Your guide to slow cookers – top tips and recipe ideas

May 22nd, 2014

Appliance Talk Food Preparation

With winter having rolled around again, we’re right back into slow cooker season.  These great small appliances are handy for making anything from soups to casseroles, roasts, stews and all manner of other dishes.

Here are our answers to a few frequently asked questions about slow cookers, and some inspiration for dishes you can prepare using your slow cooker:

Should I slow-cook on High or Low?  What’s the temperature difference?

Unlike many other cooking appliances, most slow cookers don’t use a temperature gauge, and instead offer up a High or Low setting, sometimes with a Medium thrown in there for balance.

These settings measure the intensity at which the slow cooker’s electric element heats, and therefore the length of time it takes to reach an optimum cooking temperature.  In fact, for many slow cooker models the High and Low settings both cook at the same final temperature – the only difference is the amount of time it takes to reach that heat level.

Breville Slow Cooker BSC500

Choosing between the two settings really depends on what you’re making, what kind of results you’re after, and how much time you have available. Slow cooking on Low can take up to 8 hours to completely cook your food, leaving plenty of time for the flavours and textures to develop, while a more intense High setting should deliver similar results in just 4 or so hours, with only a slightly higher chance of overcooking your food.

What length of time should I slow cook for?

When converting a regular recipe for preparation with a slow cooker, you’ll need to adjust the cooking time accordingly.  Every slow cooker model is different, and so is every recipe, so check your product manuals for guidelines, and then experiment to see what works best for you.

Morphy Richards Slow Cooker 48787

As a very rough guideline, slow cooking on High usually takes roughly 4 times as long as typical cooking, while cooking on Low takes about 8 times as long.  So if you’d normally boil a casserole for 30 minutes on the stove, slow cook on High for 4 hours instead, or on Low for 8 hours.

How much liquid should I use in a slow cooker?

As a rule, most slow cooker manufacturers recommend that their products are at least half-full when cooking, to help ensure that their contents cook evenly.  If you’re only preparing a relatively small dish, and have invested in a large, family-sized slow cooker, you may be tempted to top up the difference with a bit of extra water, stock, or other liquid.

However, try not to overfill a slow cooker with liquid.  Due to the sealed cooking environment, there is very little evaporation in a slow cooker, so anything you put in the pot you’ll likely be eating at the end.  This makes them ideal for soups and stews, but if you’d prefer a drier meal, make sure there’s plenty of body to it and reduce the amount of liquid in the dish.

Should I buy a slow cooker or a pressure cooker?

Pressure cookers have developed a bit of a reputation over the years as finicky appliances that can be dangerous to use, complete with lurid stories of kitchen explosions.  However, the multiple safety measures built into modern pressure cookers mean that these appliances can serve as a completely viable alternative to slow cookers in a pinch, with many designs actually able to perform both functions!

Morphy Richards Pressure Cooker 48815

Pressure cookers take the same broad principles of slow cooking and invert them; sealing your food in a confined space and cooking them at high temperatures in a short period of time.

Pressure cookers are ideal for when you want similar results to using a slow cooker but don’t have a lot of time available to plan and prepare your dishes.  However your end results may turn out a bit different due to the reversed cooking method.

What about Sous Vide cooking?

Celebrity chefs such as Australia’s own Pete Evans have done a lot in recent years to popularise the sous vide style of cooking, which is kind of like slow cooking on steroids.

Essentially, sous vide cooking involves vacuum-sealing your food in a heatproof plastic bag (using a special vacuum sealer, sold separately), then placing it in your sous vide machine to be submerged in water, which is warmed to a temperature that slowly and evenly cooks your food.

Breville Sous Vide Supreme BSV600

While regular slow cooking works on a similar principle to sous vide cooking (low temperatures over long periods), standard slow cookers have not been engineered to provide the kind of heating required for sous vide cooking – please don’t try to DIY your own home-made sous vide machine!

