slow cooker

[anna_r]

I've been trying to get into slow cooking. I don't have a slow cooker, but our range oven says it has a slow cooker compartment (no temperature control, just on or off). However when I tried using it with a casserole dish after about 4 hours it did not look even hot really. So I stuck it in the main oven on low heat. Results were ok, not brilliant. Tried again this weekend and managed to give husband and myself food poisoning. Both sick all night and off work on Monday. I'm not really sure what I'm doing wrong, but feel like I'm not getting the hygiene aspect right. Now my casserole dish has gone back in the cupboard, neither husband nor I can bear to look at it without feeling sick. For those of you that are slow cooker experts, particularly those without electric slow cookers who do slow cooking type recipes in traditional casserole dishes - what are your hygiene tips? ie minimum temperatures/cooking times. Do you every defrost meat in microwave then slow cook (this is what I did, and what I believe was my error). Do you slow cook chicken in the same way as beef/lamb? Really want to like slow cooking but I think I am no good at it!!!!

xx

[The Nappy Lady]

Did a roast chuck as advised - OMG it was amazing - fell apart getting it out of the slow cooker, really delicious!

Anna - I say you need to cook for 6-8 hours as per most slow cooker recipes. Try something like a chicken - easy to tell when done - to build up confidence. Don't use stuff from the freezer unless you've left it to defrost naturally overnight or whatever, so it's at a normal core temp to start with.

[Bishberro]

all this is inspiring me to use mine. Bluesuperted, do you have a link to the pulled pork recipe? Thanks

[bluesuperted]

Anna that's awful!! I hope you feel OK now. Re: freezing, I googled it a while back and I do put in things frozen sometimes, I just add 3/4 extra hours and check it's really hot. I personally don't like defrosting in the microwave and we don't have one so maybe it was that? I don't use a meat thermometer but have read suggestions online that say that's a good way to go as well.

I usually just stick in the pork (and have used pork belly, pork shoulder, joint, pork steak - all seems to work because like Molly's chicken, the meat becomes so tender anyway!) and cook in the slow cooker for 8/9 hours, sometimes with onions, seasoning and garlic, sometimes completely on its own. I then carve all the meat off, separate it so it's nice and fibrous, and mix/marinate it for about 30 minutes in a barbecue sauce (shop bought, Jack Daniels do a nice one, but could make your own, I'd like to do that sometime...) sometimes with a bit of honey squirted in.

If I'm using the cooker for rice afterwards I stick the pork in sauce in a Le Creuset pot in the oven to 'finish it off' while I do this. It's amazing in buttered baps but obviously not the healthiest meal, we tend to have it once a fortnight instead of a takeaway ;)

[CBRoad]

Bluesuperted ? you are like the slow cooker oracle. Can I do pork chops (with the bone on) in the same way?

[bluesuperted]

Hi sorry only just saw this!! By no means oracle, it's just a fab cheat to nicely cooked meals in my experience :)

Think pork chops would work well for pulled pork, give it a go!

[Magpie]

I also have the Tefal multi-use one, and its brill. I use it for really simple stews/cassoroles which our toddler eats too. Simply chop up Spuds, Sweet pots, onion, carrots, leeks, celery etc and then shove in chicken thighs/lamb shoulder/braising steak, with seasoning and a teeny tiny bit of stock, and leave for 8 hours. Browning is for flavour and colour rather than for food safety, but isn't a necessity - very economical and easy way of cooking. For me biggest issue is liquid - I tend to put too much in - giving me a soup rather than a stew at the end of the day, but it still tastes good.