Slow Cookers

AndyF16

I was a bit sceptical when the missus brought one of these home last year, but wow are they a good idea - besides the usual traditional type stews, ours regularly gets used for stuff like Jambalaya, Vlaamse Stoofvlees and various curries, my Malaysian beef Rendang is pretty awesome if anyone wants the recipe

But the best thing, an hour's preparation in the morning, feck off out riding for 7 hours and when you return hey presto there's a delicious meal ready to nomnom down on

Only about £25 for a decent one at various outlets near you, and more energy efficient than your oven too :idea:

pneumatic

we've got one. in the back of the cupboard. used once.

I got it out the other day, ready to make some use of the investment. Read the manual in search of a recipe. It said "first brown the meat etc.. in a pan" WHAT??? that means two pots to wash, instead of one!! It went back in the cupboard.

go on! persuade me.

crumbschief

AndyF16 wrote:

But the best thing, an hour's preparation in the morning, feck off out riding for 7 hours and when you return hey presto your house has burnt down.

AndyF16

crumbschief wrote:

AndyF16 wrote:

But the best thing, an hour's preparation in the morning, feck off out riding for 7 hours and when you return hey presto your house has burnt down.

it has crossed my mind before when exiting the house, but if you're out it's not that bad, maybe don't put it on and go off for a kip upstairs

ratsbeyfus

This has got to be a late entry for the dullest thread of the year. Good work AndyF16

crumbschief

AndyF16 wrote:

crumbschief wrote:

AndyF16 wrote:

But the best thing, an hour's preparation in the morning, feck off out riding for 7 hours and when you return hey presto your house has burnt down.

it has crossed my mind before when exiting the house, but if you're out it's not that bad, maybe don't put it on and go off for a kip upstairs

haha,true.

swagman

Used mine for 2 years, good for Coq a van etc, and the power they use is around 200w, a couple of lightbulbs!

swagman

Infact it would be worth wiring your turbo trainer up to that

AndyF16

ratsbeyfus wrote:

This has got to be a late entry for the dullest thread of the year. Good work AndyF16

Aww shucks, thanks :P

AndyF16

Stanley222 wrote:

AndyF16 wrote:

Vlaamse Stoofvlees

???

Sorry wasn't meaning to be pretentious; it's Flemish meat stew also known as Carbonnade a la Flamande - beef cooked in dark Belgian ale with other good stuff like plums, cherries and a bit of chocolate 8)

blackpoolkev

Sorry wasn't meaning to be pretentious; it's Flemish meat stew also known as Carbonnade a la Flamande - beef cooked in dark Belgian ale with other good stuff like plums, cherries and a bit of chocolate 8)[/quote]


Chocolate stew.......it's the future!

Crapaud

pneumatic wrote:

we've got one. in the back of the cupboard. used once.

I got it out the other day, ready to make some use of the investment. Read the manual in search of a recipe. It said "first brown the meat etc.. in a pan" WHAT??? that means two pots to wash, instead of one!! It went back in the cupboard.

go on! persuade me.

They're just instructions - it's not, like, the law or something. Just bung it all in and wait.

I was really impressed the couple of times that I've used one. Really tender, succulent meat. Delish!

AndyF16 wrote:

... stuff like Jambalaya, Vlaamse Stoofvlees and various curries ...

Did your mother not teach you not to type with your mouth full?

guinea

AndyF16 wrote:

But the best thing, an hour's preparation in the morning

What are you making that takes an hour to prepare? Christmas dinner doesn't even take that long.

I'm about to be married and two people have suggested these as gifts. One is quite insistent. However, I can hit the kitchen and be out with a very good hot meal in 15-40 minutes depending on what we're having. I can't see how a slow cooker would change my life, just take up more space in an already gadget filled kitchen.

jibberjim

guinea wrote:

AndyF16 wrote:

But the best thing, an hour's preparation in the morning

What are you making that takes an hour to prepare? Christmas dinner doesn't even take that long.