However, some sous vide machines double as slow cookers, meaning you can get the best of both worlds.

Are slow cookers safe?

It’s completely understandable why some people are a bit wary when it comes to slow cookers.  After all, we’ve all found ourselves worrying at one time or another whether we’ve left the oven on while we’re out and about, so why would you use an appliance that encourages you to do exactly that?  Sure, the convenience of having a delicious meal ready and waiting when you arrive home is all well and good, but what about the risks?

Morphy Richards Slow Cooker 48730

However, if used correctly, slow cookers should be perfectly safe.  As slow cookers slowly build up to their maximum cooking temperature (high enough to maintain a gentle simmer), there’s no significant risk of either fire or your pot boiling over.  The exterior should remain safe to touch as well, which is ideal when there are kids around.

If you’re still worried, some slow cookers have been designed with timers to automatically turn the appliance off, or switch it over to the Keep Warm setting after a predetermined period.  And if you’re concerned about your benchtops, there’s always the option of placing your slow cooker on a heatproof marble slab or other raised surface.

Easy slow cooker recipe ideas

Soups, stews and casseroles

These are the dishes that come to mind when most people think of slow cooking.  Take whatever you’ve got available, stick it in the slow cooker, and leave it until it’s ready to eat.  Easy-peasy (if you’re making peas)!

If you’re cooking meat, slow cooking can be quite economical as you can use cheaper cuts of meat and still get great taste and texture in your dishes – the lengthy cooking process helps to tenderise tough tissue.

Beef & Barley Soup by Melissa Darr

Be sure to cut the meat into chunks so they’ll all cook evenly, and to sear the outside first.  In many slow cookers, you can remove the inner tray and place it on the cooktop to brown the meat, saving you the hassle of washing up a separate frying pan, while other slow cookers include a Sear function that let you complete the whole process using the one appliance.

Roasts

For a moist and tender roast, you can’t beat a slow cooker, which can cook not just the meat, but the veggies at the same time!

Brasato Al Rosmarino with Potatoes, Pancetta and Pumpkin by Bruno Conti

Simply arrange the various ingredients through the slow cooker’s bowl, add a quantity of water or stock, and start your slow cooking.

Turn the meat halfway through, and by the end you should have a delicious roast.

Rice

In a pinch, slow cookers can function as rice cookers as well – simply add rice, water, and turn it on.  In a few hours you’ll have nice, fluffy rice.

Slow Cooker Coconut Red Beans and Rice from A Year of Slow Cooking

The trick is getting just the right ratio of water to rice – it’ll depend a bit on what type of rice you’re preparing.  Generally enough water to just cover the rice should do, as slow cookers have very little evaporation and much of the moisure should be absorbed by the grains anyway.  Regardless, you can always top up the slow cooker with a littel extra if it starts looking dry, or drain of the excess at the end if you overdo it.

If you’re including rice as an accompaniment to a slow cooker recipe, you can often get great results by tossing the rice into the pot within 1-2 hours of your meal being done.  The rice will absorb the flavours of your meal’s stock or broth, and there’s little risk of it ending up overdone and soggy.

Slow cookers can also be used to prepare some great rice-based dishes – New Orleans-style jambalaya is a favourite of mine.  These can involve cooking the rice in the slow cooker, or preparing it separately and adding it to other ingredients.

Cooking with booze

Got a spare bottle or two of liquor handy?  Rather than just drinking it, why not use it in your slow cooking instead?

Slow-Cooked Boeuf Bourguignon from The Kitchn

The lengthy cooking time of a slow cooker is great for infusing ingredients with the flavour of wine or spirits, and due to the lack of evaporation, everything should stay nice and moist as well.  Just don’t go driving after your meal…

You can also use your slow cooker to prepare warming winter drinks such as Mulled Wine – just add wine, spices and fruit, and set the mixture to brew!

Love your slow cooker?  Share your tips, recipes and advice below!