My top tips for slow cooking!

Slow cookers are becoming a household staple due to their low purchase price, economical performance and ability to use lower cost ingredients to create delicious meals. A wonderful option for those returning to the office and sending the kids back to school as you can add your ingredients and let the slow cooker do all the hard work, before returning to a homecooked meal at the end of the day!

There are so many options for what you can make in a slow cooker, from stews, to curries, soups and even puddings. They are fantastic for cooking for a family or a crowd or batch cooking meals to freeze. Here are my top tips for getting the most out of your slow cooker all year round.

Shorten your prep time

Personally a big appeal is the ease of using a slow cooker to make a delicious home cooked meal. Many recipes will simply instruct you to add all ingredients in at the start and let it cook, but some will have more detailed guides and steps to complete.

Setting aside time to prep the meal the night before avoids adding extra work to you morning routine, especially if you're dashing off to work or the school run! I always weigh the ingredients, chopping them to the same size pieces as required and pop them in tupperware in the fridge overnight. This gives meats extra time marinade in spice rubs as well!

I often find recipes instruct you to cook off spices and brown meat & onions before adding them to the slow cooker. If possible, it is worth following these extra steps as they really do add flavour! For things like cooking onions and spices. I will do these the night before and just leave browning the meat until the morning I'm cooking.

Don't add frozen/fridge cold ingredients to the slow cooker.

Ingredients should ideally be roughly room temp before adding to the slow cooker. If I've prepped the ingredients the night before I grab them out the fridge first thing before getting myself ready to allow them to come up to room temp. Also, adding frozen ingredients directly to the slow cooker will increase the cooking time and also increase the time it takes for the slow cooker to get to a safe temperature, which increases risks of foodborne illness. If I ever have added frozen meat to the cooker, I always try to cook on high for the first hour, then decrease to low (removing 2 hours from the low time), this helps it get up to a safe heat first.

Selecting meat cuts & preparation

A positive of using a slow cooker is that you can, and often should, use cheaper cuts of meat for the recipes. The length of time you cook for allows these cuts to shine and they will come out extremely tender! Things like beef brisket, pork/lamb shoulders, short ribs and chicken thighs are all fantastic to use. As the dish cooks for an extended period of time the meat really permeates the flavour of the dish, which means you can cut back on meat and bulk out dinner with vegetables to save more as well. However, be cautious of substituting a meat cut in a slow cooker recipe with another cut e.g. chicken thigh to breast - consider that well marbled cuts of meat do best under long cooking times to avoid any disasters!

Slow cooking doesn't require oil as the moisture you add in stock/liquids will ensure the meal doesn't burn. This means you  don't require fat on meats to cook the dish or impart flavour. Therefore you should trim excessive fat off of the meat you are using, leaving a small amount if you are browning the meat in a pan first. Not only does this make it healthier, but if you don't you will find a layer of oil in your final dish as it has nowhere to drain away like it would with roasting or pan frying.

Layer your slow cooker

Some ingredients will take longer to cook than others so when you are adding ingredients take a bit of care to layer it instead of a complete chuck everything in approach! Root vegetables will always take longer to cook than meat and other vegs so I always try to create a bed of these on the base of the slow cooker before adding the meat, spices and other ingredients, with the liquids going in last.

Add some ingredients at the end of cooking

Generally recipes will add everything at the start of the cook time, which allows you to go to work or do other things whilst dinner cooks. However, there are some items that you should always add at the end of the cooking time! Add dairy items like milk and cream 15-30 minutes before the end to stop them curdling. Things like pasta & rice will turn to mush if you add them in at the start. Cheese will become a horrible rubbery mess and fresh herbs/spinach will loose their impact on flavour, colour and texture if added too early. Your recipe should give you instructions on when to add these towards the end of cooking.

Sauces & liquids for slow cooking

It's essential that you add liquids to your slow cooker to prevent anything burning and to create wonderful sauces for your dishes. This is why they are so synonymous with stews, soups and curries! However, as slow cookers have a tight fitting lid on them preventing evaporation you never want to overfill it with fluids as this will cause a messy overspill and impact the cooking time/flavour or your meal. I never fill mine more than two-thirds full.

In a similar way, the liquids in a slow cooker do not thicken on their own like they would on the hob. To create a thickened, delicious sauce I add a cornflour slurry mix (1-2 tsp cornflour & a splash of cold water) to the slow cooker at the end of the cooking time and stir it in. Alternatively I remove the sauce to a saucepan and add the mix to thicken before adding it back into the slow cooker - this is great if you don't want to stir and break up the other ingredients. You can also roll meat in seasoned flour before adding to the slow cooker which can help the whole dish.

Don't peek!

It's extremely tempting to have a peek in the slow cooker at the gorgeous meal you are cooking, especially if the smell is permeating your house, but try to resist the urge! Every time you take the lid off to take a look at the dish you will let some of the hot air out and increase your cooking time. Slow cookers don't require stirring and generally ingredients are all added at the start so leave the lid on and let the slow cooker fairy do it's thing!

Store leftovers/batch cooking correctly

Slow cookers are perfect for batch cooking a favourite meal, or having leftovers. However, don't store these in the ceramic slow cooker bowl in the fridge as it will take too long for the food to cool correctly (the liner is designed to retain heat!). Simply transfer any portions to a separate food containers instead. This also means you can immediately soak the ceramic bowl of the slow cooker at this point to avoid any scrubbing later!

Try something new!

Slow cookers are not just for winter and stews anymore! You can cook such a range of delectable meals in the slow cooker all year round. Why not try - rice pudding, summer poached pears, mulled wines and desserts like cheesecake as well! Yes really! You could even set your slow cooker to make you a tasty breakfast overnight so it's fresh in the morning.

I really hope this information helps you with using your slow cooker more effectively, and throughout the whole year! Let me know of any top tips and slow cooking recipes you love by tagging @agirlandherappetite on Instagram or comment below!!