slow cooker Q

[mybike]

OK, so I've just started so my method may not be that great but it seems to work.

I buy braising/stewing steak, if they have something cheap I go for that. Since I'm making individual (4x 300ml) puddings I like the meat sliced at 1/4 inch & then sliced again. Similarly with mushrooms, onions and any vegetables. I've tried with vegetables in different orders, not convinced it makes a difference as I stir everything once in a while anyway. I make a stock, usually with left over gravy, heated to boiling with teaspoon of Bovril and ~ 1/2 pint of stout. All goes in the cooker with salt and pepper to taste (I've developed a taste for pepper). The stock is usually too much liquid but I boil the kettle just in case. The cooker should have been on low while preparing everything and once everything is in I turn it to high for half an hour, then back to low for remaining 5 1/2 hours.

 

[Levo-Lon]

You may have used too high a heat. Tough meat like beef skirt is best started off on a high setting (for about an hour) and then dropped to the lowest temperature for another 5-6 hours.

i used high for 2 hrs then low for 4..i think the meat was just tough..

 

[Levo-Lon]

Here's the only slow cooker recipe you need. Yes you brown the meat first and yes you finish with artificial thickener and yes it's hit onions but still, it's lush...

Get a piece of brisket just big enough to go in the pot and leave room at the sides
Brown it on all sides
Chop onions roughly and cover the bottom of the pot
Place brisket on top
Pack large chunks of carrot and large mushrooms around
Take a glass of red wine and add a stock cube and a squirt of tomato puree without other liquid
Add seasoning (no more salt). I like black pepper and ground chili and garlic
Tip wine mixture in
Lid on and cook (all day)
Lift out brisket and put on oven proof serving dish, lift out carrots and shrooms and arrange artistically. leave liquor and onions behind
Keep the meat and veg warm in low oven
Add thickener and browning to liquor & onions in pot (I like Coleman's squirty instant gravy which browns and thickens)
Use hand whizzer to make a thick onion gravy
Serve with jacket pots and greens...
... And beer (or wine)

Nom

[Edit for typo]

not a chance with red wine chilli and garlic plus sliced onions lol..

im sure a lot will love that tho

 

[vernon]

[QUOTE 4089727, member: 259"]I'm sure all the serious pressure cookerists are having a good laugh at this thread. [/QUOTE]

I am. I've owned a slow cooker for four years. I took it to a local charity shop with the cardboard packaging around the plug intact. The only thing that found its way into the ceramic pot was dust. It never got to compete for space in the worksurface real estate.

I kept looking at slow cooker recipes and the faff quotient was pretty much the same as pressure cooker recipes except for the increase in washing up that slow cooking created.

 

[rich p]

81 posts!!!
My extractor thread feels hard done by

 

[raleighnut]

Try this recipe,
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc..._01950&usg=AFQjCNHoZQWbcHnnbfvKO1b3WVj9LVCJ1w

 

[Leaway2]

Oh dear..
meat was tough as old boots...wife said You browned it didnt you...guilty as charged..she may be right..
it tasted nice tho..
could be the meat was a tough bit..as we got a pre packed from sainsbury..
Ill try a bit of Aberdeen Angus or Hereford next time..

Are you sure you didn't have a power cut . 6 hours would tenderise an old boot.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Are you sure you didn't have a power cut . 6 hours would tenderise an old boot.

we had a power cut xmas eve .which caused mass panic...

but no power out while cooking..some of the meat was ok but most of it was tough.


crock pot now back on top of fridge where it will no doubt spend a lot of time collecting dust ...

 

[Leaway2]

we had a power cut xmas eve .which caused mass panic...
but no power out while cooking..some of the meat was ok but most of it was tough
crock pot now back on top of fridge where it will no doubt spend a lot of time collecting dust ...

Give it at least one more chance. You wont regret it.

 

[djmc]

Two points.

If meat particularly beef is cooked at too high a temperature it will be like leather. This is the case even for expensive cuts cuts such as fillet steak. If searing just sear for a few minutes.

Not mentioned here but if you are cooking dried beans cook them for about 10 minutes in rapidly boiling water and throw away the water. With haricot beans this gets rid of the ammoniac smell, it is essential for red kidney beans as they can be poisonous otherwise.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Two points.

If meat particularly beef is cooked at too high a temperature it will be like leather. This is the case even for expensive cuts cuts such as fillet steak. If searing just sear for a few minutes.

Not mentioned here but if you are cooking dried beans cook them for about 10 minutes in rapidly boiling water and throw away the water. With haricot beans this gets rid of the ammoniac smell, it is essential for red kidney beans as they can be poisonous otherwise.

im a great believer in resting Beef after cooking which this slow cooker method takes away..i think..
i will try it again with a slow low setting and see what happens..
cooked a joint of topside corner cut new years day on about 170c for 2 hrs then rested for about 30mins , that was superb..

 

[flake99please]

I use white wine vinegar....works lovely with beef

My (now, not so secret) addition to beef casserole. As for the onion, halve it and roast it with some potatoes.

 

[Levo-Lon]

that sounds great @User i like most things that dont have a clove in

 

[Gravity Aided]

I am. I've owned a slow cooker for four years. I took it to a local charity shop with the cardboard packaging around the plug intact. The only thing that found its way into the ceramic pot was dust. It never got to compete for space in the worksurface real estate.

I kept looking at slow cooker recipes and the faff quotient was pretty much the same as pressure cooker recipes except for the increase in washing up that slow cooking created.

You should try slow cooker liners, keep the mess to a minimum when I make BBQ pulled pork. or chicken wings. (BTW, those are the only two recipes where I don't brown the meat first, after a dusting in flour and spices).

 

[Markymark]

The same sorts of idiots who brown their meat in a slow cooker are the same idiots who don't wear helmets.