HOW TO CONVERT YOUR FAVOURITE RECIPES FOR THE SLOW COOKER

There are plenty of great recipes that are perfect for converting for your slow cooker.

Delicious dishes from pulled pork and bolognese to curries or roasts and taco meat are just a few.

The key to success, however, lies in these four tips:

Throwing everything in the pot at once can save both on time and labour. However, if you want to get the best out of slow cooking and maximise flavour, don’t dump everything into the pot at once. You’ll lose an opportunity to build intense flavour that might typically be achieved through hard and fast heat and the reduction of liquids.

When you’re slow cooking with meat, it’s a good idea to trim the fat and brown the meat really well before adding it to the slow cooker. This helps lock in juices and develop a depth of flavour. You may even consider coating it lightly in seasoned plain flour or cornflour, which will help to thicken your sauce.

Adding onions and garlic to the slow cooker

If a recipe has onions and garlic or a base of celery and carrots, you’ll want to saute those to caramelise, sweeten and get the most out of their flavour. The same goes for curry pastes. It can be beneficial to lightly saute these base mixes to pull out their magic first. Adding vegetables, pasta or rice to the slow cooker

Be mindful of the timing of adding any vegetables, pasta or rice. Hard vegetables like potatoes and carrots can be added at the start. In contrast, soft vegetables and herbs should be added closer to the end of the cook. The same goes for pasta and rice. Add those with enough time before the end of cooking because they absorb a lot of liquid. You may want to adjust the amount of liquid you have in there to suit your desired outcome. It can be a good idea to consider precooking or par-cooking them before adding them.

The best types of meat for slow cooking are secondary or cheap cuts such as chicken thigh and drumsticks, shanks and shoulders or ribs and rumps. Meat kept on the bone is especially ideal.

When a recipe traditionally has, say, chicken breast or a type of meat typically unsuitable for slow cooking, don’t be shy to change things up and opt for another cut. For example, a Thai green chicken curry works really well when you replace the breast with drumsticks or even pork shoulder.

Don’t expect that your traditional recipes will take the same amount of time in the slow cooker. If a recipe takes around an hour, you should allow around 4 hours on a high setting and 6-8 hours on low. typically thicken your sauce. Stirring through some cornflour mixed with a little water can help thicken the sauce. When it comes to adding fats like cream or yoghurt to act as a thickener for recipes like pumpkin soup, leave them until the end, so they don’t split.

So, there you have it — four tips to help you adapt your favourite recipes for the slow cooker. It’s really worth its weight in gold.