roast beef

[homerbart]

Hi - Have just bought a slow cooker and bought a recipe book as well. Unfortunately it doesnt give me a recipe on how to cook roast beef. Have done chicken thighs last night and the meat turned into mush. Can anybody help - ta!

[tiggerblue10]

You can't actually roast a joint of beef in a slow cooker.

[homerbart]

I meant how to cook beef in a slow cooker. do you add water

[tiggerblue10]

You can make a beef stew, but you should still coat it in flour and fry it off first.

I don't really know about cooking a whole joint though. Sorry.

[amonty1144]

Put the joint in with a jar or packet of passata, red peppers, sliced onion, a couple of chillis, generous slug of red wine, a stock cube. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Puree the sauce and roughly chop the meat, delicious. Serve with mash and some green veg.

[hammerman]

You can buy some nice "beef tonight" sauces from most supermarkets or if i'm doing beef in the slow cooker, i'll chuck in some stock, a small bottle of red wine and some veg such as carrots, shallots and turnips.

Drain the stock/red wine mix at the end and use for gravy.

[Dewi]

How long did you cook your chicken for ?

Try this
Brown chicken in frying pan
Place in the slow cooker with a lemon cut into quarters
Set timer on low for 4 hrs
Open up and check it for pinkness at 3 to 3 1/2 hours
If cooked to your taste whip it out and eat it with whatever veg/rice/chips you choose

[homerbart]

to Hammerman thanks for your tip but how long did you cook it for - will try this over Christmas. Ta in advance

[Im a BusyBee]

i cook all my meat in slow cooker apart from chicken - it always seems to change the texture and my family are not very keen on it (but i know lots of people that do). i never brown or flour anything but just chuck it in and ive never had a disaster and ive been using one on average 3 -4 times a week for probably 18 years (im now on my 3rd one, others wore up!).When cooking joints of meat you dont NEED to add anything, just put meat in and leave. You will get used to timings with trial and error, and i do believe they all cook slightly differently anyway.with beef i slice onions and lay on top of it, with lamb just sprinkle with herbs and pork i really just place joint of meat in, no water ever.i cooked beef on sunday in 5 hrs on high setting, but sometimes it actually gets left on (low)for 12 hrs.had delicious stew + dumplings from it last night!

[kaztuz]

Chicken thighs are very moist and fatty already, so cooking in a slow cooker wouldn't be the best way to cook them. That is why they turned to mush. You would have been better cooking them in the oven as they wouldn't dry out because of the moisture they contain.

When cooking in a slow cooker a lot of moisture is being created which will be absorbed by the meat.

[homerbart]

thanks for your answers. I have just bought the slow cooker and as you say it will be trial and error for me with the timings and temperatures. While I am on can anyone help on how to get the joint out of the crockpot if it is breaking up. ta again

[homerbart]

it is me again - does slow cooker (when left on for anything up 12 hours) does it use up a lot of electricity

[hammerman]

I usually leave my beef and lamb joints in for 8-9 hours and they just fall apart when you eat them....(they don't go mushy)

[homerbart]

this for hammerman - fine 8-9 hours for your beef but at what setting low or high. sorry to be so fussy but the beef is expensive to waste. ta for your answer.

[homerbart]

thanks I am a Busybee - you sound every experienced in the use of slow cooker. Will seek your advice when I need - ta in advance

[hammerman]

On low homebart and i adjust as necessary (turn it up) towards the end of cooking if i need it cooked a bit quicker.