Slow cookers - Is it worth buying one?

Hi Friends,
Yes! Well, I think so, anyway.
Years ago, someone offered to sell me their ancient slow cooker. It was an odd looking thing from the 1970s. As a child, I'd probably have used it as a Sindy swimming pool. I thought it looked like somewhere good ingredients would go to die & declined to part with my cash. I didn't give slow cookers another thought until their recent resurgence when newer models & enticing cookbooks started to appear. I started to think a slow cooker could be useful, but I wanted one I could take straight to the table. Who wants an extra pot to wash?

So I bought this one. It's a 'Crock-pot'. It's made from pottery, tough enough to go on the hob for browning meat, etc, before transferring to its heated base which simply plugs into the mains, where I'm told it uses roughly the same amount of energy as a light-bulb. 
I've been experimenting for 3 or 4 years now, so what have I learned about slow cookers?

1. Liquid doesn't evaporate as it would in conventional cooking, so I use a LOT less liquid.
2. Browning ingredients such as onions, celery, meat, etc, (only if you have time) will add more flavour, just as it would in conventional cooking.
3. Use plenty of flavourings. The cooking time will be much longer, so initial flavouring needs to be more robust.
4. If cooking a joint with a fair bit of fat on it, my personal choice is to trim it first. This fat won't crisp up & taste as it would in the oven, so really is just calories & I'd rather get rid of it.

A criticism I've heard of slow cookers is that everything is watery & 'tastes the same'. I'm wondering if this is a hangover from the 1970s wave of slow cooking because it hasn't been my experience at all. However, if you are basically going to throw some meat in with an onion & bucket- load of water, that is exactly what will happen. I think people sometimes hear 'Slow Cooker' & think 'Stew'. They are useful for stews, especially this time of year & into the coldest months. I regularly make a chunky beef & vegetable stew:

The ingredients go in like this - it couldn't be simpler - & 8 hours later, it has simmered itself into this.......

The gravy is usually pretty much the right consistency, but if you've used a little too much water, it can easily be thickened up in the time-honoured way adding a couple of teaspoons of cornflour mixed with a tiny bit of the liquid, replacing the lid & simmering for an extra 10 mins or so.

A bubbling hot cauldron of stew is great to come home to on a cold day, but I'm finding my slow cooker is hugely more versatile than that. So far, I've made black bean chilli, pulled pork, lamb rogan josh, chicken casserole, bombay potatoes, beef stroganoff, smoky ham hock with Boston baked beans, savoury mince, veggie bulgur wheat chilli, steak & kidney, sweet & sour chicken, as well as all manner of stews, soups & stocks. I'm looking forward to trying mojo pork & Mexican chicken too. Slow cookers are great for the traditional cheaper cuts of meat - ham hocks, shanks, neck of lamb, ox-cheek, oxtail, brisket, etc. A pork shoulder will emerge so tender it only needs to be helped apart with a spoon before it's piled into warm cobs with a dollop of sharp apple sauce. There's no messing about with cooking times. Slow cooker recipes are pretty much based on 4 hours on 'high' or 8 hours on 'low'. Still not ready to eat? Most have a 'Keep warm' setting until you are.

There are plenty of good slow cooker recipe books available. It's worth borrowing a selection from the library to get a feel for how versatile slow cookers can be. I can recommend Slow Cooker - Throw it in & let it simmer for a truly fab spicy pulled pork recipe (other retailers are available, especially your local bookshop & not forgetting the library service - Use them or loose them!) Just check that any book you are buying is actually written for slow cookers. There are some lovely slow cooking titles around which are for slow conventional cooking in the oven, so the techniques will be different.

So there you are! Is it worth buying a slow cooker? For me, the answer has been 'yes'. If you have a cat, you may well find a lot of 'Bisto-cat' activity going on as s/he detects all the fragrant loveliness wafting through the house on slow cooker days. Albert Whiskers takes up a very hopeful position on the kitchen rug & is always most disappointed to discover that the contents are not for him & he is expected to eat fishy sludge again. It is, after all, a desperately hard life being Albert Whiskers.

Until next time,
C x