Beginner’s Guide to Slow Cooking, Timing

A Beginner’s Guide to Slow Cooking

In years gone by, food was cooked in large pots and allowed to simmer for hours, providing meals that were full of flavour, moist and tender.The slow cooker is designed to produce these same results, whilst leaving you the time to do other things, making it perfect for today’s busy lifestyles.

As most food is cooked over a period of 6-10 hours, it can be prepared in advance the evening before, refrigerated in the removable crockery pot, returned to the slow cooker and turned on in the morning and left to cook all day.When you arrive home a delicious, hot meal will await you.

The guide below will help simplify the process of slow cooking, allowing you to obtain ultimate satisfaction from your slow cooker.

Timing

Always allow sufficient time for the food to cook. It is almost impossible to overcook in the slow cooker, particularly when using the Auto setting. Each recipe contained in this book will give specific instructions, indicating the appropriate temperature setting accompanied by the suggested cooking times to use.

Adapting cooking times

Your favourite traditional recipes can be adapted easily, by halving the amount of liquid and increasing the cooking time considerably. See the guide that follows for suggested cooking times and settings when adjusting your favourite recipes.

Traditional	Slow Cooker
Recipe Time	Time
15-30 minutes	3-4 hours on Auto setting
60 minutes	6-7 hours on Auto setting
1-3 hours	8-10 hours on Auto setting

NOTE:These times are approximate.Times can vary depending on ingredients and quantities in recipes.

All food should be cooked with the glass lid in place. Each time the lid is lifted, both heat and moisture in the food are lost. Cooking times should thus be extended, by approximately 30 minutes.

Liquid amounts

When food is cooking in your slow cooker, very little moisture boils away.To compensate this, it is advisable to halve the liquid content of traditional recipes. However, if after cooking the liquid content is excessive remove the lid and operate the slow cooker on the High setting for 30-45 minutes or until the liquid reduces to the desirable amount.

Preparing meat and poultry

When selecting meat, look for the leanest cuts.Trim the meat or poultry of any visible fat, as the slow cooking process will result in too much liquid from excess fat. If possible, purchase chicken portions without skin.This reduces the amount of fat released into the cooking liquid. For casseroles style recipes, cut the meat into cubes, approximately 2.5cm to 3cm. Slow cooking allows for the use of less tender cuts of meats. See the table below for suitable cuts of meat.