Slow cooker/Mijoteuse (again)

[5-element]

I ate the best magret de canard ever the other day, slow-cooked for hours by the restaurant chef. This particular restaurant seems to do a lot of slow-cooking, and it is usually fabulous. So I am now seriously looking into the slow-cooking option. I remember a while back, Clair did a very good publicity job about her Remoska. But now, I am wondering: Is the Remoska a slow-cooker? Is it a little more than that? And is a slow-cooker what is called "une mijoteuse" in French?

It would be great to get some advice and to read of people's experiences of mijoteuses/slow-cookers/Remoska. So, are they all the same?

[mint]

No, 5-e, a Remoska is NOT a slow cooker.  How can I state this with such conviction?

Because I have been looking into getting one!  It is a sort of mini oven.

I will always mourn the parting of the ways between my cuisine à bois and me.....don't expect I'd ever be able to cook meat in quite the same way again.

As for slow cookers, I don't have one and have never wanted one but I know many people on here, including the Wooly One, swear by them. 

[woolybanana]

Have slow cooker and Remoska. The former I use for stews and the like, often with every spice known to man thrown in left all day. My thick, slow-cooked, lemon chicken soup is better than sex. The latter is a quick cook oven, excellent for chickens, for example but there are tons of ways of using them.

[Quillan]

We have a Kenwood bought from Darty. There were two sizes, we bought the big one because we cook for guests. When we cook for ourselves we use a smaller casserole dish and then place it in the slow cooker with water round it. They are very good, you can buy cheap cuts of beef and they come out very succulent. There are loads of recipes on the web as well. I think I paid around 39 Euros for mine a bout two years ago.

[mint]

[quote user="woolybanana"]Have slow cooker and Remoska. The former I use for stews and the like, often with every spice known to man thrown in left all day. My thick, slow-cooked, lemon chicken soup is better than sex. The latter is a quick cook oven, excellent for chickens, for example but there are tons of ways of using them.[/quote]

Now they'll all be wanting your recipe for lemon chicken soup! LOL

[Richard51]

You beat me to it Sweet [:D]...Please post WoolyB

I love my slow cooker and use it a lot.  I have black turtle beans soaking as I type ready for a slow cooked, Mexican bean chilli tomorrow.  The one we have in France (crockpot) we brought over from the UK as we hadn't seen many - but, s0d's law, since we brought it over we've seen a few about.

Mrs R51

[woolybanana]

Take one bird, she can be a bit old if you like, strip off the nasty scraggy bits and any fat round the back end. If she is still too big then chop her up a bit. If you have giblets, use them too.

Chuck into the slow cooker with loadsa chopped up onions, carrots, leeks, celery, garlic, spices and herbs to taste plus the juice of  three or four fresh lemons or more, depending on taste, as well as the their pith and peel (not pips). If you have a bucket garni then sling it in as well, and maybe a cube or two. Top up with water. If you have stock, dont use cubes.

When cooked, cling the lot, minus chicken bones, into the liquidizer until really thick and smooth. Eat with fresh bread. Put the rest in the freezer for cold days or evenings.

Enjoy!

[Clair]

I'm with Wooly in that I have both a Remoska and a slow cooker.

But I'm not with Wooly... [:P]

For the magrets, go for the slow cooker. The fat is best rendered slowly and you can then crisp up the skin under the grill...

Don't even think about getting one in France, unless you can get it from Aldi, where they have them for around 20€ when they are for sale.

Try to get one from the UK (Lakeland? Amazon maybe?), where they are much, much cheaper than in France.

mijoteuse electrique

[idun]

I remember wanting a slow cooker and getting one for a wedding present. Hated it, can't describe how I find meat cooked in it, dehydrated? it is odd and not to my taste.

I now slow cook in an oven we have integrated into our wood burner, it only gets to 100c and things are really good in it, apart from rice pud which feels more like tinned rice pud than oven baked.

Ah dear, I do sound fussy, if I am, it is a case of knowing exactly what I like.

[Russethouse]

Well I hate to say this, because I'm certain you are are a much better cook than me, but if your meat was dehydrated in a slow cooker, something was wrong. Even Ox cheek was really good.....after a while in the slow cooker. I do prefer to make sure all the ingredients are started hot......

[Clair]

I use the slow cooker a lot in winter.

This week, I trimmed and cooked 1.5kg of cubed Salers beef with half a pack of ready-cut (defrosted) soup veggies in the slow cooker, onions and garlic, in a made-up sauce consisting of a small bottle of amber beer, a small tin of chopped tomatoes, cumin, smoked paprika and left-over stock jelly (from a previously slow-cooked pork knuckle).

Cooked overnight on slow, it came out as a delicious stew, which I ladled out in freezer boxes, enough for 4 meals/8 portions.

I like it for cooking dried pulses, as the simmer does not break them or turn them into mush.

