What's in your slow cooker today?

Mr Jones said:
Done it before, it's just like having rice in your stew, it's nice but I personally prefer it with ham hock rather than beef. The sweetness from the barley isn't overpowering either.
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Sounds like it might work quite well. I have used it in my chicken casserole recipe today, as I know it works well with chicken but wasn't sure about beef. I have a stew that I am going to make next week so I think I might try some pearl barley then. It is cheap (55p per bag) and you don't really need to use a lot!
 
CHokKA said:
Not sure you can do what needs to be done in 20 minutes. That's a fairly low amount of time for a stock. Here's a rough idea of what you need to do for a decent stock:

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_beef_stock/
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Stock i was asking for help with is just water and herbs i have in the cupboard, nothing more. I.e whats a good mix and mesurements of random herbs to make a nice stock that i chuck in the slow cooker.
 
SkeeterUK said:
Stock i was asking for help with is just water and herbs i have in the cupboard, nothing more. I.e whats a good mix and mesurements of random herbs to make a nice stock that i chuck in the slow cooker.
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I'm not sure that you'd get a nice stock from adding herbs to water and then cooking with it. I think it would be quite bland and might not have the proper flavour for the dish you're making. I'd definitely use a stock cube instead. If you want to make your own stock, then unfortunately good stock requires time and effort to make.
 
SkeeterUK said:
Somit like this i think is what i was after.

http://www.food.com/recipe/beef-stew-seasoning-mix-309131 Just a mix of herbs stuck in casserole instead of relying on a stock cube?
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Ah right I get you now :) That would probably work, but it might not be as flavourful as using a stock cube. But experiment and let us know how it goes :) I'm interested to see how well it works as that's a nice simple seasoning for a stew :)
 
Did basically the mix as in that link just smaller portions and ran out of rosemerry and onion power, damn tho just remembered i didnt put any chopped onion in, ah well i can live without it. What i did was about 3-4 table spoons of flour in a bowl then added half a teaspoons of the things it asked 4 tablespoons of and a little quater of a teaspoon when it said less measurements than 4 tbsp.

Give a good mix, should have smelled it but forgot to i bet it was nice tho, anyhow. Put the beef cubes in the mix and give it a good mix with a spoon then put it on the top of stuff in the casserole then poured hot ish water on till just about covering the meat. Give it a tiny stir with a flat knife to move things a little here and there and push the meat down a bit otherwise i wouldnt have got the lid on.

So ive set it to high and hopefully by about 9pm its done. Shame i dont have any dumpling mix or the space tbh either otherwise id have done em too.

I dont really brown meat and stuff as ur suppose to because i dont want the hasstle of using more than the slow cooker when making the meal so just goes unbrowned. Still generally is very nice tho when its done, this is the first time me flouring the meat with a mix tho so well see how that comes out.

Nowt much to look at but thats it just before i put the lid on and turned it on. Flour mix doesnt look like it stayed on but im sure some stayed on enough to work.

 
That looks awesome! How was it?

Here's my chicken casserole:

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We've got plenty left for tonight as well. Got to love the slow cooker! I think next time I might add in some beer as well as the stock, and see what sort of dish it makes :)
 
Was very nice. :) Think the meat was pretty good and i noticed what i bought which was reduced was organic beef so, maybe thats why it was nicer i duno. Was probs a fiver down to about 3.70 or somit. Ended up being quite a lot of meat in the actual casserole as well, good for me. :) Stock stuff i mentioned before that i did, was pretty nice actually. Thickened up quite nicely too.

Yours looks quite nice, how was it?
 
Mr Jones said:
Didn't do it today... this is my basic go to slow cooked meal when I'm lazy / busy.

In a 3L Chinese Made Slow Cooker, that survived 5 years of my studenty abuse, I make 4 portions of beef and carrot cass.

500g of diced beef - Last Sat was Aldi's for £2.50
~400g Carrots - chopped rustically
half bulb of garlic, bashed with a knife / bowl / palm if you're feeling it
1 Can of Guinness or any dark roasty ale
Equal amount of stock
~200g Mushrooms
4 Tomatoes
1 Star Anise (brings out the meaty flavour)
A teaspoon of oregano and rosemary

Add them all in the pot - I tend to layer firmest to softest in my pot because I just that kind of person, low heat, ~7 hours, before adding half teaspoon of chili flakes to give it a kick (optional).