I wondered that too... Although Christmas dinner is a pretty low preperation meal which people think is complicated (and people often like to make very complicated!)

guinea wrote:

One is quite insistent. However, I can hit the kitchen and be out with a very good hot meal in 15-40 minutes depending on what we're having. I can't see how a slow cooker would change my life, just take up more space in an already gadget filled kitchen.

I don't think it would change life at all - if you do like stews then they are a bit more convenient for that and they're very good for pulled pork. But they're hardly revolutionary.

fish156

ratsbeyfus wrote:

This has got to be a late entry for the dullest thread of the year. Good work AndyF16

Gets my vote

Having said that I use one. Bought it when I did a ski season. Out boarding all day, stagger back from happy hour, and hey presto, dinner's ready.

Brown the meat first :shock: Sod that, throw everything in and turn it on. Job done!

Aargh, now I'm contributing to the dullest thread of the year!

mask of sanity

I loved mine whilst I was at uni. My fave thing about slow cookers is that you can use cheap meat and it still tastes great!

Also, preparation is more like five minutes. All the browning of the meat is not needed at all. Just shove it all in raw and you're good to go.

Tom BB

Love my slow cooker.......only decent thing I've ever had off the mother in law.

Great for caseroles/stews etc

ColinJ

I called in at a friend's house t'other evening when she was just dishing out a veggie stew from her slow cooker so I had some of that - it was delicious .

TBH - I was pretty impressed with the device. She said that she'd spent about 10 minutes preparing the veggies, chucked them all in the pot and went out shopping. 5 or 6 hours later, she came back to a piping hot meal.

Her cooker is 200W on full power, but there are 2 lower power settings. I think she left it on medium power, so only 100W or so.

I'd certainly consider getting one. One of the problems I have when coming home after a long ride is that I'm tired and hungry so I don't want to faff about cooking. That's often when I end up buying a takeaway. It would be great to be able to eat a healthy hot meal within a few minutes of getting home.

cyclingtaz

rice pudding is great done in one as well

AndyF16

ColinJ wrote:

One of the problems I have when coming home after a long ride is that I'm tired and hungry so I don't want to faff about cooking.

That's mainly what I was getting at, in my dull little way Maybe the hour preparation was OTT but I do prefer to brown the meat in most recipes but as a few have said it's not necessary

pneumatic

cyclingtaz wrote:

rice pudding is great done in one as well

ok, now you're talking. I'll give that a go. For once, I might even manage to make it without browning the milk first!

cyclingtaz

pneumatic wrote:

cyclingtaz wrote:

rice pudding is great done in one as well

ok, now you're talking. I'll give that a go. For once, I might even manage to make it without browning the milk first!

tastes creamier than if cooked in the oven

15peter20

doesn't slow cooking muller the life out of any vitamins and goodness in the foodstuffs?

jibberjim

15peter20 wrote:

doesn't slow cooking muller the life out of any vitamins and goodness in the foodstuffs?

The opposite actually for many things - for example it's not hot enough to break down vitamin C and because you don't throw away any water it's not lost there.

Anonymous

Whats next, a "What sander?" review ?

I'm intrigued.

MichaelW

Cheap cuts of meat are usually the hardest working and tastiest. My favourite is oxtail and an oxtail stew with dumplings is the bees knees. In Spain I had a version which was even better (Rabo de Toro).

bagpusscp

Cor a new idea for a degree at Uni .....Slow cooker use of.

plug1n

And real oatmeal porridge done overnight, simply the best winter ride breakfast

rf6

Awesome for chillis too!

pneumatic

Plug1n wrote:

And real oatmeal porridge done overnight, simply the best winter ride breakfast

what a totally brilliant idea! I'm on to it.

I knew it was a good idea to buy the slow cooker (I just didn't know why! )

AndyF16

Sorry double post :oops: