We've all got favourite recipes, some from family, some of our own and some from celebrity chefs. When you get your first slow cooker you immediately think of your favourite dinner and "I wonder if I could cook that in the slow cooker..."
Many of us with slow cookers have cast a keen eye over the recipe and wondered if we could adapt them for slow cooking. Often, you can. But before you just throw everything into the slow cooker and hope for the best, there are some basics that you need to consider:
1. Temperature
In most slow cookers, "Low" is around 200 degrees F, and "High" is about 300. Cooking takes about twice as long on Low as it does on High.
If the recipe you want to convert calls for a quick cooking time, then you can probably get away with a few hours on Low or one to two hours on High. If your recipe calls for long oven baking or stovetop simmering, then you can probably get away with 8-10 hours on Low (a standard cooking temperature and time for roasts and red meats).
2. Liquid
Slow cookers produce very moist heat. This means your recipe will retain more moisture than it would if it were cooked in the oven. So a good rule of thumb is to reduce the amount of liquid in your recipe by about half. However, if you're cooking rice or some other grain, then you should use an amount of liquid that is just a small fraction short of the standard amount as the grains will absorb the excess liquids.
3. Oven versus Slow Cooker
Here is a handy guide for oven times converted to slow cooker times:
Oven: 20-30 minutes
Slow cooker: 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours on High; 4 to 6 hours on Low
Oven: 35-45 minutes
Slow cooker: 2 to 3 hours on High; 6 to 8 hours on Low
Oven: 50 minutes to 3 hours
Slow cooker: 4 to 5 hours on High; 8 to 18 hours on Low
4. Know How Meats & Veg Cook
Roasts, brisket, and flat steak stand up well to long cooking, usually requiring 10 to 12 hours on Low or 6 to 8 on High. But vegetables don't usually hold up so well, especially ones like broccoli and mushrooms, these disintegrate quickly in stews and slow cookers. Root vegetables can cope with 18-10 hours of slow cooking and then melt in your mouth.
If you want to adapt a meat recipe that has vegetables in it, then you must add them toward the end of cooking time. However, if you combine meat and chopped vegetables that are more dense, like cubed carrots and potatoes, then you can usually cook the whole dish for 8 to 10 hours on Low.
Poultry cooks more quickly than red meat, and fish cooks faster than both of them.
What recipe will you adapt to slow cooking?
Michael
