I was thinking about buying a slow cooked since people seem benefited by it, but what are the actual merits of cocking in a slow cooker compared to just dumping stuff in a pot or similar and leaving it on an electric stove on the lowest heat?
Lazy people how can't cook like to just throw all their ingredients in one place, set it and forget it, and don't mind eating literal slop.
>>7473076
>want soup
>can literally chuck all the shit in a bath of stock
>go to work
>it will cook whilst I work
>go home and blitz it
About 3 meals made. How is this bad?
>>7473073
It's just a more controlled method of slow cooking. Idk how safe it is to leave your stove on unattended but people leave slow cookers unattended all the time. It's also nice for keeping food warm if you bring it somewhere. It's great for braising meat, there was a thread the other day with some really great looking recipes, I forgot to save it though.
Honestly they're so cheap there isn't many reasons to not have one.
>>7473073
you can cock food longer
>>7473073
I just bought one, still looking for a decent recipe for it. Might just throw in some stewing beef, red wine and onions and get a decent boeuf bourguignon going.
>>7473127
This is my favourite beef stew to do in the slow cooker.
http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/13973/spicy-southern-man-stew-for-scarfies.aspx
>>7473073
The merits are mostly convenience.
Having the ability to safely leave your kitchen, let alone your house, while something slow-cooks unmonitored/unstirred and isn't burning down your house, or using excessive energy. They can also keep food perfectly ready as people arrive and eat in stages such as a busy family eating before games, all going separate ways, or dad who worked later than kids can reasonably eat (which is a rice cooker perk too). That is all!
There is LITTLE in the way of recipes that is better from the process. For a fast lifestyle, when all your meals are short order, it can be refreshing that something is not of that style. It can also be really nice to go out to a full day of activity and know something is already ready the very minute you return. So it's displaced effort where most of the job is done when your energy is highest (such is great for people of poor health or tough jobs). If you've ever wrecked a kitchen before guests arrived, and had that cleanup at the least energizing time of day, it's a plus like that. [ I like to make casseroles like lasagna ahead, when I know I have guests coming, because all I need to do when they arrive is pull it out of the oven where it's been for an hour. My kitchen is clean, and I'm only tossing a pre-prepped salad and uncorking some wine.] Think about that one pot convenience with a stew, or roast that also includes the sides built in.
Bean soups notoriously stick and scorch to taint a whole batch with burned flavor, and they're perfect for even heating without a hot spot on the bottom, which is also similarly good for dairy-based and potato soups. Braising without much liquid loss (the unmonitored perk).
>>7473127
>I just bought one, still looking for a decent recipe for it. Might just throw in some stewing beef, red wine and onions and get a decent boeuf bourguignon going.
The browning step for each of the cubes of beef, is essential to a "great" beef stew, though it is skipped by many people for convenience. The texture loss is great, as well as fond/reduction, so the stock is usually improved by bothering with the browning step, in stages, and deglazing with wine, or else really delicious stock is added to the braising liquid.
One of the more common dump-style recipes might include a packet of french onion Lipton. I use low sodium stock like Herbox. A can of whole tomatoes adds serious flavor in lieu of stock. I've also used an entire bottle of Rioja to great effect.
>>7473163
I'm currently making it, just browned off the meat (cubed beef rib) seasoned with salt and pepper, sweated some onions and garlic, deglazed with South-African dry red, Wilde Bloem, of which I just found out it's actually decent drinking wine, not just stewing wine. Threw it all in the pre-heated cooker, stirred for a bit, added bay leaves, and put the lid on.
Reckon it'll be done in about 24 hours, just in time for dinner (Dutchfag). Gonna bake a bread tomorrow to go with it.
>>7473076
is a cunt
You can make food for days without having to be home. There is no downside.
I'm making corned beef in one right now.
>>7473348
That's a great use too. Can't seem to find proper brisket in Europe though, they all cube it into stewing meat and soup meat here. Still looking for a decent recipe too, would you care to share?
>>7473319
>Reckon it'll be done in about 24 hours, just in time for dinner (Dutchfag). Gonna bake a bread tomorrow to go with it.
On low, it will be 6-8hrs. On high 5-6hrs. Cooking it longer (24hrs) could toughen the meat eventually. If you don't want to eat it today, stop at 5hrs, refrigerate overnight, and reheat tomorrow. It will probably be better on the second day anyway.
Good call with the bay leaves.
>>7473352
I wish I could help you out, but I'm just the one that tossed it in the crock. My brother is crazy about corned beef and makes a ton of it every year.
>>7473384
Normally if I make it in a pot, it takes about 6 hours over gas, I can't imagine it to take the same amount of time in the slow cooker. It's quite a lot of meat, about 1kg.
>>7473348
my nigga.
Gotta love the st pat sales.
>>7473497
The cheapest I ever got it was 99ยข / lb. Brisket for days. It was great.
>>7473163
>dump-style recipe
I don't like to talk about poop while eating. Appetite lost.
>>7473076
I work from 9 to 7:30 every day with a one hour commute. I can't do any real cooking during the week, so the slow cooker is a godsend.
I can wake up 15 mins early, thow some ingredients in set to low and it'll be ready by the time I get home from work.
Go buy a pressure cooker instead, way faster cooking times, and not the electric bullshit type, unless your a fat lazy slob. Slow cookers also stink up the place, you got that shit in there for hours festering. If you like setting up din din before leaving for work and walking into a house that smells deeply of cooked food, then this is for you. On a serious note, a pressure cooker can do what this does and better in about 30min.
>>7473824
Agreed the pressure cookers are great, but you seem to be missing the point. The appeal of a slow cooker is that it's totally hands-off. It requires no attention at all, unlike a pressure cooker. The fact that a pressure cooker is faster is irrelevant here since the time taken doesn't matter--rather it's the attention required.