I should try cooking rice pudding in it again... The previous attempt has not been successful, as I had not put enough liquid and the whole thing dried up [:(]

[rowland]

I love my slow cooker - it is great when we have visitors and not sure at what time they are going to arrive. It is really good to be able to cook something that one knows isn't going to spoil if guests do not arrive at the expected time. It also means that one is not disappearing into the kitchen with lots of preparation and no time to talk to one's friends.

It does make great rice pudding - just remember that you have made it! I once started to cook a rice pudding and promptly forgot all about it - three days later it was discovered and although it was served in slices, it was still edible!!!!!

[idun]

As I said, it is hard to describe how I find the texture of meat that I cooked in it. I said dehydrated as it reminded me of some sort of rehydrated stuff we'd have when camping.

I did in fairness try starting my dishes off as I would have with any of my dishes prior to putting them in the oven, or slow simmering. I also tried, as recommended, banging everything in and letting it do it's own thing. I just do not like what is produced. I have never cooked a tongue at all, never mind in a slow cooker. I do buy cooked tongue quite often, just couldn't see us eating a whole one.

And one fine day the lid got broken and I then felt I could throw it out, which I did. It had been expensive and a good make.

As I said, I probably sound fussy. I do go the extra mile to get things how we like which became a bit of a mission when we got to France. From trying endless recipes for things like lemon curd, sweet mincemeat, sage and onion stuffing and sausages, then tweaking the recipes until they were good.This applied to french dishes too.

[5-element]

Thank you all!

Now of course, I would like both as well which was not the idea at all!!!. 

Incidentally, I too, remember getting a crock-type slow-cooker as a wedding present, but being a novice cook, I tried it once and gave it away...

I got interested in the Remoska (which I had bookmarked after Claire's praises a long while ago), because I  need a new oven - have a mini electric oven which is, sort of, OK, but cannot grill. However, a Remoska wouldn't do grilling either, would it?  Now I really have to think about this.

What do you use for grilling (especially those who have both a Remoska and a slow-cooker), do you have yet another appliance for that?

Sweet, maybe you should get your Remoska and then report back...you were the one who gave me the idea for this thread, with your large oven questions.

[5-element]

[quote user="Clair"]I use the slow cooker a lot in winter.

I like it for cooking dried pulses, as the simmer does not break them or turn them into mush.

 [:(]
[/quote]

Clair, don't you have to boil the pulses for 10 minutes first, especially kidney beans, as they have some kind of toxins otherwise?

[Judith]

I have already posted several times on  how I adore my slow cookers - yes - I have 4 of different sizes (useful, but actually a result of having to live apart for work, having two houses for 3 years, 1 in each country) and sometimes two kitchens in one of the houses ......

If you leave a slow cooker on for ever and ever, it will eventually dry up, but I've only had that happen twice in over 30 yrs - yes, that's how long I've had them.  I bought my first in 1978 when I had no cooker and no space for one in my first tiny kitchen.  I would not do a stew any other way, and I've already posted on confit done to perfection in them.

I do agree about buying in the UK, they are much cheaper, and they are also very difficult to find in France.

Lakeland certainly do them, and two of my smaller ones come from there, but I prefer my first, a Prestige, Crockpot, with a pottery lid to match the pottery casserole base.  Look for a ventilation hole in the lid, it helps, cheaper ones do not tend to have them.  And today lids tend to be glass with plastic handles - so you cannot put the lids in the cooker, if you suddenly find the need, as I have done on occasion with the prestige when I didn't get it going soon enough .....

[Judith]

[quote user="5-element"]

Thank you all!

Incidentally, I too, remember getting a crock-type slow-cooker as a wedding present, but being a novice cook, I tried it once and gave it away...

Shame, but you do have to learn a slightly different technique of cooking, which might explain the poor results.....

What do you use for grilling (especially those who have both a Remoska and a slow-cooker), do you have yet another appliance for that?

We have a mini oven, which we got for those times (in the old house) when the wood burning cooker was not lit (like S17 I do miss it still for stews, I rarely used the slow cooker when the stove was lit in the old house!), and we grill on that and I also use it instead of the large oven for baking.  It also has two electric rings, again originally for when the stove was not lit....

Sweet, maybe you should get your Remoska and then report back...you were the one who gave me the idea for this thread, with your large oven questions.

[/quote]

[idun]

What do you grill 5E?

I simply do not use a grill in my ordinary cooking. I find that the oven usually browns my croque monsieur and my gratins and meat well enough.

This thread and another one recently has made me realise lots of things about the way I cook.

I don't make anything low fat or low anything else. If we are having anything it is with full fat ingredients and for me the most flavoursome it can be, and we'll eat less of it if cutting down. However, I am a great one for not over spending, so stock up when things are on offer and re my cooker bills, they are one thing I prefer to pay to get the results I want. So if something needs a long cook I make lots.

No one has mentioned a pressure cooker, I used to get great results for slow cooked meat in mine, tender and succulent. I must get another one, After thirty years mine needed replacing.

[Judith]

[quote user="idun"]

No one has mentioned a pressure cooker, I used to get great results for slow cooked meat in mine, tender and succulent. I must get another one, After thirty years mine needed replacing.[/quote]

I think they are not all that popular with the English, though I know the French like them very much.

I had a pressure cooker back in the early 70's (before the advent of the slow cooker) and I always found stuff overcooked and tasteless.  I couldn't get on with it, and got rid of it.  Maybe the reason why French people like pressure cookers is that very fact, they do make things soft etc.  Now one thing I do like is my veg crisp, unless cooked with a stew - and on the whole I find the French style of cooking vegetables results in them being tasteless and overcooked.

But then, there's nowt so queer as folk, as we all know!

[pouyade]

I'm with Idun on this. I had a slow cooker but could always 'taste' that food had been cooked it in - rather as a microwave leaves a taste on food. I use a combination oven which just takes my cast iron casserole dish and use that on a very low heat with great and economical results.

Pouyade

[mint]

Food for thought!  Yes, pun intended.

I will probably get a Remoska as I really, really do not like the size of the oven (as idun calls it, industrial size) in my new house.  I don't mind cooking 2 or 3 batches of cupcakes or whatever but if, for example, I just want to cook ONE lot of cauliflower cheese, it seems silly and lonely sitting on the one shelf in this ridiculous oven.  Then, I put it on circulaire and the noise it makes, you feel it should be producing more than just the one dish of cauliflower cheese or the one tartiflette to earn its keep.

I have never had a slow cooker and I never feel the need for one.  I did, years ago, like Judith, have a pressure cooker (it was a Tefal) and I didn't really "get on" with it.

Will be back later, OH calling from the other room.

[5-element]

[quote user="idun"]What do you grill 5E? I simply do not use a grill in my ordinary cooking.[/quote]

That's just it Idun, I don't have a grill! The one in my mini-oven is odd (the oven was a cast-off from someone,  so perhaps not what I would have chosen) - the grilling shelf is much too close to the top element,( the one intended for grilling?), and it burns everything within seconds.

I used to have an oven where I could grill a large tray of vegetables (slices of aubergines, onions, etc..) and I like to be able to brown the tops of flans etc...and I also would like to grill fish or meat, just like you would use a barbecue.

Interesting how we all seem to have our favoured methods though. I do have a pressure cooker, but only seem to do potatoes or other root vegetables in it. It was the pride and joy of OH when I met him, I think he used to do all his cooking in it (soups and stews), but I don't like to do that, as I need more control over the food and I taste it frequently during cooking.

[idun]

I have cooked veg in a pressure cooker, but I prefer to cook things like bourguignon or boeuf aux carrotes etc in it. It is also a handy big pan too and sometimes I would just use it as a pan when I had lots of guests.

I don't know one french person without one, and I only know one english person who uses one at the moment.

I think most of my friends in the UK 'grill' and I don't.

When I am doing a tray of veg, I just drizzle olive oil etc on it and bang it in a hot oven, never crossed my mind to grill it.

How we all have different cooking methods and obviously radically different tastes.

The one thing that has driven me mad recently is a restaurant we went to that didn't salt anything. And the people we were with were mainly non salters. The food was tasteless, truly it was. And I think I will throttle the next person who says that you can salt when it is on the plate.

Simply one then oversalts and it is horrible. I would love to know exactly how much of that salt I put in my veg water actually goes into the veg as the water is still 'salty' when I have finished cooking, and my veg has flavour, as does my pasta and rice.

[mint]

I don't like pressure cooker cooked food:  everything seems to be water-logged!

I used to use mine purely for tenderising orange and lemon peel when I was making marmalade.

If I don't want to boil vegetables, I steam them.

Like you, 5-e, I hardly ever grill anything.  As I have mentioned, ovens no longer seem to have eye-level grills where you can literally keep an eye on the grilling process.

My Godin in the other house does have a fantastic grilling element inside the oven and I also have a very heavy grill plate to sit on top of the powerful wok burner.  I don't think it is "grilling" as such, it's just that you can lightly brush the grill plate (with ridges) with oil and cook fabulous fish portions (including whole sardines) on it.

[Cluzo]

As Im sure Ive said before - I have 2 Remoskas ( only standard size ones)  one in France and one in UK and I use them a lot . In fact I rarely use my oven at all and  I rarely use my grill even though it  is eye level - after so may years of not having one - I forget Ive got it

I also have a few slow cookers of different sizes .

 Im going to try the tip of using a big one as a bain marie with a smaller casserole inside it - sounds like a good idea - I woulnt have thought of it .

My new "gadget" which I use most days is an Actifry  . I had one a couple of years ago when they first came out ( which was "borrowed" by one of our daughters and never returned ) but I really only used it for chips - I hadnt realised how it can be used for an amazing array of stuff - wet stuff like bolognaise sauce - chicken in cream with mushrooms . My daughter was telling me this morning that her friend does liver and onions in  it .

I made it last night and had frying pans all over the place - it was gorgeous though, so must find out how she did it .