drinks like Ribena are truly shocking in the amount of sugar they contain.

BaZmO* · 03-01-2014 4:32pm

Marty McFly wrote: »

That's till the equivalent of 6 spoonfuls of sugar per serving, given the average person should only consume 9 per day that's a fair whack of sugar although on average most people are consuming 20 odd spoonfuls of sugar which is horrendous.

A can of coke should not be used as an indicator all fizzy drinks and drinks like Ribena are truly shocking in the amount of sugar they contain.

You're missing the point.

Slow Cooker recipes

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