General
Preparation
5
1. Decide when you want to eat and when you want to start cooking.
2. If you want to eat at 6 p.m., and you need to start cooking at 8 a.m., find
a recipe that takes 8-10 hours. If you're slow cooking at low power, an
extra hour or so at the end of the cooking time doesn't make much
difference, as long as there's sufficient cooking liquid to prevent the food
drying out.
3. Prepare the food in accordance with the recipe.
4. Sit the slow cooker on a stable, level, heat-resistant surface.
5. Check that the slow cooker is off - turn the control to O.
6. Plug the slow cooker into a wall socket (switch the socket on, if it's
switchable).
7. Put the cookpot into the slow cooker, and fit the lid.
8. Turn the control to high, and leave the slow cooker preheat for 20
minutes.
9. Meantime, brown the meat and sauté the vegetables in a pan.
10. Boil the cooking liquid in a pan. If you use a tinned cooking sauce, add
it to the pan before bringing it to the boil.
6. You don’t need to soak lentils overnight.
7. Store ingredients prepared beforehand (e.g. the night before) in contain-
ers in the fridge. Don’t put the slow cooker or the cookpot into the fridge.
8. Root vegetables, tubers, and bulbs (carrots, potatoes, onions) take
much longer to cook than meat, so cut them down to about 5mm (¼
inch) thick slices, sticks or dice, and sauté them gently for 2-3 minutes
before adding to the cookpot.
9. All vegetables (including dried veg) must be immersed in the cooking
liquid.
10. When cooking with rice, use at least 150ml (¼pt) of cooking liquid for
each 100g (4oz) of rice. We’ve found that “easy-cook” rice gives the best
results.
11. Pasta isn’t suitable for slow cooking, it becomes too soft. If your recipe
requires pasta, it should be stirred in 30-40 minutes before the end of
the cooking time.