slow cooking and cookers

[Tag]

I am thinking of trying slow cooking and was wondering if anyone out there could give me some advice on the technique as well as what make/type of cooker to purchase and whether these are easily bought in France.

Thank you so much.

[PeterG]

Far be it from me to be in the wrong forum but my wife bought one of these gadgets on our last visit. She bought it from E'Leclerc, a Tefal slow cooker. It is a grill, slow cooker and everything (doesn't wash its' self up though). Cost about 79 euros. It produces excellent food or is that my wife!!

[Iceni]

I have an elderly all singing and dancing Panasonic microwave, grill and fan assisted oven. Was only recently when I was setting the oven that I discovered that if you ran through all the convection settings it went up to 250 and then down to 40 and slowly upwards from there - just right for cooking a slow casserole until the log burner is on all day and not just in the evenings.

[Janey]

I,ve had my slow cooker for about 20yrs, wouldn,t be without it. It,s great in the winter for casserole type meals, stews, curries etc.

Just literally bung in all the ingrediants, mix and leave it to cook, all day long if possible. Occasionally, stir but don,t leave the lid off for long. At the end of the cooking time if you need to thicken the sauce a bit then add a bit of cornflour (maizena) It makes a wonderfull beef bourginon(spelt that wrong I think), after about 8 hrs the toughest piece of beef just falls apart.

Janey

[Teamedup]

I hated mine and stopped using it.

[Viv]

I used my slow cooker a lot in the UK when I was working full time and long hours. I found that it was great for cooking things that cannot be overdone or if you want to cook cheap meat so that it is so tender it falls to pieces.

I still use mine for chillis, curry and stews ( usually finish the latter off in the oven) but yes, I like them.

[Poppy]

Have had my slow cooker for thirty years. Couldnt do without it. Yesterday I put trimmed pork chops in with a large tin of toms,some herbs, onions, dash of worcester sauce and thickened with some bisto at last minute. Served with mash pots and peas tonight, it was delicious, hubby agreed so it must have been good.

Another favourite is a litre of orange juice with a joint of pork. Thicken orange juice with chicken bisto for gravy.

Usually cook everything for 12 to 14 hrs on low.

Jan

[La Doretie]

I have just got a slow cooker too - early Christmas present from Mum and Dad!

Most of the recipes advise browning the meat first in a frying pan.  Is that really necessary.  I much prefer the idea of "bunging it all in the cooker" and leaving it for the day!

Any more tried and tested recipes would be good.

Thanks,

Liz

[Teamedup]

This is why I hated it.

I would bang it all in, even following receipes that came with the thing at first. When we got home x hours later we would have a meal that I could only ever compare to particularly horrid reconstituted meals we used to have when trekking and camping.

Meat would lose it's proper texture. Even veggies were odd.

I tried and tried with it, even searing meat first.

 

I did use the thing later for say keeping cauliflower cheese or other veggies warm at table.

 

I have heard many a person extol the virtues of these things, but I will stick to my heavy cast iron gamelle and a gentle oven.

[Dick Smith]

I don't have one, but my friend Glen does, and he is always trying to persuade me to get one. He says it is wonderful.

I would think that you would have to brown meat or it would lose all its juices in the cooking. I certainly brown meat well before putting it in the pressure cooker or it becomes tasteless.

[Fantine<br><br><br><br>Susie]

I bought a new one last year - larger volume with a glass lid so I can see what's going on. I've used one for years and love it. Especially good for cheap cuts of meat. I do brown the meat first. I understood (from the instructions of the new and my old one) that the ingredients should be at simmering point when you put it in the Slow Cooker. I brown the meat, lightly sauté the veg add a spoonful of flour to thicken then add the stock/juice etc and herbs/seasonings, bring to simmering and bung it all in the SC and forget about it. Works every time and is delicious. I have also 'roasted' a chicken in it with aromatic veg. Comes out very juicy, again brown the skin first in a pan otherwise it looks very anaemic!

You could do the same dishes in a very, very, very low oven. But it is as low a temperature as a Slow Cooker? And is the power consumption as low?

[Patf]

The first slow cooker I had needed to be heated up first for half an hour and the food put in hot, as you say Fantine. Then I got another one which cooks everything from cold. But I do sometimes brown things first. I think casseroles cooked in a conventional oven taste better though. Pat.

[Russethouse]

My friend in Brittany would like to try a slow coooker but we couldn't see any in the local stores, Carrefour, Super U etc.

Is there a French supplier ?

[Lizzie15]

They get my vote!They are great- I usually brown the meat first though and bring everything up to a simmer then bung it in. I find that I mainly use it  during the cooler months .

 

 

[Clair]

[quote]My friend in Brittany would like to try a slow coooker but we couldn't see any in the local stores, Carrefour, Super U etc. Is there a French supplier ?[/quote]

I have also had difficulty finding a "mijoteur/mijoteuse"...

I see that Tefal have on on their UK site (slow cooker chrome) but not on their French site.

I have found one on http://www.camif.fr/ (Ref : 0121007 M) and also on Darty's website ( KENWOOD CP658).

They seem to consider a Rice Cooker the same as a Slow Cooker (fine in principle, but too small for more than 2 people)...

So my advice would be to buy one in the UK if you want one.

I used to be well organised when out all day at work: browned the meat the evening before, put everything in the pot and switched it on in the morning before leaving for work!!

Clair

[Russethouse]

I have the 3.5 litre morphy richards model and we love it. We often have pot roast on a Sunday with lots of veggies, Monday we use the left overs for soup and there is often enough for Tuesday lunch as well. I also use it for stewed fruit, plums, apricots and rhubarb, doesn't break up.

If you buy one in the UK is it Ok to just change the plug - is the voltage compatible enough for it not to matter ?

[Fantine<br><br><br><br>Susie]

We couldn't find one in France. A Mijoteuse is not the same - they have an electric element under the bowl and do not have a low enough setting to act as a slow cooker and also consume more electricity.

We had ours brought over from Argos.

I did see on a French shopping channel a few months ago, a proper slow cooker being demonstrated, but like I said, I couldn't find one in the shops here and I searched high and low.