I’m thinking of buying one – I like the idea of pouring a load of ingredients into one before work and coming home to cooked food.

I’ve noticed one thing though, the recipes I’ve found usually say “cook for 6 hours” and I’m out of the house for 8 hours min – I assume it won’t burn, but can it be over cooked?

nah, not really.
6 is actually anywhere between 5 and 10 and I often cook again the next day. The temperature they run at wont burn unless youve really been tight on the liquids.

I do a lot of batch cooking in a big slowcooker (Sausage casseroles, baked beans – see thread below, beef stews) but dont do bolognese – doesnt work IMO.

Or use a timer switch to start it off two hours later.

That’s right, you can’t really overlook anything, but bolognaise is a disappointment. Casseroles and stews and pulled pork and BBQ ribs are perfect in it though. I’ve a 6litre one

It’s fine. Usually put mine on before I leave for work at 7:30… get home at 5, turn it off and tasty stew has cooled enough by 6 to eat. Extra few hours doesn’t matter at such a low heat.

Ooh, this has reminded me, the temp controller on mine was falling off last I used it.. something to add to my birthday list 🙂

Ive been using one for thirty years, never burnt anything yet. It’s nigh on impossible imo.
If I’m going to be out for over 10 hours I just set it to low, never used a timer.

Sausage and bean casserole is good, I put it on at 7am and eat at about 5pm.

Not everything is good. Sometimes chicken can get really dry if it’s cooked too long . Better if you use thighs rather than breast.

I was given one by a family member and I haven’t had a good meal from the few times I’ve used it. Always end up with some watery tasteless food even when it’s been cooked for 8 hours. It never seems to reduce and so none of the flavours concentrate.

Any suggestions?

It isn’t good at reducing, because the liquid condenses on the lid & drips back in. 30 minutes in the oven with the top off works well to finish,

I agree with chicken thighs not breast – same with red meat, nice fatty stuff cooks best in a casserole.

Mine’s got a timer built in – when it hits (say) 6 hours it’ll switch to “Keep hot” for half an hour before switching off entirely.

There’s an article in this months Olive magazine (wife has it on subs, honest) with some decent tips for using a slow cooker. Some things I’d never considered.

Use a little stock or salt , plenty of herbs, search crock-pot recipe, yanks call it that instead of slow cooker, uk slow cooking tends to be more oven based.

Try

Hairy bikers sausage casserole – it’s not a slow recipe and you have to pre fry the sausages but it’s lovely hurl some beans in there too.

Slam some pork ribs in it, smother them in BBQ sauce and go and do something more interesting.

Wang a pork joint in it, it’s cheap and often on special. Chuck some coke (hookers optional) over it, maybe some cloves if you’ve got’em, cook, shred and boom, pulled pork perfect in a bun.

Cut a shit load of veggies, swede, carrot, parsnip, into cubes, whatever you’ve got in the cupboard. Loads of stock and some mixed herbs, vegetable stew alert!