Beat the rush ... Jenny Adam gets a meal under way in her slow cooker. Photo: Helen Nezdropa
As slow cookers win more converts, hearty meals are on the menu, writes Daniela Elser. Once commonplace on Australian kitchen benches in the 1970s, the slow cooker has made a comeback, and it's not hard to see why.
Throw the ingredients in the pot in the morning, leave them to cook all day and a heady winter braise or casserole is ready in the evening.
This helpful invention makes up for something many cooks lack - time. Time to let a dish simmer on the back of the stove for hours or gently roast in the oven for half a day on the lowest setting.
Slow cookers tend to operate somewhere between 79-93 degrees, which allows food to be cooked for hours on a gentle heat, letting flavours develop and meld.
The cookers' appeal lies also in their simplicity. It's hard to overcook food in them and apparently almost impossible to burn anything. There's no need to remember to turn the oven off.
Cheryl Truskett, a teacher from the NSW south coast, is using a slow cooker for her "second season". For the busy mother of one, cooking this way is all about "no fuss, carefree cooking."
And it can transform the simplest classics - a slow-cooked bolognaise sauce was "the tenderest, richest, sauciest batch ever," Truskett says.
Jenny Adam, from Randwick, inherited her mum's slow cooker when she moved out of home seven years ago and has used it ever since, mainly in winter.
Porridge cooked overnight is one of her slow-cooked favourites. "You turn it on before you go to bed and wake up to lots of lovely, creamy oatmeal," she says.
She also uses the cooker to make "bottom-of-the-fridge" ratatouille, to use up ingredients that may have seen better days. "It's a grocery-saver on that front," she says.
Slow cookers are an excellent way to cater for larger groups or to make several meals-worth of a dish to keep the freezer stocked with home-made ready meals.
Truskett recently put hers to work the day before a dinner party for 11. "I had the joy of getting up Saturday morning, opening the fridge and seeing two hearty main courses stowed away ready for the guests," she says.
The slow cooker is perhaps best known for turning out succulent meat dishes but there's not much it can't handle. It's an easy way to make soups, risottos, vegetable dishes and even cakes.
SLOWCOOKER TIPS
Use cuts of meat that need longer cooking times, such as shoulder, shanks, oxtail or shin.
Don't stir during cooking. The pot loses heat if the lid is removed, which prolongs the cooking time. Food is kept moist as the lid collects steam, which condenses.
Browning meat in a hot frypan before adding to the cooker makes the final dish tastier but is not necessary.
Don't overfill the slow cooker, or it may overflow when it is left unattended.
Some dry beans, including kidney beans, contain a naturally occurring toxin that is destroyed by boiling. Because slow cookers generally never reach the required temperature, raw beans must be boiled before adding to the cooker. Cases of poisoning by slow-cooked beans have been reported in Britain.
Slow cookers come in various sizes so recipe quantities will vary. Most oven recipes can be adapted for the slow cooker but reduce liquid (stock, wine, water).
Source: Good Living
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