8
SLOW COOKING
THE BENEFITS OF SLOW COOKING
•
Health
: The gentle cooking action reduces damage to vitamins and retains more of the nutrients and flavours.
•
Economy
: Long, slow cooking can tenderise the cheaper, tougher cuts of meat, and uses about a quarter of the power of
the small ring on the average hob.
•
Convenience
: Prepare the ingredients the night before, put them in the slow cooker before you leave, and have a
delicious meal waiting for you when you get home.
USING THE SLOW COOKING MODE
•
Note: The temperature cannot be set or adjusted in the slow cooking function.
•
Place the ingredients into the cooking pot and close the lid.
1. Plug in the appliance. Your multi cooker will beep and display will go through its start up sequence. After a few moments
the display will go out with just the
Air Fry
(
a
) light flashing.
2. Use the
i
and
j
buttons to select either
Slow Cook High
(
h
) or
Slow Cook Low
(
l
).
3. With the desired slow cook mode light flashing, press the
I
button. The display will show the default cooking time.
4. Change the cooking time as required using the
i
and
j
buttons. Each press will increase or decrease the time by 1
minute. Press and hold the button to rapidly increase or decrease the time.
5. Press the
I
button to confirm the selected time.
6. To begin cooking, press the
I
button. Cooking will start and the display will start to count down.
7. When the timer reaches 00:00, your multi cooker will beep twice and the heater will be turned off. The display will show
“End”. The fan will continue to run for a short time.
•
To cancel cooking at any time, press the
O
button.
GENERAL TIPS
•
Keep in mind that ingredients used straight from the fridge can increase the cooking time.
•
Try not to open the lid unnecessarily during cooking. A lot of heat can escape when you do this and it can take your multi
cooker a long time to recover.
•
When testing a dish to see if it’s cooked, don’t forget that root vegetables usually take longer to cook.
•
Thaw frozen food completely before adding it to the cooking pot.
•
Pre-browning meat beforehand is not strictly necessary but can help seal in the moisture and add depth to the flavour.
Use your multi cooker’s sear function to brown meat.
•
Store ingredients prepared beforehand (e.g. the night before) in containers in the fridge. Don’t put the multi cooker or
the cooking pot into the fridge.
•
When cooking with rice, use at least 150ml (¼ pt) of cooking liquid for each 100g (4 oz) of rice.
•
Pasta isn’t suitable for slow cooking, it becomes too soft. If your recipe requires pasta, it should be pre-cooked and then
stirred in 30-40 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
•
After all the ingredients are put into the cooking pot, it shouldn’t be more than about three quarters full. If you overfill, it
may spit hot liquid or overflow during use.
•
If the finished dish is too liquid, it can be thickened using a little cornflour, arrowroot, etc. For each 250-300 ml of liquid,
mix together 2 tbsp of cornflour with enough water to form a thin paste. Add the paste to the dish approx. 30-45 minutes
before the end of cooking. Alternatively, stir in ready-made gravy granules following the manufacturer’s instructions.
COOKING GUIDELINES
Vegetables
Slow cooking is ideal for vegetables. There’s little evaporation, so all the juices and flavours are retained.
Root vegetables like potato, carrot, turnip, and swede, need more slow cooking than meat. Cut them into bite-size pieces and
immerse in the cooking liquid. Place the vegetables as close to the bottom of the pot as possible.
Quickly cooked vegetables, like peas and sweet corn, should be added half an hour before the end of cooking.
Pulses (Beans, Peas and Lentils)
Some dried pulses (lentils, peas, etc.) may need soaking before use. Always check any recommendations on the packaging
before using.