CARA2 MENGGUNAKAN SLOW COOKER

• Bulat – best for making soups and stews
• Bujur – good if you think you’ll be making a lot of large cuts of meat, such as roasts or whole chicken
• Saiz itu PENTING! – They range in size from tiny cookers that are good for one-person recipes or to use for heating or cooking dips, to large-capacity cookers (6 or 7 quarts or larger) that can prepare stew for a crowd. Keep in mind that many recipes specify the size of cooker needed. If you use a cooker that is too large, you risk burning your food. And, obviously, a cooker that’s too small won’t hold all of the ingredients. For a family of four, the best slow cooker is probably 3 to 4 quarts.

• Cooking time with slow cooker – approx 3.5 to 4 hours [lihat video youtube sini]
• Cooking time over the gas stove at the lowest heat – approx 2 – 2.5 hours

• Be careful with how much water you use, unlike stove cooking – slow cookers will retain a lot of the moisture.
• Be wary of the spices – spices are great, but too much of them will create overwhelming flavors.
• No fats please! – adding milk and cream should be done towards the end, possibly the last one hour or so. Cream and milk will separate and start creating yucky texture.

• KALAU NAK MASAK SIKIT [Mommy guna scoop susu] 
  • 1 scoop beras + 8 scoop stock ayam + 1 ice cube of pureed vegetable
  • 1 scoop beras + 3 ice cubes of stock (approx. 8 scoop stock ayam) + 1 ice cube of pureed vegetable
• KALAU NAK MASAK BANYAK
  • 3 scoop millet + 3 scoop beras + 2 cubes of vegetables and 1 cube of meat (fish/chicken) + 2 cups of water (approx. 500ml)

User the proper size of slow cooker for the recipe. The slow cooker should be between one-half and three-fourths full. Filling it too less will burn or dry out your food; filling it too much might cause your cooker to overflow if the food expands during cooking.

CARA MOMMY

• I’ve never roasted a whole chicken or piece of meat in a slow cooker. I’ve been a bit scared to in case it went wrong and would be an expensive mistake.
• I would like to be convinced by it, but can’t get past the thought that it would result in death by casserole.
• It’s difficult if (like me) you like to fiddle and stir your cooking. You must not touch it or lift off the lid.
• No chance of a fire, they are on a thermostat.
• Somebody told me that it uses as much energy as a lightbulb, so I think it must be very cheap to use.

• It’s always better to part cook/fry the food before putting it in the slow cooker and then allowing it to very slowly stew after that.
• If preparing stuff the night before, I would put it in the fridge, then put it on to cook in the morning.
• I find the liquid seems to double! So now I use less liquid but check on it every now and again.
• If you’re using a normal recipe you may find the slow cooker produces too much liquid, which will make it a bit bland. I also put in more seasoning (eg garlic, rosemary) than if I were doing it in the oven.
• I do a bolognaise-type mixture in mine – leave it on low all day so the mince is really tender – serve the children at 5pm-ish, then chuck lots of tabasco/chilli and a tin of kidney beans in and DH and I can eat a couple of hours later.
• I just bung stuff in and hope for the best.
• I do lots of casseroles in mine. Just adapt the time, and put a bit less liquid in. girlandboy
• The great thing about doing beef in the slow cooker is that you can use a cheaper cut like brisket and it will be very tender, but you won’t be able to carve it as you would an oven-roasted joint so it doesn’t look as impressive. Chicken tastes great too but you don’t get the crispy skin so it looks a bit insipid compared to oven-roasted.

• It’s not really a time saver, more a time re-distributor (you have to find time in the morning to prepare instead). But you do get lovely tender meat in it as a result.
• I don’t mind making it earlier when one child is in school and the other is happily getting on with something if it means avoiding cooking in the witching hour between coming home from school and eating.
• I chop everything in the evening. Brown meat. Stick pot in fridge overnight. Next morning heat up the liquid I am adding, add to the pot and switch on. Leave on all day. Dinner ready.
• Always, always cook at least double and freeze some.

• One little tip: if you’re given a time of, for example, 5-7 hours, which is the “window” for eating, always go for the longer time. Also, it’s really worth frying/grilling/pre-cooking harder veg first – and browning the meat. It’s really worth the effort. Tastes nicer too as it seals it all in rather than just boiling onions in the stock/sauce, which removes all decent flavour.
• I put the whole raw chicken in the slow cooker, put the lid on and switch it on. I don’t add anything at all. I don’t add liquid; there’s plenty in the bottom when you take it out anyway, and you don’t want it wet. You could add any of the usual garlic/lemon/herbs type things, I suppose. But when I do it, it’s to strip all the meat off the bones easily to use in curry/enchiladas/etc, not to eat ‘as is’ – it can be a bit bland on its own.
• Mine is a small one that will fit in my fridge so I can redistribute effort to when I really do have time – in the evening when kids are in bed. Put all the ingredients in (as long as you cover the veg with liquid it doesn’t mind being chopped in advance) and then in the morning all I have to do is put the pot into the machine and turn it on. If you’re worried about extremes of temperature (which can affect ceramic slow cookers) maybe take it out of fridge first thing, then turn it on when back from school run?

ngeeee ~ ~ ~ ~ ~