Sarah’s slow know-how

USING A SLOW COOKER The recipes in my book use an electric slow cooker with a 4.5 litre capacity. I suggest using one as close to this size as possible. However, most recipes will work in all sizes. If your slow cooker is slightly bigger or smaller than 4.5 litres, that’s fine – simply adapt the recipe to suit by adjusting the core ingredients. Slow cookers work best when filled to two-thirds of capacity. IF YOU DON’T HAVE A SLOW COOKER You can still enjoy all the recipes using a conventional oven, with a bit of tweaking here and there. Read on. CONVERTING RECIPES AND TIMES When converting for an oven, halve the liquid/amount of juicy stuff and take measures such as replacing some of the chopped tomatoes, for example, with tomato purée to ensure you still get the desired texture from the shorter cooking time in an oven. WHAT TO COOK IN For cooking in the oven we recommend a casserole dish – a double-handled, deep, ovenproof dish that has a tight-fitting lid made from cast iron, glass, ceramic or any other heatproof and flameproof material. HOW TO SLOW COOK USING AN OVEN Simply seal the meat (if the recipe includes it) in the deep casserole dish on the hob until lightly browned, chuck in the additional ingredients and place the pot, with the lid on, in the oven for the converted cooking time (as in the table below). COOKING CONVERSION TIMES For an easy cooking conversion guide, see below.