Drop in dumplings for an hour to cook, before seasoning and serve. I sometimes need to add some cornflour to thicken up my gravy, or omit the seasoning and go with a heap spoon of Onion Gravy Granules to the mix 5 mins before serving.
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I've had this in the slow cooker all afternoon.
Not sure about the star anise tbh, seems to dominate.
 
nst68 said:
I've had this in the slow cooker all afternoon.
Not sure about the star anise tbh, seems to dominate.
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I personally love it; but I find the ale takes the star anise off the edge. Perhaps you can remove the star part way through cooking (if possible?)
 
If you're in the business of wanting to brown meat, pre-cook vegs etc before chucking it in the pot, *but* you don't have time to do this in the morning before going to work, and all you want to do at that point is switch the thing on, how early the in the day before would you prepare the meat and veg? Would it be ok to basically make the entire pot including stock and leave it switched off overnight? Say, make it all up at 9pm and leave it on the side until 7am the next morning before switching it on?

Basically, how long would you risk leaving a semi-uncooked pot sitting there before switching it on? I can't imagine this being too much of an issue but I am also not a culinary or botulism expert.
 
Got my 2kg Carolina rubbed pork shoulder currently cooking away on low in my slow cooker. Was turned on at 7am, should be nicely done when I return at 6pm!
 
I had some cracking pheasant at the weekend, floured and sealed the quartered pheasant bits in oil, cooked off some extra roux and browned a few stock veg, then reduced a pint of cider to around a quarter of the volume, added some gelatinous chicken stock, some bay leaves and port.

Finally decided to thicken the gravy even further with a little left over mashed potato, beautiful *******.

Think I'm gonna do it again if I can get another brace.
 
Bubo said:
If you're in the business of wanting to brown meat, pre-cook vegs etc before chucking it in the pot, *but* you don't have time to do this in the morning before going to work, and all you want to do at that point is switch the thing on, how early the in the day before would you prepare the meat and veg? Would it be ok to basically make the entire pot including stock and leave it switched off overnight? Say, make it all up at 9pm and leave it on the side until 7am the next morning before switching it on?

Basically, how long would you risk leaving a semi-uncooked pot sitting there before switching it on? I can't imagine this being too much of an issue but I am also not a culinary or botulism expert.
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You can precook stuff, then make sure you chill it down in the fridge. Add them all in and cook slow and low. Ready when you're home.

Browning and sealing meat before cooking it in the slow cooker gives extra flavour, especially the burnt bits. Yes the heat carried over might help bring it to temp quicker but it's far safer to precook and brown, then chill overnight.

Leaving all half cooked stuff in the pot, with stock and all overnight, to click it on before you head out is risky from a food prep point of view.
 
Mr Jones said:
Browning and sealing meat before cooking it in the slow cooker gives extra flavour, especially the burnt bits. .
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You can't seal meat :p

This is worth a look and I have read him say this quite a bit lately. That for slow cooking he no longer browns meat. I have stopped as well and prefer the results.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/jools-s-favourite-beef-stew

The great thing about this stew is that it gets put together very quickly, and this is partly to do with the fact that no time is spent browning the meat. Even though this goes against all my training, I experimented with two batches of meat – I browned one and put the other straight into the pot. The latter turned out to be the sweeter and cleaner-tasting, so I've stopped browning the meat for most of my stews these days.
 
Whats the difference between using a slow cooker and putting the food in a pot and cooking on low heat for 8 hours? Genuine question as I am a noob when it comes to pressure cookers.
 
panthro said:
Whats the difference between using a slow cooker and putting the food in a pot and cooking on low heat for 8 hours? Genuine question as I am a noob when it comes to pressure cookers.
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Not much really, only that a slow cooker is cheaper to run. A slow cooker isn't a pressure cooker though. That's an entirely different thing :)
 
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